Life in the Slow Lane - Northwest Montana

September Ride in the Idaho Backcountry

2009-09-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

Rainbow over the Mission Mountain Wilderness - NW Montana...

Several of my friends took a a 720 mile ride through the central portion of the panhandle of Idaho. The route took us along the Lolo Motorway - a dirt road roughly following Lewis and Clark route - through Orofino, Elk River and Avery, ID... Lots of wonderful scenery! For more, check out the "Ride Report" my friend posted:http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=510199

Enjoy!

Camping Along the Thompson River

2009-06-15T09:25:00.001-07:00

Some friends and I spent the weekend clearing trails and camping along the Thompson River in Northwest Montana.

snow, Snow, SNOW!!!

2009-03-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

Following every major snowstorm in NW Montana, the locals can't wait to get into the backcountry for skiing, snowshoeing or snowmobiling! Everyone calls in sick for work in an effort to get "Fresh Tracks". But you've got to get up early in the morning to beat my friends to the snow!!

Elves Decorate Bigfork Village, MT for the Holidays

2008-11-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

It was holiday decorating day for the Bigfork Elves on Saturday, November 22th. The only thing more important that day was the Griz-Cats game in Missoula! But thanks to the dedicated Flight Leaders, we finished in plenty of time to catch the game. This annual event is as looked forward to as the "support cart" with it's warm beverages! Decorating the village is part of what makes Bigfork a wonderful place to live all year long!

Father/Daughter Motorcycle Tour

2008-09-25T11:55:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago my 16 year old daughter and I, along with some friends, took a short weekend trip into Canada. We took as many dirt roads as we could and basically circumnavigated Glacier and Waterton Parks. It was extremely hot, but we had a great time, especially when we gained enough elevation to get relief from the heat!

September in Montana

2008-09-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from last weekend. My wife, Amy, and I did a short trip to Polebridge on motorcycles. The baked goodies from the Polebridge Mercantile made the entire effort worthwhile, even without the spectacular scenery. We headed out north of Polebridge in search of the Ninko Cabin - this is a FS cabin that can be rented in Winter and we wanted to check it out as a possible destination once the snow flies... We were surprised to find it unlocked and enjoyed hanging out for a while.

Glacier Park - Locals Only!

2008-08-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought Glacier Park was open to the public... Well it is, but there are certain things that are available for locals that the park doesn't necessarily advertise too loudly.

Of course it's nice to be able to access the park in less than an hour when you 13 year old son says "I'm Bored..." on a Saturday morning! We took a motorcycle ride through the park as far as the Many Glacier Hotel. Traveling with a kid requires waaay more stops for burning off energy!

Then there is boating... Several of the lakes within Glacier Park are open to recreational boating. Yesterday we spent most of the day on Lake McDonald. Spectacular!

A Day in Glacier Park

2008-08-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

A day in Glacier Park with Tom Ulrich...Wow! More to come.

Clear Trails - Part Two

2008-08-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

More fun and work was shared by good friends on the Peterson Creek and Quintonkin Trails in the Swan Range yesterday. We had previously cleared Peterson Creek trail a few weeks ago but were stopped by snow once past the top of the ridge - so the riding was dusty but fun for the first few miles. The scenery is just jaw dropping from the trail looking out across the Flathead Valley - Swan, Flathead and Echo lakes are all visible...

Once we started down the Quintonkin Trail we quickly ran into exactly the same scene that's been repeated hundreds of times this year - downed trees across the trail! Some of these were so big one of the guys named them "Boone & Crockett" trees for their "Record" size. Naturally, we're limited to a fairly small chain saw and on more than one occasion it took multiple cuts to get through the debris. Darkness was rapidly approaching and we were forced to get out of the woods, while allowing a good safety margin of daylight, without completing the Quintonkin trail.

Enjoy the trails!

100 Miles of Trail Clearing

2008-07-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, we all like to enjoy the great outdoors on a clear crisp summer day. The last thing you really want to do is hard manual labor when you're trying to enjoy a day in the backcountry. But each year 100's of miles of trails here in Northwest Montana must be cleared and maintained in order for everyone to enjoy, and importantly to reduce user impact from folks going off trail to get around fallen trees.

A group of off-road motorcyclists I ride with clear literally 100's of miles of trails each summer. It's hard work but richly rewarding to be able to contribute to the community in this way. This past Sunday six of us cleared more than 50 miles of trails on the Swan Range of the Flathead National Forest. We worked hard but enjoyed the quiet escape of the backcountry, tremendous scenery as well as a challenging ride. There are miles and miles yet to clear, but nearly all the trails in the Swan Range north of Strawberry Lake are clear and ready for hikers, horsemen, bikers and motorcyclists to enjoy!

Montana Dog

2008-07-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

We took the boat across Flathead Lake to "The Docks" restaurant in Lakeside for dinner last night. New management, a fresh remodel on the deck and boat docks along with a new Mexican menu has transformed The Docks into my new favorite boating destination. The food was great and you can't beat the setting sun shining against the Swan Range as a backdrop. But enough about that - this guy rolls into the parking lot on a giant street legal ATV with a dog on the back - he comes in for dinner and the dog sits/sleeps on the ATV for the entire time! Montana dogs are pretty good at staying in the back of a truck but this dog was too cool!

