Spring's Progress

Oh, beautiful Mount Jumbo with such a funny-sounding elephant name!  The translations of the Salish name, Sin Min Koos, "obstacle" and "thing in the way," align pretty well with the reclining elephant that European American settlers saw from the area where Missoula is now.  Away from the blocky town-side view, though, the spring walk up and down from the saddle winds and at time bolts straight up and down through flowers in bunch grass, gravel, and ponderosa/doug fir forest.  Jumbo over here is not an elephant shape or a thing in the way.

One 
favorite bend in the trail 
offers first views of town 
on the way up









and

views of the 
Rattlesnake Peaks on the way down.






 





The balsamroot extravaganza
is starting
and
the lupine,
polemonium,
and prairie smoke
are opening.

 

More Spring Flowers and Wally Small

This spring is dry.  The wildflowers are blooming against a beiger background, but they are popping up.  The larkspur are about in various stages of bloom.

And erigeron are starting to bloom on the gravelly part of the saddle.

 




Also, yesterday, just south of the saddle, I talked with Wally Small, former smokejumper now in his 80s, hiking up Jumbo with his trekking poles but without his precious dog, Shortstop, who has died.  I met Wally and Shortstop last spring and put a picture of them on the blog on May 10.  Today, we shared a different kind of happiness and understanding of how good it is to be alive and outside.

Flowers along the Jumbo Saddle Trail

The balsamroot leaves are up and the flowers are starting to open.

Also, the shooting stars are shooting out--including white ones, which I have not seen before.

 















The Wyoming kittentails and bluebells are up, too. 

 

Happy Cycling and Photovoltaic Spring!

What an early and beautiful spring this year!  We've already been out cycling up the Rattlesnake and then down to campus to see the University mens' tennis team play Sacramento State in the Big Sky Tournament.  Amazing to be able to do that on March 27.

 

And the other amazing spring event is that Solar Plexus has installed our 18-panel, 5 KW photovoltaic rooftop system.  Here are the rails, power optimizers, panels, and crew: