It came time to head back to ND for harvest. On the drive home I was reflecting on all the great adventures we had this summer on the mountain. The North Fork is a great place to explore and we had many fun rides up there capped off with the ride up to Standard Peak.

We had a few great rides in Glacier Park, the old flathead ranger station trail,  Firebrand Pass and Huckleberry Lookout.

The excursions we took into the Great Bear wilderness are always a blast, fishing the middle fork and exploring new country.

We climbed up on Grant Ridge and waded around in Stanton Lake.

The quick ride I took into Castle Lake  was reminiscent of some of the old days.

We also had a few bear encounters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had so much fun when the kids came to visit. The grandkids were swimming at Lake Five, wearing out the horses with rides and everyone took the hike up to Avalanche Lake.

Cody and I were able to take a little pack trip up Big River and Angie really enjoyed the country up at Firedbrand Pass.

Another highlight of the summer was Connie’s hosting a 80th birthday party for her mother. Many friends and family attended to join in her celebration.

The day before we took off I saddled up Freckles for one more ride on the mountain. We headed off on my neighbors trails and swung in to his place to say goodbye. When we returned home we rode through the upper pasture. We paused there just to sit and take it all in one more time, reflecting on just how lucky we are to get to enjoy this little piece of heaven on earth. So many folks today do not get a chance to enjoy Gods creations. We are very grateful.

Until next time Montana

 

 

i was probably about 10 yrs old the first time I went into Castle Lake. I remember crossing big river (middle fork of flathead) by walking directly below my father with him holding my hand to prevent me being swept away by the current. We made numerous treks up to this beautiful lake, either a side trip while floating big river or riding motorcycles up to granite cabin and then making the hike to Castle.

After the formation of the Great Bear Wilderness, you can now only access this area by horseback or hiking. River floaters are probably the most frequent to hike up and fish the lake.

The last time I had been up to this beautiful mountain lake was in 2003 while on a pack trip with my boys and their grandfather. It was way past time to revisit, so yesterday Tanner and I got a wild hair and  rode up here from Granite Creek trailhead. We didn’t plan on fishing just a quick ride up. To make this ride in and out though is close to 20 miles so it was a long day in the heat we’ve been having.

There is nice grass in parts of the meadow heading into the lake so Tanner got to have a rest and lunch.

 

It’s a steep climb from the river up to this lake and the trail hasn’t been cut this year, so we were working hard getting though all the deadfall to get up here. It’s a welcome site when you emerge from the timber to the meadow.

You do have to cross big river to access the trail up to Castle Lake, so it is best to wait for lower flows.

This is one lake that I won’t wait so long to revisit in the future!

Yesterday we took a ride up Grant Ridge. This is a ridge rising up to one of the highest peaks in the area. Great Northern being the highest, Grant peak is only a couple hundred feet less. Although we did not attempt to reach the summit, the views from the top of the ridge trail are still spectacular.

 

Most people access this ridge from the main trail out on Hwy 2. This trail loops around and drops back down into Stanton Lake. We elected to ride up to Stanton Lake and then ride up the ridge.           The trail up from Stanton Lake does not appear to get much use. It was quite narrow and steep, also somewhat overgrown with brush.

I wouldn’t recommend this trail for a horse excursion to reach Grant Ridge. Our horses are on narrow mtn. trails all the time, so they didn’t have a problem, but on this trail if your horse had any kind of issue it would surely be a bad wreck and probably kill the horse or rider. It would probably be best to use the main trail off of Hwy 2.

Views from the top are exceptional though for those willing to make the trek.

When we were purchasing horses a few years ago, we turned to the Millirons in Polson for some quality stock. We were looking at buying 2 horses, a big young buckskin dunn (Tanner) and a red dunn (Mav). Mav had a half brother that we also looked at. He was a palomino and when we looked at him in January he had a shaggy white coat and was not the most attractive horse. 

We did not plan on purchasing a 3rd horse at that time, but this guy just had a manner about him that was easy to connect with.  We felt that if we passed on him we might be leaving the best horse in the barn. We did purchase this guy and named him Harley.

That summer I had an accident with Mav resulting in a busted up knee. In order to give these new horses backcountry experience we enlisted the help of a trainer that would ride and pack them in the backcountry.  She had Tanner and Harley for a month and was very pleased with Tanner, but not quite sure if Harley would turn out to be a mountain horse or not. It was at this time though that Harley started to show off his appearance. 

My knee healed up enough that I was able to head for elk camp in the fall with these guys. We had replaced Mav with a grey we call Freckles. Everybody did ok at elk camp but not what I would term exceptional. After that fall though Harley started maturing into something great.

And he just kept getting better.

