The headlines will never read: Montana's Big Hole River is Now Open for 137 Miles of Fishing. Instead, gloom will take the lede, because 19 miles in the upper reaches of the Big Hole River have just been closed to fishing.

The heat wave and low winter snows have once again forced a limited closure of the nation’s premier fly fishing river. We’re talking of a river stretch from Rock Creek Road, about five miles south of Wisdom, to the mouth of the North Fork, fifteen miles north of town. The portion affected includes the habitat of the arctic grayling, the last remaining river-dwelling population of grayling in the lower 48 states.

So what’s the truth? One of the most informed status reports on Big Hole River fishing always comes from Big Hole Trout and the Great Divide Outfitters: “I had several calls today asking about the river and if it was closed. I wish they would close that upper portion permanently so we wouldn’t have to deal with this B.S. every year. A couple fisherman who floated with me last week had also fished the Missouri, Madison, and Beaverhead in the last 10 days. They said the Big Hole by far was the best fishery especially on top water and these guys are men of the cloth who live by the truth. What type of cloth is another matter.”

 

 

 

 

Shucks. This is about as close to Red White and Blue as you can get:

Fourth of July in Wisdom, Montana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forty hearty souls beat the birds out of bed to arrive for the 14^th Annual Flag Raising ceremony and Pancake Breakfast sponsored by the Havig Family and the Big Hole Crossing Restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s special guest speaker was Jackson rancher Walter Zobell who talked of the sacrifices our young men and women have made to keep this country safe through 231 years of independence.

 

 

 

 

 

Diane on the bugle at 6:30 AM, America the Beautiful at 6:45, and Pancakes at 7:00.

What a country.

Across Southwest Montana eight record high temperatures were broken this past week, with even higher temperatures predicted through the Holiday.  The Bozeman Daily Chronicle details the sizzle.

So while the heat builds around us, we just checked the temperature on the Wisdom, Montana Home Page (at 9:12 AM)  and it reads a crisp 64 degrees.  What's all the fuss you sissies? At 6028 feet in altitude, summer is Wisdom's gift to Montana.  No better time. No better place than the Big Hole in summer.

Bear Grass flowers are the Cicadas of the plant world, reappearing in cycles of 5–7 years. And the first signs of their return this year come from the Idaho side of Lost Trail Pass. The grass is a fire-resistant species that is often the first plant to regenerate after a fire. In fact, Bear Grass and many other native plants need periodic burns to produce new growth. The flowers, resembling fluffy, upside down snow cones, grow on a stalk that can be 6 feet tall. Native American Indians in the northwest have traditionally made baskets, hats and other practical items with stems and roots of the grass.

Here are a few images that characterize the return of warmth to the Big Hole Valley of Montana:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: Kenny Wiggins, Mgr. of Woodward Ranch owned by Loren Giems. Ten miles north of Wisdom, near Big Hole River.

 

Photo Credit: Uncle David

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71868360@N00/6645711/

 

Photo Credit: TripodBob

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tripodbob/311503699/

 

Photo Credit: Pat Munday; In Praise of Bitterroots

http://ecorover.blogspot.com/2007/06/in-praise-of-bitterroots-and-other-late.html

 

 

 

Blues and Greens return to the Big Hole.

The Wisdom, Montana Ambulance/Rescue Service Fund lurches ahead with a hefty donation from the Valley Victors 4–H Club. The original goal for the fund was $45,000.  The amount raised is already to $52,000.

Jackson 6th grader Jordan Peterson writes a review of the Appreciation Dinner held recently:

 

 

The Ambulance/Rescue Service is a 501(c)(4) organization. Donations are tax deductible and can be made by check to the following:

Wisdom Ambulance Fund
Wisdom RFD
PO Box 32
Wisdom, MT 59761

Although we may be at risk for interpreting the interpretation of the interpreter, Kathleen Dahl has a fine idea.

Her weblog called Lewis and Clark Trail Watch critiques those who translate history for the rest of us. Dahl is an anthropologist at Eastern Oregon University and in her own words:

My interest in how we interpret Lewis and Clark and other events in Western history grew out of my earlier research into how regional culture and history, particularly native culture and history, have been portrayed in museums and historic sites throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Mine too.

Now the question becomes who will remain to critique the critiquer. In recent years the academic world has lost a certain credibility edge with its eyeball rolling, politically correct interpretations of western history. Maybe that is what Ms. Dahl is intending to redress.  Sure hope so. It would do history and the rest of us who live along the Lewis and Clark Trail a big favor.

 

  

In a week where the Big Hole River’s endangered Arctic Grayling was the significant news (for being unceremoniously forked off the endangered fish-plate), a host of other Paris Hilton-like issues kept badgering us for attention. Here’s just one:

 

“Only 16 Remaining”, says the website. You can now buy one-tenth shares of two-bedroom fractional residences in Melrose, Montana (just a few million early-summer mosquitoes down river from Wisdom).

 
But look at this: the cost is only $148,000. Now THAT is Montana-affordable!

 

Wait…was that one-tenth share?

 
Urp..yes.

 

So this means the old pasture I used to fish is now selling for about $1.48 million per 5 yard strip of a football field in comparable square footage? With ten owners per strip…is that what fractional residence means?

 
Oh my Gahd.

 

“Honey!! Get the toys off the front lawn. It's goin' up for sale.”

“We don’t know if it was following him on purpose or if he was just doing what a mountain lion does,” said Coy Kline, warden sergeant for the Butte area with the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

What the mountain lion did was follow a 10 year old boy home from the bus stop on Tuesday. Maybe for cookies and milk, but we’re not entirely sure.

