GLACIER NATIOANL PARK - POLEBRIDGE & MISC.

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! My oldest and dearest friend and her husband came to call and we had a great time. If laughter is the best medicine (I believe it is) then I'll be in very good shape for quite some while.

GRIZ BIZ

I couldn't resist showing you this photo. The other day whilst I was out working in my forest I came upon this enormous old log that was just shredded. Bears tear up old logs and stumps mining for ants and grubs. The picture doesn't do justice to how impressively the bear ripped this log open. There is a grizzly working the area so I'm thinking that's whose handy work this was.

BABY ROBINS

Spring and summer are such grand times to experience new life and it is everywhere, even in my rain gutters!

WOOD LILY

And, of course, the wildflowers continue to do there thing. Each month new entries become visible. The daisies are particularly lovely this year, planting themselves in perfect places to make it look as though I had been gardening.

For a very long time I have wanted to go to Polebridge. Can't say why really except that I thought it might be interesting. You can access this remote little place either through Ten Lakes Scenic Area or the west entrance of Glacier Park. The Ten Lakes way is a little rugged so we went down to the west entrance. The road to Polebridge is dirt most of the way but it is a beautiful if dusty drive. The funny thing is the drive was over a hundred miles to Polebridge but as the crow flies it is probably less than forty from where I live.

POPPIES & POLEBRIDGE

Looking at a map all these years I had thought that Polebridge and the two lakes up there, Kintla and Bowman, were outside the park which made them great candidates for exploration. The bad news was that whilst Polebridge is outside the park the lakes are not. There is a park entrance right at Polebridge.

KINTLA LAKE AT THE KINTLA CREEK OUTLET

We headed for Kintla Lake first as it was the furthest, some fifteen miles that takes well over an hour to negotiate. I had it so firmly entrenched in my mind that this lake was outside the park that when we got there I proceeded to strap on my .357 and get Koty ready to hike. Both of these things are highly illegal in the National Parks. It wasn't until I reached the trailhead and was brought up short by the info sign that I realized the error of my ways. My little sister Mona was with us on this trip and she thought I had taken leave of my senses.

KINTLA LAKE

So much for exploring Kintla or Bowman. By the time we got back down the road to the Bowman turnoff we decided to skip Bowman in favor of our stomachs. There is basically nothing in Polebridge except the Polebridge Mercantile. But, that's all we needed as the mercantile is also a bakery!

MONA & FRIEND LUNCHING AT THE POLEBRIDGE MERCANTILE

We both had a warm pork sandwich that was so, so. But, we also bought some pastries that were to die for. The one I chose had peanuts and hucklberries, two of my all time favorites. When I first moved to Montana I kept hearing people talk about huckleberries like they were manna from heaven. I thought "Yeah, yeah, huckleberries big deal." That was until I tasted them. They really are manna from heaven. Even Koty will eat them.

After lunch we headed north to the border crossing which is closed as you can see from the photo. It's about another 15-17 miles from Polebridge. This crossing is closed to entry but it is well patrolled and several new corrals suggest there is going to be mounted border patrolling this season. Over the years that I have lived here I have seen the guarding of the Canadian Border become stronger and stronger.

BORDER CROSSING

The section of road between Polebridge and the border is where I should have been. It's all National Forest and open to exploring with your best friend. I'll come back and do that one day.

It's been a great couple of weeks, as usual. We hope you've been enjoying your summer too!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

THE WEST KOOTENAI & LITTLE NORTH FORK FALLS

Ha! Ha! Mom couldn't make it another day without getting out for some hiking and photography. We were out doing some watering in preparation for departure to Canada when Scott, our neighbor, came down the road. He said he was off to the West Kootenai with a pal. He also mentioned they were going to stop by and take a look at some waterfalls.

After Scott hiked off I could see the wheels turning. No sooner were we done with the watering than mom says, "We're outta here!" To which I replied, "Yippee!" We piled our gear in the pickup and were off in a flash. Mom knew exactly what waterfalls Scott was referring to. She'd been meaning for us to take a trip over there and this chance encounter pushed her over the edge. :)

I have mentioned the Kootenai Forest several times. In fact we live smack dab in it. It's a really big forest. If your interested you can find out more about it here Kootenai National Forest .

We live on the east side so we had to take the bridge to get across the Koocanusa. On the drive down we saw a beautiful osprey gliding around. We also saw an eagle but he didn't care to have his picture taken.

When we arrived at the trailhead to the falls who do we see coming down the path but our friend Scott and his friend James! Humans have no idea how like us dogs they are. They met like they hadn't seen each other in a coon's age. I have no idea how long a coon's age actually is but I gather it's a long time. It had been about and hour and a half seen we'd seen Scott!

Mom had been a little concerned that there wouldn't be much water coming over the falls as it was so late in the season and it has been so dry. But the guys said there was still quite a bit. They took off for their hiking trail and we took off for the falls.

It's isn't much of a hike, like less than a half mile. As short a hike as it is it's very pretty. You hike in the shade along the creek, cross a bridge and there, in like a grotto, is Little North Fork Falls . It was nice and cool in there. I like cool!

Since the walk up to the falls wasn't much of a hike we drove back down the road about a quarter of a mile to a trail we had seen on the way up. We hiked up this trail for about an hour until the wind fall got so bad we couldn't go any further. This is grizzly country but we saw no sign. We did see beautiful, old growth ponderosa. While we were walking along I nearly jumped out of my coat when one of those old beauties must have given up the ghost. There was this crack that sounded like a gunshot (I don't like guns!) and then this whomp as it hit the ground. It was no where near to us but boy it sure sounded like it.

All in all it was a great day!

Until next time ....

©Kinsey Barnard