He became extremely sure-footed on some precarious trails.

He became trustworthy to the point that we could let the grandkids ride him.

and for some reason he developed into a very unflappable mountain horse

Now his personality has developed along with his skills. Harley is Connie’s dream horse. They are able to go wherever she decides to point his nose. Never any attitude, crosses water, jumps deadfall, doesn’t spook or panic.

This is the kind of horse that every mountain rider wants. We are so thankful we brought him home.

 

Harley had the breeding to be a great horse, he just didn’t have the eye appeal when we first looked at him. He showed us – Don’t judge a book by its cover. 

We celebrated the 4th with a ride up to Firebrand Pass. This is a nice ride that takes off from the false summit in the Luebec area and skirts Calf Robe Mtn. It then climbs up to a pass between Calf Robe and Red Crow Mtn.

This is the view looking down towards Ole creek trail – west of the pass

It has been very warm here in the mountains, but the ride up here was very mild. A gentle breeze was blowing and with the higher elevation, temps weren’t to bad. We did meet numerous hikers on the trail up to the pass, as this is a very popular Glacier Park hike.

looking out toward the plains.

 

The previous day I took Freckles and Banjo up the Geifer creek trail. I haven’t been up this way since in my youth while hunting with my father.  This trailhead takes off from an area known as Zips Cabin (forest service cabin that can be rented). The trail hasn’t seen any maintenance for awhile so there were numerous trees down along the way. I cut probably a dozen of them and probably jumped or stepped over that many more. Then there were at least another 6 spots that we rode off trail to get around the deadfall.

We rode up into the pass that drops down into 25 mile creek trail.

This was a great training ride, but not a great trail. The route is quite overgrown and as you climb up into the pass, the trail is very steep and narrow. Nice views as you emerge from the timberline, but I still wouldn’t recommend this trail for day trip. You can use it to access 25 mile creek and Moose Lake, but there are others that would probably be better.

On the trip back right when we were in a bad downfall area, jumping across 2 logs while trying to go underneath 2 hangers that the horse fit under but not with me on it, a big black bear decided to show himself. Luckily neither horse showed any sign of panic and I was able to slip off banjo and lead them through the area. The bear advanced about 20′ towards us, but then just stopped and we moved on. It’s moments like this when I am thankful for all the groundwork and desensitizing I do with the horses. Times like this can go bad and result in a huge blow-up. We were lucky.

As we drove home after Firebrand Pass we saw hundreds of people out floating the Flathead river. Lots more were camping and fishing along its banks. I saw numerous posts of friends and relatives out on the lakes or enjoying the 4th with a barbecue. Hope everyone stayed safe and had a great time celebrating.

we’ve explored a lot of area this week. A couple of excursions up the north fork, a nice ride along the flathead river and a fabulous ride up to Huckleberry Lookout.

The ride along the river followed the old flathead ranger station trail.  This is a fairly easy relaxing ride with some nice river views. Add in a beautiful day and you’ve got a great outing.

We had a couple of rides up the north fork of the flathead. I took Freckles and Banjo one day and then Connie and I took them again to explore a new trail we found. This trail was very overgrown and kept us alert looking for bears. When we broke out on top though we had some terrific views.

We try to always be vigilant with looking for bears. Although we haven’t had an encounter this summer, it’s just a matter of time. They are part of the landscape so if you’re going to ride and explore these mountains you have to deal with bears. Some trails are nice and open so you can see if there are any close, others are very overgrown and this can definately raise the pucker factor.

We then took a trip up to Huckleberry lookout. This is a nice well used trail, but it is a pretty steep grade gaining 3400 vertical feet in the 6 mile trek up to the lookout. A few weeks from now this Mtn will be thick with huckleberries and bears.

If you are on the road much I’m sure you’ve noticed the high amount of a…holes that are out there these days. Back in ND we see it becoming increasingly hazardous to move machinery. We are also on the road in MT constantly hauling horses to different trailheads. When hauling precious cargo you don’t accelerate quickly or brake sharply. You drive in a very safe controlled manner. I’m used to hauling big loads so I can usually travel at speeds that keep up with traffic flow. It’s frustrating though to see those drivers that have no respect or consideration for others on the road. It kind of epitomizes the mood of society today. Consideration for themselves and no one else. For example, the other day we were pulling out of a parking lot with multiple exits. As we pulled onto the hwy, a car (with a couple of young ladies) exiting from the next exit yielded to allow us to go by. A man following them promptly pulled onto the sidewalk to the right of them and onto the road in front of us. As he was bouncing his little car off the curb the female driver he passed let him know he was number one. Frustrating to deal with these kind of inconsiderate people. I think I’d rather contend with the grizz.