Feb. 24th – 25th

Destination Woods Cabin,
An early morning soak on the schedule but first a repeat hike on the NFS road. And in the snow, prints from the forest that are big and round and are Cougar prints to start the day. East on Highway 12 “Lewis and Clark Highway” to Lolo and junction south on 269 detouring briefly to visit Stevensville with the Creamery Antiques Mall. Amazingly this old packed place does not seem to have any dust.

What will become a traditional, stops at Chapter One Bookstore (book browse) and Big Creek Coffee Roasters (for net browse).

Sunny arrival Woods Cabin with the long wooden decks overlooking Lake Como in the Bitterroot Mountains. Sounds set the theme for the cabin visit. Some common sounds such as Branta canadensis, or the breeze through the conifers,
but there is something else, an intermittent low irregular rumble…the lake is grumbling! It mostly grumbles but also pops.

At the east end of Lake Como is the Lake Como Dam which proves and easy early evening walk accompanied by wags and the lake grumbles.

The Lake Como Trail is a loop but the north side of lake has deep snow. But the popular 8 mile hike on the south side (up and back) is snow free until the far west end. There the snow is packed to the bridge but further foot steps fall through. Above the bridge the trail plateaus over a small meadow and a waterfall. Any more progress on the trail is a danger. A white rabbit breaks and runs. The lake grumbles.