MONTANA AUTUMN

Okay, I just finished posting only a tiny sampling of pics from

the trip to Michigan.

I am scrambling to play Catch-up because I am starting to ramble out again with my camera, and the material will get back-logged even more. 

This post will be only a sampling of another backroads

trip in the fall; this one to Montana.

But, first on the way to Montana comes Eastern Washington's Palouse: 

What used to seem like stark landscape has become beautiful to me now,

especially with such fabulous clouds: 

Getting to Kootenai Falls is a hike well worth the time: 

And Glacier National Park was drenched in autumn colors: 

I love Tamarack Trees!  

There is something magical about a fir tree changing colors in the fall.  But before that,

the green is so feathery and chartreuse:

We drove a little dirt road to where we could go no further, high and  

higher above Yaak Pass.  The Tameracks were stretching as if they had to be the tallest in the world: 

And they were changing colors too: 

This specimen was the first fully-changed one we saw:

Funny what catches my attention while hiking:  

a puddle reflecting a Tamerack tree:

McDonald Falls:

This is part of a hillside left barren from a huge forest fire.

It is tragic to see, but I loved making the stark monochromatic photo:

"Going to the Sun" Highway was closed for the winter, so we drove clear around

Glacier Park to enter the east side at Many Glacier Lake:

   

Picnic place where we experienced hail:

At the end of the day, returning from a long hike near dusk, I had

given up the thing at the top of my Bucket List for yet another year: to see a moose up close and personal without any moose paparazzi diminishing the personal experience.

Well, he showed up to oblige me; spotted first by our daughter.  I stalked him for many minutes! Alone!   

MICHIGAN AUTUMN

We made our dream come true!  Pat and I have traveled to western Michigan two 

different summers, and while hiking have voiced how spectacular it would

all be in the Fall.

This last October we did it!

And everything was more stunning than even our anticipations.

We hiked and hiked, along small lakes and into the woods.

I look at my photos now, and I can hardly believe we were there.

I do NOT color-enhance any of my photos, and I am

so glad I have them or perhaps I wouldn't even believe it myself that everything was perfect.

With Fall sometimes comes fog.  And it did, for us.

I loved the reeds reflected in mist-topped lake edges: 

When hiking, always look more than straight ahead!

Look up:

Look down:

Stop, and reflect:

Besides hiking, we drove any farm road that beckoned:

We have been here before, but not at the season of rattling corn stalks, pumpkin patches,

and asparagus crops:

And milkweed seeds exploding into the wind:

Nor have I seen the Ludington Light in fog, with drift fences in place

against the winter storms: 

The Ritual of Return:  You bet!

SHORT LOCAL RAMBLE

I am starting the new year with a resolve to keep my photo post updated.  Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that, after recovering sufficiently, I now feel more steady on my feet; enough to tramp where tramping is needed to make a photo.

I begin with an area very close to our new home and one which has captured my curiosity

for a long time.

The historic mill; remnants of what was the mill town of Snoqualmie Falls before 

it became plain Snoqualmie.

The tip of Mill Pond, which is a common photo place for me

is on the left; a totally different perspective:

I girded up and entered a private area and stopped at an office

to ask permission to photograph.

I could do so, but only from a great distance.  The property is

now being used for a different business.

Some day I am going to return and try to talk to someone who

will actually allow me to get much closer; the old bricks and metals

and history need to be felt and photographed with a more personal touch!

I am itching to get closer to some of these original outbuildings which are somehow still surviving in their original state. (But of course, not original condition.)

I am really intent on catching this post up to date.  Well, the above are fresh photos.  I might have to

do a separate blog altogether for my fall trip to Michigan, but others more recent ones I will 

put here and will show above this one.  My goal for the next 3 days!