Paddling & Hiking Continues

Canoed at the Reservoir on the 25th, 28th & 31st. Nice area to paddle. Trees all around the reservoir plus today (31st) we saw lots of kingbirds, redwing & yellowheaded blackbirds, ducks, geese & goslings, grebes, pelicans, coots, teal, red-tail hawks, bald eagles & herons in their rookery with their young looking pretty big. The carp were in big groups spawning & would swim in a circle & splash all over the place, there were hundreds of these doing the same mating dance. The hawks were making a new nest as their previous years nest was taken by a goose family! Warm again today. Its been in the 80's for about a week. Very nice canoe weather. Also this week we hiked up Priest Pass. Its nice having so many nice mountain hiking trails near town. On this hike we were looking for new cross-county ski trails. We like to discover new areas where we think we may be able to forge a new trail for back-country skiing. Lots of glacier lilies & spring beauties & butter cups. Very nice day for a hike in the mountains as it is a very beautiful time of year.

Update for the Outside LIfe

Mt. Helena Ridge(MHR) Trail - 15th of May, Saturday
Mike is in Michigan so I went hiking with friends. I walked over to their place & we started the hike, up Daisy Hill at 9:00 & then on the trail below parking lot, up to the Old Planted Trees trail, caught the Dump Out Gulch trail, then onto Hanging Draw Trail & over to McCulvey Trail & then to the left up another trail to the MHR Trail. Took us about 4 hours total. We stopped about 11:30 for lunch. Lots of different kinds of flowers but not too many of each kind. Nice day, around 60 & slightly windy. Great for hiking. 8.7 on my ped for the walk to their place & the hike.

Hauser to Beavercreek - 16 of May, Sunday
A friend & I hiked from the dam to Beavercreek this morning at 8:00. Got home around 11:30. Nice day, around 60 with light clouds. Suppose to get into the 80’s today. Saw some eagles, pelicans, cormorants & ducks. Something got killed on a rock along the route, looked like a birds had eaten something small like a mouse or chipmunk. This is around a 4 miles round-trip hike along the Missouri River.

Helena Holding Reservoir Mikes Back - 22nd of May, Friday
We canoed at the Reservoir this morning from 8:30 to about 10:15. It is full. Eagles, marsh hawk, red-wing hawks, grebes (western & redneck), cormorants, blue herons in the rookery, geese, coots, teal & some other ones we could not identify. Clear morning, beautiful with just a slight breeze. Nice canoe.

Note: I've also been working in the yard, clearing last years leaves, edging, planting, weeding & enjoying the yard. Update for the Desert Trip is still in the works.

Warm Utah to Cool Montana

Back from warm Utah to Montana (Utah trip will be posted later).  We canoed at the Reservoir Sunday morning.  Water is high now.  There was one snow goose hanging out with two canadian geese plus tons of other geese coupled up.  Lots of coots, geese, red-necked grebe + a small grebe with a crest on his head, misc. ducks, bald eagles, herons, red-winged blackbirds, yellow-headed blackbirds, chick-a-dees & meadow larks.  Nice morning canoe, cool with the sun coming & going.