The Little Belt Mountains

2008-07-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

I love Montana... The more I explore areas of the state that I've never seen the more I know that there is no place else I'd rather be...

I spent the last weekend of June with friends exploring dirt roads in the Little Belt Mountains of the Lewis and Clark National Forest. My favorite roads were FS 839 and Logging Creek Road. FS 839- follows the ridge top up to nearly 8000 feet in elevation - offering incredible vistas and high alpine escape from the 90 degree heat below. Logging Creek Road follows this cool crisp trout stream for miles...

Both roads are in excellent repair and are suitable even for passenger cars. Make a loop from Kings Hill Pass on Hwy 89 north of White Sulphur Springs - take FS 839 west for about 25 miles then follow Logging Creek Rd. until it intersects back with Hwy 89 just north of the town of Monarch (directly across the Hwy from the intersection with County Rd.427). Make sure you are well equipped with water, snacks and a full tank of fuel and enjoy!

Love Montana. Live Montana.

Neighborhood Moose Family

2008-06-20T08:16:00.001-07:00

Neighborhood Moose Family bedded down last night behind a neighbor's house... Fortunately our neighbors are sensitive enough to keep their distance - but without a very expensive lens for your camera the pictures are pretty bad - but still fun!

Moose Babies...

2008-06-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

June in Northwest Montana is a time for all our woodland friends to have babies. This brand new Moose Baby was spotted near our home in Bigfork...

Mother and Babe appear to be doing fine!

Summer in Montana - Snow in June!

2008-06-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

A hummingbird takes shelter during a summer snowstorm in the Swan Valley of Northwest Montana.

Yaak, Yaak, Yaak

2008-05-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Winter has lingered further into spring this year than in the past here in Northwest Montana. Spring had just begun when the weatherman turned up the heat two weeks ago – just in time for a long awaited motorcycle road trip my friend Steve and I had been planning for a long time. Planning is perhaps the wrong term…we had been talking about a road trip – “You wanna go for a ride? Sure, where do you want to go? I don’t care – where do you wanna go? I don’t know… OK, pack your camping gear and I’ll meet you Friday after work. Where are we going to go? I don’t know. OK, I’ll be ready!” As I’m packing, I called Steve to tell him to pack his passport because we might want to cross into Canada… I have no idea where we’re going…

It’s 6:00pm Friday, May 16th and I am finally leaving Bigfork heading to meeting Steve in Kalispell at 6:00 – yep. I’m late! Still no plan when we meet…Steve says he heard about a car show in Sandpoint, ID – and just like that the “Plan” came together – head west ‘til dark:30, camp and then on to the car show…

We head to Libby for breakfast and on through Troy, Bonners Ferry and finally Sandpoint and the car show. It’s hot so we don’t want to stay too long… The “Plan” doesn’t have any more chapters…time to improvise – out come the maps and we decide to check out Priest Lake, ID, then on to Canada!

Priest Lake is a beautiful and remote lake in northern Idaho. We stop at a marina/bar for some lunch overlooking the lake…

That’s when we saved a guy’s life… So we’re having lunch and a boat comes up and tries to dock – the guy slips as he’s jumping onto the dock and misses, falls into the water between the boat and the dock. I notice the guy hasn’t come up and start getting nervous – run down to the dock and find him struggling to stay above water. Steve and I drag the guy out of the water and he’s in obvious pain – he dislocated his shoulder trying to grab the boat when he fell and could barely tread water!! So the ambulance comes… and it’s time to leave.

We tried several routes to get into Canada from the Priest Lake area but were stopped by snow every time! Plus Steve managed to run over a nail…here he expresses himself in a time honored fashion:

So we’ve now “wasted” so much time that Canada will have to wait. Time for Plan B…the Yaak!!

We backtrack into Montana – the “Plan B” is to get to the Yaak Bar before they shut down the kitchen – we make it in plenty of time!! Cold beer and good pizza and we’re ready to find a campsite when someone volunteers “You guys should just get one of the cabins across the street – they’re only $25.” Now I’m pretty happy being in a place where you can watch the swollen Yaak River and have someone bring me beer every time my glass is empty…

The next morning we decide to try Canada again… We hatch “Plan C” which is to take the Yaak road to Rexford, Montana and then cross into Canada – maybe visit Fernie… After talking with a few local we discover that nobody has been across the pass to Rexford yet this spring because of the heavy snow pack… That sounds like a challenge to me!

As you can probably guess – we did not make it over the top and were forced to give up on Canada… We took the Pipe Creek Road (MT Hwy 567) to Fisher River Rd. and McKillop Rd. back to Happy’s Inn on Hwy 2… But along the way we explored some Plum Creek Timber Co. Roads south of the Libby Dam and found a neat old fire tower…

Finally, we headed for Kalispell and home to Creston and Bigfork. For not having a plan, we wound up having a great trip, full of adventure and discovery. I can’t wait for the next “No Plan” trip!

- Doug