Fresh snow in the Swan Range by Chris Gotschalk
Swan Rangers were briefly in awe of the big thaw as temperatures in Montana switched from -40 F to +40 in a matter of days, then it was back to more snow for their outings this past week!
Click here or scroll down for the Rangers' photos and details!
Along with our lead photo of Flathead Lake, Chris Gotschalk reported "great snow above 3500'," which means a lot of good skiing given . . .
. . . Flathead Lake and the Flathead Valley Floor sit at about 3000' elevation, as shown here by Ruth Quist!
Rod Wallette also reported great snow as he approached the 3500' mark, where . . .
. . . Keith Hammer shows us how much snow is intercepted by big hemlock trees.
In this photo, as in Rod's, Keith shows how much deeper the snow is in the open between the trees!
Pam Willison shows us the wonderful snow shapes made by flowing water and fallen trees while . . .
. . . Pat Jaquith shows us the wonderful shapes of the individual flakes!
Pam spotted a Yellow-shafted Northern flicker, which are far less common that the Red-shafted!
Keith shows us the upside down strawberry shape of what the locals call Strawberry Mountain, but not without noting that's a white pine at the right edge of the photo pretending to be a western hemlock tree with its nodding top!
In our parting shot, Keith reminds us of how nature heals us, in part, by shrinking our egos and putting us in our place!
If you have interesting photos of your outings, send them along with a description to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we'll try to work them into these weekly reports!