By Robert Lucke
This time before hunting seasons start and when the outdoor enthusiast does not have a lot to do except view fall foliage, is a great time to pack the family, a lunch and go out to the mountains and prairies and look for signs of the outdoors that can be shared with those who cannot get outside as easily as most.
Where to find those people? Get down to the Senior Citizens Center and ask some questions or get to the Northern Montana Care Center. Those places are filled with people who just love the great outdoors of Montana but cannot enjoy it anymore except with the help of others.
Not only that, but getting out with your family and friends on a mission to do good for someone else is as great a way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon as there can be.
So what in the world can you do?
The list is as endless as your imagination.
Get your camera and take some especially beautiful fall foliage pictures. Get some people in them tumbling through the leaves and maybe get some water in them, too. Reflections are great this time of year. There is nothing better than fall leaves reflecting in Clear Creek or Beaver Creek. Or maybe you want to get some wildlife pictures. This time of year Beaver Creek Park is just full of both whitetail and mule deer with gorgeous racks. Or maybe take your family on a mission to take pictures of the top 10 largest mountains in the Bear Paws or your favorite Glacier peaks or Mission Canyon in the Little Rockies. It doesn't matter what you do or take pictures of, the best thing is sharing them with someone who will never see things like Mount Baldy again without the help of someone like you.
Another thing that people who can't get out much anymore often like is to touch something that has come from somewhere that they would really like to be. Get your family to a fat fir forest and cut a bundle of greens. They don't have to be large greens at all, just something that is green and smells like the mountains. Maybe find some that have pine cones still attached. Those are really nice to share. Or a basket of pine cones with a bow. Or a few polished rocks that came from a special place that you and your family shared. That is really nice to share with others.
The list is endless. The idea is to bring some of the outdoors that you and your family share and love to someone who loves it equally as much but cannot get out to see it for themselves.
In light on the terrible events of our nation that have happened in the last two weeks, this seems like an even more important way to bond and unite with others.
