End times.

Friday night, some low clouds, some smoke in the west, and an easy drive to Butte and just beyond.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The road to the Haystack Mountain trailhead is just bare earth.

Another hike, another hike foiled by bears. Turnaround point on the way up Crowe Peak in the Elkhorn Mountains.

I move a ridge over and there are no bears -- or at least they aren't hogging the hiking trail.

Sunday morning, time for two more hikes: a quick runaround in the Helena National Forest, and this beauty up to the wind-slashed tundra summit of Edith Mountain in the Little Belts.

Good hiking conditions expired at 5 a.m. this morning when snow fell from Kootenay Pass to Homestake Pass, and even in Missoula. This fat season of easy living has come to an end.