Hampered by a sore foot: Slippery Ann elk, Pioneer Ridge, Mount Helena, Laughing Horse

Slippery Ann photos

 I screwed things up during my favorite time of year by over doing it.

I was feeling my oats after the wonderful East Glacier Park to Two Med hike and went over to Helena for the 45th running of the Mount Helena Run.  I was a founder of this race, and the only original runner who participated this year.  No, I didn't run all the way, but I did run part of the way.  Where once I had always finished in the Top 10 runners, I was now in the Bottom 5.  I also had the distinction of being the oldest runner in the race!  Some distinction, eh?

I felt pretty good afterward, so a couple of days later I did one of my reliable favorites --- the 5-mile, 2000 feet elevation gain Pioneer Ridge loop.  Again, I felt pretty good.

Two days later though, when I got out of bed to get ready for our trip to Swan Lake's Laughing Horse Lodge, I couldn't put any weight on my left foot.  I could only walk gingerly.  I had overworked the tendons in the limb. 

That meant some tentative hikes toward Morrell Falls outside Seeley Lake, and then painful, short dayhikes on Glacier Park's trail to McDonald Falls and the Sacred Dancing Waters, then Three Bears Lake at Marias Pass and finally the moose pond not far from Two Medicine Lake.

Laughing Horse is always a good place to stay, and we enjoyed it with three other Great Falls' couples.  

The colors on the west side of the Divide were exceptionally pretty.  We're having a magnificent Fall in contrast to the past couple where winter settled in too fast.

The high light of the past two weeks was a trip to Slippery Ann Elk Refuge in the C.M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge between Lewistown and Malta on the Missouri River.  It was an unplanned, spur of the moment trip.  At 2 p.m., on Monday I asked her if she'd be interested in seeing the rutting elk and that if we hurried we could see them emerging at dusk.

Lucky for us, it worked out just perfectly.  We got there as a large number of animals hit the viewing area.

We camped in the cottonwoods about a mile from where we saw the animals and were serenaded all night by the bugling squeals. 

The cottonwood bottoms of the Missouri were lit up in orange and yellow splendor.

On our drive over we witnessed the beginning of the South Moccasins wildfire in that range northwest of Lewistown.  It looked as though an atom bomb had gone off.

We drove home by way of the High Line's US 2 and enjoyed a trip through Hays and Lodgepole on the Ft. Belknap Reservation with views of the Little Rocky Mountains.

My foot started to feel better as we walked around to enjoy the elk and the scenery.  It appears to be on the heal.

Slippery Ann reminds me that there's really so much more to see in Montana than the mountains.  This Breaks country has world class scenery and wildlife.