Running on ...

Short but gorgeous

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Thu, 30 May 2019 04:31:00 +0000

No new pics but three days of truncated runs, two in the sculpture park and one out on the snowmo trail.

For some reason the type in the dashboard here is tiny, so I'm not going to say much ... The loops in the park were great, and there were several visitors in there even at an early hour (7:30-ish). Replenished the brochure supply (was down to one after one day!).

All the trots were about two miles, so ...

6; 6; 6; 18

Rain continues

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sat, 25 May 2019 16:39:00 +0000

It rained quite a bit in the past 12 hours or so, so my snowmobile routes were a bit muddy — and occupied by ATVs doing some kind of poker run this morning. As a result I went back to Sculpture Park, which was a good thing because the kiosk was down to the last brochure. I filled it up and zigzagged all over the park, avoiding the "hilly" spots for fear of slipping on wet ground.

Beautiful morning — 50 degrees or so and overcast — with a three or four families wandering around looking at the art. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Probably watch movies this afternoon while cleaning house.

2; 12; 12; 12

Repeat performance

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Fri, 24 May 2019 16:30:00 +0000

This is the gate about half a mile from the parking area. Someone ran into it earlier this spring, and someone else put a chain up to cover some of the damage. It's at least another mile to Keep Cool crossing.

Met a couple out walking their little dog on the return trip.

3; 10; 10; 10

Trotting again

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Tue, 21 May 2019 16:26:00 +0000

Feeling better after a month or so of walking a lot with Jazzy the corgi, so I went to the Sculpture park and ran around on the trails in there. Felt surprisingly good considering I hadn't run in more than a year (see post below).

This post represents three days of running — two at the park and one to Keep Cool Creek (above photo).

Conservatively the looping jogs around the Blackfoot Pathways Sculpture in the Wild park were two miles apiece. One was drizzly, the other was sunny.

The third day (May 23) I went out to the snowmobile trails east of town and went all the way to the Keep Cool Creek crossing, a good mile and a half out. The picture above is that creek.

7; 7; 7; 7

Back to the creek

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Wed, 16 May 2018 18:54:00 +0000

This is a powerline that crosses the Keep Cool Creel trail before you get to the stranded footbridge. I just thought the sun on the wires was kind of cool.

Here's my breakfast guest. He's hanging around regularly and I'm pretty sure he's an immature one ... maybe a year.

The creek is not only going around the bridge but also going up the road where the creek is diverted.

I ran farther up the right fork today, so I'm calling it four.

I got a stress EKG on Thursday and go back on Monday for further testing (a little bit of blockage), and the doc said I should lay low through the weekend, so no more running until I get back on Tuesday.

4; 9.5; 46.5; 59.5

Warmer; other direction

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Tue, 15 May 2018 18:37:00 +0000

The Tall Man is back, saying howdy from Keep Cool Creek north of Lincoln. The weather is warming up so the creeks probably will go up, too (they've gone down a bit in thepast four or five days). According to TV news the crests should hit around Friday. I've been watching them very closely lately, so I should be able to see how accurate the TV folks are.

I went west again from the same parking area as yesterday (when I went east). Felt great.

This is a good view of the stranded footbridge over Keep Cool. No critters today

3.5; 5.5; 42.5; 55.5

Other direction (east)

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Mon, 14 May 2018 21:17:00 +0000

At the beginning of today's run (to the east on the snowmobile trail) is what must have been hunters' gut pile ... now a bone yard.

Nothing is smelly, so it's probably been there for more than a year. Anyway, I went a good two miles east, and it's uphill all that way. I took an altimeter reading at the turnaround spot and it was 5,040. Down where I parked was 4,640, so a 400-foot climb.

This is the turnaround spot at the powerline crossing, the high point of the route.

Beautiful day, and there were elk tracks around but no critters.

This is the road along the way. Wet spots were a little slippery and reminded me of conditions in early April of 2016 when I wrecked me knee. Interestingly a month and a ahalf later.

4; 4; 38; 52

Another beauty

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sun, 13 May 2018 23:55:00 +0000

Repeated yesterday's trot on a gorgeous40-something day. The creek — and some of the flooded streams in the area — has receded a bit. A friend from Missoula says the Weather Service predicts the streams will rise again later this week as temps rise. There is still a lot of snow in the mountains around here.

The picture is of some cottonwood saplings on Keep Cool Creek (near the stranded footbridge), and their buds are redolent with the aroma that makes Missoula a delight in the spring. My old friend Hal always said: "If you could bottle that smell you'd make a million bucks.

No elk today. Felt pretty good.

