I woke up just before dawn on my first full day on the mountain.  That would be around 5:15 here in Montana.  It was a clear, cool morning.  I quietly got up and walked out with my camera in hand.  Linda was not far behind me.  I looked down the road a short way and saw Teton and his band grazing in the first light.

Not too far from them was Galaxy and his band.

I chose my campsite because of the location.  Sometimes the wind is quite strong here, but other wise it is perfect.  I love the way the sun comes up in the morning behind the trees.  There almost always seems to be horses close by, both day and night.  It is in between two water sources, so there is a lot of traffic that goes by.  I sometimes joke that I could just sit in a chair all day and all the horses would eventually go right by me.  Of course I don’t just sit there, but I suppose I could and I would see a lot of horses.

This morning was no different and I watched several bands coming my way.  We were the only humans on the mountain top that morning.  I especially love those days.  Sometimes (and only a very few times) someone else drives up the mountain early.  Usually the “day trippers” don’t show up until noon.  I prefer the latter.  I took a deep breath of the clean mountain air and watched the horses.

Ireland looked especially beautiful in the light.  I took several shots of her and thought I would share more than one with you.

I turned the opposite direction and there was Kierra looking back at me.

The rest of Cloud’s band began to come over the hill.  Cloud’s young son, Mica really likes me.  It seems that whenever he sees me he will head right for me.  I hoped he would not see me now.

Mica was not able to get Kierra up, so he decided he would take a nap right beside her.

A few of the other horses in the band decided to take a nap in the sun.  We just stood in the morning sun and watched.

Feldspar and Cloud then saw something and became very alert.  Linda and I had seen two bears earlier that morning and I wondered if maybe that was what they were looking at.

Whatever it was, Cloud decided to gather his band up and move them on.

Then Cloud felt there was some danger ahead and went up to the front of the band to see what it was.  It was more bands of horses, and they all took off down the hill to greet them.