The land of the Kootenai includes the broad Flathead Valley with the Flathead Lake right in the middle. People are moving into the valley in unprecedented numbers, but we were only going to be visiting for a day or two.
Kelly’s thoughts…
Morning was beautiful on the Wise River as we headed north towards Anaconda. Fairly soon after leaving the Big Hole River to the north, we were cruising along through beautiful pastureland. As we came up over a rise, I saw ahead a couple on the side of the road with backpacks and their thumbs out. This is Montana, where it is still entirely appropriate and responsible to stop for people along the road who appear to need help. In much of the rest of the world it is assumed that people have cell connections and can get official help on their own. But there are large swaths of the West where people need to stop and see what’s needed.
The young couple were seeking a ride into Anaconda. We were packed pretty tight, but decided we needed to work it out. We moved a lot of stuff the back and put the dogs on Riki’s lap and at her feet and got them in. As they were loading their gear, I noticed the young lady was wearing a dress and a head covering. I asked them if they were, perchance, Mennonite. They said no, they were Amish. So, as we traveled along north, we had a long conversation. Turns out they are a recently married, young Amish couple from central Ohio. I mentioned that my family was Mennonite from central Ohio. They were from the area near Kidron and Berlin, Ohio, exactly where my mom and dad were from. Her dad owns the hardware store in Winesburg where I remember going to have all you can eat fish with my grandma and grandpa back in the day. They were hiking the Continental Divide Trail and were 5 weeks into a 5-month hike. We took them into Anaconda to a café, and they were going to restock and get supplies sent to them at the post office for the next leg of their trip. Crazy, small world.
After Anaconda we took a route north along the incredible Rock Creek which appears to be about 40 miles of perfect riffle/slick trout stream. I’ve never fished the stream, but I’ve heard about it. It’s near enough to Missoula and well enough known that it attracts a lot of attention, but it looks like enough river to handle a good number of people, and anyway the road is not good. I was impressed, and I intend to come back one day.
After that we headed north to Missoula. From Missoula we traveled further north into the Flathead Valley near the National Bison Range. Between the Bison Range and Ted Turner’s ranches in Montana and northern New Mexico, the American bison was preserved from extinction. The view from the lower Flathead Valley is incredible with the Mission Mountains rising to the east.
We stayed at a small inn along the road on the Flathead Reservation. It was quite nice. It was right across from the Ninepipe Wildlife Refuge where decades ago I collected Neoclypeodytes ornatellus, one of the most northerly-occurring members of the genus I revised as part of my PhD dissertation. Taxonomic memories!
Our next day I spent with my colleague, Paul Watson, and his field assistant, Chester, at the Flathead Research Station. Paul and I are beginning some work on a system he has been working on for several decades, a linyphiid spider mating system. The Sierra dome spider is a species Paul has well-documented for its fascinating mating strategies. I am hoping, along with Paul and students, to continue this work. It was fantastic to see these spiders “on the hoof” and to see the behaviors I have only read about. That evening we had an excellent meal at a local restaurant with Paul and Chester, where we got to know them much better.
I worked for two summers in Glacier National Park when I was in college. During that time, many long years ago, I got to know this area of Montana a bit. It was surreal and wonderful to get to see this area again, though I, and the region, have changed much in the meantime.
After visiting Paul and Chester, the next day we left the Flathead Valley and found our way south into the Grey’s River area of Wyoming. Along the way we encountered some interesting history including a section of the old Bozeman Trail. The Bozeman Trail was a spur of the Oregon trail north that led to many traveler’s deaths at the hands of the Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne, leading to the eventual nickname of the trail, the Bloody Bozeman. The section we saw was from Bozeman over a pass on the way to Virginia City. We also traveled the long valley of the Madison River, where I used to fish quite a bit in college,. The region was hazy from smoke from a nearby forest fire, unfortunately. We also visited Quake Lake where a big earthquake in the 1950s (the largest recorded in the rocky mountains) led to a landslide that took out a campground with campers and blocked up the stream creating a new lake.
The Grey’s River of Wyoming is an incredibly beautiful, out of the way area of the state with an incredible stream and what appears to be amazing elk-hunting. Of all the beautiful areas we encountered along our way, we think this area merits a return, for sure. Here we camped for one night among the beautiful wildflowers. I didn’t have a Wyoming fishing license this trip, but in the future, I do hope to fish this beautiful mountain stream.
Riki’s thoughts…
I have never picked up a hitchhiker. What a joy, even despite the crowding of two canines, to have the first two hitchhikers be such interesting people!! A few years ago, when Kelly was backpacking with Rango and ran into more snow than he had expected, he was picked up as a hitchhiker in Wyoming and was helped back to his car by a talented photographer. We live in New Mexico, an untamed and rough country where picking up people seems more dangerous. Here, it seemed somehow less so and more just the right thing to do.
We gave the couple Kelly’s phone number with instructions to reach out when they get to the New Mexico section of the Continental Divide Trail. I only hope that we will hear from them, extend hospitality and hear about their adventures. They should be here sometime in mid-October, if all goes well. I was fascinated to hear that his mother had learned how to freeze-dry food, and was sending boxes of freeze-dried meals ahead of them to pick up at post offices as they hiked through. That is the kind of mother I want to be!!
The inn was indeed super cute, and it had a wonderful restaurant inside. It also had a coffee shop next door. Similar to the situation in Boulder, WY, many of the people that lived in the area were employed by this road-side set of businesses. The only problem was that it was quite a distance from the place where Kelly would be working. I didn’t know that when I booked the room.
As Kelly was working, I once again got to practice independence. This time, it took the form of visiting a nearby lake and taking the dogs for a hike. I had learned to identify bear scat, and turned around when we crested a hill that seemed to have an inordinate amount of it.
After our hike, I drove the rest of the way around Flathead Lake. This is a huge lake that took over 2 hours for me to drive totally around it. Friday afternoons see an increase of traffic in the highly-tourist parts of it. There are other parts. One part I dubbed church camp row, as each intersection had a sign marking the exit for a church camp from a different denomination.
The dinner with Paul and Chester was delightful. I enjoyed my position as entomology adjacent, but relationally strong. It was fun to get to know these two scientists, and to try to encourage Chester to do his post-graduate work at University of New Mexico. I hope he does.
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