O'Brien Creek: the old reliable

Skiing in a winter wonderland

Jasmine Krotkov in the O'Brien willows

Yes, the creek showed in spots.

J

 Showdown trumpeted 11 inches overnight, so of course I had to go check it out.

Our plan was to go down O'Brien Creek from Kings Hill Pass to the town of Neihart, expecting to break snow all the way.

What we found was a great track with a couple of inches of powder and some of the best conditions we've had on this 7-mile back country ski in years.  The snow bridges were wonderful, and no snowmobiles had been over the lower stretch.

We covered the route in just under four hours, without any rushing.

I marveled at the regrowth of trees in this area.  I've been skiing it for 43 seasons, starting in 1981, not long after the head of the area had been clearcut and returning trees were hardly knee high.

Now there's a true forest of trees rising to above 30 feet.

And, how things have changed.  Traditionally the half-way point of the trip was an old cabin mid-way through the willows-bottom.

Now, you have to know what you're looking for to find the few timbers of the structure that remain.

Jasmine Krotkov had seen a couple of antlered moose in those willows just a week ago, so we were on high alert, hoping to see those creatures.

No luck, despite seeing ample evidence that they had been stomping through the snow.

One great improvement to the trip is that a road is plowed from the highway to the town water treatment plant.  That saves at least a half-mile of skiing on gravelly and very icy snow.  We parked a car at that plant.

While the winter has produced questionable snow, I've now done the Big 3 back country trails that start at Kings Hill Pass --- Ranch Creek, Deadman and now O'Brien.

Winter slips away: 747, Deadman, snow shoeing on Middle Fork Judith

 

This has been one of my  poorest back country ski seasons.

There is snow up there, finally, but its quality and quality are questionable, and the warmer weather is melting what remains.

In the past couple of weeks I've skied the 747 loop, and Deadman, and snowshoed the Middle Fork of the Judith Wilderness Study Area a ways.

The 747 Loop had the most consistent snow.  We picked up tons of snow on the bottom of our skis on Deadman, and the snow (and ice) were melting on the Middle Fork.

I enjoyed the Middle Fork snowshoe trip the most, partly because we shoed directly on the ice-bound river itself, and partly because I love the area so much.   This was a part of Wild Montana's winter snow shoe program.

The Middle Fork WSA is threatened because U.S. Sen. Steve Daines wants to the release the area for management by the Forest Service, potentially threatening the areas' wild character. 

The Middle Fork showed through the ice in only two small spots.  Otherwise, it supported the weight of the group of 13 snow-shoers quite well.

We shoed parallel to a good cross country ski track.   Seeing that, I wished I had tried to ski the Middle Fork before.  Noted.

I've seen robins and flickers in my yard and friends have seen meadowlarks.

Other migrating birds are more noticeable now, too.

Spring?

Winter --- finally!

 I haven't posted for a while because it didn't seem right to post when there wasn't real winter.

This past month we've done some hiking on the River's Edge Trail and the First Peoples' Buffalo Jump, which were clear of snow until about a week ago.

And, we've been snow-shoeing and skiing up to Kings Hill and the Deadman run in the Little Belts, in really sub-par snow.

The past week, however, has delivered some really good snow in the Little Belts and yesterday we did the 10-mile Ranch Creek point-to-point trip that begins at Kings Hill in great, but somewhat shallow snow.

Our northcentral Montana watersheds have the lowest snowpack in the state, and it's really scary.

Teton Pass Ski Area on the Rocky Mountain Front announced it would close after only being open for six days;  Great Divide had 6 inches at its base.  Showdown has been steadily open, thank goodness.