Late Summer Reflections

Summer hangs on in the high country of Montana's Lee Metcalf Wilderness where asters and paintbrush still bloom in early September. This sunset, reflected in a small beaver pond in the middle of Bear Basin, features beautiful, pastel shades in the sky and also on the late-summer flowers. It's a bittersweet time in Montana when the days are often still warm and insects feed on the remaining blossoms in a great frenzy. But the land is punctuated by silence - the unmistakable call of winter. Before long, a cold front ushered in on north wind will bring the year's first snow to this basin, beginning the longest season here.