My Perfect Day

Although our adventure started off with the disappointing discovery that the road around Hungry Horse Dam was closed, we headed off in another direction, and ended up in my perfect day. We took Camas Road north from West Glacier. It passes right through vast areas that were burned in forest fires, resulting in a strange landscape of grey toothpick trees. Once you get used to that initially off-putting view, it reveals the land in a new way. The new green undergrowth is beautiful, as are the mountains in the distance.

Glimpses of mountain meadows made us stop and explore. They were full of butterflies and mosquitos. 

While trying to take a picture of a butterfly, I had a surprise really close encounter with this lovely lady.

At the end of Camas Road we took a dirt road heading back toward Columbia Falls. Rick is not especially fond of dirt roads, but he was game for this one, probably because it follows the North Fork of the Flathead River, our favorite. We stopped at a picnic/fishing/camping area and dabbled along the river.  This was the best part.

 Kona got to swim. 

I got to wade in the water and take pictures of the rocks.

It was totally quiet except for the water sounds. It was just us and a few fly fisherman drifting down the river in their mini-pontoon boats. The water was icy and crystal clear. The scenery was awesome. 

No bears.

To top it all off, my son Mark called. Perfect.