Wednesday - Happy Birthday

Lewis decided to wear the "birthday bow" at a rakish angle befitting his personality.
He turned 4 today

One more unsettled day, so say the weather forecasters.   Enough already.  We're waiting for a blue sky day to take the famous Going to the Sun Road.   Hopefully it will be tomorrow.


We decided to drive north to Polebridge and then on to Bowman Lake despite the grey day.  We wanted to take the Inside North Fork Road through the park, but it was closed due to flooding.    Sigh.
We took the Outside North Fork Road instead and it turned out to be absolutely beautiful.  It was packed dirt (a bit wet and greasy in spots) and followed the North Fork of the Flathead River affording panoramic views at every turn.

We drove in and out of the park, through the tiny settlement of Polebridge, finally entering GNP again for the remainder of our trip to Bowman Lake.  We stopped at the historic Polebridge Mercantile for a little sweetie to eat on the ride.  Cool little place with a  bit of everything and a yummy smelling bakery complete with case of freshly baked goodies.   I was very good and only bought 3 cookies, one and a half for each of us (they were tiny).

Ranger station at entrance

driving to Bowman Lake

Bowman Creek

The narrow, twisting dirt track took us along the racing Bowman creek, through sections of burned hillsides, and deep into woods of pines and aspens filled with colorful wildflowers.  We had our windows open and the fragrance of the wild roses on both sides of the road was intoxicating.

Aspens with their feet in roses

Bowman Lake

so clear

We sat beside the lake and marveled at the beauty around us.   Could there be a more amazing place?
With this beauty evidently comes a bit of danger.....signs everywhere reminding us that this is bear and mountain lion country and enumerating exactly what we could do to avoid encounters and what to do during an encounter.  

Oh, and those 3 little cookies....wow were they good.    So good that, as we passed the Polebridge Mercantile on our way home, I went in and bought a dozen Espresso/wh. chocolate delights for the freezer.  We'll have lovely memories of this day when those cookies emerge somewhere in North Dakota, or Nebraska.


The campground is getting busier and busier.   Must be close to 4th of July.  The air is heavy with campfire smoke and there are couples strolling after dinner, kids whizzing around on bikes and a family playing horseshoes right in front of Beluga.   Poor Lewis.

Lewis feels it necessary to keep a close eye on the horseshoe court