A full week of hikes: Lionhead (again), Limekiln in Judiths, Windy Highwood, Falls Creek

Our Wayne's Wednesday Walks group gingerly descends Lionhead Butte north slope

Falls Creek is a truly wilderness water

Our Falls Creek lunch break

The main Falls Creek falls

 Hiking season appears to be in full swing.

In the past seven days we climbed Lionhead again, did the Limekiln loop in the Judith Mountains, went to the base of Windy Peak in the Highwoods, and hiked Falls Creek in the Rocky Mountain Front to the West Fork.

Things are greening up and emergent wildflowers are everywhere. And, the ticks are out on the Rocky Mountain Front.

Gosh, we live in a great place with amazing things to do in every direction.

These are all hikes I've done before, but I have to admit that I enjoyed the Falls Creek hike the best.  Maybe because I love the Front the best.

Grizzlies are obviously out.  We found a large, fresh scat pile on our Falls Creek hike.

It's dry everywhere.  We found clear, low streams, and in some places no water.  The Judith Mountains were particularly dry.

We stayed at the Pheasant Tales Bed and Bistro south of Lewistown off Spring Creek, our first bed and breakfast experience since Covid.  The rolling, green hills were a refreshing break from Great Falls and we were thoroughly entertained by Dr. Taylor and his wife who run the place in their retirement.

In addition to our Limekiln hike, we stopped at the new American Prairie headquarters in downtown Lewistown and were impressed with the displays at the museum.  They drove home the importance of the prairie ecosystem that revolves around the bison.  We could have spent the afternoon there.

On the way home, we took a circuitous route along the base of the Moccasin Mountains along U.S. 81.  We wanted to see the aftermath of fires that had swept through the Moccasins and destroyed a portion of the little town of Denton.

We were surprised to find a developed Warm Springs at the base of the Moccasins that we didn't know existed.  I'm not sure it is open right now.  It had suspended visitation during Covid.

Denton didn't look as bad as I expected.  The cleanup has been extensive.

On Lionhead we traversed the high point and our Wayne's Wednesday Walks group got a thrill negotiating a steep north face.  From the top we saw two elk.

The Highwoods are waking up, starting to show green, grassy slopes.  We saw our first arrowleaf balsamroot flowers of the year there.  We were surprised to find that metal bridges had been placed across the nine crossings of Thain Creek on the trail to Windy Peak. It made those crossings much more pleasant, although the creek was as low as I have ever seen it in the Spring.

Going out, we took the high, unofficial horse trail on Falls Creek that allowed us to bypass crossing the creek on the regular trail.  We stopped at the big falls coming and going, dropping down to the creek at Twin Buttes Creek where we stopped at a rocky glen for a break near rushing creek.  Going back we dropped to the creek not far from the other major waterfall, where we stopped for a look.  We saw our first glacier lilies of the year on this hike, as well as sugar bowls and clematis.  Lilac colored phlox lined the trail in many spots and there were Pasque flowers in profusion.  The whole area felt very wild.