Year End Blog-a-thon

Happy New Year, with an ironwork sculpture from Missoula -- kind of like fireworks captured in metal.

And a belated Merry Christmas. This gi-normous wheel was about as close to a holiday "wreath" as I got to this year. The red wheel is from forestry and sawmill equipment, circa 1900, on the grounds of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula (http://fortmissoulamuseum.org/index.php).

The huge shed behind the forestry museum has all manner of Steampunk-like items (that "genre of science fiction that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery," says Wikipedia). Very cool. This was the real thing. I went there with friend/ photographer Mel Holloway on one of our photo-safari outings. Typically, Mel looks for wildlife and landscapes. On this day, it was metals.

And look, St. Louis friends: See how that big wheel got used, in a pair, on a log-hauling wagon, behind big draft horses. No steam on this one. But, Budweiser, anyone?

There also were couplings on an old steam-powered train -- sinuous metal.

...And antique pistons powering the steam engine -- you can't get much more Steampunk than these!

We switched gears, so to speak, and that same day found metals of another sort -- flat pieces of steel sculpted by Drummond's retired rancher, painter and sculptor Bill Ohrmann. We were at his outdoor museum not far from Missoula (https://www.facebook.com/Bill.Ohrmann) to witness a life size Kodiak bear pieced together in the most rugged and magnificent way.

And an Ohrmann rhino, lifelike and ready to charge.

Orhmann's winsome buffalo was my favorite, looking out onto plains still free of snow.

Then, there was snow...

...Lots of snow, up on the Continental Divide (7,250 feet in elevation, at this place).

Days after my photo shoot with Mel, Shelley Phillips, right, and I did a slow glide along the Continental Divide Trail at the Chief Joseph Ski Area, maintained by none other than photographer/ friend Mel Holloway. He's chief of a team of groomers for the Bitterroot Cross-Country Ski Club (http://bitterrootxcskiclub.net/). And there's no more beautiful place to x-c, in my opinion, than these 20-plus miles of Chief Joe trails.

As the sun went behind clouds and the afternoon temps dropped into the teens, we took a quick look in the woods -- moose have been sited -- and saw mostly snow-spackled trees.

It was cold and time to follow freshly set tracks home (to the parking lot and then to Shelley's for apres-ski). Thank you, Mel, for the tracks and the pix. And happy trails to everyone in 2016!