Hauser Dam - May 30, 2016

Hauser Dam holds back Hauser Lake, which is downstream on the Missouri River from the better known Canyon Ferry Dam and its resultant reservoir.  In my opinion, Hauser is a prettier dam by far than Canyon Ferry, and I find myself going there more often.

Hauser has a history.  It was originally built as a steel and masonry structure, which failed a little more than a year after it was declared operational.  Some of the wreckage from this disaster can still be seen downstream today.

The powerhouse for the original dam is still in use.

Trout Creek Canyon, 3-25-16

Trout Creek Canyon is northeast of York on the east side of Hauser Reservoir. 

There are some incredibly interesting rock features, probably due to sedimentary layering.

And these layers had wonderful convolutions and folds!

The trail was still quite icy, but someone had been taking care of the winter deadfall.

And there were some ice free spots.

Everyone carried their own weight!

We learned a lot about winter and spring hiking...

...and that natural cathedrals exist even this far east of home.

The Road to Occidental Plateau

On an early March trip up to the Occidental Plateau south of Helena I ran across this excellent abandoned building.

It almost looks like an old Forest Service building, but its difficult to say.

It was wearing a nice fringe of icecicles....

It had a wonderful screened-in porch!

The chimney was a little worse for wear...