Black Leaf Canyon

Lacey patterns of snow grace the cliff bottom.
Herd of mule deer next to the road on the way to the canyon.
These twin spires gaurd the entrance to the canyon.
Someone had walked into the canyon a few days before I was there. Some of their tracks remained.
Snow was falling and landing on my camera lens. You can see the white dots in this photo.
The colors in these rock cliffs are amazing. My grandma could paint these walls so they looked so beautiful! She lived under a reef like this, and knew it's moods each day.
The sounds of the creek were magical inside the canyon walls. I wish I could get Robert to walk with me, so he could have heard this also. He sits in the car and waits for me. He misses a lot. On the other hand, that allows me time alone in the mountains, which I love. It's hard to describe what it's like to be inside a canyon like this, alone, to hear the sounds, smell the smells, and feel the wilderness...
This is looking down country from inside the canyon. I walked a ways back into the canyon, but chickened out when I ran into bear scat.
This is the trail going back into the Bob Marshall, made me wish I was on my my horse, headed in...
This is the road heading toward the trail head at the canyon.
And here was a star fish on the mountain!
These crocus were fresh and their color was rich. They hadn't opened up yet.

To see more of our photos from this trip. I've uploaded a few hundred to flikr! There are many more photos of the avocets, the horses and mules, and the scenery.

Hope you enjoyed the trip!
Donna Ridgway

Hardy Creek area and River Road from Cascade to Ulm

We had some worrisome news yesterday, and couldn't bear to stay around this place, so we headed out toward Great Falls, McDonalds, and a great photo shoot. Those are the times when you most feel the need to create, so here are these photos for you to see.

Our trip began on the back road to town, where we realized we were starving. I had my favorite chicken nuggets and honey mustard sauce and Robert had his favorite, cheeseburger! From there, we headed up past the airport, down the back roads to Ulm, and from there, took the old highway to Hardy Creek.

At that point, Robert thought we might come home again, but I convinced him we still had an hour or so of light and we ought to take advantage of it, since we were all ready "out there".

We took the back road to Cascade, ordered some meat at Cascade Meats, and from there, crossed the river, deciding we'd take the first road that turned left.

Ended up on River Road! A delightful road to poke along, looking for photos. It's very difficult nowdays, to get photos of Square Butte, with no houses, power lines, or commercial enterprises ruining the view. From River Road, I was able to satisfy that urge to show a "pure" Square Butte, I wanted it to look like it might have when Charlie Russell saw it in the old days.

Eagles were fishing along the river, and sitting in the cottonwood trees along the road. Wild turkeys scratched at the base of trees, and deer watched us go by. The moon came out in the late afternoon sky...Robert spied an old Buick in a yard, and all in all, it was a great trip!

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The photos here are just a teaser to maybe get you interested in seeing the remainder of photos on my flickr site.
Donna Ridgway
Email me at artistreferencephotos@gmail.com
Nature of Montana Photo blog.
Photos and art studio blog.

Gypsy Basin Road

This is Gypsy Basin. Years ago, Robert and I discovered this place, but later on, couldn't remember how we got here, or what the name of the place was! It's taken us about 5 years to find it again. It was worth the wait, it's just as magical now, as it was then.
This is The Old Man of the Mountain. If I had to choose a favorite mountain, I guess he would be mine.
I could guess we saw 500 deer on the way to Gypsy Basin. We drove through slowly, but they still thought they had to jump the fence.
The Rockport Hutterite colony is along the way to Gypsy Basin. We love to stop at the colonies to buy vegetables, homemade sticky buns, and lots of other goodies!


Nothing makes me happier than to see a long, enticing road stretching before me!


This coyote was way off in the distance, very wary! He ran away even though he was a mile off!


At the start of our trip, we went by the game farm. When this guy was 7 years old, his dad asked what he wanted to do when he grew up. At 7 he replied, "I want to raise camels!" And now he raises camels, his lifelong dream. Some of these camels appeared in the "Weeping Camel" movie. We met these people when they brought the camels to a western feed store grand opening.
Some of the elk from the game farm, one of them lets you pet her, the bull tries to stick his antlers through the fence to poke holes in your body, watch out for him!
The eagles were fishing. There are more photos from this trip on my facebook photo site. Become a fan while you're there!
Hope you've enjoyed Gypsy Basin! I can't give exact directions to this place, but when you are heading north toward Dupuyer, Mt, about 10 miles before you get to Dupuyer, look for a road that heads west, it's actually named, Gypsy Basin Road. Imagine that? LOL. I have no idea why we lost that road for five long years.... I suppose it was because the day we first found the basin, we took several other roads before we got to the basin.
Donna Ridgway

Email me at artistreferencephotos@gmail.com
Nature of Montana Photo blog.
Photos and art studio blog.