M O N T A N A - Day 3 (Wednesday, Sept. 28)

Day 3 – September 28

Today we headed west to Kootenai Falls, near Troy, and to the Ross Creek Cedars, near the Idaho border. I’d been to both these places before and was eager to share them with Shawna. 

We passed through Kalispell on Highway 2, and I saw a sign for a camera shop. I’d been feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t have a circular polarizer for my lenses (a 70-200L, and a 24-105L, both 77mm). YAY – the shop had just what I was looking for, and at 20 percent off! In chatting with the owner, I learned he was from Hutchinson, MN, and had managed two Century Camera stores in the Twin Cities area before he and his wife decided to move west – some 31 years ago. He commented on my nice camera rig, and I told him I have the world’s best boyfriend. :)

Kootenai Falls is a county park near Troy, Montana. It’s just off Highway 2, and features class I-IV rapids. Because it’s late season, water volume is down, and I was able to walk around on rocks that were underwater the last time I was there. We also walked across the swinging bridge, suspended high over the river, and offering amazing views both east and west.

I love waterfalls.

Kootenai Falls runs for about a tenth of a mile, and must have 40 or 50 waterfalls in many various widths and heights. Shooting them on this day was difficult because of when we were there (between 10 and 2), and because of the bright overhead sunshine. My brand new polarizer helped to cut some of the bright light, and a 2-stop neutral density filter also came in handy to slow down this fast-moving white water.

The sign near this rock described this as ripple rock, and has something to do with
glaciers and water during the last ice age.

If you look closely, you can see the swinging bridge spanning the river. 

From there we headed to the Ross Creek Cedars. This is a small, old-growth cedar forest that has trees with diameters of up to 12 feet. The trail through the cedars is well-marked, and many signs are posted explaining the life cycle of the trees, and the many varieties of plants and animals that are dependent on them.

Finally - a photo with people. This is Shawna and me in front of one of the impressive cedars.

I talked Shawna into standing in this patch of "devil's club" to give an idea of just how big these leaves are! 

Ross Creek was, for the most part, dried up, and someone took the time to stack dozens of rocks.

On the way back to the motel, we encountered a freshly killed bear on Highway 2. The road was flat and straight, and had wide shoulders. The tree line was many yards away on both sides of the road, so I have a hard time grasping why this animal was hit. It wouldn’t have bolted out of nowhere. Someone wasn’t paying close enough attention.