Day 5: Glacier to Three Forks, MT (Almost to Yellowstone)

Note: Delayed post - Lack of connectivity at Glacier and Yellowstone impacted our ability to post for a few days.

Day 5 (June 13): Glacier to Three Forks, MT

Our hope for Day 5 was to get to Yellowstone, but we didn’t. Somewhat typically we got a late start. We ran into some deer right before we left.They were just walking around the lake.

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Sean got a couple of good pictures inside the lodge, next time we’re here we will try and stay there. The fireplace is perfect in the morning, especially since it was averaging around 35 degrees when we got up.

After loading up we finally got on the road at 1100 – stopping in West Glacier to update the blog. It felt slightly strange, but good, to have connectivity after two days without it. Both Sean and I were a little weirded out by being off the grid. I think it would be easier if our families had been with us, but without them there it just felt strange. Of course, it could just be our Type A need to always be in touch….

Sean: In a nod to Maintenance, I took out the WD40 soaked a rag and cleaned the chains on Zen and Artie, nasty black gook removed that job was done. I then encouraged Liza, across the street, online, to hurry the F$%@ up by honking the horn at her along with various other forms of sign language in the hope that we might hit the road before the multiple layers I was wearing caused me to melt.

We came took route 83 down through Seeley Lake, MT. Stopped to have lunch on the lake at a little burger stand called Lindey’s. It was really warm, not a cloud in the sky. A nice change from being rained on.

Sean: This place was obscenely pretty, a hillside lawn leading down to a level acre dotted with shade trees at the edge of Seeley Lake where a trailer lunch wagon/burger stand and picnic tables marked the eatery/dock/floatplane base including the orange wind sock rising 20 ft above the trailer. Shortly outside of Seeley Lake we passed Salmon lake with the house on the island in the mountain lake surrounded by waterskiers and cabins dotting the far shore. We followed the road tracing the lakeshore until it transformed into Blackfoot Creek which we ran along and above for miles. Soon the landscape switched again and the tree cover lessened replaced by green brown felt hills sparsely treed to our left and a narrow meandering creek to our left, itself ensconced in dark green grasses with horse and cattle farther off and the occasional farmhouse every few miles.

The road began to rise and with another shift the water was gone replaced by hills irregularly corrugated as far as the eye could see with the road carved through the most level path it could follow. Next was another rise and the ground leveled. You could easily imagine the now gently rolling hills covered by Buffalo sometime past. We passed the single homestead with the obligatory wooden arch over the drive reading “HOME ON THE RANGE”.

We passed through Helena on our way to stopping at Three Forks for the night. Three Forks was pretty well closed down when we got there. It felt like the classic sleepy Western town. Fortunately the Frontier Club was still open, where over a beer we got a recommendation to stay at the Broken Spur Motel for the night. We checked into the motel, meeting Roger the proprietor who is a font of knowledge about Montana in general and Yellowstone and the Three Forks area in particular. We spent close to half an hour chatting with him last night and more this morning. As an aside, if he ever decides to get out of motel ownership he should consider voiceover work. He has that deep, rolling commanding voice that professional announcers/newscasters/preachers have. Think James Earl Jones with a slight Western accent.

We ended up back at the Frontier Club for dinner, it was pretty well packed for a Sunday night. They served the biggest burgers I’ve ever seen. Apparently they are kind of famous in the area, the owner of the Frontier Club is a former butcher who is particular about his beef. Thanks to a round of free drinks from another bar owner from Great Falls, we had a late night. So I guess we’re not getting out too early this morning. Surprise!