The Swan Mountains are dead ahead as we travel up the loop road for seven miles to Clearwater Lake. Our hike today takes us around the 120-acre lake through old growth forests. With autumn just beginning, we should get color on the smaller shrubs and plants. What really piqued my interest about this adventure is the chance to see loons. Clearwater Lake serves as the summer home for many ducks and Common Loons. Although late in the season, let’s hope for the best. There is nothing quite like the call of loons!
Pulling over to get a shot of the mountains, this lady greets us by the side of the road. She is a Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis). Especially exciting because I have never seen this particular grouse in my life. Grouse are fascinating in that they rely on camouflage and rock-solid stillness to defy predators–which includes us. Many times you can get within a few feet of a grouse before it flies away with much fanfare. That would be fine today since we see her. When it happens on the trail, not expecting an encounter, it is a heart attack in the making. Sometimes I wonder if groups of grouse get together in the evening and share stories of how they scared the daylights out of hikers.
Another fascinating fact about grouse in the Rockies is that they do migrate–sorta. They usually travel about 10 to 12 miles, perhaps to lower elevations, safer surrounds, better winter feeding grounds. However, they make that journey by walking! Ground birds such as grouse, partridge, and quail are not that fond of flying. You often see them on the ground running faster and faster until there is no choice but flight. But to walk 10 miles to winter habitat, that seems amazing. The Spruce Grouse in particular has feet designed for walking on the ground and along tree limbs. They are usually very hard to find, unless they pop up and scare you to death. So nice of this lady to visit with us today.
The half mile, 100 foot drop trail to Clearwater Lake takes us through a forest of mainly Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, aspen, and tamaracks.
See those light-colored, wispy conifers? The Western larch, called tamaracks, are actually deciduous conifers and lose their needles annually. With that light coloring, they may be starting to turn neon gold. Their last hoorah in autumn before shedding their needles. Come spring large patches of tamaracks seen on the mountainsides have new, neon lime green needles. What a sight.
Wila, the dark brown/black hanging hair lichen (Bryoria fremontii), is all over the conifers, particularly Doug firs. This lichen is an important food source for a number of ungulates (hoofed animals) and rodents. The northern flying squirrel uses Wila to build their nests and feeds on it extensively in the winter. Wila was an important food source for the First Nations particularly in the Flathead Valley just to our west. Wila can also be used for medicinal purposes and when boiled creates a green dye. Since there are similar species that are poisonous to us, we’ll just enjoy the rather Halloween-y effect in the forest today.
Ahh, step out of the woods and we see Clearwater Lake in all its glory. We are looking west, and if it were not for the clouds, we would see the tops of the Mission Mountains straight ahead.
We’ll walk counterclockwise around the lake mostly because I could not find the clockwise trail. But it makes no difference because the entire two-mile hike is mostly flat. Happy day for wimpy folks like me! We’ll start by walking north, then west, then southeast and east, lastly north returning to this spot. I never get over the gorgeous colors of the water!
We’ll be in the forest for a short time then the trail takes us closer to the shoreline. Walking through old-growth forests is magical. Huge, tall trees, lots of ground cover variations, small trees trying to find their place, the smattering of sunlight peeking through the canopy, and the cool, calm environment it all creates.
Winding down for the season, the Common Paintbrush, also called Red or Scarlet Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata), flowers in July and August. Paintbrush commonly hybridize with Alpine and Pale Paintbrush resulting in many colors from this salmon to yellow to pink to bright red. They are an iconic Rocky Mountain plant and stand out with their vibrant colors across the green hillsides each summer.
Wow, just walked down a short trail to the edge of the lake and here’s an unexpected find. A beaver den. When living in lakes they use the bank as their lodge edging.
Just saw a few ducks, but frankly they turned and hid in the grasses. I could not get a good view to ID them. At least we know there are ducks here. Looking across the lake, there’s not a waterfowl to be seen. I had so hoped for loons.
The long-leaved asters still look great, flowering until Oct. We have a visitor collecting the pollen, a Megachile leafcutter bee. Since there are 242 species of leafcutting bees in North America and I’m no entomologist, we’ll leave it at the generic name if that’s OK with you. Too much time going through “bug” books and I start to itch.
The flowers are fading, but the bees are busy. Here’s a bumble bee grabbing what is left in the remains of the Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), a member of the mint family. It is commonly known as “beebalm” since it attracts native bees and other pollinators.