3.5; 18.5; 34; 48

Beautiful morning; elk

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sat, 12 May 2018 17:24:00 +0000

It is nice out today, and the floodwater is receding. My creek (at the house) is high and murky, but the Blackfoot and Keep Cool Creek both were down a tiny bit ... the levels were about the same, but the water was clarifying a bit.

If you look closely at the middle of the above photo, you'll see a remnant of a herd of elk. I counted no fewer than 50. Amazingly, my turnaround was maybe five minutes past the elk, and when I came back buy about 12 minutes later, they were nowhere to be seen.

My turnaround (the stranded footbridge in picture) was the usual at Keep Cool, and not far from the elk.

4; 15; 30.5; 44.5

Flooding

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Fri, 11 May 2018 17:05:00 +0000

I ran later today, because it was cold and wet at the usual early time.

This was the southward view from Stemple Pass Road bridge over the Blackfoot. The water is gushing out of the Community River Park.

I ran toward Keep cool but turned around short of the stranded footbridge.

3; 11; 26.5; 40.5

Slight extension of yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Wed, 09 May 2018 17:47:00 +0000

This is just on the way to my flooded turnaround. Note the snow-covered mountains in the distance — mountains just west of my usual Stonewall.

Today I took the right fork of the road/trail, then looped back past the flooded Keep Cool Creek. Felt good; nice day (high clouds, temps in the 40s).

Looks as if the Beck is having fun in Ireland ... nice pics from sculpture parks over there.

4; 8; 23.5; 37.5

Water water everywhere ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Wed, 09 May 2018 00:13:00 +0000

The Keep Cool Creek footbridge up the snowmobile trail is stranded on an island, and the water is rising.

High school kids are filling sandbags at Hooper Park today.

This is where the water from a fork of Poorman Creek has left its banks and is flowing west across the Stemple Pass Road.

Another beautiful day — no rain, but more is on the way.

After my run I spent a few hours showing a woman named Joyce from the Envision Lincoln group a few of my favored trail alternatives. A town meeting is tomorrow night.

4; 4; 4; 33.5

Sick deer gone

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sun, 06 May 2018 13:09:00 +0000

Disappearing Creek is noisy and flowing, but the sick little deer I saw there a few days earlier was nowhere in sight.

Another beautiful morning, what is seeming normal right now: morning temps in the 30s, rising to 40s by my finish and even as high as 70 later in the day. Feeling better, but very tired afterward.

This rotting log, in the vicinity of the road cracks last year, is where I turned around. No one else up there, and no critters in sight.

I have photographed this ruddy log many times in all kinds of weather. It's getting less photogenic as time goes by.

4; 19.5; 19.5; 29.5

Back to Keep Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sat, 05 May 2018 17:09:00 +0000

Keep Cool Creek is really roaring down from the mountains north of the Blackfoot Valley. I went up the right fork of the road today just to see how far up that way I could go. Turns out it was about the same as last time I did that route during high water.

This was where I turned around today, at least two miles from my car. The road was too wet to go farther.

I met Laura the FS road runner that I've met on roads around the area. We chatted for a few seconds.

Also, had a pair of buffleheads on my creek this morning. The fled before I could photograph them.

4; 15.5; 15.5; 25.5

Up on the contour road

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sat, 05 May 2018 16:59:00 +0000

This picture is a mixed bag — because of runoff my Disappearing Creek has appeared, all the way from the top to the bottom. Sadly, the little deer in the middle of the picture looked to be on its death bed. It was lying in the grass as I approached — I didn't even see it. Then it staggered to its feet and kind of stumbled across the creek when I stopped to take a picture. It didn't appear to have any wounds, so I guessed that its mom had died earlier and it was starving. In any case, I'll look again tomorrow when I go back up there.

This stump was my nondescript turnaround spot this day. We're having a run of perfect running weather — 30s when I start; 40s when I finish.

This is the "mouth" of Disappearing Creek, where it comes out into a small ditch on the uphill side of Stemple Pass Road. It flows a short distance down (toward the Blackfoot) to a culvert where it is taken across to Poorman Creek.

3.5; 11.5; 11.5; 21.5

Keep Cool flooding

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Thu, 03 May 2018 17:46:00 +0000

This is looking across the flooded Keep Cool Creek to where the road/trail should be (west). This is just above the footbridge.

What appears to be a small tree- and bush-covered island in the center of the picture is actually the little footbridge that is usually the way across Keep Cool Creek. It would be a wet crossing today.

It was in the 30s when I ran, but it's headed into the 60s. Beautiful. Felt good and went a little farther than I have, pulled by the creek crossing about which I was curious.

3.5; 8; 8; 18

And again ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Wed, 02 May 2018 15:56:00 +0000

So this little tunnel remnants are around on the ground where the snow has melted. Some rodent — mice? voles? ground squirrels? — made them beneath the snow during the long winter.

