1/5/18 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

Seats, table, and entrance

I took the 5th off (I didn't tip off Carrie because I was substituting and decided not to take work that day) and skied back to the same spot as the day before.  I was happy to find that the snow set up well overnight and was rather firm.  I started by cutting in the space for some legs between what I envisioned as a table and two seats.  I cut out large blocks and set them aside for later.  After cutting out the first layer from top to bottom, I started in on the next layer.  I cut out one large block and my vision changed.  I no longer saw seats sitting separate from the table but more like seats with back rest as the seated would face the creek.  This was quite the realization, and my work became easier and I felt more confident in the seats being sturdy.

Snow wall

I cut out the first seat and sat in it to check durability, width, and depth.  I was almost right on for the first attempt, having to make some minor adjustments.  The next seat went in quickly due to the practice building the first.  After testing and adjusting the second seat, I leveled off the table.  Next, I cut the entrances to be appealing to the eye and have some consistency.  Lastly, I took the numerous snow blocks I had and built a little wall on one side of the table and seats.  More than anything, it was for purely aesthetic reasons.  That, and it was fun to build (and much easier to shape than rock).

Upon finishing, I snapped some photos and skied out of there and back up to the main trail.  From there it was an easy ski back to the trailhead.  My excitement grew along that ski out.  I really hoped no one would stumble upon my work and destroy it, intentionally or not.  To help prevent that I had walked in my final ski tracks from the day earlier between the trail and the creek in hopes of deterring others from skiing down that way.  I still had a couple days, and a lot could happen.

Finished product

1/4/18 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

A nice spot right on Rattlesnake Creek

Sometime in the previous week and one half I decided that the weekend of January 6th and 7th would be the weekend I would propose to Carrie.  After running my plan by a trusted female friend, I decided to set it into motion on the 4th.  I set out in the afternoon, after teaching, and headed back to the Rattlesnake.  I turned off at the first trail that leaves the main stem trail heading toward the creek. My goal was to find a good spot a little off the trail but near the creek.  Eventually I had taken every trail near the creek within the first mile and one half from the trailhead.  Before heading up the hill to the main trail, I decided to check the last little loop that heads down toward the creek and then switchbacks up to a spot only 100 feet from the end of the other side trail.  Once I made the first descent I came to some flats and saw some old tracks heading through the snow toward the creek.  I skied through the old tracks and came to a nice platform above the creek.  I took off my skis, walked through the drooping brush and came out right on an open spot on the creek.  I had found my place.

Snow pile in its infancy

I took my avalanche shovel out of my pack and began scooping snow into a large pile.  I knew that the snow was not deep enough or consolidated enough for what I had planned, so I piled snow from a large area around me.  After some time and effort, I had quite an area cleared of most of its snow and a large pile of snow ready to set up overnight.  I looked around at the creek and surrounding terrain and was pleased with the spot.  I looked at the cleared area and pile of snow and was pleased with my effort.  I put my shovel away and climbed up the small rise to my skis.  I stepped back into the skis and skied back to the trail and then followed the remainder of the trail, up the switchback, to the main trail.  From there I skied happily back to the trailhead.

Snow pile ready to set up

12/30/17 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

Jake, Rhian, and Sophie

On the 30th, Carrie and I went out with Jake and Rhian and their four-month-old daughter, Sophie, for her first ski.  Granted, she wasn't skiing, but she was out there for the first time on her father's chest.  It was a lovely day and we skied up the main stem trail to Trail 515.1 and skied that down closer to the creek until it met back up with the main trail.  From there we turned around and skied back down the main trail.  It was a pleasant three-mile trip, and Sophie did great!

12/29/17 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

Viewpoint on Rattlesnake Creek just past Fraser Creek

On the 29th, I headed out again into the Rattlesnake.  This day was even warmer and wetter than the previous day.  I started out on the main stem trail and decided to stop at the viewpoint over the creek just past the Fraser Creek bridge.  Since the snow was a little sticky, I decided to turn around here.  On the way back, I turned onto Trail 515.7 in Poe Meadow.  This trail took me right down to the creek and one of my favorite spots.  I stopped here briefly to take in the sights and sounds of the creek and then carried on through the loop back to the main trail.  After ascending the large hill, I turned in on the shortcut to Trail 29.1 and took that trail to the junction with Trail 29.2, which I took back to the main trail.  Back on the main trail, I had a pleasant, but wet, ski back to the trailhead.

12/28/17 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

A warmer, wetter day than the previous ones

Ever since the first ski of the year I have wanted to ski all the way out to the Franklin Bridge, eight miles from the trailhead and about three miles past the end of the grooming.  On the 28th I thought I might make it out to the bridge.  When I started skiing, however, I realized that this would not be the day to ski that far.  The weather was a little warmer and the snow was a little slower, and I knew it would be a lot more work in the sticky snow than I cared to put forth.  I decided pretty quickly that I would ski the Wallman Trail.  These would be the perfect conditions for me—the snow would be slower, giving me the chance to ski down the far side of the loop.  I figured I could still walk the steep sections I couldn't ski but by the end of the day, I never had to take off my skis.

