It ain't heavy, it's my bike

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Glacier National Park, Day 8

Reed popped Little Richard. We drove to Polebridge, which was in the northwest corner of the park about 35 miles from West Glacier, and was gravel roads a good portion of the way.

Putting things in perspective - photo by Reed Thompson

We met a German ranger at the gate, who said everything was open and there weren't bear problems.

We stopped at the Bowman Lake campground and parked there. Busse and Reed hiked to Numa Lookout, which was about 5 miles each was with about 2600 feet of elevation gain.

What a difference a couple days make in apparel - photo by Reed Thompson

These three are by Reed Thompson

Molly and I were going to hike along Bowman Lake, but there were many, many wolf howls which caused us to redirect. We ended up hiking on the Lower Quartz Lake trail; we made the ascent but didn't do the descent down to the lake because of fatigue.

We saw some bones that wolves had eaten along the shore of Bowman Lake. Busse got really out of breath on their hike, but then reached the top triumphantly. They couldn't see the fire tower until they were about 50 feet away, but the view was great. They ran into a Russian ranger named Ola there who had seen the wolves on the trail, and said that you should share cheese with friends. They saw more bones from wolf meals on the way down, including a deer skull and ribcage.

We went to the Polebridge Mercantile, which was really nice, and we got some huckleberry pastries of excellent quality.

The Polebridge Pastry Selection - photo by Reed Thompson

For dinner, we took a real cute drive to Columbia Falls, and we ate at Backslope Brewing. Along the way, we had some excellent views of the Flathead River, a half-burned mountain, and we nearly ran over some deer.

The next morning. Busse and Reed drove us to the airport in Kalispell, and they continued onward to Denver. Thanks for hangin' with us, dudes.

Here are the links to the individual day posts:
Glacier National Park: Day 1
Glacier National Park: Day 2

Friday, September 14, 2018

Glacier National Park, Day 7

We each did our own thing in the morning. Reed displayed poor light discipline at 2 a.m. when he went to the bathroom. Molly and I had a pillow fight. Busse laughed in his sleep a few times.

Tight quarters at the ol' Apgar Village Lodge - photo by Reed Thompson

We went on a half-day horseback ride at Swan Mountain Outfitters in the afternoon with Mason the overbearingly chatty 23-year-old. Mason lives in a tent behind the corral and has seen 70 bears in four years. Reed rode Astro, Nathan rode Ice, Molly rode Dakota, and I rode Mongo. Nathan and Reed's horses were half-Icelandic, and Mongo and Astro liked to snack on the grass and saplings along the trail. Busse's horse could eat on the run. Dear reader, please note that Busse's grundle was fine in the saddle, and he noted that he got an erection from the motion of riding. Reed had horsehair on his shoes.

We went to Kalispell, where all the sun in Montana appears to reside. We went to a thrift store, where I bought two western shirts, and Reed saw two typewriters that he chose not to purchase. Reed learned that he had become an uncle while we were in the thrift store. We went to Moose's Saloon and got intimidated by the saloon doors and sawdust and peanuts on the floor, and the carved graffiti on the tables and walls.

There weren't any tables available anyway, so we went to dinner at A Taste of Rome Pizzeria. Our waitress wasn't helpful, but the pizza was excellent. The cook was able to confirm that Moose's exists, but didn't have any information on why it would be packed at 5 p.m. on a Friday.

We went back to Moose's for a pitcher and to share stories of fights we'd gotten into. Busse hit Reed with a tangerine on the walk through town afterward. Jose Frank is the Dick Idol of Kalispell. We got ice cream at Sweet Peaks (aka Sugar Tits), and Reed got a cool hat and hit on a mom.

We drove back to Apgar and toasted champagne on the dock on Lake McDonald and looked at the stars. There was a dude laying on the dock in a sleeping bag totally silent, which was odd.

Here are the links to the individual day posts:
Glacier National Park: Day 1
Glacier National Park: Day 2

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Glacier National Park, Day 6

We checked out of our hotel in East Glacier, and headed westward on US Highway 2 toward West Glacier. We saw two fires burning south of Highway 2, and we could smell smoke when we pulled into the trailhead in Flathead National Forest near Stanton Lake. We hiked trail 146 back to Stanton Lake, which took us along the lakeshore.

Molly came up with the cheer "Bear Elsewhere," which we used to good effect on the trail. We saw fishermen with an inflatable standup paddleboard, and we hiked past an island with a cairn in the middle of the lake.

Loungin'

These two are by Reed Thompson

We skipped rocks from the beach, and hiked past a Montana guy who razzed us for our bear avoidance techniques.

The road to West Glacier was much better than what we'd experienced on the east side of the park, and we ate up the miles. We checked in at the Apgar Village Lodge, and we discovered there were no doors between the rooms in our room, so Molly repurposed the shower curtain as a room divider.

We went west to Whitefish in search of Indian food at Kandahar, which turned into a bit of a Kipling-esque runaround. We debated popping the blister on Reed's little toe, which he has named Little Richard. In Whitefish, we stopped at the Spotted Bear Distillery, which was nice. Busse got a huckleberry sour. We went to a Mexican joint for dinner, got wet burritos and drank Rainier.

Whitefish is a yuppie ski town, and surprisingly affluent. There was a sign for a realtor named Dick Idol. The staff was surprisingly racially diverse at the sandwich shop that Reed and Busse snacked at when we first got to town. We went to Palace Bar for a post-dinner drink, which at one point was the home of mouse races.

The Yelp reviews said the bathrooms were either great or possibly terrible, depending on which you read, and I'd have to go with somewhere in between. The men's room just had a commode with no stall next to the urinals, which was weird.

Here are the links to the individual day posts:
Glacier National Park: Day 1
Glacier National Park: Day 2