Have you ever been here? The name of this place is like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Actually this is a trailhead into the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Located a little northwest of the reservation town of Heart Butte is a dirt trail heading up into the mountain front called the Palookaville trail. I used to venture into this area with my parents camping and riding trail bikes over Mt. Baldy via Whiterock Pass, but that was 40 years ago. I remember my father telling me the story of a early mapmaker mistakingly dropping a spot of ink. Not wanting to start over with his work he named the spot “palookaville”. I can’t attest to the validity of this story, but it always sounded good to me.

Connie and I ventured into this area recently to check out the trailhead for some possible excursions next summer. Not much has changed, other than motor vehicles have been prohibited into the backcountry in this area.

The eastern front of the Rocky mtns can be so beautiful. It can also be extremely harsh during a winter blizzard. Fortunately we picked a perfect winter day to be roaming around up here.

Can’t wait to return next summer and enter into the Badger/two medicine country from here

We’ve been getting a little new snow up on the mtn., but not enough to stop riding. Freckles and I got out for some funThis fella is the old guy of our herd, but he still has a lot of spring to his step. Old guys with attitude – gotta love em!

These days our world seems to be in constant turmoil. In the old days there were always rules of etiquette. Political views were argued by both sides, but there were lines that you did not cross. Today folks jump across those lines enthusiastically. Our religious views, morals, character and integrity are bombarded and attacked. We are constantly lied to by people with a particular bias so that we may side with their line of thought. It becomes very challenging to say the least to keep your composure and be civil when so many in our world seem to have strayed away from common decency.

When Connie and I were searching for properties in Montana many years ago, one of the goals we had was to provide a place for our family to come and get away from the stresses of day to day living in today’s world. The mountains of Montana are definately one of the last places that you can find true solitude and peace.

Last week I was able to take a couple of wilderness rides

Banjo hadn’t been on an outing for quite a while, so he was my partner for this ride. We went up the middle fork to the dirtyface trail and then down to the river.

This is a very well used trail during the summer/fall season, but it was just us today.

There were no signs or tracks anywhere. It was as if the whole forest was in hibernation.

A few days earlier Tanner and I got to enjoy a quick little ride up to Stanton Lake. This is a pretty little backcountry lake that gets quite a bit of traffic do to its proximity to the trailhead.

The trail extends up beyond the lake to a pretty creek inlet coming off the mountain front.

Although we had some company when we first arrived at the lake, it wasn’t long before we had it all to ourselves.

We truly appreciate being fortunate to enjoy these areas summer and winter. No electronic devices, no distractions, just you and your horse. Perfect solitude

This time of year most folks have pulled shoes off their horses and put them out to pasture. Truth is late fall/early winter can be a very enjoyable time to spend exploring on horseback. Prior to hunting, our horses all get bohrium studs welded  to their shoes plus snow poppers to prevent any snow buildup under their hooves. Kinda like putting studded snow tires on your 4×4. This really helps for safe riding during snow/ice conditions. I’ve been riding on the mtn almost every day, nice weather and low snow levels are very conducive to keeping them working.

The clouds parted and sun came out last week and I grabbed Tanner for a quick ride up to Apgar Lookout in Glacier National Park. We’ve ridden up here before, but it is a popular trail during tourist season and the park concessionaire runs trail rides up here, so we usually stay away until the crowds are gone.Great day to hit the trail!

The views from up at the lookout are fabulous on a clear day. 

This lookout has a web cam so you can look up actual conditions prior to trekking up there.

Looking down at the West Glacier/Coram area

The trail up is on a south facing open slope so the views on the way up are almost as superb as the views from the top.

As long as the snow depth doesn’t get too extreme, winter riding can be very enjoyable. Don’t be so quick to pull the shoes off your favorite trail companion.