The hike starts out paved for a short distance and has a few benches along the way to sit down and relax and enjoy the view. We passed an elderly woman taking a little walk along that part of the trail. It then becomes a dirt path for most of the trail. Along the way we didn't see any bear, deer or elk (although I'm sure they are out there) but we ran into numerous chipmunks teasing our border collie, Diego. We also saw a large nest that looked like it could of been an eagle inside it. It was hard to get a good look at him to tell for sure but I included the picture of him for you to decide. We did see two of them flying around close to the nest and they looked like eagles to me. What do you think?
The trail ends up at one of the waterfalls that feeds the lake. This waterfall is at the end of the lake but you can see another one across the lake as you walk along the path. Once you reach the waterfall there is a bridge that goes across it and the trail connects to another trail that goes along the opposite side of the lake. That trail allows horses. We passed some bicyclists while on the trail that told us they were going to take the trail all the way around the lake. My husband, Dale now wants to do that but I don't know if I would be up to that! There are areas on the trail that pass over very rocky spots. I could just see me hitting those spots on a bike and flying down the slope into the lake. Needless to say, I don't trust my biking ability enough. |
| Dale and our border collie, Diego looking down at the waterfall |
We hiked to the waterfall and then turned around and came back the same trail. We didn't chose to go the rest of the way all the way around the lake. Wasn't sure if my old dog, Shadow could make that distance. Yep, I'm blaming it on the old dog. Actually he did real good, I was the one with sore feet by the end. The rest of my muscles were okay though. Trying hard to get into shape so that we can do some of the harder and steeper hikes that are in the Bitterroot Valley. There are numerous hiking trails all up and down the valley. I will attempt to blog about those other hikes as we do them. Now here comes the plug for our lovely cabins: If you are coming to visit the beautiful Bitterroot Valley in western Montana, check out staying in one of our cozy and relaxing cabins. We are located in the country only three miles from the small downtown of Corvallis and three miles from the town of Hamilton. Hamilton has nice restaurants, galleries, shops, and the grocery stores. To see what our cabins look like and to book them go to our website: www.wildernessspiritcabins.lodgify.com
