Marty’s photo of the day #4467: Deb (wife), Nellie (dog), and I are back from a three-day stay at the Canyon Creek Cabin in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (west of Melrose, Montana). Since moving to Montana, in 1996, Deb and I have maintained a tradition of renting one or two US Forest Service cabins a year. The Canyon Creek Cabin definitely makes our top-five list. Mostly, however, it was just wonderful to get away from phones, electricity, and the internet.
In the coming days, I’ll feature nature photos from our stay. But first, here’s a picture of the cabin and my Ford Maverick truck (it’s still traumatic getting my new truck absolutely filthy).
The main feature of this cabin is that it sits beside a huge, spectacularly beautiful, sheer mountainside that is rumored to be home for a herd of mountain sheep. Unfortunately, three days of monitoring the cliffs with binoculars failed to produce a single mountain sheep.
Among our best animal sightings was the biggest black bear I’ve ever seen, staring at and then walking past Deb, Nellie, and me at dusk (yes, he/she was close). Also, Nellie found a badger. Nellie and I had just reached the very top of a 7,000-foot-high mountain, when she stuck her nose into some low bushes. She barked and jumped back! Even though we were probably too high for a rattlesnake, that was the first thought to go through my mind. Instead, the badger stormed out of the bushes—directly toward me! Then, when just five feet away, the badger dove into a hole.
More tomorrow.