Aug. 26 - Bull Lake

Just about 1/2 mile away (seemed a lot longer drive when I was little!) from the old cabin road is the turn off for Bull Lake.  My grandparents used to haul all us little kids (and dogs!  and equipment) to this lake.  We'd swim and canoe and float around on innertubes.  The best of times!  Except...this one time I was canoeing with a certain cousin who will remain unnamed...  She started rocking the canoe, all the while telling me about freshwater sharks!  I have always been way too gullible!!!  And...I have, since then, always been very afraid of (and fascinated by) sharks...

 Ouray Bear's first time in his mom's favorite ol' swimming hole.

 We weren't the only ones there.  A couple from Sandpoint, ID, and their super cute little dog - Lilly - were already ensconced on the dock when we arrived.  The lady went in for a dip - and took Lilly with her!  But Lilly's little still-puppy feet knew how to paddle, and she made it out OK.  Isn't she adorable?  And she had a personality to match.

 Senny checks her out - "are you OK?!"  You can just hear Lilly respond with a flippant "oh yeah, I do this with my mom ALL the time!"

 And there she goes, literally FLYING down the dock ramp!

And now we come to the part where I tell you there didn't used to be that painful-to-walk-on ramp!  There used to be just the dock - a nice, easy to use, comfy dock.  But they've changed much about this spot (unlike our cabin).  It's now an official picnic spot/campround, replete with winding roads all over the place, a serious bathroom (but that's a good improvement, right there!), and a dock ramp you can't walk on barefoot!  It's still beautiful and minimally visited.  And their changes are fine - I just miss the simpler facilities, the simpler experience, the simpler times...

 Ouray and Seneca - a moment of shared boredom and suffering.  "Can you believe Mom had to go and ruin this place by posing us for another dang photo?!!!"

 "Oh well.  Just grin and bear it..."

That pretty pond again - different time of day, different look.

And with that, we'll part with the past once again.  And, as Bob Hope would say, thanks for memories...

Aug. 25 - one more stop - Kootenay Falls!

These are the largest undammed falls in the state and the last unharnessed major waterfall in the whole NW!

 

 A cool swinging bridge!

Aug. 25 - Old Memories

Come, let me take you for a ride.  Down an old dirt road.  To a place in my past.

 To my grandparents' cabin.  Where they spent summers until they ultimately moved to Colorado, to live full-time.  And where I spent time in the summers too, long ago.

Picking berries for jam.  Helping Grandma cook.  Making my own fudgesicles using a little kid cookbook.  Walking little nature trails (amazing we never walked into a bear!  I guess they could hear us coming, OK!)  Tubing on the nearby lake.  Floating on a log raft in the neighbor's pond.  Generally wreaking havoc with my cousins, which included the time some of them decided to pretend they were bears (outside the fifthwheel me and my cousin were sleeping in) very early in the morning, and made my littlest cousin (at the time) cry.   Going to the nearest town (had something like four businesses - groceries, laundry, a post office, and a bar!) and Grandma letting each of us who went along get two comic books and two candies!!!!  Wow, that was all such good stuff.  Those were some of the best days.  And the most cherished of memories.

 So, even though I had brought Bill to see the cabin (about 25 yrs ago now!), and it was not the full 37 or so years since I had been visiting as a little girl, it still caught me by surprise and reduced me to tears (right in front of the current owner, no less!).  The emotions of it all, and the memories.

I was surprised to see the cabin still so intact, still so much the same.  The shed had long since perished and been replaced.  And the owners, who are hunting outfitters (and the kids of old friends of my grandparents, I believe), must be using the place as temporary, cheap digs for the hunters.  I don't think I'd want to stay there!  It was never very fancy (concrete floors, see-through log walls, uncomfortable furniture - see that log couch?  Fine for little kids but...!), but it's gone a bit downhill from there.  And with 35 yrs of occasional use, one can see how.  But hunters are hardy folks, and I'm sure they don't care much for a night or two.  Much had been changed in the old place.  For example, I'm pretty sure I remember a big old cast iron stove that we cooked on - not the more modern (but still ancient!) cooktop that's been there these past years.  And my grandparents' old room was turned into a laundry/shower facility, while the little room across the open deck outside that used to serve as shower is now storage.  And the forest has reclaimed Grandma & Grandpa's garden patch, a place where another cousin had once spotted a moose.  In this photo, I think they may have added the stuffed furniture.  I don't remember either piece.  And that one ugly yellow couch is blocking the cool rock fireplace.  I think the drapes are still the same though!

