Heavy rain added to melted runoff from a huge spring snow dump to bring flooding to Yellowstone National Park. News videos showed how powerful nature can be, razing bridges, uprooting trees and washing away cabins.
When we arrived in Big Sky a few days later, we found rivers definitely carrying more water than we have ever seen in the area, but nothing out of control.
In fact, it all turned out to be quite beautiful, as you can see in these videos and photos from Ousel Falls Trail.
Holding my camera in the wrong position for the first video created the "youtube short" linked here, because it cannot be embedded like these others, but it is part of the quiet beauty that has been amplified by the additional water. Coming on the heels of a bit of drought that climate cycles bring, the extra water will be welcome to Big Sky.
Hike Through the Field from Ousel Falls Road to South Fork Loop Trail
When Julie flew to Seattle to be with her sister Cheryl one final time, I began a walk that took me across the same field where I hiked in the snow en route to the South Fork Loop Trail.
The South Fork of the West Fork of the Gallatin River looked more like a bold river than the rambling creek it usually seems to be.
Hiking back along the southwest side of the field gave a nice elevated view of the river.
When Julie returned home, we decided to hike down to the river from the field, and while we were able to follow the river for a few hundred yards, we found any semblance of a trail was either washed out or restricted by obstacles like bushes with thorns and steep cliffs. Scaling back up the hillside from that dead end required channeling our inner mountain goats.
Before church on Sunday, we decided to again hike through that field over toward South Fork Loop, but this time we didn't try to find a short cut across the river. Rather than going on the Loop trail, we hiked right next to the river on a small trail that eventually dead ended in the river that had been a creek last summer.
At church, we prayed for Julie's sister Cheryl whose life seems to have reached its earthly end. In something of a reflection of the climate cycle that brought rain to what had been dry, the minister baptized his baby granddaughter with water in a lovely ceremony attended by several of their family members, a nice reminder that life carries on. It's all part of God's plan.
Crail Ranch Trail by the Golf Course
An easy hike on days when we go to the post office or Country Market is Crail Ranch Trail that runs beside the golf course, providing distant views of Lone Peak, which I have mentioned as being in a painting that hung above the kitchen table in my childhood home.
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