This bridge crosses the very start of the Clearwater River leading to at least five lakes along MT-83 in Swan Valley, including the two largest, Seeley and Salmon Lakes. A gorgeous drive if you find yourself out here visiting Glacier National Park. It is only 1-1/2 hours from the Park to Swan Valley. Definitely worth the trip.
Typical footbridge across streams and creeks in Montana’s State and National Parks.
From here we get a beautiful view of the Swan Range to the south. On the other side of the peaks is one of the largest and longest-protected wilderness areas in the Lower 48. The Bob Marshall Wilderness, lovingly called “The Bob”, was originally three separate Primitive Areas that gained protection in 1931-34. Designated by Congress in 1964, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex consists of 1,062,694 acres including the Great Bear, the Scapegoat, and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Areas.
We continually battle in Montana to keep the wild areas wild, but it has gotten worse since 2016. Wealthy individuals pressuring to privatize the land, some wanting to develop it, others wanting private hunting preserves, still others just want to own it and keep out the “riffraff” (that’s us by the way). Others want to drill and mine and many are not American companies. Then some say just stop protecting the land and let’s see what happens. So much of the “fight” never makes the national news which is particularly distressing.
We must stay aware and stay strong in protecting the magnificent areas where grizzly bear, lynx, wolverine, deer, elk, gray wolf, moose, black bear, mountain lion, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep roam free. Rivers begin their important journey to populated areas in mountains such as these where clean air is still the norm. I hope you’ll support conservation and preservation organizations fighting to protect public lands. Then come and enjoy the magnificence you have helped make possible!
Oh my. Looking straight (east) we see Ptarmigan Mountain, the third highest mountain in the Swan Range at 9,083 feet.
That was scary! So much racket in the tree right overhead. The reason? A juvenile Bald Eagle. It happened so fast I barely got a picture as the eagle took flight. This juvenile, still having white areas on the wings, will be an adult by five years. Then the entire body will be brown with the telltale white head and tail. The fishermen are watching the eagle too.
Since eagles are primarily fish eaters in summer, they can help the fisherpeople locate the fish across this large lake. Small rubber boats and no motors allowed increases the challenge. But these smaller boats are the order of the day when you have to carry them back and forth to the car, half mile each way with 100-foot elevation loss/gain. Must be good fishing, or maybe just a can’t-be-beat quiet, pleasant day on a peaceful lake.
What a sweet “beach” to sit and have lunch. Looking north we cannot see the entire range from here. The south end of the lake will give us that view. Let’s just rest a while, enjoy the cool breeze off the lake, maybe get a little tan, and hope to hear loons.
Heading south, the area is more open to sunlight and more colorful.
This is the third challenge on the trail. Under or over because the density of growth at the ends makes going around impossible. We were able to go over the other two, this one is higher. OK, walk up a bit to the left and we can get over. End of the season means less volunteers for trail work such as cutting downed trees into pieces and clearing the trail.
We haven’t seen too many butterflies today. Here we have wide open areas with sun prevalent and flowers everywhere. The butterflies are loving this area. I think this is a Northern Crescent. Remember I’m no entomologist, just do the best I can. No matter what this little guy is, what a delight to cross paths today.
These small, needle-like blue dragonflies have been around us for a while. They are no bigger than six inches long but catch your eye because of the vivid blue. Entomologist or not, I know this is a boreal bluet damselfly (Enallagma boreale), a cousin of dragonflies. We’ve seen some huge dragonflies along lake’s edge, but they dart so fast a picture is almost impossible. These little one are less frantic in their flight.
Here we are at the southeast end of the lake. Looking north we can see the terminus of the Swan Range. When planning this hike, I didn’t know Clearwater Lake would allow us a view of nearly the entire 99 miles of the western Swan Mountain Front. What a glorious, beautiful surprise!
As we head back into the forest to walk to the car–wait, wait–hear it? How can anyone not! The Common Loons really are here!! Echoing across the lake, against the mountains, through the forest–loud, penetrating. This, my friend, is a true call of the wild!
Back at the car, we have a six-mile drive to the highway on Clearwater Lake Loop Road. The road is narrow, mostly dirt, with a few tight hairpin turns. All the better to go slow and enjoy the forest and mountain views. What a marvelous day at Clearwater Lake—-and loons!
Until next time . . .
