Kootenai Falls, Swinging Bridge and Ross Creek Cedars!

Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Kalispell and we pulled out of our park driving a short distance west to the town of Libby Montana. We originally planned to stay at the Fireman’s Park in town which offers boondocking sites for $10 per night. After we walked around the park it was obvious to us that we would not fit into any of the sites without having several small branches kiss the outside of our motorhome.

 

We lingered to search the internet and found a somewhat unknown park north of Libby called Libby Dam RV Park. There was ONE good review but the park had no website so we had trouble finding a phone number to call.  We decided the best thing to do would be to unhook the car and drive over to check it out. What a neat little park it turned out to be as it is positioned along the Kootenai River and the friendly elderly owners mentioned we could have a site for just $20 per night with full hookups!  This park had some great views of the river and surrounding mountains so we were really happy to find it. Right after we set up our phones alerted us that the area was predicted to have near freezing temperatures that night so we were doubly happy to have this full hookup site!

It was a partly cloudy afternoon with no rain forecasted so we decided to drive over to the Kootenai Falls and Swinging Bridge about 15 minutes west of the park. We walked the 1/2 mile or so over to the swinging bridge first. It was a long swinging bridge suspended across the river, It was so cool to have a panoramic view of the cascading blue waters in the gorge below while navigating across the bridge.

We retraced our steps to make our way back to the spur trail to the falls. We did however stop several river access points to see the river and in one calm cove we actually saw salmon spawning.  Sharon had never seen wild salmon so she found this to be a real treat!  The falls were pretty amazing as well and we loved seeing the size of this waterfall. However we couldn’t linger too long because I also wanted to drive over to the Ross Creek Cedar Trail about 30 more minutes away. We made the short drive over and drove on a mostly one lane width road until we arrived at the trailhead.

The Ross Creek Cedar trail was only a one mile loop but the walk through these magnificent giants was well worth the drive. The blurb on the sign says it all “California has its redwoods and Montana has its famous Ross Creek Cedars” and these are some huge cedars!

Well we only spent one night in Libby and then we moved over to Bonners Ferry Idaho finally saying goodbye to Montana. We pulled into the Kootenai River Inn Casino for one night of boondocking. We kind of got a late start so we decided to check out the nearby Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. 

Here took a short but nice hike to Myrtle Falls, still flowing a nice rate even though the area was much dryer than any we have been in for some time. Although it is primarily a refuge for waterfowl other critters can be seen so we elected to take the loop drive in the park. Although we didn’t see much on the loop we still enjoyed our short afternoon at the refuge.

That evening we walked over to the casino to use up our $10 each in free play and after exhausting our free play money we won enough to walk over to the Kootenai River Brewing Company which had some very nice beers with a great view of the river. We enjoyed our beer and watched the geese flying down the river at sunset, a great way to end the day.

NOTE: We are currently in Couer d’Alene, Idaho and then will move over to Spokane to boondock at yet another casino.

First Snow in Glacier National Park, Montana…

While we have certainly loved our stay in Kalispell Montana the time has come to leave. How can we tell? Well there was recently a dusting of snow above 6000 feet on the mountains and although it is beautiful we know it signals more to come.

Before leaving this area we decided it was a great idea to go back to Glacier National park one last time to see the dusting of snow up close and personal. Of course we knew this would mean we would be cold but we did want to experience the beauty of snow on the peaks so off we went.

When we left Kalispell it was about 67 degrees and we had hoped it wouldn’t be too bad in the park. When we arrived at West Glacier it was down to 59 so things weren’t looking good for a hike but we plodded on anyhow. Our CRV has a temperature reading on the dash and as we began to climb Logan’s Pass the temperature kept dropping and when we finally made it to the top it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit, too dang cold for us to hike for sure.

While driving, what beauty we saw before our eyes as the fog began to lift and the exposed peaks looked as if they were dusted with powdered sugar. So mesmerized were we that we stopped to step out of the car to photograph the peaks.  Just as we did so, the 20 to 30 mph winds gusted and with the temperature of 42 it didn’t take long for the wind chill to send us back to our seats in the car with the heater on full blast.

