Day 24 – Granite Butte, MT to Columbia Falls, MT – 235 miles
This morning I woke up and started making coffee, the usual morning routine. The weather was really nice, so I had the sliding door open on the van.
I thought I hears something in the brush but wasn’t sure.
Spidey senses were up, and sure enough, there was something moving through the brush down by the creek. I kept looking and saw a flash of brown, light brown…
Then, soon enough, here comes mama with 2 young’uns up from the creek right into my camp. They circled around the van and finally wandered off down the stream to harass some other campers.
Stupid cows.
I started out northward, glad to be away from my tormenters. Up to Lincoln, over Huckleberry Pass, and on towards Ovando. A large portion of this area has been hit by wildfires, and is just starting to recover.
On the way, I decided to stop at the Harry Morgan access sight and do a little fishing on the Blackfoot River. This site is named not for Colonel Potter, but for an early pioneer and one of the first game wardens in the Blackfoot Valley.
I got to Hwy 200 and made not one but two wrong turns before I got to the fishing access. It was hot and fishing was slow (or maybe it’s just me?) and storm clouds were looming, so after an hour or so, I packed it up and went into Ovando.
When I was in Missoula a couple days ago, my stepdaughter told me about a fatal grizzly attack that had just happened near Ovando. That and all the grizzly warning signs along the route were definitely a factor in my early morning jumpiness!
It was still early and I thought I’d continue on and find camp around Seeley or Swan Lake. This area, although very touristy, is beautiful, with Highway 83 skirting the east side of both lakes before it finally dumps out right by the giant Flathead Lake. The route goes around the west side of Seeley Lake, and was so heavily wooded that you really don’t get the great lake views you would on the highway. Still, it was a nice drive.
Back onto Hwy 83 to go to Swan Lake, where I really wanted to camp. The route again takes off to the west side of the lake, and up into the mountains, with only glimpses of the lake. The terrain was steep and wooded. Beautiful drive, but very few campsites along the way. The route finally Ts into Highway 209 right by Bigfork on Flathead Lake.
By this evening hour, of course all the campgrounds were full to the gills, and with little public land in the area, I headed to Kalispell, where you can camp at the fairgrounds. Not ideal, but better than nothing. Well, camping was closed because of a livestock show.
On to Columbia Falls, where all the campgrounds and even RV parks were full.
Finally, around dark I found a spot in the National Forest not far off Highway 486. I went farther up into the Forest looking for a more secluded site, but a couple very sketchy looking, permanent looking, drug addict looking camps had me back near the highway. The site was actually very nice and quiet and worked out just fine.
