We have really enjoyed the clear waters of Montana's rivers and lakes. So when we heard good things about two mountain lakes (Wade and Cliff Lakes) a short drive from our campground in Ennis, we just had to check them out. After an easy drive on the highway, we turned into a pasture?!? Surprisingly, the first three miles through the pasture were paved. Then the next three miles were on a wash-board rough pasture road. Surely no one else will make this trip, right?
The word is out about these twin lakes, and we had a hard time finding a parking place with the rest of the Labor Day crowd. But as soon as we got the kayak in the water we started a chant that we would repeat all day, "The water is so pretty!" It reminded us of the water we've seen in the Caribbean.
Its color changed with different lighting and different depths. But wherever we rowed, it was perfectly clear.
We could see the plants at the bottom of the lake, and we watched as several long trout swam by. (Don't bother with looking for the fish in the picture below--Denisa was too slow to catch one with the camera--or a hook.)
As we rowed through this emerald-green water, we said it again, "The water is so pretty!"
Because the water was so clear, we could look down at the shore and see that the lake got deep very quickly. This is actually a spring-fed chasm that filled with water. So when we saw the steep hills that surround the lake, we can continue that angle to imagine the steep drop-off underneath the water.
The shores are lined with tall pine trees, but we found there are now fewer trees on the shore than earlier. As we glided near the edge of the lake we saw many had fallen into the water.
These tree skeletons are usually several feet below the water, but completely visible as we would glide over them in the kayak.
We had to keep watching to make sure our inflatable kayak didn't get caught on one of those limbs sticking up towards the lake's surface.
When we got hungry, we backed into a shady shore and ate our picnic. It was another great lunch view over that Caribbean blue water.
Even though there were hundreds of people near the boat launch, it felt like we had Wade Lake to ourselves once we got a half-mile from the dock. We did have to share the lake with a group of merganser ducks that were lined up on one of those fallen logs.
These pointy beak ducks have a swept back duck-tail hair style.
We thought that was the only wildlife sighting at Wade Lake. The foliage was thick along the lake, and we didn't see anything along the shore.
But wait! Suddenly there was movement among all that greenery. When we zoom in on that picture, we see that we were being watched!
We had a great time on a beautiful afternoon on Wade Lake. But after paddling around the entire lake, we couldn't help but wonder if Cliff Lake was as nice. From the crazy couple that will hike two trails in one day because we would hate to miss a good trail--we headed to the second lake. We didn't want to have to re-inflate the Sea Eagle kayak just to move it a mile down the road. So we tied it to the top of the car and drove slowly over the bumpy gravel road. We should have taken a picture because it was a pretty interesting sight.
We unloaded the boat from the top of the car at 4:00, and headed out on the second beautiful lake of the day. Cliff Lake has more cliff faces, and we are pretty excited about the blue skies we are seeing.
Have we mentioned that these two lakes have clear water in indescribable colors? The water is so pretty!
They also have some interesting water fowl. We watched as this cormorant took a couple steps on the water before he took to the air.
These birds actually spend more time under the water than in the air. They can dive to depths of 25 feet, and they use their wings and webbed feet to propel themselves under the water. Unlike ducks, cormorants' feathers aren't water-proof. So after their diving exercises, they must stand with their wings outstretched to get their feathers to dry.
We like our quiet kayak, that allows us to float closer to wildlife than a noisy boat. It was interesting to get close enough to see those webbed feet clinging to a branch on the side of the lake.
Once they are air-dryed, they are an interestingly regal bird.
As much as we liked Wade Lake earlier, we think we might like Cliff Lake even more. It was hard to get a picture of those tall cliffs, the blue sky, and that clear Caribbean blue water all in one picture--but we did it!
At the end of the lake, there were three different fingers of water to explore. Most days we would think we needed to paddle down all three. But we finally figured out we were tired. So we chose the shortest one, just so we could get that "we made it to the end" feeling of satisfaction.
It was 7:00 p.m. by the time we got back to the car. We were a little delayed because we had to stop to watch an osprey doing some fishing. We sat in the kayak and watched as he kept diving into the water.
It's hard to see in the picture, but he definitely caught a fish this time. Then we watched as an eagle flew out of the trees, trying to snatch the catch from him. It was a front row seat to a wildlife drama!
It was a great day spent on two beautiful mountain lakes. Between the two lakes, we were on the water around seven hours. Not a bad day at the office, huh? And have we mentioned how pretty the water was?
