I managed to take no photos of our time in northern Montana. I still haven't gotten into the habit of thinking 'oh, I should take a photo of that'. The good news is I'm generally enjoying the view so much that I don't think about taking photos because I'm too busy enjoying. But I'll keep trying to grow a better photog mind.
Missoula is noticeably larger than the other Montana towns we've visited. It still has a small town feel, for the most part, with lots of biking lanes and paths. It was a bit rainy, so we checked out some thrift stores, a used sporting goods store, and a yarn store (the first of the trip--I think that's pretty disciplined of me!). I now have yarn to make Luke's first part of knitted socks!
There are mountains on all sides of Missoula and the next day we decided to go to Blue Mountain to ride our bikes. It was generally really fun--big pine trees, sweet smelling sage bushes and flowy trails. The biggest thing of note was that Luke met a young deer who sneezed and sneezed and sneezed (it is quite dusty with the fine dirt there), and looked stunned for a moment before bounding off. I also met a deer, but it just looked at me, all cute like.
The next day we drove up the Flathead Valley, to Kalispell and Whitefish. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW AMAZING IT IS THERE. It makes my heart swell.
So, there are mountains everywhere. Also, crystal clear, pristine lakes. So you can go for a bike ride in the mountains, and then hop over to the nearest lake and have a swim. This is my absolute favourite thing of all time. The hardest thing is picking which mountain and which lake.
We stayed at a free campground at Abbot Bay--and had a morning swim, of course. What was there on the side of the road on the way there? Why, spring water of course! We still had lots from the other day, so we didn't stop.
Then we went over to the Whitefish Trails. There was a sign letting people know that a grizzly had been sighted in the area that month. After our ride we met a local guy on his bike who lives just on the other side of the mountain. He hadn't seen the grizzly, but his neighbour had. We didn't have any troubles. With bears at least.
The green uptrack trail was doable for me, but other than that the trails were too hard for me. But I'm happy to push my bike through the too-tough parts of the blue trail if I get to be in woods like that. Even Luke found the trails tough.
That night we camped at the free sites on Ashley Lake. Since it was the weekend, it was very busy there. Luckily, since we have our self-contained van, we could take a spot that was vacant because didn't have a good spot for a tent.
We also checked out Whitefish. It's quite touristy-hippie-hipster-y, but that's not surprising since it's just outside the National Forest. The 100th anniversary of the parks had just happened, and I felt pretty tempted to check out Glacier...but then Luke pointed out that every National Forest we've been to has always been packed, and truthfully the area outside the park was fantastic enough.
Our next ride was at the Herron Overlook Loops. We went to the trailhead to check out the map and there was another rider there. We got to talking and it turns out he's a fellow Canadian from Alberta. He just moved to Kalispell for work and was loving the area for the same reasons we do. So we did the ride together and got to know each other better, and now we have a friend in Kalispell :) That might come in helpful when I become a cowgirl and move there.
And of course there was a swim, this time in Foy's Lake!
We went to Flathead Lake, which is one of the cleanest lakes of its size in the world. It's quite big and quite flat, and a lot of the surrounding land is native american reservations. Luke worked on his bike in the Bear Dance trailhead parking lot, while an eagle perched in its nest looked on. It took longer than expected and we ran out of daylight. So we returned the next day to do the ride.
I found the Bear Dance Trails to be challenging, mostly because there were lots of steep areas. There were lots of white pine cones, which are much softer than regular cones. At this time of year they break apart effortlessly and the pieces look like rose petals. I tried eating one of the little nuts from inside, because I had read that it was a staple of the native americans and bears in the area. It was *so bitter*. So either I remembered what I read incorrectly, or they have a tougher palate than I do.
Lucky for me, there's another mountain water spring at the base of the trails so I had delicious spring water to wash that down.
Luke and I were doing different trails, but he took a wrong turn so I ran into him as he was backtracking. As soon as he kept going I noticed that he had dropped his bear spray, but he disappeared instantly and didn't hear me when I yelled after him. So I put it in my pack and hoped he wouldn't need it. Then I met a couple with their two dogs, and they had been on the trails the night before and ran into a couple of bears. After he returned from his ride he was happy to be reunited with his spray (which, it turns out, is made in Kalispell!) and told me that he did see a bear...but it had heard him coming and was already taking off in the other direction.
[FYI bear spray is the best defence against bears, much more so than a gun. We don't worry about it too much, but a mountain biker had been killed when he surprised a grizzly in Glacier earlier this summer. So I'm glad Luke didn't have any problems]
Then, a swim in Foy's Lake. YAY!
I love Montana.
Tuesday 6 September 2016
Oh Montana
Our first Montana stop was Bozeman, one of our first destinations from when we first started traveling. It's still as vibrant and beautiful as it was a couple of years ago.
Luke had ordered a new hydration pack from REI so we went to pick that up, drove around to see what's new, and stayed at the (free) Battle Ridge campground again. They've had to cut down a few trees but it was still great--especially when a couple of owls hung out in the neighbouring tree and hooted back and forth as we were going to sleep.
The next day we biked the Emerald Lake Trail in the Hyalite Canyon. There were quite a few people on the trail, hiking, running and biking. It's such a beautiful area!
That night we stayed in the Walmart parking lot. It had a nice view:
However, it was much more active during the night than I had hoped. This included a guy doing unbelievably shitty rap to music that had a repetitive high-pitched ding. All. Night. Long. This annoyed other people besides me, but whenever someone would yell at him to be quiet it would just encourage him to be louder and use more swears. Awesome.
