Hog Lake Falls, Fishtrap BLM

Yesterday Erik loaded a bus and headed across Montana to Bozeman for the Big Sky Indoor Conference track meet. Did we sit around feeling sad? I think you know the answer. . . Tate and I met up with the Inland Northwest Hikers again and headed down to the Fishtrap Lake recreation area to hike a 7 mile loop to Hog Lake Falls. I was still nervous to hike with strangers but one women posted that she was driving from Cheney and willing to give rides. I couldn't pass up a ride from someone who lives right in town!

Once again the INH did not disappoint. This is one of those hikes that I would look up online, and decide it wasn't all that impressive, only to go to the location and be surprised by how great and scenic it was. Outdoor adventures are like that, they are usually much cooler in person, photos don't do them justice. Well, Hog Lake was definitely one of those hikes. I wasn't expecting much, just wanted to get outside and meet some new people. Once there I was loving everything about the place.

It was snowing as we drove down, and cloudy and cold at the trailhead. We passed a historic old barn, a bird viewing lake, and several frozen lakes formed by the Missoula Flood. The ice fisherman stared at us as we walked by probably thinking, "Crazy hikers", while we were all thinking, "crazy ice fishers." We stopped for lunch and I fed Tate, I am pretty much the queen of motherhood when it comes to nursing Tate outdoors, just call me mother nature! As we ate, the clouds rolled out and a glorious warm sun beat down on us. I haven't felt that warm in months. We finished at the Hog Lake falls for the finale. IT was a unique multi-tiered falls that were much larger and impressive than pictures can represent.

 

Once again, the hike was really made special by the wonderful people. It group has a lot of older retired folks. They all LOVED Tate. She, of course loved the attention and was perfect the whole time. Never cried, just cooed, babbled, squealed and blew raspberries the whole time. She scared off any wildlife in the area that is for sure.