Rough ride to Polebridge

August 21st, 2014 We had breakfast in Camp Walmart, and sipped coffee while I caught up on our blog. We didn't have far to go today to Polebridge, so we took our time. We headed east and picked up the trail into Columbia Falls then detoured north on Nucleus Rd to what would become the North Fork Road. This would lead us up the west side of the river that borders Glacier NP. It is a gravel road and we had traveled it down from our stay in Polebridge in May. It was in pretty good shape though dusty then. I don't think they graded it since then! It had been raining almost daily now and no longer dusty but it was quite washboard.

By the time we reached the Northern Lights Saloon and restaurant the truck was caked in red road mud. We were just in time for our "happy hour". I had Missoula's Cold Smoke on tap and Bob had a Trout Slayer IPA. After an hour or so of visiting with John and Joyce, and a few friendly customers we each had the night's special. A split of zucchini filled with a meaty blend of beef and buffalo, local Flathead cherries and feta, mashed potatoes, sugar-snap peas with yellow squash medley and a fresh greens salad. The best part was dessert. Joyce makes wonderfully chocolaty brownies, this as a sundae with 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and topped with fresh huckleberries. Conversations with two of the patrons were quite interesting. One fellow who enjoyed hiking in the area was originally from Pennsylvania, the other from Bemidji told us to watch for Paul Bunyon and Babe. He had also published a guide to Key West, FL and gave us a signed copy of it. That may prove helpful as we just made reservations there for our 35th anniversary in December.

About 7:30 pm we headed a mile north on the dirt road and camped along the river. (free for up to 3 days stay!) There were huckleberries in the low shrubs roadside. As they were dusty from the road, I didn't sample any until washed. They were quite tart and I suspect they needed about a week more to fully ripen. I will freeze these for now and cook them up with a little maple syrup at a later date. I'm sure they will be quite fine. We slept well dreaming of the huckleberry bear claws we would have with fresh coffee in the morning at the Polebridge Mercantile.