I was up early and it was beautiful outside so I decided to go on a road trip.  The highway led me to my favorite spot; David Thompson country.  I left home at 6:30am hoping for some good photo opportunities.

Two hours later I saw a Great Grey Owl sitting on a fence post facing a large field of tall grass.  It was watching and listening intently.  I stopped to snap a couple photographs.  It turned its head now and again to see what I was doing but it was more interested in catching breakfast.  I didn't stick around long enough to watch the hunt.  When I first saw it, I thought that it may have been the same owl that I saw on the last trip through but I knew it wasn't when I saw its beak.  The bottom half of the beak was deformed but the bird was big and healthy looking so it learned to adapt.

My first stop to stretch my legs was at Fish Lake.  The surface of the water was as smooth as glass.  A couple of kayaks were out in the distance.  People were fishing off the dock.  The lake must have been restocked recently with rainbow trout.  The little fish were jumping right out of the water.  I could see them swimming close to the shoreline.  If I would have had a net, I could have scooped them out of the water.

All those new little fingerlings created a smorgasbord for the loons.  I saw 3 pair swimming back and forth across the width of the lake; feeding on the new little fish.  They swam quite close to the shore; not bothered by the fishermen.

After watching them for a half hour, I hiked the trail that loops into the forest beside the lake.  There were so many wildflowers in bloom!  Indian paintbrush, columbine, shooting stares, lungwort and vetch were only a few.  There were many that I could not name.  

The blooming flowers brought out the bees and the butterflies.  They flitted from blossom to blossom gathering their food.

As I walked the trail I could smell wet pine needles.  Spongy green moss carpeted the forest floor.  The whiskey jacks flew from branch to branch in the tree tops and the squirrels chattered as I came by.

The low spots on the trail were filled with water.  There was a lot of rain during the past week.  The creeks in the area were flowing with more water than usual.

On my travels I saw a chipmunk for the first time.  I've seen lots of squirrels but never a chipmunk until today.  I'm looking forward to a couple of camping days in this area in the near future.  I'll be checking out some new trails and hoping to see more wildlife and wild flowers.