Day 5, Columbia Falls to Butte, 250 Miles

I was back on the road at 7.30am today heading back to Lake McDonald for sunrise. The weather was still overcast but at least it wasn't snowing this time. I left the car in the visitors car park and walked down to the lake. Here is a picture of what lake McDonnald looks like at sunrise. Conditions were better than yesterday however it still wasn't what I was after. Oh well you win some and you lose some.



























Walking back to the car I was looking into the dense trees for signs of Grizzlies, I had read the leaflet the day before so was all briefed on what to do if I saw one...... Don't travel alone - oops rule 1 broken already!! If you see bear poo, turn round and come back the way you came from - nope none of that, don't cause a bear jam (stopping at the side of the road to rubber neck at a bear) cause the people behind can't pass and the people 20 cars down don't even get to see the bear! The final tip was to make lots of noise if faced with a bear, so walking back to the car I was as quiet as I could be!!! I wanted to see a bear, to take its photograph. However I can report that The Glacier bears are camera shy!!

Back at the car it was time to set off on the next leg of my trip. First up was Polson right at the bottom of Flat Head lake.

Now there are 3 simple tips to being a photographer

1. A tiny bit of skill
2. The correct light and
3. An awful lot of luck.

Today was obviously my day....I arrived at Polson and took a wrong turn so pulled into a bank car park to turn around. As I got to the back of the carpark a great view was right there in front of me behind the bank!!! That was luck part one because this view is not seen from the road, luck 2 was with the light. This is the picture that I took when I first got there. The time on my camera was 13.18. I wasn't overly impressed but could tell that the location had potential .....













I put my head down to switch lenses and when I looked up again at 13.20 this was the same picture!!! Luck part 2!!





































So 124 pictures later it was time to set off again down to Butte.

There were 2 things that I kept seeing on the drive down.... Casinos everywhere, in hotels, in restaurants and even in every petrol station that I passed on the way to Butte. Montana must be gambling addiction central!

The other things was signs listing the 10 commandments. Every couple of miles or so there was another one. Maybe there should be an 11th commandment, thou shall not gamble!!

Arriving in Butte after dark I didn't realise how cold it was going to be when I opened the car door. It was already -7 oc at 6 pm!! The weather says it's going to be cold with temperatures at -26 oc come 6am tomorrow!!! Now I have strict instructions to pluc the car in to the electricity if it's colder than -10 oc so here is Dez (Kez's older brother) all hooked up against the cold!!












Apparently it keeps the oil warm or something !! Not sure just doing as I'm told.

I'm planning another early one tomorrow as I'm 2 hours from Yellowstone. Yellowstone is closed to cars for the winter so tomorrows mission is to rent a skidoo, should be fun!

Location:Butte,United States