Our Lake - Choteau

Trail length: 3.5 miles, 7 miles round-trip

A glacier lily droops between furry paws. A marmot surveys the meadow from its perch on a sun-warmed boulder. Flower and marmot share a tenuous existence in the alpine basin of Our Lake. Seasons are short, winters bitter.

Survival strategies are neat and effective. Mountain goats leap nimbly along sheer cliff faces. Their hooves act like suction cups. Marmots hibernate. Pikas cut grasses to dry and store for their winter burrows. Rosy finches and white-crowned sparrows hop across snow banks gleaning insects. Pocket gophers burrow underground, recycling minerals, distributing seed and aerating the thin soil.

Each inhabitant at Our Lake is linked to the other. Please respect the delicate balance here by staying on the 3 1/2 mile long trail. Listen quietly for the whistle of a pika or the twittering of swifts flying high above you.

Viewing season is from July - August. A three-panel display 50 yards up from the trailhead interprets the natural history of Our Lake. A main trail into the Bob Marshall Wilderness departs from the same trailhead and zigzags up to Headquarters Pass, spectacular bighorn sheep country.

Camping is prohibited within 1,000 feet of the lake shore.