Robust Fall color tour: Teton canyon, Belt Creek, Bearspaw nature trail, Pioneer Ridge, Polebridge larch

Bowman Lake in Glacier

North Fork Flathead River

I've always maintained that our best colors in the Fall are on the ground, although I must admit that the larch in color are always a thrill.

 It seems as though the pace is almost frantic:  getting in as much of the Fall color as we can.

I don't remember a better Fall show, a combination of warm and dry with no frost.

In a two week period we hiked the Middle Fork Teton after touring the Teton Canyon west of Choteau;  took several trips up the Belt Creek Scenic Byway viewing the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows that climb the gulches and spangle the bottoms; hiked the Beaver Creek County Park Nature Trail in the Bearspaw Mountains; did side trips to Lewistown and Stanford to visit the American Prairie Museum and attend the Stanford Scarecrow Festival; did the Going to the Sun Highway and stopped overnight at the Polebridge Mercantile, with a visit to Bowman Lake and a hike into a lovely meadow;  we drove out along the North Fork Flathead River in awe of the spectacular larch in full color, proceeding down the Flathead and the Swan and through Seeley Lake and home via Rogers Pass.  Whew!  Oh, and I did a side hike, the Pioneer Ridge Loop near the Belt Creek Ranger Station.  The Belt Creek trip was coupled with a drive via White Sulphur Springs and the Skidway Campground in the Big Belts.

These trips took us into the Little Belts, Bearspaws, Big Belts, Rocky Mountain Front, Glacier Park mountain ranges.