Forum Index > Trip Reports > Montana Road Trip - Late Winter '21
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Get Out and Go
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Joined: 13 Nov 2004
Posts: 2127 | TRs | Pics
Location: Leavenworth
Get Out and Go
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PostSat Mar 06, 2021 7:26 pm 
It's easy to talk yourself out of bit of a drive, yet it always ends up being worth it. Out the door and on the road from Leavenworth, a piece of well-known middle Washington with some FM radio, a short stretch of ID, over Lookout into MT, things looking warm and nice on the Clark Fork, distant Rocky Mountain Views, surprising traffic in burgeoning Kalispell, and 7 hours later at a modest clean motel in Whitefish. It had been over 40 years since I had been to this area and backpacked in Glacier. Yeah, like the rest of the world (Bend, OR and North Central WA to name a couple areas), Montana had changed, with housing subdivisions and every well-known retail and chain restaurant between the future-to-be Kalispell/Whitefish metropolis. Even Frank Zappa foreshadowed it with "moving to Montana soon..." As people realize they can work from home, why stay in _______? Conversation informed me that real estate was scooped up sight unseen this past year and some more old-fashioned sub-zero winters were needed to make people think twice about moving here... In any case, skiing at Whitefish was fabulous. I accepted the exchange of fresh snow for a crystal blue sky. At the end of day 2, I made the short drive up to Glacier NP and it did not disappoint. Day 3 offered skiing at Lookout Pass on the MT/ID border on the return.... All I can say is, well, who wouldn't want to move there?
Warmth on the Clark Fork
Warmth on the Clark Fork
Rockies in Sight!
Rockies in Sight!
View from Basecamp
View from Basecamp
Whitefish
Whitefish
Silhouette Signboard
Silhouette Signboard
Views
Views
Views
Views
Views
Views
Views
Views
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Good Times
Good Times
Ahhh...
Ahhh...
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
End of a Good Day in Montana
End of a Good Day in Montana
Heart in the Pano?
Heart in the Pano?
The Way Home
The Way Home

"These are the places you will find me hiding'...These are the places I will always go." (Down in the Valley by The Head and The Heart) "Sometimes you're happy. Sometimes you cry. Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky." (Thanks, Tom Petty)
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fourteen410
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Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 2622 | TRs | Pics
fourteen410
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PostSat Mar 06, 2021 9:16 pm 
Get Out and Go wrote:
Glacier NP
Glacier NP
Fabulous shot!

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fn1889m
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Joined: 18 May 2019
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fn1889m
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PostSun Mar 07, 2021 12:41 am 
Beautiful area. I lived there briefly. In the early 1970s I would hitchhike or take a train to Whitefish, and then hitch to Kalispell where my folks had moved. There was a little greasy spoon breakfast joint that opened when the train pulled in. I would buy breakfast for some cute girl from the train. Later I would hitch from Seattle or Spokane to Kalispell, over 90 or through Sand Point. Dry, cold winter hitching when you took any ride, no matter how drunk the driver. For two summers I worked in the Flathead on the North Fork (USFS survey crew). My job was to cut brush on the survey line. I remember how much Whitefish reminded me of (1974) Concrete, WA. And the NF Flathead was pretty remote. No phone lines or electricity, a gravel road. I think there was a gate at the Canadian boarder. Polebridge was just a small store near the bridge into the park. I’m convinced the Upper Skagit will suffer the same death. Real estate development is too valuable to be left to people who live here. Most people just don’t have the willpower to leave money on the table and walk away. I don’t think there’s a 5 acre lot and house unsold in Skagit right now. These places used to provide affordable housing to middle income people. PS: great photos.

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Eric Hansen
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Joined: 23 Mar 2015
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Location: Wisconsin
Eric Hansen
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PostSun Mar 07, 2021 7:59 am 
Glacier is gorgeous. I spent a cumulative 6 months there, backpacking and mountaineering. Did most of the high peaks and alpine traverses. Stopped going about 2000, partly because park visitor numbers were surging. But also because tour helicopters were becoming an issue.

Off trail rambler
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Schroder
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Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 6696 | TRs | Pics
Location: on the beach
Schroder
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PostSun Mar 07, 2021 8:31 am 
A few years ago I got on Amtrak Empire Builder in Everett, had a nice dinner and then climbed into my bunk. Had an early breakfast and got off the train in Whitefish just after 7. I was skiing the slopes of Big Mountain at 9. It was a great trip.

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NorthwestWanderer
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Joined: 28 May 2016
Posts: 113 | TRs | Pics
Location: Montana
NorthwestWanderer
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PostTue Mar 09, 2021 8:15 am 
fn1889m wrote:
Beautiful area. I lived there briefly. In the early 1970s I would hitchhike or take a train to Whitefish, and then hitch to Kalispell where my folks had moved. There was a little greasy spoon breakfast joint that opened when the train pulled in. I would buy breakfast for some cute girl from the train. Later I would hitch from Seattle or Spokane to Kalispell, over 90 or through Sand Point. Dry, cold winter hitching when you took any ride, no matter how drunk the driver. For two summers I worked in the Flathead on the North Fork (USFS survey crew). My job was to cut brush on the survey line. I remember how much Whitefish reminded me of (1974) Concrete, WA. And the NF Flathead was pretty remote. No phone lines or electricity, a gravel road. I think there was a gate at the Canadian boarder. Polebridge was just a small store near the bridge into the park. I’m convinced the Upper Skagit will suffer the same death. Real estate development is too valuable to be left to people who live here. Most people just don’t have the willpower to leave money on the table and walk away. I don’t think there’s a 5 acre lot and house unsold in Skagit right now. These places used to provide affordable housing to middle income people. PS: great photos.
All housing west of the mississippi is screwed price wise. If your middle class or lower you arent buying a home these days unless you take the bad trade off and go east.

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