Hungry Horse Reservoir

This weekend we decided to take a drive over to Hungry Horse to check out the fall colors. There is the town of Hungry Horse, Hungry Horse Dam and Hungry Horse Reservoir. Hungry Horse is a local favorite for hiking, fishing and camping. Hungry Horse is about fifteen miles from Glacier National Park. If you're visiting from out of state you should check it out, especially if you are here in the Fall. Glacier is beautiful but there are so many other beautiful places with less traffic and Hungry Horse is one of them.

On the way over we crossed the Flathead River and it was looking mighty pretty all dressed up for Fall. If you look closely there is even an intrepid fisherman on the river.

Flathead River

As pretty much everyone knows the West has been plagued by drought conditions and northwestern Montana is no exception. All I can say is I'm mighty glad we are up river. In any event the reservoir was pretty low. Below is a photo taken this weekend and one taken at full pool.

Hungry Horse October 10, 2015

Hungry Horse at full pool. Tiny speck in the middle is the same little island in the photo above.

We traveled down the west side of the reservoir and only went as far as Doris Creek, which isn't very far at all. If you have the time and an adventurous spirit you can drive around the whole reservoir. It'll be over a hundred miles. It's 58 miles to Spotted Bear which is a the far south end of the lake.

We were only out for a walk in the woods in the autumn and had gotten a bit of a late start. So we hiked up 895A which goes along Doris Creek. Along the way we came across a young family cutting firewood. There was something very lovely about the scene. A family together out in the forest, in the beauty of a Fall afternoon, providing for themselves a warm and toasty winter. Also, warming is that the heat will cost them $5.00 for all the wood they can cut.

There's not a lot more to tell other than we had a really wonderful, colorful afternoon. I'll let Kinsey's photos do the rest of the talking. The point of this exercise was finding color and that we surely did.

Cottonwoods in full Fall color

A walk in the woods at Hungry Horse

Aspen in Fall color

Me stuck in the car whilst Kinsey fools around

Sometimes it's hard to believe we live in such a beautiful part of the world. We are grateful we walk in this world with our eyes open. It's truly a gift. Soon the snow will fly and all this amazing color will only exist in photos and memories. But, the gods willing, we will be able to experience it again next year.

And, would you believe this is the sunset we were treated to at the end of the day? If you are color junkies like we are it just doesn't get any better than this! Oh, how we love Montana!

Sunset over the Flathead Valley

Ciao for now!
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard