Into Idaho and History

On May 22 we left Missoula on US Hwy 12, headed to Lolo Pass in the Lolo National Forest of Idaho.   This place is historic for having the Lewis and Clark expedition pass through in 1804 in the epic journey to the Pacific Ocean, as well as various other historic events involving forest fires, wagon trains, indispensable Indian guides, and the like.   Thoughts about the courage and hardiness of these travelers of the past were never far from our minds as we gazed at the steep mountains and bottomless gorges from our truck window.  The Lolo Pass Visitors Center had a wonderful exhibit on these subjects and provides travelers with a free CD to listen to as one drives the length of the pass, describing the historical significance of various features.  It was great!!

Along the way we passed an old ranger station, built in the 1920s to fight forest fires. It had quite the exhibit on lives lived and equipment used in this era which we found very interesting. 

Historic ranger station of the 1920s

Give 'er half a chance and Peggy starts to COOK!

Interior of ranger house

One natural attraction along the way was the beautiful Devoto Grove of Ancient Cedars, all well over 300 years old, named after the scientist who studied them.   

Feeling YOUNG compared to our neighbors!

Look who else is enjoying a view of the cedars!

The river that runs through Lolo pass is the Lochsa.   It starts out rather smallish and tame-ish, but swells as tributary streams and rivers join the flowing waters, especially in Spring!  Near the end it becomes a raging torrent with incredible standing waves…and you know what that means!   Yep, and we were there to watch!    These two old folks of the calm, sea kayaker set witnessing the youth, danger and excitement of whitewater paddling!  

Bernie and Peggy take on the rapids...LOL!

Will the green kayak survive?

...and he makes it!!

The Lochsa joins the Clearwater, then the Salmon further downstream, and ultimately becomes the great Columbia River which flows into the Pacific.  For this reason, the Lochsa contains salmon swimming upstream to spawn this time of year and we began to see fishermen here and there making their catch! 

One such fisherman is shown below with a photo of a salmon catch made right in front of his house on the Lochsa.   He is a friend and we camped on his and his wife’s driveway one night.   They took us on a memorable hike to see what the mountains of Idaho look like in this area.   We were on the lookout for elk in addition to the cattle that graze his land, and did find some--ground, grilled and perched on a bun that our friends graciously made us for dinner!  YUM!  This gentleman had spent many years living in Alaska and provided a wealth of information regarding our journey ahead, and we were most grateful!  

Ron and Alice's place on the Lochsa River...note Lily in the driveway!

Farewell to Glacier Park

The rain we encountered at the Glacier Park Lodge continued, but did we let that stop us?   No!  We headed to our next camping place, in the area called “Two Medicine”.   Along the way we stopped to see Running Eagle Falls which was remarkable in that water was falling from two different levels.

  We also encountered our first "bear warning" on the park trails, signs posted to alert hikers and….big, fresh scat!    No doubt about it, it feels a little creepy hiking here!

Don't worry, we're ready for 'em!

Lily drove us up to 5900 feet, and we saw a dozen white mountain goats!   They were right at our campsite, licking ashes in the fire pit to fulfill some dietary (mineral) requirements. Sorry, no photo, not quick enough!   It was a drizzly, gray afternoon, but we donned our rain gear and headed out on the trail.   The mountains in this area are truly stunning and the clouds and mist made them all the more mysterious-lookng, don’t you agree?

That evening after supper we turned on the NOAA weather radio and were dismayed to hear a forecast for snow!   5-8 inches the next night and 4-6 more predicted for the following day.    If we were seasoned mountain travelers I suppose we might have laughed in the face of the approaching storm, but we’re “newbies”, and thought we’d just as soon hightail it out of there instead!

So we headed back over Marias pass to West Glacier on May 16, and camped at a tiny campground on the north end of Lake McDonald called Sprague Creek. The sun was out for the most part and the weather further improved over the next three days such that we just stayed put!   We went on several hikes to beautiful places as these photos attempt to show.

Bernie above Avalanche Creek, plunging down a deep gorge...the water, not Bernie!

McDonald Creek Falls

Snyder Lake

Besides bear poop, other trailside attractions are beautiful flowers and mule deer.   These guys are easily distinguished from our white tails by their white butts.   They are quite friendly guys, sharing hiking trails with us, passing within just a few feet.   They seem unconcerned about being shot.   Bernie’s explanation is they are saying, “Go ahead, shoot me, just remember you gotta haul my dead body 5 miles up and down these mountain trails.  You sure you wanna do that?"

