Snow again

After the heat in Alabama, I was glad to get back to the coolness of Idaho - but not this cool!!!

I had to go to Island Park to deliver fishing flies to several businesses and it snowed on me all day.  I did find a few birds braving the cold and picking hatching flies of the water like this Yellow Warbler.

A flock of Yellow-rumped warblers as the snow fell near Staley Springs.

On the way home, I even found a few Glacier lilies blooming in the forest.

Even with the cold, it was a great day in the wilds of Idaho.

Trash and trashy essay

Janie wrote a blog about finding trash on the trails that she and Steve travel along.  Her beautiful depiction of trash and trashers reminded me of an essay I wrote several years ago.  I do have pictures of used "love peelings" but I will not post them.  I will let your imagination picture them.  This essay was actually printed in a newspaper so I hope it is appropriate here.  Enjoy.


Love Peelings


Sometimes we really don’t think of others when we leave things lying around where we shouldn’t; things that may be harmful to others or just scare the crap out of them. One day while motoring across Henrys Lake, my motor cut out and killed. I thought that the engine had blown and I was not a happy fisherman. After getting it started and moving again, it killed again as I put it in gear. A friend was fishing nearby and we checked the prop and found it bound up with mono fishing line. What a mess someone had left to scare the “holy Toledo” out of me.

An acquaintance of mine told me on their way to Island Park “nature” called on one of the family members so they stopped on top of Ashton Hill to get a little relief. They have a couple of young children and let them out to stretch their legs while nature’s call was answered. When it was time to get back into the car the two youngsters showed their parents some “balloons” they couldn’t get to blow up and asked Dad to help!!!

Dad and Mom were shocked to see that the kids had picked up some used “love peelings” thinking they were balloons. Mom had a fit and could be heard in Idaho Falls wailing while Dad immediately relieved the kids of their new found toys. The area was searched and a total of eight used “love peelings” were discovered and disposed of. It appeared that a couple had been using the turn-off on Anderson Mill Road as a passion place. The parents were more than a little concerned about the health of their two children.

What a way for two children to be introduced to those kind of protectors - they will probably have a phobia for many years and may even need counseling before they can discuss such things!! Who knows who or what the peelings were used to protect!!!! I thought about trying to catch the lovers, scare the jeepers out of them and then set them down and tell them what mental anguish they put a set of parents thru’! I decided not as it might cause mental problems for the couple. It is probably a couple of teenagers practicing their sex education knowledge!

Two lessons should be learned from this experience: first - if your passion produces peelings, dispose of them correctly - don’t leave them laying around to cause a mother to have a mental breakdown; secondly - check the areas your small children will be using, destroy anything like rattlesnakes, fishing line and hooks or “passion peelings” that may hurt them.

I once saw a bull frog that looked like he had swallowed a “love peeling”, but it turned out to be the way he was made - he was just sounding off.

SkyWatch Friday - Just another sunset.

Last Monday night heading home after spending a day in the mountains, the sun was setting and I made my son-in-law late as I had to stop and take pictures of the setting sun.

He could not believe how the blues created by the shadows of the clouds stood out.  I am always amazed at how quickly the lights change during a sunset or a sunrise.

This next picture was taken just four minutes before the first one.

                                      

Just the end of another wild day in Idaho.

Check out other beautiful pictures of the sky on SkyWatch Friday

Sunset over Snowshoe Butte

I have been challenged to do a daily post for everyday this month - my birthday month.  Today as my son-in-law and I was coming out of the mountains after a day chasing elk and wolves, the sun was setting behind Snowshoe Butte.  The butte is located right on the edge of the Targhee National Forest and BLM lands.

Just the end of another wild day in Idaho.

Roughin' It

The hunt was successful for the week we had in the mountains of Island Park.  We watched and stalked over 30 mule deer.  Here are two I got a picture of.

But most of the deer seen were hidden in the thick brush like this one hidded in the scrub aspen.

Even though the elk season was not open yet, we saw over 40 head of elk.  Here a bull elk clears one of the section fences that divide the BLM and Targhee National Forest grazing allotments.  Several times we almost got run over by elk trying to get away from us.

We also saw small animals and song birds like this chipmunk and White-crowned sparrow.

We still have some hunting to do.  Some whitetailed deer tags and elk tags will insure more wild days for us is Idaho.

If Walls Could Talk

I spent last night and today hiking and exploring the edge of the Big Desert where it meets the Targhee National Forest.  Any excuse to get out in the wilds is good enough for me.  Other than the animals and birds I saw, two old cabins dominated my thoughts.  If only their walls could talk and tell me about their history with their occupants.

The first one is just the walls of a small cabin on Crystal Butte about a half mile from the timber.  It is overgrown with sage brush, but I did find a pile of broken glass bottles and rusty tin cans nearby.  There was also an old crushed wash tub there also.

