Happy in Montana: Flotsam and Jetsam

A Flotsam and Jetsam Sunday walk on the North Shore of the Flathead. Officially a waterfowl production area that has wetlands surrounding the shoreline. This area is closed during the spring when the waterfowl are nesting . But at other times of the year a nice walk that my daughter introduced me to.
There is a whole assortment of driftwood from twigs to entire trees. Particularly there is a nice collection of multicolored rocks along the border of the wetlands and the sandy beach. Where the water has retreated , there are multiple water foot prints etched in the sand. We have had some nights in the teens so there is ice for about 50 feet into the lake . It is a windless afternoon but  31 degrees. One would think it would be  quiet but there is the call of the geese over head. More intriguing is the sound of the water moving under the ice , the gurgling , the creaking like a million whispers of something very important. Only Nature knows what was transpiring in those whispers. Between the sandy beach and the singing rocks is a layer of puffy material like peat moss that surrounds and cradles the dried timbers that have washed  ashore. Old bones of once stately trees cushioned in their final resting place.

As I started out that afternoon it was quite blue and sunny but the clouds moved in quickly to turn the colours to a muted palette. It was a great day for a walk . A day to pick through the debris of Summer and Fall .

A Maggie guarding his dinner

Beach reflections

Water foot prints

singing rocks full of color

Walking to the wetlands

Geese over head

Sand sculpture 

cattails

the last of the ancient forest

Sunset from the Eastern Shore

Wetlands  and Foothills

Ice fancy

Timber bodies washed to the north shore