Near Mountains in Snowfall - East Missoula, Montana

I repeatedly marvel at the intimate nearness of the surrounding mountains of the Bitterroot and Missoula valleys. It brings peripherally to mind C.S. Lewis’s portals that transport from a must-get-through mindset to an entirely different perspective that stirs the soul to wonder. 

(And yes, we are still getting random snow this week…!)

Snowy Spring Day - Kootenai Creek - Near Stevensville, Montana

“…one is inclined to quess that, apart from the acquisition of knowledge and the exhilaration of climbing, more pleasure is to be found at the foot of the mountains than on their tops….” - John Muir (1838-1914)

Getting Closer to Yellowstone…& Spring - Near Livingston, Montana

“…Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We will know where we have gone - we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor, when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarrelling about its relative situation.…' “

-Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Ch 27

Sun And Snow Along Kootenai Creek - Near Stevensville, Montana

Watching snowflakes peacefully float past the green backdrop of our juniper tree, I’m mentally basking in last weekend’s perfect snow-sun Sunday along Kootenai Creek near Stevensville, Montana. While our souls (and soles?hah! ) were duly satisfied over a carefully stepped snow-packed mile, other hikers said they were returning from the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary just 3.5 miles from the trailhead. (Investing yet  another 7 miles apparently gets you to a pair of lovely lakes…)

Wisdom On The Wind - Near Alberton, Montana

“His wisdom came from deep wells - from the things that had been known to the generations that had gone before him. It was fashionable to put all that knowledge behind us, to think that only our modern understanding counted for something, but that, she thought, was so wrong, so wrong.  We were not the first people to tread where we now trod;  countless ancestors had come exactly this way.  And although their footprints might have been blown away by the wind, we could sense  their presence if only we opened our eyes and ears to it.  And we could hear his voices, too, if we listened hard enough.  We could hear their warnings, their encouragements, their advice - if only we turned our heads to the wind and heard the voices, faint and distant, that the wind carried.  We could hear.”

- The Joy & Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith, p. 40-41

Time’s Convert - Near St. Regis, Montana

“Time makes more converts than reason.” 

–Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

Borderline Mountain View - Near Lookout Pass, Montana

Delight has never failed at the unfolding of this big sky mountain view around the I-90 curve atop Lookout Pass on the Montana-Idaho west border. I wonder if the original road planning crew for this route deliberately engineered the artistry of this sweeping reveal, or if this particular grandeur capture was just unavoidable dumb luck?  While  technically in Idaho at this point, the state border jiggy-jog on a map allows me to hazard you are partly looking across to Montana and thus justify finally posting this longtime fave road trip view. 

Far-sighted - Near Superior, Montana

“Ye can see for as long as your eye holds out, in this country."  -Walter Kyle, in English Creek by Ivan Doig, p. 16