Spectacular views from a fire lookout

Waking up on top of a mountain as the horizon turns orange with nothing blocking the view is an amazing sight--especially from the comfort of a bed within four walls. With windows across all four walls, a 360 degree view of the mountains and Kootenai Valley could be seen from Shorty Peak Lookout.

As the sun rose above the Purcell Mountains in Canada, the peaks in the Selkirks turned pink and shadows slowly descended down the mountainsides. 

Staying in Shorty Peak Lookout for two days provided time to sit with binoculars and look at the surrounding peaks. Shorty Peak offered a good view of where the Baker’s Camp fire burned. If only we had been there a week or two sooner and then we could have seen the helicopters in action. 

The current Shorty Peak lookout was built in 1964 and replaced the original structure built in 1927.

Lightning position best choice when unable to seek shelter

Being inside a substantial building or inside a vehicle is best when caught in a thunderstorm. But if you happen to be outside and unable to seek a safe shelter, there are ways to reduce the risk of being struck by lightning. 

The National Weather Service advises to: 1) immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges and peaks, 2) never lie flat on the ground, 3) never shelter under an isolated tree, 4) never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter, 5) immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes and other bodies of water and 6) stay away from objects that conduct electricity like barbed wire fences and power lines. 

Where should you go then? 

Lightning can illuminate clouds during an approaching storm. Don't wait to see the lightning bolt or hear thunder until you seek shelter. If the storm cloud is within six miles, you are in a high danger zone. 

Five ways lightning can strike a person

The impressive lightning and thunderstorm at the end of June hammered Boundary County with dozens of lightning strikes. The next morning I found a ponderosa pine near my house with a spiraling crack around the trunk and pieces of bark scattered around on the ground. 

When the storm was overhead I could hear thunder immediately after the flash and I hunkered down inside wondering if I was safe. What if I had been camping or hiking when the lightning storm ensued? 

Lightning bolts may strike in one location or they may split and simultaneously strike multiple locations up to five miles apart. Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity. 

Knowing what to do and where to go during a thunderstorm can definitely save your life. The approximately 25 million lightning strikes each year in the United Sates result in nearly 50 deaths and several hundred injuries. 

Be prepared for a bear encounter or attack

Seeing bear tracks in the trail provides a heads-up that a bear is in the area. However, surprise encounters can happen if the bear can’t smell you because of the wind or its attracted to food or garbage odors. Most surprise encounters do not result in physical attacks, especially if the group has more than three hikers. Bears usually only attack if they feel threatened or provoked. 

The most dangerous type of encounter is a sow with cubs. Never position yourself between a sow and her cubs or approach them.

To minimize the chance of an attack, stay calm and don’t run. Running encourages a bear to chase and grizzly bears can run fast--50 yards in three seconds or 40 mph. 

Learn to recognize bear sign

Seeing grizzly bear tracks in the snow on the trail always heightens my awareness, especially relatively fresh tracks where the claw marks can still be seen.  The scenarios of what could happen start rolling through my head as I begin to make more noise.

This spring I realized I needed to learn more about bear behavior to best avoid a conflict and review what to do if an encounter occurs. 

Grizzly bears can weigh 200 to 600 pounds, be 3.5 to 4 feet tall at the shoulders and six to seven feet tall when standing on their hind feet. I sure didn't want to meet this grizzly bear whose tracks were slightly melted in the snow.

Grizzly bears typically are active at night, dawn and dusk. However, if food is scarce or abundant they will be active day or night. 

In the summer grizzly bears eat forbs, roots, tubers, insects, berries, moths, thistle, fireweed, ground squirrels and newly born elk and deer. Come fall, their diet switches to whitebark pine nuts, insect nests, starchy tubers and roots, and berries. 

After grizzly bears emerge from their dens in the spring they eat young green vegetation, winter-killed animals, ants, grasses, sedges, clover, dandelion, cow parsnip and other plants. 

