Return to Blodgett Canyon

A beautiful warm day when we start our hike

Since my last post I went back to the Blodgett trailhead with a friend of many years, Dona and her Aussie-Border Collie mix Sydney.  She has lived in Hamilton with her husband, Phil, for some time and from what I hear, knows about every trail around here.  We chose the Canyon View for a short hike of about two miles.  One that is not very steep and has some awesome views.

Dona and Sydney

So back out the dirt road arriving late morning and to a sunny, albeit smokey warm day.  We immediately tackled our challenge climbing up the trail.  Sydney was amazing, you can tell she has gone many times and has developed a preference for what types of holes to investigate, looking for that stray squirrel or rodent.

Dona pointed out some Huckle Berries along the way.  I was surprised no one had eaten them as they were right along the trail and easy picken’.

On arriving at the top of the trail a spectacular view opened up on the back side of the mountain, overlooking the canyon as far as you could

Looking Into Idaho – Blodgett Canyon

see.  It was definitely worth the work to get there.  Unfortunately smoke from the forest fires burning in Washington was washing over the mountains, leaving a haze in the air and limiting the view.

As we were admiring the view we noted a set of rather ominous black clouds moving over the mountains and down the valley so we decided to hightail it back down to the trailhead.  About half way down it started, rain.  Hmm, here I am not prepared as all my gear was in the Coach, which was at the RV Dealer in Missoula.  The thunder and lightening started and I told Dona to run ahead as Sydney was afraid of thunder,

Within a very short time the droplets were becoming quite large and more frequent. I thought to myself, I am going to get drenched, along with my camera.  Almost as quickly as it started though, the rain stopped just as I was nearing the trailhead and Dona waiting with Sydney.  The sun came out and dried my clothes and we finished the trek to the car in the fresh mountain air.

Safe Travels until next time, Gary