GREETINGS FROM APGAR,
Montana (MT), USA
We lost an hour today moving from Pacific Daylight Time to Mountain Daylight Time so it was a long day trying to fit 24 hours into 23 hours. But we managed !
And also a look at State 29, Idaho, as we skipped across from Washington to Montana. We will get to more detail in Idaho later in the trip however we liked what we saw !
Spokane WA to Apgar MT
We got an early start getting away about 8.15am. The weather was pretty good – a bit of cloud but sunny – but there was also certainly some smoky haze around. At this stage the driving was mostly flat and a combination of pastures and forest. After a while we reached the border of Idaho and about mid morning we reached our first stop. Sandpoint, Idaho is a lakeside town, very popular during the summer. Its other claim to fame is at the end of a little jetty near the marina. Here stands a scale model of the Statue of Liberty – not much taller than me. Why ? because its there !
Mini Statue of Liberty
We turned north on the Bull River Scenic Drive and immediately found flashing warning signs for “Wildfires Ahead”. There was no indication of road closures so we pressed on. The speed limits were reduced to 45 mph along the road and it wasn’t long before we could see smoke plumes and evidence of where the fires had already burned in the forest on the hillsides above.
Kootenai Falls
Every now and then looking down side roads or trails you could see fire equipment and bases. But other than the dropped speed limits there were no real delays and after a while the warning signs ended and the road ahead back to normal.
That’s as far as she would go !
We headed further north and we were basically headed toward the Canadian border. Adrienne checked the maps and worked out we were now the furthest north that we had been previously in the USA.
This area is real wilderness and a large part of it is known as the Kootenai National Forest. Through the middle of it, and created by a large dam constructed at a town called Libby, is a lake called Koocanusa Lake. It is so large it actually runs up into Canada. When the dam was built, they ran a competition to name it and the winner came up with Koocanusa – the koo for the Kootenai Forest, the can for Canada and the usa for – well the USA.
Down stream from the dam, the river winds through the forest and one particularly scenic section is the Kootenai Falls. The river has a number of sections of low rapids but the falls, although only small in height, drop turbulently – the glacial/snow feed water having quite a green/turquoise colour. A bit further down from the falls is a suspension bridge across the river which I managed to navigate with my new found bravado with all things high !
Having lost an hour, it was well after lunch and as there was a little kiosk near the carpark for the falls we decided to get something efore we headed on. So we had pulled pork rolls and chips – as in potato chips or crisps, not fries. In the US if the menu says chips you get potato chips – chips, as in fish and chips is actually fries – fish & fries – got it ?
Looking along Lake Koocanusa
We then drove for some miles along the river, past the dam, and along the lake. The road really bordered the lake for quite a while. There was hardly any traffic and we made quite a few stops at various pullouts and scenic overlooks along the way. Eventually we reached the town of Eureka – Eureka! – and we turned south again toward Glacier National Park. At this point we were only 7 miles from the Canadian border.
It was about 6pm when we arrived at Apgar Village, our stop for the night. It is just inside the national park on the western side. The hotel is literally on the edge of Lake Macdonald and the view looks straight down the lake to the high glacial peaks. Unfortunately it was very hazy from the smoke as the smoke seemed to settle in the valleys.
From the pier at Lake Macdonald
There are not a lot of dining options around Apgar Village and we didn’t want to drive back out of the park to find somewhere for dinner. So we decided just to eat at the cafe here – Eddies – and had a BLT and Club Sandwich. We tried a Huckleberry Iced Tea – huckleberries are the “dish of Montana” apparently. It has a nice berry flavour and Adrienne is hanging out to try the signature Huckleberry Pie at some point – if we can find somewhere we can actually fit in a dessert !
View from below our room – hazy but spectacular !
Our room was on the top (2nd) floor and basically all rooms just look out down the lake. After dinner we strolled along the pebbly lake shore and took a few sunset photos and then sat on the verandah just taking in the view. A guy dressed in alpine garb – shorts, braces and hat – arrived with an Alpine horn and was playing it down by the lake.
Music to watch the view by
He needed a bit more practice (or maybe he had decided it was a good place to practice) but when he did hit a few good notes, the sound echoed across the lake adding to the atmosphere. Photos just cant do justice to the vastness of places like this. But they will certainly bring back some fantastic memories of actually having seen it – even if not at its absolute best.