Catching up, including Montana
We spent August 21 through 26 in Missoula, Montana. We enjoyed hiking, biking, and floating on the Clark Fork River. We spent the first afternoon after arriving at Milltown State Park. This state park is both a cool intersection of the Blackfeet and Clark Fork River and an EPA clean-up site.
We saw our first Bald Eagles of the trip, as well as a colorful grosbeak. Monday night we ate outdoors at a grand restaurant where the kind waitperson looked up bicycle rental places for us.
We started Tuesday morning on the Sam Braxton National Recreation Trail in the Pattee Canyon Area. The walk was filled with gentle inclines, vivid morning forest greens and mists. Tuesday afternoon we went to Council Bluffs State Park, where two immature Bald Eagles stood sentinel in a dead tree. Late Tuesday we hiked on the Corridor Trail at the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. We were both taken with Rattlesnake Creek, which had a lovely shallow current crossing over the rocks.
Wednesday morning we went to Spotted Dog Cycles and rented bicycles. We then pedaled several miles on the Kim Williams Nature Trail. Missoula has great bicycle trails. We enjoyed the ride on a path which ran alongside the Clark Fork River. The trail took us to a golf course, at which point we turned around. I am curious how much further we could go--the trail seemed to end but not to be over. Wednesday evening we walked in Greenough Park, a charming wooded local par. Wednesday evening we had excellent pizza at Biga Pizza.
Thursday morning we drove about an hour to go on a river float with Montana River Guides. While I filled out the form to get individual kayaks for a scenic float, instead our guide put us in a single inflatable river kayak and guided our boat with long oars. He was a nice fellow, and it worked out fine. We saw Whitetail Deer, Common Mergansers, and numerous Belted Kingfishers.
On Friday we drove to the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Reserve near Stevensville. We had a little confusion getting there, as the entrance did not have good signs. But we enjoyed it once we found our way in. We saw Trumpeter Swans, Eastern Kingbirds, an American Goldfinch and other birds. All in all, it was a great trip. Missoula is a university town of 80,000, with friendly people and good places to eat. We flew home on Saturday.
I had a quiet Labor Day of work and rest, and a couple of quiet weekends with work since then. Lately I have had some errands that take me to a bank drive-through to make deposits. The bank's only convenient location for personal deposits is 30 minutes away in the town of Anna. Three times Sparrow has accompanied me on these trips. He is buckled into the passenger seat on my subcompact SUV. The nice woman at the drive-through window sends him treats in the little deposit tubes used to hydraulically transmit deposits.
I am up to 101 bird species for the year in Collin County. There are a few species locally that I still hope to see. September is not the most species-diverse month. My count for September so far is 37, but my high count for any September is only 42.
I need to get my car inspected in the next 10 days. I had my first check-up by a dermatologist last week. He froze my face in two places.