Signs that grizzly bears are foraging in the area include stumps turned over, logs ripped open or rocks flipped over where the bear was looking for insects. Bears also cache large animals by covering them with dirt, branches and grass. 

These signs are often found in the grizzly’s favorite habitat--forests with meadows and grasslands. These areas often are the same areas we seek out for hiking. Frequently grizzly bears follow the same routes we do--roads and trails--and that is why we often see their scat or tracks. 

Bear scat is quite dark in color and contains partially digested vegetation, berries insects or hair. Grizzly bear scat is about two inches in diameter but that isn’t a reliable way to distinguish grizzly bears from black bears. 

Grizzly bear tracks

Tracks are a better way to distinguish grizzly bears from black bears. Bear tracks are identified by their large pad with five toes. To tell the difference between a grizzly bear and black bear track look at the toes on the front track. If you draw a straight line between the pad and the toes, all of the toes of a grizzly bear will be above the line while one of the black bear’s toes will be below the line. 

Notice how one toe is set back farther than the others in a black bear track 

If the tracks are fresh, help alert the bear to your presence by talking, singing or clapping. Bear bells are less effective and whistling is not recommended because it may sound like an animal (pika or ground squirrel) and attract the bear. 

Grizzly bears are naturally shy and typically avoid humans. They most likely will smell people first because their nose is 1,000 times more developed than a person’s nose. They use their nose to remember where food sources are located (which is why some bears become problem bears at campgrounds). 

However, bear encounters do happen whether on the trail or on the road. Knowing the difference between a grizzly bear and a black bear is crucial in knowing how to respond to an attack. 

Color is not a good indicator as black bears can be brown and vice versa. Grizzly bears have a shoulder hump, short rounded ears and a dished-shaped face profile. Black bears have no shoulder hump, taller ears, and a straight face profile. 

Seeing a bear in the wild can be a thrilling experience if at a distance. If the encounter is close range, being prepared is the best way to avoid an attack. Look in next week’s column for how to handle bear encounters and attacks. 

Wild edible fruits beginning to ripen

Summer is here and so are the wild fruits beginning with serviceberries and thimbleberries. 

The blue to purple fruit of the serviceberry ripens on six to 30-foot tall shrubs in late June or early July. Serviceberries are also known as saskatoons, juneberries, and shadbushes. 

Ripening saskatoons (also called serviceberries)

While serviceberries look like blueberries in size and shape they aren’t a berry. The plant belongs to the rose family and the fruit resembles the pomes of apples and pears. Unlike berries, saskatoons have two to five seeds like pear and apple cores with flesh around the core. 

Saskatoons can be substituted for blueberries in recipes because the flavor is likened to blueberries, apples, crabapples and almonds. The fruit is an excellent source of fiber, manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, copper and vitamin C. Dried saskatoons have more iron and copper than raisins. 

Spit bugs most powerful jumping insect

Spit bugs, spittlebugs, froghoppers. They’re all the same insect that produces the globs of spit-like froth on the stems of grasses, flowers and shrubs this time of year.

While the spittlebug may be well-known for its spit, it isn’t as well known for its jumping capabilities. The name froghopper is well-suited for the most powerful jumping insect, though the frog part comes from its head resembling a frog.

As spit bug nymphs progress through five stages they become more developed and transition from green to brown

Froghoppers can accelerate in less than one millisecond to velocities of 10.5 mph which is ten times faster than a flea. Adult froghoppers can jump up to 27 inches vertically and up to 100 times their body length (which is approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inches). The human equivalent would be jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. 

Sun halos and sun dogs possible year-round

On a hike over Memorial Day weekend I happened to look skyward and see a colorful ring around the sun. The ring didn’t last long enough for me to reach the ridgeline above the trees. The rainbow-colored circle turned out to be a sun halo, more specifically a 22 degree halo. 

Sun halos can either be white or rainbow-colored 

Like rainbows, sun halos are unique to the observer because they depend on light refracting through an object and entering the eye of the observer. Each observer sees light being refracted from different objects or different angles from the same object.