What a great experience it was to see the first snow on  the peaks of the mountains in Glacier National Park. We parked at the pass and walked around the nature trail at Logan Pass to snap a picture here and there and to savor the sights. Once again the cold eventually strengthened its grip on us and we scurried back to the car. On the other side of the pass we parked in a turnout to continue watching the clouds and fog drift along the meadows and peaks.  We elected to eat our picnic lunch from this vantage point.

We slowly drove back down the Going to the Sun Road stopping at each turnout to take one last look at this wondrously beautiful place. Finally back at the park we began preparing for our departure but we had to return to the 406 bar for one last microbrew happy hour to meet our friends, Renee and Linda  from Kalispell to say our goodbyes. We certainly had a great stay here but the weather has finally taken a turn for the worse and chased us off.  Next it is off to Libby, Montana for an overnight stay and then on to Idaho…We’re on the road again!

NOTE: We are in Libby Montana today but leave for Bonner’s Ferry Idaho as we leave Montana and enter the Pacific TIme Zone, my least favorite time change…

Seeing Wildlife at National Bison Range–Redux…

Sometimes a place is so enjoyable it calls for a redux!. Well that pretty much explains why we made the long trek to revisit the National Bison Range. That and the fact it was too chilly in the mornings to go hiking in the mountains and we should mention the afternoons have had off and on isolated rain showers. Therefore, we packed up a lunch and went on a road trip once again to the Bison Range.

I won’t talk much about this trip since I already posted a blog about the Bison Range a short while back, The only thing I will say is that even though the weather was colder and wetter we still saw a lot of big game in this beautiful preserve. Even if we hadn’t seen any critters the landscapes alone we feel are well worth the drive…

A lot of the big game we saw this day were pretty inactive and were mostly lying down to conserve warmth (I would guess) but by driving the loop slowly and looking carefully we were able to see most of the major species of big game contained within in this park. I decided for this blog I will add some photos along with a few comments of what we saw at the Buffalo Range this visit,,,

A couple of young mule deer blending in…

We saw a lot more deer and pronghorn on this trip than last time.

Look closely on the rock in the above left picture… yep a golden eagle looking for some lunch!

The top left picture I might title a “Hunter’s Dilemma”.  On the right, another lounging bighorn sheep (glad they are on the refuge).

This mule deer buck posed for us for a long before deciding to stand for one last pose… Like we said before we feel this place is a gem and a great place to see wildlife!

NOTE: We will be leaving Monday morning for Libby Montana for a short stay before moving on to Couer d’Alene Idaho.

Making Travel Plans for Fall and Winter…

Our month here in Kalispell Montana is nearly up and it seems to have flown by  although I am starting to get a bit antsy to get back on the road. It probably hasn’t helped that the last several days have been chilly with intermittent rain showers. I have never liked temperatures in the 30’s and after a few mornings of it, I have had enough!

I have begun to map out our fall and winter plans and thankfully it seems to be coming together. Before talking about them I want to mention today’s photos. These are all photos taken of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.It is definitely one of the gems of the park. This beautiful natural lake puts its many moods on display depending on the given weather each day. We just love this lake and decided we would share some of its beauty in this blog about our future plans.

We will leave Kalispell on Monday and head over to Libby, Montana for a day or two to take in its sights. From there we will overnight at a casino in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Next we will move down to Couer d’Alene Idaho for a few days followed by a five day stay at a COE park south of Pasco Washington on Lake Umatilla. Then we will wander along the Columbia River until we stop in one of our favorite big cities, Portland Oregon, for a week.

Moving from Portland there are no reservations so we will simply figure out a way to get from there to our next reservation on November 4th for a month-long stay in San Diego at Mission Bay RV Park. After San Diego we head east and will spend a week in Gold Canyon Arizona on December 19th and then a month at Mesa Regal in Mesa Arizona.

After our month at Mesa Regal we are planning something different as we’ll head across the border to Mexico to spend 10 days at Puerto Penasco with friends Steve and Mona Lisa along with a few of their friends. Hopefully we will hear soon about these February reservations so we can begin in earnest to plan around that.

Additionally, in the middle of all this we will fly into Raleigh, North Carolina to attend our daughter Katie’s graduation ceremony. She will have completed her Doctorate in Physical Therapy by then and we don’t want to miss seeing her walk the stage. During those 4-5 days we will be leaving our motorhome at a Freightliner Dealer to have it serviced.

Well those are our fairly solid plans including some locked in reservations mixed with ambiguity, my kind of fall and winter travel…