Mountain lion track crossing the trail

I took the trails down near the creek initially to test the snow off the main track.  It was certainly slower, but I love skiing those creek trails and enjoyed myself thoroughly.  Back on the main track, I headed up the trail for a short time before turning off the trail onto the Wallman cutoff, Trail 29.2.  There were some recent ski tracks under the fresh snow and the going was pretty easy.  When I made it to the Wallman Trail, 29.1, I found it was less tracked.  People had been up the trail, but it had been some time.  Eventually, the tracks were completely snowed in and I was breaking trail, following the occasional animal track here and there.  As the trail steepened I followed what seemed to be a large canine or feline track.  It was difficult to tell until I came upon a spot under some trees where the snow had been partially blocked from filling in the tracks and the animal had crossed the trail from the downhill to uphill side.  Here, a couple tracks made it clear that it was pretty fresh mountain lion tracks.  Once it crossed the trail it never followed or crossed the trail again.  A little further above, I crossed fresh moose tracks as well.  It felt quite wild.

Top of the climb on the Wallman Trail

I worked my way through the couple switchbacks and the final climb to the highpoint in the trail.  I had hiked the trail that summer with Carrie and we had stopped at the top for a lunch break, and on this day I decided to do the same.  It was certainly warmer than the previous days and quite wet.  My hat was dripping water from the bill from just before lunch until the end of the ski.  After enjoying a nice lunch sandwich and some water, I stepped back into my skis and began the descent into Spring Gulch.  I was a little worried and cautious about the descent.  I am not the most graceful when it comes to cross country ski descents, but I felt quite comfortable the whole way down.  The snow was the perfect consistency for my abilities, and I was gliding down the mountain while maintaining some control.  The switchbacks themselves were steep and slow going, and I came across a steep section right above Kench Meadow where the trail was blocked by snow-strained brush.  In this location I had to side step down through the worst past the brush until I could ski again.

At Kench Meadow the decline lessened and the snow began sticking to my skis.  Between the meadow and the Trail 517/Trail 517.1 junction I had to stop a few times to knock snow off the bottom of the skis.  It was more annoying than anything and I struggled through this section until reaching Trail 517.1.  This trail had been tracked earlier in the day and I had a much better time skiing the last stretch back to the main stem trail.  From there I made it easily back to the trailhead.

12/27/17 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

Junction with the trail heading toward Kench Meadow

On the 27th of December, I headed out on my own, back to the Rattlesnake.  Not being in the mood for as long of a ski as I had done on my first day, only five days earlier, I turned up the trail up Spring Gulch, half a mile from the trailhead.  This is a loop I had done a number of times, and I really enjoyed the work of the initial mellow climb in the first two miles and the downhill that followed on the other side of the creek to get back to the main stem trail.  Once again, I had gotten an early start, and I was cutting the most-recent tracks in the fresh snow.  The snow was good, and I was having a blast.

Trail heading back down

I made it to the junction with the trail to Kench Meadow and beyond and decided to head up that trail a little to check the conditions.  I eventually wanted to ski the Wallman Trail and this trail would be the way to end that loop.  I skied up the trail a bit.  The brush, like below me on the trail I had already skied, was heavy with fresh snow and hanging into the trail in spots.  Even some larger trees, like birch and some smaller larch, were hanging over the trail, weighted down by the heavy snow.  I would stop to knock snow off when I could.  After only five minutes or so, I was pleased with the conditions and the trail ahead of me did not look too steep.  I turned around and headed back down to the junction.

Once there, I headed down the east side of Spring Gulch.  That trail was fun, but since no one had tracked out the snow yet, it was a little slow.  As this was my favorite part of the loop, I decided to loop the upper section again, and when I made it down to the outhouse at the one-mile point, I cut across to the trail I had skied up and skied back up to the trail junction again.  The second time down, going over my tracks again, was much better and enjoyable.  I made it back down to the outhouse much more quickly and found that there were now ski tracks on this side of the gulch.  I easily followed the trail back down to the main stem trail and then back to the trailhead.

12/25/17 Holland Lake

Carrie skiing along Holland Lake

On Christmas morning we woke up and made some breakfast, packed up, and cleaned the cabin.  We then drove down to the road junction near the picnic area and skied back out onto the lake.  We followed our tracks along the lovely, flat lake back past the lodge and all the way to the trailhead.  From there we decided to ski our tracks from the trailhead back to the vehicle.  Despite feeling like we had climbed most of the way to the trailhead the previous day, skiing down the road surprisingly did not feel like going down.  We had to work much harder along the road and ultimately should have stayed on the lake for our return.  We had had three great days of skiing in the area with two of them on Holland Lake itself.  I hope someday to return for more skiing on the frozen lake.  The photos here were taken the day before.