And there's Bill, revisiting that rock hard "couch!"

A beautiful pond out by the main road.  I don't remember this from before, but then again I wasn't always looking for things to photograph back then!  My mind was much more occupied with whether I'd get leeches on me if I went on that raft in the other pond!

A pretty stop as we motor on, heading for Noxon, the teeny town where my grandma used to resupply (they also went to Libby and Troy, but I mostly remember Noxon).

There it is!  And it's virtually the same still!  Just a few buildings, visible from across the water (looks like it's called the Cabinet Gorge Reservoir on our map).

The grocery store and the bar, just like forever.  Who says nothing can stay the same and that everything changes!?  Well, OK, so this might be the ONLY thing/place that doesn't change!

I went in the shop and talked to the gal working there.  Believe it or not, she was also from San Diego!  But she'd been in Noxon for 30 yrs or so, and she could also remember how the grocery store layout used to be different!  Ah, my old brain was validated!  The candies and comic books used to be centrally located - just as they should be!!!  Now the candies are off to the side, in the dark, and they don't even sell comic books!  So it's not a perfect world...

Only one more place we need to go, to complete my Montana past.

Tomorrow...

Aug. 24 - Moving on in Montana - to Libby

We left the Glacier area to head west a bit before ultimately returning to Glacier (the east side this time).  We had a special visit to make first - to see my grandparents' old log cabin, a place of very happy and pretty summertime childhood memories.  So we headed over to Libby for a few days.

 Somebody with some great talent has outfitted Libby with wonderful metal eagle sculptures.

 And then there are other great "sculptures..."

And this?  Well,we thought we a lot to haul with our 40' motorhome and 22' truck!  But, maybe we could add something else on the back - like these folks did (a boat!)!?!

One last gasp out of the Flathead area

 Cool church, eh?  Had to stop on our way to Kalispell and snap a "pitcher!"

 Pretty river (don't mind those stupid power lines!), in between CFalls and Whitefish.

Nice hay barn close to Kalispell - this is one of Kathy's frequent targets, esp. on foggy mornings!



Last bit for the day - Avalanche Gorge

 So here's what I think was the Middle Fork of the Flathead, rafters included.

 And remember I sad I'd return to the Avalance Gorge, when I had something more worth showing?  Well here 'tis.  What a fabulous, fun-photography place!  I could've stayed there exploring and experimenting much longer!

 Love the clear water and colored rocks!

 And sculpted rocks and craggy tree roots.

And remember that bunny?  Well, he's back too!  Or she?  Or an entirely different bunny?!  Well, still cute, whatever!

Bit 4: Lake McD during the day

After the Apgar hike, going back to our little home in Columbia Falls, driving to Kalispell with Bill (to get new tires from Costco, which they ended up not having in stock!), and then driving back to Glacier - and seeing a bear enroute,...I stopped at Lake McDonald.  And finally got the color that I'd wanted.

Love the water color and the rock colors!

Tidbit 3: Roadside bear - but not in the park!

I actually read a thing somewhere that told people they really shouldn't stop for roadside animals, esp. bears.  I can understand trying not to habituate them by doing such totally stupid things as getting too close or worse, yet, feeding them!  I can understand the need to properly park your car, even through all the excitement and chaos involved with these sightings - blocking traffic is a no-no, rude, and unsafe!!!  BUT...I can't understand not stopping!  And neither can anyone else!  (except for a few locals who get to see them all the time and mostly just get pissed at us looky-lou tourists!)  So when I noticed this one car, pulled over on the side of the road, I had to at least glance over in the direction they were looking as I drove by...  Yeah, quick U-turn and park, get the long lens on, and hope the bear is still there!  He was!  And he hung out long enough for all 600 of us (well it seemed like that many - probably was only 20 or 30 when it was all said and done...) to see him!  And no, he wasn't IN the park.  He was on the road TO the park.  Guess he didn't care - he was where the berries were!

Isn't he cute?!  And so well-behaved.  He just kept eating - exactly what he's supposed to be doing.  And mostly, the people behaved.  Although a few of them probably should've stayed farther back (no, I wasn't one of them - I was in the second tier of folks...).