I grew up in the shadow of NYC and, somehow, I’d never been to the Statue of Liberty. Some things we just take for granted I suppose. I’ve been passing the turn-off on 191 for the Deer Lake Trailhead for 10 years now. I’ve never turned in. I decided not to “take that for granted” any longer.

It’s been a long cold Spring. It was 40 degrees at 7 a.m. as I started to climb and I could almost touch the clouds that sprinted just above my head. You gain about 3200’ in just over 6 miles on this trek and it only gets colder the higher you climb. My silent prayer was that sunshine would be waiting for me above the 9000’ mark and not sleet. A large buck with a full rack stood waiting for me in the first meadow. He was very close and he was magnificent. He turned and proudly led the way up, although I never did see him again. The bushes and tall grass in the lower meadows were drenched in dew and I was soaked from the thighs down in the 1st mile. I walked faster to generate heat. This is a wet trek with small runnels and rivulets racing into swollen creeks and crashing streams, which all swim flush with ever increasing snowmelt the higher you climb. In the last mile or two, several waterfalls add their deep bass to the ensemble below. Have you ever wondered what the word laughter “looks like” in nature? Well, this is it. Everything sings. All the while, thousands of blinking flowers line the waters edge upon green skirts of moss and virgin grass. They all eagerly await the first warm stab of sunlight; Then they will explode in both harmony and color.

Moon Lake is larger than I expected and worth the climb. But Deer Lake with its green glacial tint steals the show. It sits at about 9200’ and is surrounded by a graceful curve of mountain stone.

A mountain goat and her “kid” were waiting for me. Both lakes still have snow along their shadowed banks. The sun arrived right on queue and a satin blue sheet of Montana sky was pulled overhead. I needed that.