View of the peaks southeast of the lake

Hoar frost on the lake ice

12/24/17 Holland Lake

Owl Creek Cabin

On the 24th we had a mellow morning and skied out of the cabin and down the road to Holland Lake.  We stopped at the bridge over the outlet and enjoyed some spectacular views of the peaks beyond the head of the lake.  We had an initial plan to see if we could ski to the falls, so from the bridge at the outlet we skied up the road to the trailhead.  There were one or two tracks from vehicles driving up to the trailhead, but the snow was deep and not many people decided that driving to the trailhead was a good idea.  Because of the tracks on the road, we skied on the edge in the fresh tracks.  At one point, Carrie noted that we should just head down to the lake and ski on it, but we didn't listen to reason and instead carried on along the road until we reached the trailhead.  There was one car there, which had held the snowshoers whose tracks we could see at the trailhead and along the trail.

View from the outlet

From the trailhead, the trail drops toward the lake and eventually goes right by it.  We decided here to leave the trail and to just ski on the lake.  It had been quite cold for some time, and we felt pretty confident that the lake ice was thick enough for us.  We still skied hesitantly at first and found our confidence and still stayed pretty close to the shore.  Some snowshoers had left their tracks on the snow on the lake ice just in the little bay and on a small island that was closest to where the trail neared the lake, but they did not carry on beyond the small island.  We skied to the small island and then set out going up the lake.  The day was beautiful and sunny.  There were incredible views ahead of us up the lake and beyond, and there were some pretty great views behind us as well of the Mission Mountains.

With Carrie on Holland Lake

At some point up the lake, we came to another bay.  Instead of skiing along the shore all the way around it, I decided to set out across the narrow neck of water between the shore and the point of land on the other side.  Nearly across, I heard a bit of a crack in the ice and then quickly skied to the snow-covered solid ground.  I turned and warned the others, but they were most of the way across and spread out enough I figured they would be okay.  Carrie said she had heard some cracking as well.  As Rebecca seemed to be the most uncomfortable with the skiing on ice, we didn't make a big deal out of the cracking ice.  We did, however, decide to follow the shoreline more closely on the way back to not take any more chances.

Carrie, Rebecca, and Jeff ski back toward the foot of the lake

Beyond the bay crossing, we stayed along the shore, skiing further and further up the lake.  At one point, we saw where the trail neared the lake again and talked about climbing up to it and trying to follow it to the falls, but no one really cared if we made it to the falls or continued skiing along the perfectly flat and beautiful lake.  As we made it further up the lake, there were a couple little streams that we could see and hear, flowing down into the lake.  Most were small enough to be icy as they came out onto the rocky shore, but warm enough to melt out the lake ice just a little where the waters met.  Skiing around some of these stream holes made us contemplate how thick and strong the ice was and if we were making the right decision.  We had to go around a couple trees that had fallen in the water and frozen where they were, and these spots also felt a little more dangerous.

Skiing with the sun setting

Eventually we decided we had gone far enough and stopped for a rest and snack.  No one was very interested in trying to get to the falls—it looked like we would have to climb a bit to find the trail and then climb more to get to the falls.  From the lake, we could see the gash in the mountainside where the falls were, and we were content being on the lake.  We talked briefly about skiing around the lake, but after a brief scout ahead after break, we saw that there was open water near the inlet and we were quickly turned around.  We followed our tracks back to the trailhead, except for where we contoured around the ice-crack bay, and then decided to ski the lake back to the foot instead of taking our tracks back from the trailhead.

View back across Holland Lake

We skied past a lodge and enjoyed the view and solitude from a point on the lake, which likely swarmed with tourists and guests all throughout the summer months.  We enjoyed the great snow and the perfectly flat terrain.  I grew braver and would cut off some of the contours, but usually a good scolding from Carrie would have me falling back in line on the shore.  At the picnic area, we skied off the lake and back to the road at the bridge.  We followed the road easily back to the cabin and enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve with good food and festivities.

12/23/17 Owl Creek Cabin and Campground

Fading sun on the Swan Mountains

Even though this trip was not in the direct Missoula vicinity, it is close.  It took us about one and one-half hour to make it to the Owl Creek Cabin, where we stayed for two nights.

On the 23rd of December, Carrie and I drove up with Jeff and Rebecca to the Owl Creek Cabin, near Holland Lake, to spend a couple nights.  That first evening, after settling in to the cabin and getting a fire going to warm it up, we stepped into our skis and set out to explore our surroundings.  We started on the campground road and headed out by a corral, angling through the trees beyond to what looked like a meadow.  In the opening past the trees, we found some of the private houses in the area and decided to turn around.