On the drive back to our motor home, we got to watch the sunset over Palisade Cliffs over the Madison River.
We think we like the sparkling water of Montana even more than the waters of the Caribbean!
Besides checking out the hills of historical Montana, we also spent some time kayaking the beautiful lakes. We launched our Sea Eagle kayak on the north end of Ennis Lake on an unusually calm morning. It was a quick paddle to get to a little island on the edge of the lake. This picture also shows the smoky outlines of the Rocky Mountains behind the lake. After two days of relatively clear weather, the smoke has caught up with us.
Kayaking around big oval lakes is a little boring, so we are heading under the bridge at the edge of the lake. That short bridge also keeps the big boats from following us to our destination for the day.
We are paddling down Bear Trap Canyon. We've already been warned to get out of this canyon before the afternoon winds pick up and turn this into a wind tunnel. But this morning, the water is as smooth as glass, mirroring the canyon walls on both sides.
There are a few other boaters in the canyon, trying to catch the trout that this area is famous for.
With the steep canyon walls, we can certainly see where it got its name. But we didn't see any bears trapped in Bear Trap Canyon. In fact, the only furry wildlife we saw was this chipmunk. He was standing in the sunlight, nibbling on grass seed like his winter survival depended on it. The first snow isn't far away for this part of Montana.
We always wonder how much longer a balanced rock can stand in place. The falcon-head-shaped rock looming over the left bank looked like it could tip into the water at any time.
We got to the end of our paddle trip when we reached the large orange balls across the water. We appreciate the warning signs that let boaters know the dam is ahead.
We took the kayak out of the water, and walked up the canyon to see the dam for ourselves. The Madison River is more shallow on this side of the dam, probably because the amount of water flowing through the ten-foot tube on the left.
We headed back down the canyon in the kayak. We are happy to see the blue skies here, and even more happy to see that the winds aren't kicking up yet. We still have glass-like water perfectly mirroring the canyon walls. We realize our photos look very much like ink-blot pictures. Does anyone see a bow-tie in the picture below?
Even though we enjoyed some blue skies in the canyon this morning, by evening the smoke had blown in from the north. Remember the clear mountains we had seen from the RV Park when we first arrived?
Standing in that same spot, we took a picture this day. You can see the same trees in the foreground, but the nearby mountains are completely shrouded in smoke. Just like in Helena, we got the first two days in Ennis with little smoke. But once again we have been smoked out!
During our week-long stay at Ennis RV Village in Ennis, Montana, we have been given advice for different places to visit. Virginia City has been mentioned over and over, so we headed there early in the week. This historical city was the first capital of the Montana Territory, and it has retained most of the buildings from that time. A walk along Main Street on the wooden sidewalks is like a walk in 1860 Montana.
The present-day cars of the visiting tourists ruined most of the shots of Main Street, but we much preferred this old jalopy. We are learning little-known Montana trivia, when we asked how the first capitol of Montana got a name like Virginia City. We were told that it was originally named after Jefferson Davis's wife--Virinia. But when the application came into the Union-controlled national office, the clerk added a "g" to the name to make it less Confederate. 
Many of the store fronts were turned to museum-like displays, while others are now restaurants or gift shops. Our favorite store had this collection of turn-of-the-century arcade games. Many of them were still working, including a number of stereoscopes. For a nickel, we watched 3D short movies that were actually a series of still photos.
After being married to the most wonderful man in the world for 36 years, Denisa was curious about what could possibly cause "married troubles." She's happy to report we are past this stage of trouble, since the short flick was about a couple's battle over who had to get up with the baby.
With the printed visitor map, we walked the entire main street. But there were also options for tours for less industrious travelers. We got a picture of the stagecoach tour passing the fire engine tour.
Then we headed up the hill, to the high point of Virginia City. This is "Boot Hill," where the graves of five men overlook the city. These men were hanged in 1864 by a vigilante force--Montana's first organized law enforcement. We learned another new-to-us Montana historical trivia fact when we saw t-shirts for sale with the following numbers on them: "3-7-77." That is the secret code for that vigilante force. We were told it was the dimension of the grave one would find themselves in if they broke the law in Virginia City (3 feet by 7 feet and buried 77 inches deep). Another Montana trivia fact: 3-7-77 is still sewn into the shoulder patches of the present-day Montana State Patrol officers.
