It’s been snowy and cloudy here in western Montana for several weeks now, so when a partly cloudy day appeared, it was time to explore the area and get Dakota a nice long walk through the woods, so I decided to check out a nearby trail that starts at a large reservoir and follows Mission Creek for several miles to a large, iconic waterfall, with no intention of actually seeing the falls on this trip, due to a late afternoon start to the adventure and no idea if I could even make it quite to the trailhead with the amount of snow on the unplowed road.
It’s nice being so close to the mountains, as my new home for the winter sits right at the base of the Mission Mountains, so not far from easy access into the wilderness. I was able to drive past the reservoir, but decided to stop just short of the trail due to snow conditions after close to a mile of driving down untracked dirt road with deteriorating conditions.
It was a very pretty place to start the hike, surrounded by mature cedars, firs and pines.
We started by following the road for about a mile to the trailhead, and then continued up the trail for maybe another mile or so before heading back to make it home before dark. Definitely not used to seeing cedars in Montana, and there are so many in places like this, apparently it is the only area in the state with these majestic trees, scattered about some of the wetter terrain in the far western reaches of the state in areas around Glacier and Flathead lake. Here in the Missions along the creeks they are quite numerous, and make for some great scenery, as they grow far bigger than all the other evergreens in these parts and have such unique foliage…
The weather was mild and the woods quiet and peaceful, with everything covered in a blanket of snow, so beautiful. As we walked up the road, I saw a small snow hare bolt out in front of us, but Dakota was none the wiser, too busy distracted with other smells. The creek was really pretty in the spots where the thick trees opened up for a view.
Upon reaching the trailhead, I was surprised to see a cool little waterfall, actually not so little at all, but nothing compared the actual falls that lay over two miles further up the trail.
Dakota appreciated the longer excursion, and after a few minutes along the trail, it was time to turn around.
Besides becoming better acquainted with the local scenery and terrain, I was also scouting out the area for good backcountry ski access points. Not enough snow to be any good skiing yet at these low elevations, but since I had brought the skis just in case, I put them on as the trail had just enough of an incline and just barely covered with enough snow to ski back down to the road where the flat walk back to the car would ensue. It was fun but hardly skiing. There look to be better access points to the higher elevations nearby, so I’m excited for chances in the near future hopefully to get some actual skiing in, but it looks like until we get more snow, any decent skiing probably begins a good 500-1000 feet in elevation above the valley trailhead points. I suppose that is just how it goes being in such a low elevation valley of 3,000 feet, with the highest nearby trailhead starting at 4,000 feet when road access is good. But, winter has technically only just now begun, so the whole season lies ahead, and more snow will surely come.
In the meantime, it will be a white Christmas around these parts, and my dog and I had a wonderful hike through the woods to start the winter out with, a nice and mild first day of winter. Thanks for checking out my blog, hope you enjoyed the pictures, and have a wonderful holiday season!