What is strange is that a story like this isn’t that strange in Big Sky. What do you say to a friendly cougar anyway. “Whoa, hey! Nice tooth.”

Now I once read that if you happen to find a less amicable cat on the trail, you should make yourself look as big as you can. Lift your jacket up over your head and raise your upper lip in a snarl. I could be wrong about the snarl part. But by the time I got back from the car with my jacket, the cat would surely be gone.

Mountain lion sighted in subdivision south of Butte

While searching out information on this past weekend's 3rd Annual Lost Trail Pass (Bike) Ride west of Wisdom, Montana, I happened on Bill Martin's Web Lodge , but I lingered over his fine photography. Bill is a web and software developer, but his blog betrays a voracious passion for biking and hiking the backcountry of Montana. Here are photos of Montana that you don’t typically see in travel brochures (mixed with other shots from Bill’s college days back east). Entirely worth the linger.

Photo by William Martin Digital Photography.

Southwest Montana back roads give a cinematic feel to any drive. With few diversions beyond spectacular scenery, the mind usually takes a back road as well. Conversation is less stressful. More thoughtful. In this fine Weblog commentary of such a drive, a bow hunter and his dad share a Saturday loop around the Big Hole Basin. It’s an excellent travelogue as well as personal diary.

Excerpts: from Wapiti With An Arrow

…We made it over the (Lost Trail) Pass and down to Wisdom. We worked our way through to the Bannack ghost town cemetery and got a chance to stretch our legs. We perused around the gravestones and remarked on how young most of the deceased were when they died. Most of them were younger than thirty years old! It was a tough life then. I learned that a fit of cholera could wipe out about two thirds of the youngsters in those old mining towns. Imagine how that would feel, seeing over half of your friends die of a disease you could just as easily acquire and die from. I imagined how that graveyard would feel at night…with all the dead children sitting around watching the desolate landscape they called their final resting place; sitting in a circle, talking about the old times…it was creepy to say the least. Even in full sunlight, I got a feeling of incredible loneliness.

…we made our way by the REAL Beaverhead landmark… that is NOT what the interpretive signs tell you. The REAL Beaverhead is actually quite a few miles south of what the signs will tell you. If you are ever in the area, you must travel the highway north from Pocatello on the interstate to see the true Beaverhead landmark. We all are not sure how this got confused in history, but it is readily apparent to those willing to actually look at the landforms in the area.

…We switched drivers in Dillon and made our way north to the cutoff that would lead us back to the Bighole Valley through Wise River. This has got to be one of the most untouched, beautiful valleys in Montana. There was absolutely no traffic and we actually could stop the vehicle in the middle of the highway and look at the snow-covered peaks, pastures, and Bighole River. We dreamed about living in that area and what it would be like with no one around.

…I am in love with Montana and the beauties it beholds. I cannot believe there is another place where you can drive a simple two hours from a metropolis and be taken back to the 1800’s. Where you can place yourself in an environment that makes you feel like you are an insignificant speck in the universe. It is surely an incredible place that, in itself, will take a lifetime to explore and not even be able to skim the surface of what it is.

Don’t we have a few unemployed rain dancers in this state? We could sure use some happy feet.

“Every river basin in the state is below the 30-year average for snowpack, with several near record lows. Statewide, snowpack is at 70 percent of average, with the basins west of the Continental Divide holding 75 percent of average and those east of the divide worse off at 68 percent.”

Three films shot last summer in Montana are scheduled for imminent release. Can’t say that these look like blockbusters, but then I was wrong about Debby Does Duluth.

A Plumm Summer was shot in Bozeman and Livingston and set in 1968. We couldn’t invent a more gripping plot line than the published version itself:

Two young brothers from a distressed Montana home go head-to-head with the FBI to crack the kidnapping case of the beloved TV puppet, Froggy Doo.

Hmm. Can you imagine the writer trying to pitch that one?  

If your hand isn't already in the air for Number One, here is some Number Two: We all know that  horror and Montana are synonymous. How about this for a movie plot synopsis:

Paper Dolls is a terrifying psychological thriller set near the beautiful landscape of Glacier National Park, Montana. Two high school friends, Travis and Nate, are on a road trip to Canada when they're attacked by mysterious and vicious creatures. Nate is stolen into the woods and Travis will stop at nothing to get him back.

This winner was shot last August up in Flathead and Glacier Park country. Not to ruin the film for you, but it’s about some guys who suddenly come nose-to-armpit with Bigfoot…who, truth be told, is already well known at our local Laundromat in Wisdom. He's an annual visitor. 

The third Montana movie is called Iron Ridge and was written by Great Falls native Stu Brumbaugh. Brumbaugh also directed Iron Ridge. Oh, and he stars in it. Matter of fact he was the executive producer for the film. And the electrician. Not a bad all-around billing for a former ski instructor. But in the movie business you either sink or swim… or you don’t. And this movie probably stands a good chance of turning a profit because of Stu's astute stewardship.

Stu's plot summary reads:

When two friends from the city take a vacation to the wilds of Montana, they find themselves lost in the depths of the big sky country.

Just as an aside here….did you ever notice that the heroes of Montana films always seem to get lost, kidnapped or terrified in the Big Sky backwoods? It's almost a requirement for any Montana movie.

I wonder how Montana native Gary Cooper would have played a run-in with Sasquatch? Fer darn sure he’d never be terrified or lost.

Yup.