There is a train that runs from Virginia City to Nevada City, but we just drove the few miles between the two. (Is it just us, or does it seem strange that we don't see a Montana City?) Nevada City has become the resting place of historic buildings from across this part of the state. Many have been moved here, to make an entire town that is often inhabited by re-enactors to answer tourists' questions about early life on the Montana plains.
While we are learning Montana trivia, we would have to ask "What is this state's favorite ice cream? Mark eats ice cream every day, so he would certainly be interested in this important information. We discovered Wilcoxson ice cream--the favorite Montana brand since 1912. Just for trivia research, we felt compelled to buy a half gallon.
We weren't sad to continue our journey south through Montana out of Helena. We are getting used to Montana's local news that includes an update on the wildfires, then a map with poor air quality ratings, and another map with red fire alerts. It literally takes half the local news time to cover the subjects surrounding the fires. As we drove south, we were excited to watch as the gray smoky skies turned to blue cloudy skies. By the time we drove the two hours to our new home at Ennis RV Village, we were welcomed by the prettiest skies we have seen in a while. It even looks like we could get some rain here, something Montana hasn't seen in a couple months. This is our view from our RV Park near the tiny town of Ennis, Montana. We are looking east across the grassy pasture at the Madison Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Ennis is in a unique position. We have the Tobacco Root Range to the north, the Gravelly Range to our south, and the Madison Range to our east. It is fun to see clear mountain faces around us, rather than the smoky silhouettes of mountains we have seen lately.
We spent some time exploring our new home town. Just a mile from our campground runs the Madison River. We didn't know until we arrived, but this is one of the best places in the country to fly fish for river trout. The sign says there about eleven million trout around here.
Our neighbors at the RV village have traveled from all over the United States and paid big fees for a guide to take them on a premiere opportunity to fly fish. In fact, Ennis also hosted a Fly Fishing Festival while we were in town. The vendors at the festival were selling all the latest equipment for trout fishing. The only picture we took was at the local hospital's booth. They obviously see quite a few fishermen in the emergency room, with fishing hooks imbedded in various parts of their bodies. The local doctor had a framed collection of fishing lures he had removed from fishermen.
We're just hoping to find the best place to kayak on this rippling clear river. Our original idea was rowing up-river and then floating back to our original launch site. But we threw out that idea when we saw how swiftly the Madison River was flowing.
We are also amazed at the wildlife around us. We saw this pair of sandhill cranes close to the river. These birds are about the same height as Denisa, so they would be hard to miss.
But the hardest to miss would be the prong horn antelopes. They are everywhere! On a drive a few miles from town we saw hundreds of antelope grazing on the prairies. We took a picture of this group just because they showed up so well in the middle of this green alfalfa field--better than all those antelope in the middle of the tall golden grass.
We found out that archery season opens soon for antelope, so perhaps they will go into hiding. But until then, they are enjoying free range of the pastures and fields around Ennis.
Close to the large number of antelope, is the large number of flying raptors. A drive around Ennis Lake was slow because of all the times we had to pull over to check out the hawks,
or eagles,
or osprey nests that we saw along the way.
A close-up of the osprey nest shows us why these birds are so good at seeing those fish in the water while they fly overhead. These bug-eyed birds have really good vision!
It was also fun to see two eagles on two different branches of the same tree. It's a great time to brush up on the physical changes that happen between a juvenile and adult eagle. The top bird has the white tail and head, but dark brown feathers everywhere else. He has yellow feet and beak, and light eyes. While the young bird still has brown feet, eyes, and beak, and mottled brown feathers everywhere. It takes five years for an eagle to make the physical changes to become the bald eagle that most of us recognize.
The fishermen we talked to mentioned that there was quite a competition on the river for the fish. With all the eagles and osprey fishing along the water with them, it was hard to convince a trout to be hooked on a fishing line. In other words, we have heard that fishing isn't great right now on the famed Madison River.
On our orientation loop around Ennis, we also saw some white-tailed deer crossing the road in front of us. We have seen lots of mule deer recently, but this group was obviously flashing the white tails that give them their name.
The sun was lowering in the sky as we made our loop around Lake Ennis.
We had a pink evening sky silhouetting the Madison Range before we made it home. You can see a single osprey on her nest high above the ground. We love exploring a new part of Montana, and the wonders hidden here! I think we're going to like it in Ennis.
