Where's the snow? We're still hiking

 

The lack of snow is starting to get scary.

We're about three weeks away from the opening of the Showdown Ski Area on Dec. 11 and things are pretty sparse.  Even Great Divide had to make snow to do an early opening.

So, we hike.

Three of us got together Monday for the Pioneer Loop in the Little Belt Mountains, a five-mile, 2,000+ feet elevation gain ridgeline trek that begins just across US 89 from the Belt Creek Ranger Station.

We hoped to avoid last-minute hunters by hiking on a Monday, and we did.  We saw tons of elk sign, but no animals.