Red Buses, Ghost Towns, and Fire Towers

We had a nice time with David, but his visit seemed to go by way too fast. He flew in on Saturday, July 18. On Sunday, we headed off to Glacier National Park. It’s a beautiful drive up around Flathead Lake, which is now in the throes of cherry season. Roadside stands are everywhere, and being the cherry fan that I am, we couldn't resist stopping for the fresh picked delicacies. We stayed for three nights in Hungry Horse, which got his name back in 1900 when a horse wandered off and came back hungry.

To fulfill Jim’s never-ending, yet unfulfilled, quest for a fresh trout dinner, our first day in Glacier was spent in the Two Medicine area. While I enjoyed walking Lacey around the campground and enjoying the views from the picnic area , Jim and David hiked in about a mile to wet their lines in the lake. But not even a nibble did they enjoy. Nevertheless, the area’s scenery was reward enough for their effort.

On Tuesday, we took the Jammer Red Bus Tour in the park. The vintage red buses were built in the 1930s, and were the primary way tourists visited the park. Their unique name comes from the old days when drivers could be heard "jammin" on the gears of the bright red buses as they drove up and down the steep mountain grades. The vehicles run on both gasoline and propane and include canvas tops that are rolled back. While this feature allows spectacular views of the peaks and cliffs towering over your head, it also provides quite a cold ride. Ours was the “Crown of the Continent Tour,” which took us from the park’s west side, up the precipitous Going- to-the-Sun-Road to Logan Pass, which sits on the continental divide. After a brief stop there, we headed down the park’s eastern side to St. Mary’s and Many Glacier.

While The tour was nice, I would categorize it as a “Been There, Done That” experience. My biggest gripe is that, there was no time to spend at any one spot. For example, at Many Glacier, there was only time to have lunch (which was tasty) at the historic lodge, but no time to sit on the lodge’s expansive porch and enjoy the magnificent views of Swiftcurrent lake and the surrounding lofty peaks. The ride also was a real tease for hiking: I really wanted to get out and hike some of the places we visited.

On our way back to Ninemeile on Wednesday, we stopped at Garnet Ghost town. While Montana is known for its many ghost towns, Garnet is one of the more isolated and non-commercial. In fact, the management approach of the Bureau of Land Management is to preserve what’s there, not restore. Compared to some of the restored historical sites we’ve visited, I think this approach provides a more authentic experience. The town was founded in the late 1800s after a gold strike and by 1898, over 1,500 people lived there. But once the gold, silver, and copper played out, only 150 people remained by 1905. By the end of WW1, it was pretty much abandoned. For those who really want a surreal experience, one of the cabins is available for nightly rental.

After David left, we had one more adventure. The Ninemeile Ranger District manages a fire look out tower that sits atop 7,349 foot Stark Mountain. For the last 39 summers, the tower has been “manned” by 83 year-old Virginia Vincent. She’s quite the character. Never married and I think never held a full-time traditional job. So, last Monday, we decided to drive the 15 miles up to the tower. We knew it would be a rough road, and in fact, I had to get out and throw larger rocks off to the side of the road several times. We had lunch at the tower, after which Virginia showed us around and how to use the Osborne Fire Finder, a type of alidade used to give a directional bearing of a fire to fire crews. She also pointed out a hike to another peak that she had taken (by herself of course) the night before.

After the hike, we proceeded back down the road and ended up in the small town Superior, where we usually stop for their delicious huckleberry ice cream cones. Upon coming out of the shop, we discovered a pool of oil under the car. Apparently, we hadn’t completely cleared every knarley rock on the road. Fortunately, we were able to make an appointment at a nearby mechanic (one of only two in the town), and rent a room in the town’s only motel. It’s a wonder that we made it back to town without blowing up the engine. I can’t image what we would have done if the oil pan had broken while we were way up on that mountain road. It would have been one heck of a long hike back to town.

Only five weeks left for our volunteer post. So much to do and see, so little time!

Going-to-the-Sun-Road


A Scene in Glacier


Stop at Many Glacier Hotel


Garnet Ghost Town


Mr. Davis's general store



A Room in Mrs. Wells's Hotel included a fainting couch for the ladies


Mrs. Wells's hotel


Virginia showing us the Osbourne fire finder


Stark Mountain Lookout Tower as viewed from a nearby peak

Blue Skies Over Montana

It’s a beautiful day in the Ninemile Neighborhood! On clear days like this, I never fail to marvel at the intensity of the Western blue sky. Apparently, the brilliant blue color is due to the very low humidity, which also helps make the upper-80 degree days still very pleasant. Night time temps have been falling into the lower 40s: perfect sleeping weather.

It’s also drying out, which now puts the fire danger from low to moderate. Yes, fire is something that is always on people’s minds out here. This year especially so as the forest service is hosting several activities commemorating the centennial of the 1910 Big Blow Up, or the "Year When the Mountains Roared."

Driven by hurricane-force winds, the Great 1910 Fire - the largest in U.S. history - incinerated more than two million acres of timberland in northern Idaho and western Montana in two terrifying days and nights. The fire storm destroyed several towns but miraculously, the death toll was limited to about 133 people.

Rather than let the loss be a total defeat, the strongly environmentally conscious President Teddy Roosevelt and the U.S. Forest Service used the hard learned lessons to strengthen the fledgling Forest Service (created just five years previous) and the National Forest System.

