Had a couple of fun rides to close out the summer on the mountain. With the low rainfall we’ve been having Freckles and I were able to fjord the north fork of Flathead and climb up on the bluff to access the old flathead ranger station trail.
We did see a few elk over in the new growth area from the roberts fire and also had some great views of the river
This is a fun ride with nice views just have to be cautious with the fjord area to access the trail. The trail up the bluff is somewhat overgrown and is found on the north fork side of the point.
The next day neighbor Dan, his nephew, and I took a trip up McGinnis Creek. Another beautiful day and lots of nice scenery.
There are quite a few old logging roads and forest service roads that have been closed to motorized travel so there is some nice areas to explore up this drainage. Pretty easy riding except for a few eroded areas. Tanner and I had a great day. One of those days when the horse is in a great mood, listening and watching you for direction, and just wants to please. It was sure a fun ride to close out the summer season.
Time has come to head back to ND. We were able to take one more ride up the mountain together. Bright sunshine day and great horses made for a super time.
The boys and their families were back visiting us in Montana. They hadn’t been to Elk Lake since we were there on a pack trip in 2003, so we loaded up horses and ran up there for the day. It was beautiful and lots of fun.
Wow, it’s pretty darn good to still be able to sit a horse at 80. My daughter Angela and her girls are here visiting, so Connie’s folks drove over to see them. Angie and Don decided they wanted to go riding so we took off for a ride around the mountain. Great time!! Don turned 80 earlier this year and it had been 10 years since he had been on a horse. Freckles behaved perfectly and they had a lot of fun. Sure hope I can still ride at 80.
I had a early morning ride up to spruce park today. Left the trailhead early trying to avoid the extreme heat we’re having. Spruce park is a back country forest service facility that is frequently used by trail crews. It is about a 5.5 – 6 mile ride up big river trail #155. This is a easy trail with little elevation gain so its a great ride if you don’t want a lot of challenging terrain. The trail is mostly treed with very few view opportunities, but it is still enjoyable to just ride along in the shadows of the big larch trees with no noise except for the clop clop from your horse.
River views from the plateau at spruce park are very pretty
Holy Cow the tourists really showed up in Glacier country. We trailered over to the east side of the mountains and took a ride up to Firebrand pass today. The traffic coming home this afternoon was tremendous. Lots of folks coming to enjoy Glacier Park.
I have never been up Firebrand pass before. It’s a very pretty, very scenic ride. First part of the trail is somewhat treed, but you frequently have view opportunities. We took the trail at Luebec and from this trailhead its only about 5 miles up to the pass. If you’re hiking this trail be wary of the vegetation growth about 1/2 way up the pass. The trail goes through some open hillside areas that have chest high vegatative growth with a lot of cow parsnip, (which can be somewhat irritating to the skin).
A good friend and neighbor Dan rode along with us. He and Connie were enjoying some leisure time in the bowl just below the pass.
It was another beautiful montana day and Ang got to see just what we find so attractive about this country.
I think we have got another cowgirl on our hands!
