Mosaic Monday #3 - Water, Water Everywhere

Swallowtails on the river shore 

It's quite gray outside today, and I am wavering on my choice of topics for my next post.  Something about the holidays?  It would be timely and cheery … Trail cam photos?  Probably not enough material … A continuation of my summer series?  The sunny shots could warm my bones, and make for some bright mosaics as well.  Ok, that's settled, then.  Call this Chapter 5 of my summer 'book' - see Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4.

Pictures from first four chapters

Beargrass

How do you write your posts?  Do you sit down and just start typing?  Maybe you prepare an extensive outline, college style.  Some of you have your furbabies compose at least part of your post!!!  I usually begin by perusing the pictures I plan to use in the post.  And then I wait for inspiration.   Hmmmm … most of the time it works!

Foamflower in front of waterfall

Today, my photos feature water - water in the form of lakes, and rivers, and waterfalls.  It reminded me of a recent comment from a fellow blogger who had noticed the predominance of water in my pictures.  You know, I hadn't really thought about it before!

Water is a destination for many of us.  Summer arrives and we head to the beach, or the pool, or the lake.  The North Fork of the Flathead River, as you follow it north, leads you to Polebridge, and the gateway to Bowman Lake.  It is a go-to day trip that delights visitors every time, and it delivered for my in-laws in July.

Looking north toward Canadian Rockies with Flathead River in foreground

Bowman Lake

Bowman Lake and Bog Orchid

I have written a number of posts highlighting Glacier National Park, mainly the west side of the Park.  If you want to spend serious time on the east side, it means staying on the east side, or at least mid-way.  In this case, we booked a 2-night stay at the Izaak Walton Inn (more about that in a future post), which meant we could linger on the beauty of the east side, starting with Two Medicine.

Two Medicine Lake - Sinopah Mountain on the left

Two Medicine Lake is one of three lakes in Glacier that offers summer boat tours.  Taking the tour provides several benefits: in addition to learning fascinating information about the environment and local history, you cut out some of the hiking necessary to access special terrain - like waterfalls!

Left: Thimbleberry  Middle: Pumpelly Pillar  Right: Beargrass 

Left: Elderberry  Middle: Twin Falls  Right: Pumpelly Pillar - Spousal Unit and his parents in the meadow below

After we returned to the boat launch site, we devoured a picnic while sitting along the lakeshore - we might have refreshed our feet by dipping them in the cool waters!

Our final stop that day was - you guessed it - another waterfall.  Running Eagle Falls, also known as "Trick Falls", has a wide, well-maintained path suitable for everyone in the family.  The waterfall receives its nickname, because there are actually two separate waterfalls in the same location.  As you can see here, during spring run-off, water rushes over the top ledge for a 40-foot drop, while obscuring the lower falls.  However, as the volume of water decreases by late summer, the upper falls 'dries up', allowing a clear view of the lower 20-foot falls. 

The formal name of the falls comes from Running Eagle, a female warrior of the Blackfeet Nation in the early 1700's, who experienced a four-day vision quest in the mountains high above the falls.  Running Eagle led war parties on many highly successful raids, and was the only woman in the Blackfeet tribe ever to do so, or to be given a man's name. 

Scenic Point mountain

You know what?  My bones are warm and the gray skies have turned to blue!

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

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