Shoulder season: Freezout Lake bird migration, Priest Butte and O'Brien Creek ski

Gordon Whirry and Chuck Jennings enjoy our lunch break on O'Brien Creek

Coming down through the powerlines

The skies at Freezout were smeared with migrating snow geese and tundra swans

Alpine glow lights up Ear Mountain

Coming off Priest Butte

The Priest Butte ridge walk

 I love this "shoulder" season between the best back country skiing and hiking.

That's because you can have both.

I did a solo back country ski  scoot down 747, climbed with the Katie's girls on Priest Butte, combining it with watching a bald eagle banquet of ducks on Freezout Lake, visited Freezout twice more to observe the migration of some 50,000 snow geese and 15,000 tundra swans, and did a fast and harry ski down O'Brien Creek.

All within a week!

Although there was more snow in the Little Belts, by the time we got to it it had thawed and refrozen and the course was treacherously fast.  Luckily, we had 50 degrees and a bluebird day and saw tons of moose sign in the willows.  The snow bridges were still in, which surprised us.

At the end of the trip we discovered the keys to the car had been left on the car we had dropped off at the Kings Hill Pass.  Luckily, a Northwestern Energy maintenance worker had come to check the snow levels in the creek at the Neihart Water Treatment Plant, so we weren't stranded.

The bird migration is always a treat and a thrill, and this year was no exception.

What was different for me was that in advance of the big bird migration, some 50 bald eagles hung out on the Freezout ice and feasted on ducks, creating a bloodbath that drew seagulls, who cleaned up the mess. The ice melted a couple of days later, opening up the water and right on schedule the migrating geese and swans arrived in massive numbers.

I think I enjoy being there the most when the sun rises to watch the transformation of the Rocky Mountain Front, which becomes bathed in alpine glow.