One of the views when I’m out in our pasture feeding horses is this ridge in the Apgar range. I’ve always wanted to ride up to the top on horseback but so far have never ventured up there. We had a sunny day today so I took off late in the morning with the intent of skiing up there.

To access this ridge you have to leave from the horse corrals over in West Glacier which is about a 5 mile ski trip to the base of the ridge, using the old Flathead ranger station trail.  I chose an alternate route, leaving from the Blankenship bridge and fording the middle fork.

Crossing the Middle Fork of the Flathead wasn’t to big an issue.  Current in this location is pretty weak and the water depth was about hip deep. I wore my packable waders. Once on the other side there is an old trail that you can take to climb the river bank.

Once on top of the river bank you can follow the ranger station trail back to the base of the mtn ridge.  Taking this route gets you to the base of the ridge in about 2 miles.

This trail is always scenic

Reaching the base of the ridge, snow conditions were still icy. The forecast was for partial sunshine and warm, but cloud cover was preventing the snow from softening making conditions a little hazardous. 

Snow levels on the south side of this ridge were a little sparse leaving a lot of exposed rock and brush. For a somewhat novice backcountry downhill skier this was a little concerning. I climbed without skins about 1/3 of the way up the mtn, thinking if I can climb with just the fishscales it shouldn’t be to steep for my decent among the rocks.

Although I did get high enough for some great views, I decided to punt on continuing the climb. I’ll wait for another day when we have better snow conditions. It was great to successfully cross the middle fork and take this route shortening the trail miles considerably.

Skiing in Glacier Park is always fantastic. There will be another day!

We’ve had very little snow up on the mountain at Apgar View Ranch. This makes for poor ski conditions, but it’s been great for extending our season with the horses. Today when I was planning to catch a horse and take off, I decided to skip the regular guys that I ride and grab our old guy. Freckles (aka Whitey) is a horse that we purchased years ago following an accident that I had resulting in a busted knee. The folks that we purchase our stock from brought him up for Connie. She needed a horse that could help boost her confidence and Freckles was a gem. 

Freckles has been the go to guy when it came to visitors wanting to go for a ride. He was also the horse that all of our grandkids were riding. Yet when I crawled up on him he could still crank it up and give you some fun. 

Freckles was also the horse that I learned to pack with. His younger years were spent roping, so when I was working with ropes dragging around him and tying loads, nothing seemed to bother him. He was a great teacher.

Freckles has always been special to my granddaughter Sophia. Over the Christmas holiday the kids spent a couple of days out on the horses and Sophia’s pick is always Freckles. While out riding she asked “grandpa do you think I could buy Freckles?” Well, I would love to have said yes, but I knew that was not gonna fly with mom and dad. So my answer was “Sophia it would probably be better if I kept him and you just come and ride”. Sophia wasn’t really satisfied with that answer and persisted with her question of would I sell her Freckles. Her mom asked her why and her answer was priceless. “Mom you always tell me to save my money for what I really want, and I really really want Freckles!”

This is the kind of horse that is super special and doesn’t come along often. He turned 20 this year and although I don’t work him to hard anymore he is still tremendously fun to hit the trail with.

So we saddled up today and took off for a little ride up the mountain. He was his usual frisky self when we headed out. Just two old guys out for some fun!