My computer has started doing something strange with picture downloads ... I seem to be unable to choose where they go when downloaded from email. This one and the next were dug out of the download folder, where they seem to go regardless of what I want.

This is Fin Jaakko Pernu's picture frame, which still is one of my favorite pieces at the Blackfoot Pathways Sculpture in the Wild park. He also made the double helix gateway to the park off of Montana 200, just last summer.

Today I added a little extension on the run outside the park at the west end. I went up Sucker Creek Road a few yards then up the snowmobile track on what would be 5th Street to the 25 mph sign.

2.5; 4.5; 4.5; 14.5

Around the park again

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Tue, 01 May 2018 13:48:00 +0000

This is te Noellynn Pepos' Of Earth and Sky and Places In Between. It's an odd and unusual metal piece for the Blackfoot Pathways Sculpture in the Wild. She died last year, sadly.

Chris Drury's Ponderosa Whirlpool is almost out of the snow.

The village that is part of the Gateway installation was particularly vibrant in the clear air and interesting light.

Beautiful morning, light rain and cool-ish.

I felt good; have started a vitamin regimen that includes some D vitamin. And it's a new month!

2; 2; 2; 12

Blackfoot rising

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 23:26:00 +0000

This isn't from my run in thte sculpture park today. Rather it's looking toward Stemple bridge from the entrance to the new Community River Park. Pretty obvious why the land never sold for development!

Did a full circuit in light rain in the BPSW. Since I resupplied the kiosk yesterday, 16 brochures had been taken. Lots of visitors, including one while I was there.

2; 10; 10; 10

Quick park circuit

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 23:05:00 +0000

This was Missoula artist Casey Schacter's structure, built last summer. Morning light is interesting on it.

I did a quick circuit in the park before going to Missoula for lunch with Nora and picking up Victor Charlo's poetry book for possible use in the composition that Adele O'Dwyer is planning for the summer. She wanted some of his poetry and Nora was able to find it at her book store. The book, "Put Sey" (Good Enough) even was signed!

2; 8; 8; 8

In the Sculpture Park this day

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 22:52:00 +0000

The exterior of the Tree Circus looks good as I ran around in the park this day.

The structure keeps the snow inside the Circus from being melted yet.

The Ponderosa vortex is about half out of the snow. Beautiful mornings

2; 6; 6; 6

Staying on the dirt

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 22:46:00 +0000

Friday's trot stayed off the ice for the most part, which meant I trotted west till the dirt gave out, then turning back to the east and going past my car on the trail to the east until, again, I hit the ice. This is looking back to the east from my first turnaround apot.

This is a 180-degree turn from the photo on top. This is the "dirt" road back to the east. Beautiful morning, low 30s and clear.

Here the signs list the rules of using this road, a snowmobile trail much of the yeaar.

2;4; 4; 4

First run after a winter of snow

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 18:02:00 +0000

Went out the low snowmobile trail (state land, where I've seen elk and wolves in recent years). It was mostly dry until I got up the first hills and then it was ice and/or snow... even a little slippery.

I felt surprisingly good considering I haven't run since fall. I turned around just because it seemed like I should, but I probably could have gone farther.

It was chilly — 29 when I started. Not sure how this route will be when it's warmer (like this afternoon). I hope to do this daily for the next 6 or 7 weeks before my reunion and hiking with Carlo and Swi in Colorado, in mid-June.

2; 2; 2; 2

Humbug in light snow

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 18:59:00 +0000

Went to the Contour Road to check if all the recent earthquakes had had any effect on the cracks in the road, it being near the epicenter of probably 20 temblors. The answer was no. It was a chilly day up there, though, and I wore an orange vest, it being hunting season.

The cracks are still visible, but they're slowly filling in.

Here is Disappearing Creek (on my way back down) with a little snow on it. Temp was in the 20s most of the way, though it warmed to 30 by the time I got to the bottom.

4; 4; 7; 398

Smoke free and back at it

noreply@blogger.com (Mose) — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 19:11:00 +0000

Well, there still are a few embers up on the mountains, but the fires are gone, the air is clear and the guests are gone. No more excuses for not running, so today I returned to the Contour Road and managed a painless three miles.

The aspen along the way are prime right now, as this closeup attests.

This is the little grove from which we pulled a few saplings more than a year ago. The closeup above is at the far end, in the sunshine.

These are the mystery plants that I'm going to try harder to transplant next summer. They have tiny bell-shaped flowers that smell heavenly and last all summer, and it turns out they turn a nice color in the fall, too.

Nice morning — 29 degrees, clear and a light breeze. Felt remarkably good; will try to go earlier tomorrow.

3; 3; 3; 394