A LITTLE TRIP TO CANADA

CHECKING OUT CHOTEAU

Our pack trip scheduled for next spring leaves out of Choteau, which is on the east side of the Rockies.  On the way there to see what it was like, we stopped in Browning to see the Museum of the Plains Indians.  It was mostly a beautiful collection of native costumes of the Blackfeet Indians.  Well worth the stop, though it doesn't look like it from the outside.
In Choteau we discovered we had been through there before, about 10 yrs ago.  We decided not to take the trailer, but use a motel when we embark on our 3 day pack assisted trip.  We've talked to the outfitter, and she sounds like a great lady, and we can't wait.  More later....

IN SEARCH OF......

 We are newbies at finding huckleberries here.  Amber showed us the ropes last year, so we struck out on our own (did I say struck out?).  We drove along the road to Upper Whitefish Lake, scanning the shrubs.  We found what we thought were hucks, but as I checked my book on plants of the Rockies, I discovered we had picked mostly Serviceberries (aka Saskatoons).  Well, they tasted pretty good, so it wasn't all a failure.  I think there are some huckleberries in there too, we gathered 2 quarts of the things.  Brought them home and froze them til I can find a scrumptious recipe to use them in!

 Luna took the opportunity to sharpen her breath-holding skills in the lake.

The scenery was beautiful, and we drove over Red Meadow Pass, stopped at Polebridge and had a good dinner at Northern Lights Cafe, next to the merc. 

MEDICINAL?

Darrell found this in the woods one morning as he unlocked the gate.  Not sure why it was there, must be a story behind it, but we have no clue.  We called the sherriff's office to come get it. 

ALL DAY RAIN AND THEN SOME.....

A few weeks ago, it rained all day, and it was steady and hard.  That being said, the next morning when Darrell went to open the gate, he noticed quite a river going across our road and down the hill to the neighbor's house.  Later, we had a knock on the door from the caretaker of the home, informing us that they needed to do something about all the water flowing into their house.  They had called some earth mover type guys, and they brought out their equipment to try to divert the river.  They decided to dig a new trench in our upper entrance road, and that did the job.  However, the flood of water clogged our drain pipe, and now we had a new stream running through the park.
When all was said and done (many phone calls to our supervisor), everyone figured out that this was way more water than the rain had caused.
It turns out that there was a pond up on Big Mountain, at a home that used to be owned by Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), and the pond breached, causing it to empty down the mountain.  We drove up and looked at the pond, and Darrell guestimated about 4 million gallons came our way.  Along with over 200 trout they had just stocked the pond with.

The owner of the pond came to the park the next day, feeling very bad, and trying to find out who all his pond had directly affected.  The pond was over 40 years old, and who knows what kind of maintenance was done to it....it was probably "grandfathered" in when new codes were implemented, and it was never brought up to specs.
Damage to our park was minimal, you can tell where the water flowed, but it didn't really hurt anything.  We're told that our road will be repaired, and things will be back to normal soon.

So, that's about the most excitement we've had all summer here.  The month of July has been warm, and our park has been packed every day.  Most of the exploring that there is to do up here, we did in the past 3 years, so didn't want to post duplicate pictures again.
It has been too hot for hiking, (we did that once in Glacier, and both suffered from heat exhaustion, don't want to repeat that experience).
We are waiting for a bit cooler weather for that, and in the meantime are keeping busy going to the gym and looking for huckleberries.

SWIFT CREEK TRAIL

We drove only 4 miles this morning to a new trail system at the north end of Whitefish Lake.  The day was getting warm as we started on the short, 1.5 mile loop.  This is a really nice little trail for people who just want to take a short hike; for a longer trip, you can hike or bike to Smith Lake, 3 miles further, and come back for a total of 6 miles.  And, you get to see Swift Creek!  The shade of the trees kept us cool on our trek....very nice!

Wedding rehearsal dinner at the park

 Our first event of the summer, FWP rents out space to people who want to have....family reunions, weddings, birthday parties, and like this evening, a wedding rehearsal dinner.  Here is a truck hauling a trailer full of wooden picnic tables down our ADA path.  It was a tight squeeze, especially getting onto the path, with the warm day and the parking lot full to its capacity with cars parked on up the road.  I would have used folding tables, myself....

 There were about 50 people in attendance, and everyone had a good time.  They all cleaned up their mess, and everyone was happy.

DAY HIKE TO FINGER LAKE

 Today we went for a short hike that was in our book, "Day hikes for dogs".  Not too much elevation gain, only 1.5 miles, and a lake at the end!  Perfect for a hot day.

 Luna immediately dove in, and had lots of fun diving for dead wood in the shallow area.  Soon it got muddied up, and so did her face....had to laugh.  We laugh a lot since we got her.

Since we've been hiking with Luna this year, we've kept her on leash.  This trip, on the way back, we let her go, and she stayed right with us....no rabbit or squirrel chasing, and she always checked to see that we were still there. What a gal.

STAR PARTY

Put on by the Big Sky Astronomy Club, hosted by Lone Pine State Park, we went to a star party Saturday night.  This visitor center is located on a hill overlooking the city of Kalispell, and beyond to Flathead Lake and across the valley to the Jewel Basin Hiking area.

Club members are readying their impressive equipment, waiting for darkness, and also for their president to finish his 1 hour power point presentation on stars.  Very interesting, but I had trouble sitting still, trying to stay awake.  This was just past my bedtime. Guess I'm not the party animal I used to be. :)

DOGGIE DAYCARE

I felt I had to share the place where we take Luna when we want to go somewhere "sans dog". I'm not sure which person is the artist, husband, wife, or both.....but their place is something to behold.  Very creative and eyecatching, for sure.  

 I like the use of bottles and cd's