If anyone is having problems with the page loading due to the large photos, let me know. I’ve resized most of these, and I’m posting them as medium instead of large, so hopefully that will help.

These were all taken while we hiked up the Columbia Mountain Trail between Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse.

Dan and I both thought that this rock layer was neat. I think this is a layer of low-grade marble that would have been formed by a layer of cooling magma that baked a layer of limestone. The heat also drives out all organic material which bleaches the layer. I could be wrong though, Geology isn’t my forté and I couldn’t find any info that pertains to this particular area.

A cute purple flower with silvery leaves that is as yet unidentified, because I packed my Montana Wildflower identification book. Stupid me! :X

A Glacier Lily (Erythronium gradiflorum)

Melting snow has to go somewhere, right?

This is Teakettle Mountain; so named because prior to the 1929 Half-Moon fire that denuded it, the tree formation looked like a teakettle. Later, I’ll try to scan an old photo of Teakettle before the fire.

And just a view of the valley from about a mile up the trail.