Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Fall colors: the Swan, Middle Fork Flathead

The Swan Range above Holland Lake

Swan Lake reflections 
The larch light up the Swan Lake hillsides


At Essex, the train overpass and Snowslip Mountain in full color
The winds died down sufficiently for us to take our annual Fall color tour around the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex on Monday:  along Montana 200 over Rogers Pass, through Lincoln, up the Swan via Seeley Lake and Swan Lake, on the southern edge of Glacier Park, over Marias Pass, through East Glacier Park and Browning and back to Great Falls via Valier cutoff.
On the Montana 200 portion the larch were plentiful from Ovando on, but somewhat muted.  We had arrived about a week late for the height of color.
Along the Swan, from Salmon Lake on to Glacier, the colors were spectacular and the larch everywhere up the slopes of the Missions and the Swans.
There were still some cottonwoods in color

Katie on the banks of Swan Lake

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