Posts Tagged With: Flathead Lake

2013, Trip Six. The Northwest, August 13

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Polson, MT Tuesday August 13

Our 51' Q class racing sloop

Our 51′ Q class racing sloop

SAILING!!
We finally got out on a sail boat on our third attempt. One failure in Grand Marais MN was on a reconstructed Viking ship but the wind was too strong. We actually spent about 10 minutes on the boat for that effort. One failure in Lake Tahoe when again the wind was too strong and the trip was canceled. Finally today on Flathead Lake the conditions were just perfect.

After a great breakfast with our Evergreen hosts, we went to a park along the east side of the lake and did some preliminary catch up activities on our paperwork. We had reservations for the 1:30 sailing out of Big Fork, a town at the northeast end of Flathead Lake.

Our skipper, in the shorts

Our skipper, in the shorts

The Flathead Lake area is a major recreation site in Montana, between the lake, Glacier, forests and mountains. Big Fork is one of the towns featuring art galleries, a summer playhouse, restaurants, etc.

On Flathead Lake

On Flathead Lake

 

View from Flathead Lake

View from Flathead Lake

The sail boat cruise operates out of Flathead Lake Lodge, a dude ranch with equine and water activities. As usual, we left extra time to find the location. It was necessary but came at the expense of not having lunch.

Our vessel was a 51 foot Q class racing sloop- I am sure you are as knowledgeable as I am about racing sloops. Our skipper was a young woman who has been captaining the ship for three summers and goes to college in Chicago in the off-season. She had her mother along for the ride today-we initially thought the mother was the skipper. Oops.

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There were nine passengers and two crew. The wind started so slowly we had to be towed out onto the lake. Once out though, the wind picked up nicely to create a breeze for our faces and for the sails. The lake was relatively calm and the ride was smooth. We just had to sit back and enjoy. We did not have to wear life jackets-which they had on board. I was proud of Chris for accepting the situation and going with the flow.

One of the passengers was a photographer who is working on a book about conservation gardens; gardens that were once private and are now preserved in public hands. We gave him ideas for two others to consider, one in Oregon and one in Minnesota.

Dinner at Bigfork Inn

Dinner at Bigfork Inn

After the two-hour experience, we headed for “downtown” Big Fork. Our dinner location was not open until 5 pm so we stopped at Brookies Cookies and had an afternoon snack, a location recommended by our Evergreen hosts. After walking the town some more, we had a delicious dinner at the Bigfork Inn. It has been around since the 1930s.

This evening we got caught up on our blog postings and mailing some cards out.

Sunset view from our Evergreen hosts' porch

Sunset view from our Evergreen hosts’ porch

Ed and Chris August 13 11 pm

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2013, Trip Six, The Northwest, August 12

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Ed Heimel and Chris Klejbuk, MN travel bloggers; ckeh72@comcast.net

Monday, August 12 Polson, Montana

Back in the USA! The border crossing was easy and the guard welcomed us home. First thing we did was to fill up the gas tank with gas that cost about $3.80 per gallon instead of the Canadian $5.50 per gallon.

Polson is at the southern end of Flathead Lake. Kalispell and Whitefish are two other local towns. The west entrance to Glacier National Park is close to the northeast corner of Flathead Lake.

Lake McDonald Falls in Glacier National Park-US

Lake McDonald Falls in Glacier National Park-US

Flathead Lake is the largest naturally occurring lake west of the Mississippi and along with the Rockies, creates a micro-climate here that is usually warmer than this part of the country. Cherries are a big crop in the area. (The people making the pronouncement about Flathead Lake consider Lake of the Woods and Red Lake in Minnesota to be north of the Mississippi.)

Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald

We made a short detour to the Lake McDonald area of Glacier and took a short hike there. When we visited Glacier a number of years ago, we stayed on the eastern side in Many Glacier. Today, we did not take the time to traverse the Going to the Sun road. Construction was ongoing in two locations and a traversal going both ways would have taken way too much time. Plus, we saw it and this trip is about new places.

US 93 from the Canadian border to Polson is usually two lanes and frequently 70 mph. (We are done with kilometers but here where there are numerous Canadian visitors, the people who pass us are usually Canadian.) A group in Montana has taken responsibility to plant a white cross where a fatal auto accident has occurred. There are far too many of them. The Aug. 13 local paper describes another new accident where a six year old died on a section of road we had driven 24 hours earlier.

(On Tuesday, we counted 18 crosses in one 29 mile section of Montana state highway 35 going from Polson to Big Fork.)

Flathead Lake with one of its islands

Flathead Lake with one of its islands

We stop at a beach at the north end of the lake and again at a state park near the south end of the lake-it is 27 miles long-to relax and enjoy the view. Once again it is a nice day although periodic clouds come up. The temps are in the high 80s today.

We arrive at our Evergreen hosts in Polson slightly later than expected. The direction they gave us were fine, for some reason I had the location set in my mind-in the wrong location. So despite the directions, I had to call and discuss how to get there. The home is just off Flathead Lake and we spot deer in the wooded neighborhood.

I may sound like a broken record but once again we find gracious people waiting for us. We swap stories of our respective communities and past travel experiences.

We have heard from several sources, including Evergreen hosts in Victoria, Sequim, Cranbrook and here in Polson of ongoing efforts to return control of more western lands to American Indian tribes or First Nation tribes in Canada. I am sure we will be reading more about this as time goes on.

Ed and Chris August 13 9 pm

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