Going west: Missions and Swans

Katie on the Cold Lake Trail in the Mission Mountains Wilderness

The Bond Creek waterfall in the Swan Range near Swan Lake

One of the best displays of Fairy Slipper orchids I've ever seen

The Trillium flowers were abundant on the Bond Creek Trail

 It was our 16th wedding anniversary last week so Katie and I headed west of the Divide and spent a couple of nights at the Laughing Horse Lodge on Swan Lake, a favorite getaway.

We did a couple of short hikes on this trip, one in the Missions and another in the Swans, both not far from Swan Lake.

Both were roughly five miles in length.  On one we made it to our destination:  a gorgeous waterfall on Bond Creek in the Swans.  On the other, snow blocked us from reaching Cold Lake in the Mission Mountains Wilderness Area.

The hikes underlined what we already know:  how profoundly different things are from each other on both sides of the Continental Divide.

The trees in our neighborhood were just finally starting to leaf out when we left, emerging from a seven month slumber.  Grass on the east side was just starting to green up.  On the west side of the mountains things were lush and green and everything was in full Spring bloom.  There were powerful smells from the vegetation.

On our Bond Creek hike there were trillium flowers in profusion, deep purple and white.  We found purple fairy slipper orchids blooming in such a cluster as I had never seen before.  The waters ran clear, cold and fast on this creek.  The entire creek seemed as one giant cascade.

The road to the Cold Lake trailhead was blocked by snow about a half mile before the trailhead parking lot.  We parked the car and slogged through the snow to reach it.  The trail had not been cleared yet, so we worked our way across several large deadfalls.  We got within about a half-mile of the lake, but the snow was deep and steep enough that we turned around.

Earlier in the week, before our trip, we walked the River's Edge south shore from Rainbow Dam, and found numerous wildflowers, and enjoyed a meadowlark serenade.  We also returned to view more of the Forget Me Not alpine wildflower show off Rogers Pass.