Crouching along an alpine pond, I took this image in the Beartooth Mountains over Labor Day weekend. Though I’ve been to the area a number of times in the past, this was my first trip solely to camp and explore about on foot. Home to the highest peak in Montana, the Beartooths offer the full spectrum of wilderness geography - from technical mountaineering to languid alpine meadows. If not for the temperament of weather at 11,000 feet, one might imagine it as a peaceful place. And it was, for about 5 minutes…
On a side note, two close friends camping just across the range from us had a large grizzly walk into their remote lakeside camp at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Shouting did no good, and only after discharging a firearm into the air at 25-30 yards did the critter back off. Luckily, it was spooked enough to swim across the lake…though they were surprised by its speed and said trying to outrun one in a canoe would be futile. Gotta love the wilds.