Milking the last of Autumn: western larch colors

Mounts Brown, Edwards and Gunsight across Lake McDonald

The golden larch trim Lake McDonald

Katie on the flank of Rocky Point

A sprig of golden larch on the ground

A view of Mt. St. Nick from top of Gerry Lookout

Katie on colorful shore of Salmon Lake

The falls at the head of Holland Lake

 Now that the trees on the east side of the Continental Divide are stripped bare and the colors gone, we've taken to the west side and have been enjoying the bright yellow and orange western larch.

We ventured up the Swan Valley on Saturday as far as Holland Lake, where we hiked to the Holland Lake Falls.  The Swan and Mission mountain ranges were covered in a mantle of snow.   The colors were particularly bright at Salmon Lake State Park.

On Monday, the day before the U.S. Election, we escaped the political news by going to Glacier National Park, where we hiked the various loops of the Rocky Point Trail along Lake McDonald from the Fish Creek Campground.  The temperature was in the mid-20s, but the skies bright blue.  After that hike we went to Mile Marker 168 on U.S. 2 and on the Flathead National Forest side of the highway climbed to the former site of the Gerry Lookout for amazing views of the south end of Glacier Park in the vicinity of the St. Nicholas Mountain matterhorn.  We encountered very little snow on both hikes.  Driving out early in the day we were treated to the alpine glow of the rising sun on the Rocky Mountain Front west of Valier.

We arrived home just as the sun set, leaving no daylight on the table.  Perfect.