Island Lake

Island Lake is just upstream from Mystic and to reach it, crossing a large log jam is required.

It really is worth the trouble, though. (and I say this even though I fell in the water after a log I stepped on gave way under my weight!)

Island Lake is a beauty with lots of fabulous campsites. It is a good sized lake covering 144 acres, but it is shallow - mainly about 15 feet deep. We didn't catch anything here, but we enjoyed taking off our boots and walking on the sandy shore!

One last look at Island from the log jam. We had to get back to our camp at Mystic Lake.

Huckleberry Lake in the Beartooth Mountains

Huckleberry Lake is about 1 mile above the wooden bridge where Huckleberry Creek feeds into Mystic Lake, but is about 6 miles from the Mystic Lake Power Plant . It is on a common route for mountain climbers heading for Granite Peak, the tallest mountain in Montana.

There is a pretty good trail most of the way, then it turns into a boulder scramble (not my favorite thing).

The lake itself is little more than a wide spot in Huckleberry Creek. We had heard there were some big rainbows there, but we didn't have any luck.

We did have luck with the huckleberries, however!

Getting back to our camp at Mystic Lake was slow on account of all the perfectly ripe huckleberries we saw all along the way. They were especially ripe and ready in the vicinity of Huckleberry Creek. Yum!

Mystic Lake in the Beartooth Mountains

The trailhead to Mystic Lake is the West Rosebud.
Above, is a picture taken from Emerald Lake, near the trailhead.
This is a popular area with several Forest Service campgrounds.
The trail to Mystic is only 3 miles, so makes a great day hike - also very popular.

We took my 10 year old nephew, Pablo on his first backpacking trip to Mystic Lake. This is one of the largest lakes in the Beartooth Mountains, at 434 acres. There is a dam at the outlet, generating electricity for the community below.
We camped along the North shore for two nights.

We dayhiked to a couple of other lakes in the area, but didn't catch fish until the last morning at Mystic. We caught 3 nice sized Rainbow trout and took them home for supper.

Mail Art Project - Week Two

This week's Mail Art is pieced from random hand dyed, block printed scraps. The Fritillary butterflies are screen printed. I made a Thermofax screen from a photo I took while hiking in the Beartooth Mountains.

Group Photo Quilt at Yellowstone Quilt Fest

This group quilt debuted at Yellowstone Quilt Fest in Cody last month.

A photo of Becker Lake in the Beartooths (taken by me last summer) was enlarged and divided into 15 sections. Each participant received a part to recreate in fabric.

It turned out far better than I ever imagined possible. The parts were made by members of Tagy and WAV. Linda Jackson organized this. She chose the photo, distributed sections, and then put them together and bound it.

Skylines at Yellowstone Quilt Fest in Cody

The Skylines Challenge was displayed at the Yellowstone Quilt Fest in Cody.

Each participant had the same sky fabric to work with, and was required to show between 6 and 18" of it at the top of their quilt. The size limit was 12" to 36".

It creates an interesting visual display - no?

This quilt challenge was sponsored by Kathy Lichtendahl and Jeanne Knudsen, both of Wyoming.

Yellowstone Quilt Fest

Yellowstone Quilt Fest was held in September in Cody, WY.
I am finally getting some pictures from the show up on my blog.
These pictures show my entries. Above, Chickadee Spring, below, my Red Wing Blackbirds is in about the center top.

This piece is called Blue Bear.

Mail Art Project - Week One

Fiber Art Postcards: handpainted cotton, block printed, screen printed,
machine quilted, hand embroidered, glass beads.

Mail Art Project Launches!

Today, I have launched my Mail Art Project. This is an idea I came up with
during a creative slump in my studio.
As I transition from summertime outdoor recreation and home improvement project mode into chilly weather indoor creative time - I usually have a period of self doubt and restlessness. This year, I found myself with additional distractions related to family matters. Feeling somewhat helpless due to distance - I decided to try to reach out to selected family members living far away. I wanted to be able to connect without being invasive and I decided to mail a small art postcard every Monday for the next year!

I have chosen 3 distant family members to be year-long recipients for this project.

Here is what I have written on the first postcards:

You have been chosen as a weekly recipient for my "Mail Art Project".

I have challenged myself to create a small piece of mailable art and to send it
by mail every Monday for the next year.

This first group was mailed on Monday, October 4.

I have one extra postcard this week and I will happily mail it to one of my blog readers.
If you would like to be a Mail Art recipient for this or future mailings, please send your name and snail mail address to my email - please put Mail Art in the subject line. I will draw one name at random each time I have an extra piece to go out. You will only need to send your name and mailing address to me once - I will just keep them all in a folder on my laptop. You can find my email by checking my profile.

Milbert's Tortoise Shell Butterfly

We saw a lot of these Milbert's Tortoise Shell Butterflies in the Lake Fork Valley.

They were everywhere, giving me a lot of opportunities to get a good picture!

I don't know which one I like best!

I will definitely use one or more of these in future work!

Beartooth Mountain Moose

Our third day, we hiked out after breakfast. About halfway between Keyser Brown Lake and the Lake Fork Trailhead, we were startled by this moose family that was just 20 feet off the trail.

It is rare to see a bull, cow and calf all together in one spot.

We didn't spend too much time lingering there, they started acting like we were disturbing them. I was hiding behind a truck sized boulder and peering around to take my pictures.

Descent from Sundance Pass

Here are a few more images from the trail.

September Morn Lake (above) and First and Second Rock Lakes (below) looked quite different in the afternoon light.

The Indian Paintbrush pic (below) was taken after we got back to our camp at Keyser Brown Lake.

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Stonecrop and Fritillary

Stonecrop - a type of Sedum, appears to be popular with the Fritillary butterflies.

My research indicates this is a Variegated Fritillary.

Wildflowers on the Lake Fork Trail

Sulphur Buckwheat

Monkey Flowers

Gnophaela Vermiculata

We took our time on the return hike from Sundance Pass to our base camp.

We were able to enjoy the spectacular wildflowers and especially the many insects we saw among the flowers.

I had to do quite a bit of research to identify this striking moth.
It is from the tiger moth family.

This moth is found throughout the Rocky Mountains.

We've seen the Gnophaela Vermiculata nearly everywhere we have hiked or camped in the Beartooths this summer.