But today, "2-in-da-woods" became "2-on-da-road” again and we said farewell to Glacier National Park, vowing to return some day!    We are headed west to the city of Kalispell, MT, on Hwy 2 to get some supplies and an internet connection.   After that, a visit to a microbrew in Whitefish is planned, with camping to follow for several days in the Flathead National Forest.   By Memorial Day we hope to be in Idaho as we’re running low on potatoes...bad joke… 

Still in love after 7 days on the road!

 

Snowstorms and mountains and glaciers, oh my!

We left the flatlands of central Montana on May 13 in rain, straining our eyes to see mountains on the western horizon.  

Nope, completely hidden by clouds.  But then our altimeter climbed to 5260 feet and….suddenly….the rain turned to SNOW and out of the mist we see steep MOUNTAINS all around us, covered with glaciers!  Breathtaking!   

We stopped briefly at a memorial on Marias pass to tip our hats to John Stevens who discovered this route thru the mountains for the Great Northern Railroad long ago.  Attaboy, John!

In no time then we were at the entrance to Glacier National Park!   Very exciting!   We learned, however, that the park is essentially closed this time of year, with no visitors centers open or rangers about.   The vast majority of roads are closed due to 20+ feet snow which they hope to clear by about mid-June!   On the plus side, we have the place to ourselves, and there are swollen rivers flowing with glacial blue water and spring flowers everywhere.   We camped in West Glacier for two nights and enjoyed some lovely hikes and views of Lake McDonald in sunshine.  

Lily sits all alone in the visitor center parking lot!

Lake McDonald

Flathead River

We take to our feet hiking...

..and view Lake McDonald from above!

Today it is raining.   We returned to East Glacier and toured the Glacier Park Lodge, built 102 years ago, with splendor intended to lure the wealthy away from vacations in Europe, to travel by train on The Empire Builder instead.  Bernie who has “sawdust in his blood” was enchanted by the enormous Douglas Firs from which the lodge was built, and the craftsmanship in construction.   The place isn’t open yet, but they let us poke around as the employees rushed about, getting it ready to open for the season.   It reminded us of work….which we don’t miss at all!   

Glacier Park Lodge, East Glacier, MT

Bernie presides over foyer with floor-to-ceiling Douglas fir timbers

Bernie "helps" the staff ready for lodge for the season

In case I miss tent camping too much...

Bernie wonders what of this could be Pukall lumber...

Westward Ho!

Sunday and Monday we drove through North Dakota into Montana.   In No. Dakota, we found beautiful open prairie with cattail-bordered ponds scattered everywhere, obviously much appreciated by migrating waterfowl.  

We also encountered the winds that ND is famous for and were careful not to calculate our mpg!   We spent the night in Rugby, ND, of interest for being the geographic center of North America.

As we moved westward yesterday we saw more and more evidence of oil production activity centered in Williston.  Trainload after trainload of sand, oil wells pumping away, and really, really bleak-looking housing for the workers.   We thought it all rather gross, but Lily was licking her chops at the prospect of all that fuel to burn!

At the Montana border things changed very abruptly--oil production "out", beef production "in"!   The rolling hills of the enormous ranches and the huge blue sky above was quite striking.

We stopped last night at Fort Peck, MT, where there is a 4 mile long earthen dam (second largest in the world) of the Missouri River, constructed by the CCC during the 1930s depression.

They had a fabulous museum on site with dinosaur remains that were quite incredible, including a complete T. Rex skeleton, one of two ever found!   Apparently, Montana is noted for its archeological finds of dinosaur bones.

Peggy tries to scare T. Rex to no avail

We spent the night at a lovely campground near the dam, got to hike a nature trail there.

We have not been getting much exercise so far on this trip--gotta improve on that score!   Onward now ever west.  Should begin to see the Rocky Mountains tomorrow!  

On our way!

We left home yesterday as scheduled, a few hours later than we'd hoped due to last minute packing and making as sure as one possibly can that electricity, plumbing, automobile, mail, and all aspects of our home base in Mercer will be okay during our 6 month absence.  I thought many times about all you "snowbirds" and how you do this twice a year, every year!   Wow!   Maybe it gets easier over time...

We actually rolled off the driveway at about noon, kissed for luck, and grinning like fools, headed out onto US Highway 2.   We plan to follow this all the way to Washington, retracing the route we enjoyed on AmTrack train travels, taking in the scenery and small town attractions.   We only got as far as Jacobson, Minnesota, some 260 miles from home, but we were on our way!!   We stopped to camp at Hay Lake in the Savanna State Forest.   It felt great to hang out our brand new "shingle" on the campsite post, no longer dedicated employees...but "professional bums"!!  For her part, Lily is glad to be sitting in the woods now, not in a garage or on a driveway...waiting, waiting, waiting for the adventure to finally begin!   Off to North Dakota tomorrow!