Much of the Front is open for hiking

Castle Reef above Wagner Basin

Beaver lodge in Wagner Basin 

It's a sure bet you'll see bighorns when visiting Wagner Basin

Camille Consolvo crests "Crago" Ridge above Hannan Gulch

Katie and me on top the ridge.

It might seem odd that two days after having had my best back country ski of the winter season I would be enjoying a good ridge run in the mountains.
But such is the case here in northcentral Montana.
We skied in 10 inches of fresh powder Wednesday in the Little Belt Mountains east and south of Great Falls, and hiked in the Sun River Canyon west and north of Great Falls Friday.
We walked into Wagner Basin on Castle Reef's southern flank where we watched a small herd of bighorn sheep and lambs and white-tail deer.  Then we crossed the road at Hannan Gulch and climbed the ridge to the west above it, walking its length to the ranger station.
Our distance was 2 miles in Wagner Basin and another 2 miles on the ridge, which I like to call "Crago Ridge" for the Great Falls family that has a cabin below it and who did the so-called "Skull Tree" in Wagner Basin, hung with deer skulls colorfully painted.
On the ridge we saw numerous alpine wildflowers, particularly the pink clusters of Douglasia, although there was also the Yellowstone Graba.  Can blue Forget-Me-Nots be far behind?
We enjoyed the company of our friends Camille Consolvo and Mike Dannells.
We made an unsuccessful attempt to drive the Beaver-Willow Road from the Sun Canyon, finally getting blocked slushy snow beyond Sawmill Flats.  That should be gone and the road drivable within a week or so.

Early alpine wildflowers abloom 

Looking down on the Sun River Canyon