The next day we learned that a large part of the Yellowstone River (not the part of the river in Yellowstone Park though) was completely closed to any use at all. A parasite was killing large amounts of trout and the river was closed until they had it under control. How awful.
I also learned about a local area called Beaver Chew. Back when Lewis and Clark were doing their famous voyage through the area, Lewis had left a message for Clark on one of the trees at the fork of the river to tell him which way to go. Then a beaver chewed the tree down before Clark could get the message. So Clark went the wrong way and almost died. Lesson learned: don't leave messages for your friends on trees.
We went to Leverage Canyon, which is also a popular trail destination with lots of bikers. It's a bit of a climb, but there's some great views at the top. Then we left for Helena.
Helena has the biggest city park in the US, with quite a number of trails...so we went for a fun bike ride! We then walked around the downtown for a bit to see what's changed since the last time we were there too. There were a few more stores for rent than I remembered, but it's still very lovely.
We grabbed some groceries and as I was walking through the parking lot I noticed a large yellow truck running with no one inside (that seems to be a thing there. how hard is it to turn your vehicle off?). It was also parked diagonally across two parking spots, parked illegally in (two) handicap spots, and had "TRUMP Make America Great Again" plastered all across the back of it. I think their idea of 'great' and my idea of 'great' must be very very different.
The next day we went to Grizzly Gulch, another fun trail area, for a bike ride. There were a few old limestone ovens used to make mortar for brick and stone buildings in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Luke very nicely found us a place for a swim, and there was a bonus very friendly dog who came over to hang out with us as we swam.
We decided to move on to Missoula and got to do the gorgeous drive through the Helena National Forest.
Much to my absolute delight, there was a mountain spring water fountain along the road!!! We filled up our water containers and I drank as much water as I could to maximize the spring water experience. The water tasted soooo amazing.
There was a fellow also getting water, so we chatted with him a little bit. He was quite soft spoken, but unbelievably nice. He was making lemonade--the bag of squeezed lemons was right there, so it was as fresh as it gets--and he kindly offered us some. It was also so delicious. I'm smiling hard just thinking about it.
What we've seen of Montana makes a lot of sense to me. People seem to care about community and the quality of their society. There are co-ops and thriving arts scenes. And they make mountain water springs just because they can.
Our next blog stop will be Missoula and then the Flathead Valley/Glacier National Park area, my new favourite place!
Luke had ordered a new hydration pack from REI so we went to pick that up, drove around to see what's new, and stayed at the (free) Battle Ridge campground again. They've had to cut down a few trees but it was still great--especially when a couple of owls hung out in the neighbouring tree and hooted back and forth as we were going to sleep.
The next day we biked the Emerald Lake Trail in the Hyalite Canyon. There were quite a few people on the trail, hiking, running and biking. It's such a beautiful area!
That night we stayed in the Walmart parking lot. It had a nice view:
However, it was much more active during the night than I had hoped. This included a guy doing unbelievably shitty rap to music that had a repetitive high-pitched ding. All. Night. Long. This annoyed other people besides me, but whenever someone would yell at him to be quiet it would just encourage him to be louder and use more swears. Awesome.
The next day we learned that a large part of the Yellowstone River (not the part of the river in Yellowstone Park though) was completely closed to any use at all. A parasite was killing large amounts of trout and the river was closed until they had it under control. How awful.
I also learned about a local area called Beaver Chew. Back when Lewis and Clark were doing their famous voyage through the area, Lewis had left a message for Clark on one of the trees at the fork of the river to tell him which way to go. Then a beaver chewed the tree down before Clark could get the message. So Clark went the wrong way and almost died. Lesson learned: don't leave messages for your friends on trees.
We went to Leverage Canyon, which is also a popular trail destination with lots of bikers. It's a bit of a climb, but there's some great views at the top. Then we left for Helena.
Helena has the biggest city park in the US, with quite a number of trails...so we went for a fun bike ride! We then walked around the downtown for a bit to see what's changed since the last time we were there too. There were a few more stores for rent than I remembered, but it's still very lovely.
We grabbed some groceries and as I was walking through the parking lot I noticed a large yellow truck running with no one inside (that seems to be a thing there. how hard is it to turn your vehicle off?). It was also parked diagonally across two parking spots, parked illegally in (two) handicap spots, and had "TRUMP Make America Great Again" plastered all across the back of it. I think their idea of 'great' and my idea of 'great' must be very very different.
The next day we went to Grizzly Gulch, another fun trail area, for a bike ride. There were a few old limestone ovens used to make mortar for brick and stone buildings in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Luke very nicely found us a place for a swim, and there was a bonus very friendly dog who came over to hang out with us as we swam.
We decided to move on to Missoula and got to do the gorgeous drive through the Helena National Forest.
Much to my absolute delight, there was a mountain spring water fountain along the road!!! We filled up our water containers and I drank as much water as I could to maximize the spring water experience. The water tasted soooo amazing.
Luke filling our water container
There was a fellow also getting water, so we chatted with him a little bit. He was quite soft spoken, but unbelievably nice. He was making lemonade--the bag of squeezed lemons was right there, so it was as fresh as it gets--and he kindly offered us some. It was also so delicious. I'm smiling hard just thinking about it.
What we've seen of Montana makes a lot of sense to me. People seem to care about community and the quality of their society. There are co-ops and thriving arts scenes. And they make mountain water springs just because they can.
Our next blog stop will be Missoula and then the Flathead Valley/Glacier National Park area, my new favourite place!
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