One of the more compelling stories from this fire is that of Ed Pulaski (a name familiar to fellow Miami Valley Outdoor Club members who have worked trail maintenance at Wildcat Hollow).

Pulaski, an Ohio native born in Greensprings, was a ranger supervising crews about five miles south of Wallace, Idaho, when the fire suddenly overwhelmed his crew in a narrow steep creek drainage. Drawing on his knowledge of the area and the dynamics of forest fires, Pulaski led his men to safety in an abandoned prospect mine that had seepage from a spring. But despite his effort to hold back the flames and smoke with hatfulls of water and wet blankets across the entrance, several supporting timbers caught fire. When one man panicked and tried to flee the mine, Pulaski pulled a gun and threatened to shoot whoever tried to leave. The men survived by lying prone on the tunnel floor, where they all became unconscious. When it was all over, five men and two horses died, but the remaining men, including Pulaski, suffered life long effects of the fire . Pulaski was blind for several months afterwards.

Today, the mine entrance, now known as the Pulaski Tunnel, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes a 2-mile interpretive trail leading up to the actual mine. In hiking the trail, Jim and I got a sense of how confined the men were in the narrow and steep terrain.

Just one year after the fire, Pulaski developed the Pulaski Tool, a basic implement of not only fire control but also a tool that club members use for trail work. Little did we know that every time one of us hefted the Pulaski at Wildcat Hollow, we were in one sense part of the story of "the Great Blow Up"!

Other trips we've taken on our days off include a 3-day getaway to Cook City, Montana, driving over the Beartooth Pass (whose elevation tops out at 10,974 feet) and into Yellowstone National Park, along with some day hikes in the Bitterroots.

We are looking forward to David flying in tonight. We will be leaving for Glacier National Park tomorrow for a few days. Grateful and thankful that life is good right now. More later!

The Pulaski Tunnel where 45 men retreated in the 1910 Great Burn


Pulaski Tool


Traces of old mining activity along the Pulaski Tunnel Trail


Scenes from top of Beartooth Pass




A scene along Big Creek in the Bitterroots

On the Trail of Lewis and Clark

Now that the weather has improved, with more sun and warmer temps, we’ve been able to get out more and explore the area’s mountains and trails.

One day, we took a drive along route 12, south of Missoula, called the Lolo Trail, the same trail that the Lewis and Clark expedition took over the Bitterroot Mountains, which nearly did them in when they encountered early deep snow, hunger, and dangerous mountain terrain. They were even reduced to eating a few of their colts in order to survive.

Of course, our trip didn't involve such hardship. Instead, we enjoyed a warm soak in the Jerry Johnson hot springs, one of the many noncommercial hotsprings that dot the area. Getting there required a 1 ½ mile hike along the Lochsa River. Seeing that the day was gray and rainy, soaking in the natural hotsprings felt really good. The hotsprings include three pools and on the way in, we encountered a young couple enjoying the first one “au naturale,” apparently not an usual sight according to the locals. As you can see in the picture, we didn’t feel comfortable exposing bodies in which gravity has taken a heavy toll over the years.

That day, we also held true to our eternal quest to seek out the big trees, which we found at the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove. Named for Bernard DeVoto, a conservationist and Lewis and Clark historian, the grove features beautiful western red cedars where DeVoto edited the Lewis and Clark journals. These massive trees can live up to 3,000 years.

Another activity that we’re enjoying is fishing in the mountain lakes, many of which require a long (1 to 2 hour drive!) over unpaved Forest Service roads. Since we don’t have a 4-wheel drive, high-clearance vehicle, this often requires my getting out and throwing rocks over to side of the road in order to continue on.

Surveyor Lake also involved hiking 2 miles up a steep and dense, unmaintained trail. The entire time I was worried about bears, so Jim and I drew on our repertoire of trail songs (this time, an endless loop of improvised refrains from “She’ll be coming 'round the mountain") so as not to surprise an unsuspecting bear. But once we got to the lake, we felt better and spent the afternoon trying to hook some brook trout, to no avail. About the only thing we hooked was our tangled fishing line, and spent the majority of time trying to get untangled, apparently a major component of alpine fishing.

Two sister lakes we fished, Diamond and Cliff Lakes, were at higher elevation and still had ice chunks floating on the surface. Although we didn’t catch any fish, we were treated to the sight of an osprey swooping down and catching one in its talons. If just one fish were to be caught that day, I’m glad it was the osprey's.

Jim's rehab is progressing well, and hiking seems to really help. We've taken two nice hikes, one an 8-mile round trip up to Ch-paa-qn peak, at around 8,000 feet, the highest peak in the Ninemile Ranger District, and another along Kootenai Creek in the Bitterroots. We also enjoy a little 1 1/2 mile nature trail right by our RV site where we walk the dog every night.

Yesterday, everyone was in a twitter as a grizzly boar was sighted just two miles from here, a rare sighting for this area. So now, we carry our bear spray with us whenever we are out hiking.

Work at the Visitor Center is pretty laid back, and we have time to spend visiting with the resident mules and horses. One of the "retired" mules, Sue Ellen, who is an amazing 37 years old, has won our hearts, and we bring her a carrot everyday we "work."

Well, all for now. Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Western Red Cedars in the Devoto Grove


Connie soaking in one of the Jerry Johnson hot spring pools


An alpine lake with clouds


Cliff Lake


Sue Ellen