We took a drive through the valley where low lying clouds made us wonder if Montana is really heaven.

It made us want to buy a house on Foys Lake and stay here forever.

We marveled at the Hungry Horse Dam.

Named that for the legend of the two horses, Tex and Jerry, who were lost  from a pack string in treacherous terrain  in the fall of 1900. Everyone thought for sure they’d be dead, but the showed up days later gaunt and emaciated. “That must be a hungry horse country up there,” a local sage noted… and so they named the town Hungry Horse.

Then had a picnic on the stony beach of Lake McDonald next to a pure glacier melt stream (our can of bear spray was kept handy at all times).

Then took Angie for a walk at Lone Pine State Park where we got a birds eye view of the whole valley.  (see rain falling in the distance?)

Where we learned how important watersheds are for the survival of people, trees, plants and animals. 

Something that city dwellers like us can easily take for granted.

The glacier melt flows through the watershed to Flathead Lake where the the delicious cherries are grown that we were able to sample on our ride up here from Missoula.

🙂