After "roughing" it out in my unheated camp trailer with tempatures below 20 degrees, listening to the elk bugle and the coyotes howling, I traveled to the Davis Lakes area where I found this old cattle linesman's cabin.  It was in much better shape, but still in bad shape.

The front portion on the cabin, almost half of it, was a coverd porch to store enough fire wood for the occupants.  Inside the old burned out wood stove is filled with thistles and mushrooms, a storage area for pack rats.

While the hand squared logs inside are chinked with mud and saplings cut in fourths with nails and spikes used as hangers.

The front of the cabin looks over Davis Lake #3 in a sagebrush flat with fingers of pine trees on each side of it.

As the sun was setting with another storm rolling in, I wondered just how many untold and forgotten stories these cabins could tell me if only they could talk.

With a week off from school, I plan on roughing it three or four days hunting and more exploring in the wilds of Idaho

Is Winter Here??

Yesterday the temps were near 80 - summerlike.  It started to rain about 5 this morning with a few snow flakes mixed in.  The high was in the low 40's and in the mountains we got snow.  I pulled the camper up to Island Park to set up a deer hunting camp.
Snow was falling, quaking aspen were quaking with cold and after parking the camper, I went after some firewood for the camp.  Everything was wet, so I got some pitchy standing lodgepole pine wood and stored it under the trailer for next week.  Here are a couple of pictures of the snow storm mixed with fall colors.

As I was coming out of the mountains snow was spitting on me as the sun was setting.  The snow storm reflected the beautiful orange and yellow colors for less than two minutes.  I had to stop and shoot different angles of the clouds.

Another wild day in Idaho.

Fall is here

With snow predicted by Wednesday, it is time for the leaves to change and to fall off.  I wish the fall would stay longer with the colorful leaves and the snow would allow the trees to shed their leaves.  I remember when heavy snows come with the leaves still on the aspens, many are broken off because of the heavy snow on the leaves.

Last week I took these pictures of aspens turning in Island Park.

On the desert, the chokecherries are changing with the berries still hanging on.  Does this mean a hard winter?  Does and hard winter mean a lot of snow or just very cold temps with a little snow?

Have a wonderful wild day where ever you are and spend some time outdoors.

Skywatch #2 - Island Park - Henrys Lake

This morning I got up at 4:45 to go to Henrys Lake fishing.  It was partly cloudy and I figured the colors would be fantastic with the sunrise.  I got to the Buffalo River just as the east started to color up.  The deep blue sky with the sun reflecting off the thin clouds was a sight to behold.

Bob, Harry and Ed was already on the water and Bob in the far boat is landing a nice trout.  But the beautiful sunrise beckened me to take a few more pictures.

Here the sun is about to peek over the eastern mountains as verga (rain that does not hit the ground) forms a ray of light shooting up into the cloud.

Sawtelle Mountain stands black on the south side of the lake against the colored sky.

Even without being the first boat on the lake, the fishing was great with brook trout, hybrids and cutthroats coming regularly to my flies.  The best fly was the Light Olive Crystal with the Mity Mouse a close second.  This male 18 inch brook trout has already dawned his spawning colors.  The belly was as orange as the early morning sky.

On the way home I had to stop at Swan Lake near Last Chance to look for the Trumpeter swans, but they had gone elsewhere.

Another beautiful wild day in Idaho.

Huckleberrying and butterflies

On Friday and Saturday I went huckleberrying and hunting for better patches of huckleberries. I found some great patches in the Moody Creek/Heise area on Friday, but on Saturday I headed to Island Park to pick a patch of big berries I found on Wednesday.
On the way across Osbourne Bridge the sun was just rising coloring the fog and the trees appeared like ghosts in the fog. I had to stop and get a picture of the beautiful scene.

After picking two gallons of huckleberries, making five gallons for the week, I noticed a lot of butterflies amoung the flowers along the trail as I walked out. As I watched a female sulphur (pink edges of the wings) feeding on a Yarrow blossum, a male attached itself to her. After flying away they finally roosted on a pine tree where other sulphur males attempted to join the game.

There was a major migration of Fritillaries landing on the clover, goldenrod and yarrow plants along the way. This was a beautiful light colored one with darker one along the way. This was the lightest one I saw.

It was interesting to watch the the different butterflies feeding on the flowers. I noticed several times as they fed, bees and flies would actually attack them - always from behind. I was able to get several picturs of bees hitting the butterflies, sometimes knocking off part of their wings. I tried to find out, but I could not find any material why the bees would do that. Interesting insect behavior.

When I got to a patch of Fireweed, I found a host of bumblebees and Swallowtail butterflies feeding on them. All were so heavy that they would bend the flowers over so they were in the shade - not good for pictures. I got lucky and got this picture of the bumblebee just as it was lifting off the flower.

Just another wonderful day in the life of the school teacher who will start punishing students in four weeks. Wild In Idaho will have other great things to write about!!!! Stay posted.