It’s been a wet and dreary day but the sun is starting to pop out now and again, so there is hope! Woke up to a wet and chilly morning. Camp was well set, so everything was dry, but there is still a psychological impact that comes with a damp breeze and wet, overcast skies. As I ate my morning oatmeal, the ranger came by to announce that the water would be shut off later in the morning! So much for a hot shower and flushing toilets! He was nice enough to refund me a night’s stay, but since everything is wet, I’ll be here for another day anyway. I hustled through breakfast and then loaded up the water jugs to get refills before things shut down, but I was too slow! As I cussed at the water spigot, another camper was trying to rinse off his half washed breakfast dishes! To add insult to injury, even the pit toilets down by the day use area were locked up! So that’s why I carry a shovel! Since it was raining pretty steadily, I opted for a driving tour of the area. I hiked in to an old forest lookout station that is available for rent, but it’s been locked up like everything else. Drove over to Swan Lake and the State Ranger Office, which turned out to be very helpful. Part of the Swan Lake area is State Forest as opposed to National Forest. All the NF campgrounds and facilities are locked up, but the State CGs are open! I think I’m headed that way tomorrow. At least their pit toilets will be unlocked! The ranger there was also helpful in laying out options for local hikes. After that, I did a tour of downtown Bigfork, which turned out to be a nice little block of touristy and arts and craftsy shops with lots of coffee shops and restaurants thrown in! I think this would be a spot where my girls could be happy for half a day or so! Leaving there, I headed for Kalispell to see what was there…and didn’t find anything of note. It is much larger than Bigfork, but seems to have fallen into that hole between small and cute and big and exciting. Heard that the local Veteran’s place was the place to go for a burger, so stopped in to a joint venture between the VFW and the American Legion in Bigfork. The beer was, as always, very good, but the burger was a fantastic half-pounder, cooked to order! The burger was less than a burger meal at McDonald’s and the beer was happy hour rates (All day on Tuesdays!). It turned out to be the bright spot of an otherwise damp day! Not to mention the old Navy Chief and the rest of the usual denizens who could tell war stories that only another Vet could believe! The rain is supposed to stop so I hope to dry everything out tomorrow and pack out. I think I’ll continue on to Whitefish to see if the state park up there is still partially open. If not, it’s back to Swan Lake! Aloha, Jim
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 01:42:05 +0000
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