Heading back to the cabin

Back on the campground road, we enjoyed some of the waning sunlight on the peaks.  We passed the cabin and skied up the trail that left right from the campground entrance.  It was a nice, wide trail, and it was evident that this was a popular stock trailhead for people getting into the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  Shortly after starting, we crossed another road and carried on up the other side.  When the trail became steeper, we decided to stop.  We talked about the possibility of starting up this trail the next day and making a loop to Holland Lake and back to the cabin, and then we started skiing back.  At the road we crossed, we decided to ski down it to the open road to the cabin.  Despite looking like some downhill, we could not just coast down to the road.  The snow was good, however, and we had just underestimated the steepness of the hill.  From the bottom of the hill, we skied the open road happily back to the campground and through it to the cabin.

12/22/17 Rattlesnake National Recreation Area

Viewpoint about 3 1/2 miles in

On the 22nd of December, I went out for my first ski of the season.  I had been awaiting this day and on my first day of Christmas break I set out to see how the snow was up the Rattlesnake.  The snow was fresh on an obvious harder, icier layer and felt good under my skis.  As the first one at the trailhead that morning, I had fresh tracks and skied to the trail junction at the first bathroom, nearly three-quarters of a mile from the trailhead.  The snow on the trail was good as well and I headed for the trail that dropped down to creek level.  This hill looked slick and I decided since I was only fifteen minutes into my first ski of the year that I would take it easy and walk this hill.

Whitetail kill site

At the bottom, I stepped back into the skis and headed toward the creek.  Within one hundred feet there was a dead whitetail deer just off the trail.  It was still very much intact and there were the contents of the intestines, fur, and blood on the snow around it.  I took off my skis to examine the site.  I immediately assumed mountain lion or wolves.  Last year I saw wolf prints within half a mile from the trailhead on two occasions.  Upon circling the site, however, I saw smaller canine prints that led me to think coyote instead of wolf, and there were no obvious signs of lion prints.  There was some fur that had been bitten off, almost cut, and not ripped, and I had heard this was something lions did.  It looked like there was more than one set of possible coyote tracks, so I assumed that maybe a lion had killed the deer and coyotes chased it off or stumbled upon it while the lion was away briefly.  Then I wondered how recently any of these animals had been on the kill.  Had I chased them off?

Viewpoint more snow-filtered on the return

I skied further up the trail and paid more attention to my surroundings as I did.  I followed the next trail that cut off down toward the creek and skied by my favorite spot on the lower creek.  The trail is right next to the creek as it flows by some fifty- to seventy-foot crumbly cliffs.  To ascend out of this spot is challenging unless the snow is quite sticky.  I again de-skied and walked up to the junction.  I skied up through the forest next to the small meadow and to the ascent trail that connects back with the main trail on the old road.  Getting back to the road, I found that no one had gone through while I explored down by the creek, and I set off further into the woods.  The snow was good, and I was enjoying myself.  The further I skied, the fainter the old tracks became.  I had no set destination for the day and just kept going.

Ski tracks through the meadow to the creek

After the bridge over Fraser Creek and the small descent, I stopped briefly there over the Rattlesnake and took in the snow-filtered view up the drainage.  The snow was good and I was feeling good, so I carried on, hoping to get to the meadows where the grooming usually stops.  This meadow is about one and one-half mile from the viewpoint on the creek and within a few minutes past the bridge over Pilcher Creek.  As I neared the meadow, I was surprised that there was still some faint tracks from someone who had walked up the trail.  It was clear they had walked through fresh snow, probably the day prior.  I was convinced they would stop in the meadow, but they continued up drainage, so without stopping (or really even thinking about it) I carried on up the drainage too.

Meadow beyond Beeskove Creek

The further I went, the deeper the snow was, and it was harder to see if the tracks went on.  With no destination in mind, I eventually told myself I should turn around.  I was not convincing myself, however, and each new turn in the trail led me to say, "Just a little further; around the next bend."  After some time I came to the bridge over Beeskove Creek.  I knew I was getting closer to Franklin Bridge, eight miles from the trailhead, but without my map I wasn't sure how close.  I also knew I should not have a sixteen-mile day on my first day our for the season.  When I skied into another meadow, I left the trail and skied to the edge of the creek, where I stopped for a break.

I did not stay long and followed my tracks back to the trail.  There were a couple spots where I had broken through frozen puddles on the way up and had to ski around to avoid coating my skis with water and sticking up.  I did not see another skier until nearly the three-mile point.  After that, I stopped to talk with a lone hiker who seemed to know the Rattlesnake well.  I did not ask but assumed that he may left the tracks I followed deep into the canyon.  After that, I saw more people skiing as I neared the trailhead.  It still was not as crowded as it can get on a busy weekend, but people were out enjoying the snow.