Porcupine Creek near Big Sky Montana a couple weeks ago

This trail offers several options once you get back into it about a mile or more with the routes on the maps and not so formal routes created by mountain bikers along the front of the ridge line to your left as you go in on #34, the Porcupine Creek Trail.  Almost 2 mls. in you can split to the right on Porcupine Meadows trail which I did in previous years and it offers some great views across the valley of Lone Peak and the  southern edge of the Spanish Peaks along a relatively moderate hike.
A few miles into #34 your hiking mostly in forest however it opens often with views of mountains and the beautiful Porcupine Creek on your right as you go in.

These pictures are of some of the animals we did see along the walk that day.  You may need to click on the photo to enlarge them for a clearer view of the mule deer and squirrel.

And, if we had seen what left this print I hope we would have had been so far away you'd have to take our word for it!

Hiking in Montana

Hello, and Wow!  What another awesome week of appreciating the Rocky Mountains in Montana on foot (Oct. 11th-18th).  I have been fortunate and lucky enough to revisit this area of SW Montana over the last few years and hike a bunch while doing so.  This year "The Mysterious One", was able to come along and see what I have been telling her about since I rekindled this contact with old friends and schoolmates in MT.
The difficulty of these trails we hiked is described in terms of someone in good health, including a healthy lung and heart capacity to utilize the thinner air, and of course muscular endurance.
I note these things as important because some of the trails we hiked around the Big Sky area began at over 5000' in elevation, were consistent in the incline up to higher elevations, and we dealt with both snow and mud which added to the amount of energy needed to cover the walks we took.  The energy level was not only the physical strength but also the bodies ability to process the thinner levels of oxygen and keep those muscles from cramping.  We snacked on GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts+), fruit and nut bars with real fruit and nuts, and packed some healthy sandwiches for lunch at the turnaround points each day. 
These pictures are from some of the hikes we took, two of them new to me included completing the Deer Creek trail and hiking the Corbly Gulch trail out of Bozeman.  The hike to Moon Lake via the Deer Creek Trail was over 10 mls, with half of that an incline on a sometimes rocky or muddy trail, but well worth the effort.  So, I would describe all but the Porcupine Creek hike as difficult just to error on the side of caution.

This photo below is looking out into the Gallatin Valley from about 3 mls. up the Corbly Gulch Trail.  This trail is used a bunch by locals both on bikes and foot and will take you to the pass just below Sacajawea Peak in the Bridger's.
The mountain bikers outnumbered the hikers the day we were on it 3-1.  There was both snow and sunshine as we  hiked this trail, much like the Smokies in how we may have rain and partly cloudy skies on a day hike.  And maybe more than once depending on the length of the hike.

On this Corbly Gulch trail we were able to view the vast size of the Gallatin Valley.
Over the week we saw lots of animals but no bears only this print about 5.5 mls into a hike on the Porcupine Creek Trail.  Funny, we were about to sit down and eat and turn around anyway.  Which is what we did with much more awareness as we had our sandwiches and rested for a few minutes. 

This week was another reminder and motivator for me to speak out and participate in preserving and protecting those vital systems to our survival as a species.  The earth will survive without us just fine.