It may be a few days before this entry gets posted as we are now at Bowman Lake.
We left Fish Creek campground yesterday right after coffee (around 8:30 AM these days) and turned north along the North Fork of the Flathead River. Our immediate destination was Polebridge, specifically the Polebridge Mercantile. a general store and bakery. Polebridge is a tiny spot near the banks of the Flathead with little but the aforementioned mercantile and a saloon next door (actually a part-time restaurant with occasional music). They seem to be a labor-of-love that serves campers at the small national park campgrounds in this area and a smattering of homes outside the park. There seemed to be a substantial group of 20-somethings hanging about when we arrived. We don't know where they come from, but seem to be regulars.
The best part of the Polebridge Mercantile is its bakery. It puts out morning pastries, hot turnovers, sandwiches, cookies and their own breads. We'd put off breakfast to sample its wares. I had a huckleberry bear claw and Ellen, a walnut-encrusted sticky bun. Yum! We also acquired a substantial number of cookies of various kinds for later consumption and an extra sticky bun for today's breakfast.
It was time to re-enter the park, cross the North Fork of the Flathead, and drive the last 6 miles of rough, rocky, almost-single lane, dirt road to the Bowman Lake campground. With only one tight squeeze past a pair of departing truck campers we arrived to a mostly empty campground. There were at least 20 empty sites, so we picked one that still had people in it. They were getting ready to leave. Relatively flat, close to the lake with its own path to the shore, not too near the pit toilets and dump station, and out of the traffic stream of day visitors, what more could one ask for? (I know, water, electricity, Internet access and showers, but not even the campground host has that.)
Bowman is not considered a primitive campground because it does have fresh water available, but only at a few public taps. It has only pit toilets, however. The campground hosts have water, but no electric or sewer hookup and use solar panels and a generator for their needs. There is no wireless phone service and the nearest Internet access is a low-speed hotspot at the Polebridge Mercantile. There is a ranger station here and she has a radio. Outside of the backcountry sites, it is one of the more out-of-the-way campgrounds at the park.
But, it is spectacular. The view down the lake to the mountains is a classic one. Once we set up camp, we didn't do much yesterday but go down to the lake with our Kermit chairs and look at the mountains, read, watch the birds fly by, and watch people in kayaks and canoes cross the glassy lake. After a couple of short strolls and dinner, we returned to the shore to have tea and cookies and watch the sun set as the shadows climbed the mountains at the eastern end of the lake.
Today, we woke to a clear and chilly morning, cool enough to run Speedy's propane heater for a few minutes to take the chill off the interior, cool enough that the refrigerator, the one that gave us fits for not cooling while crossing the plains, now read -20° in the freezer and 27° (below freezing) in the refrigerator compartment. At least we are now smart enough not to leave vegetables in it overnight anymore.
After coffee and breakfast, that sticky bun for me and muesli for Ellen, it was time to try some fishing. We got out the telescoping pole and a few lures (all five that I have) and headed up the trail along the lake to a long dead tree trunk that runs out into the water. Last year, we had seen large trout consistently in this area. Nothing today. Thinking that it might be too sunny, we went along the other shore a bit, no bites there either. What were we to do? Have lunch, of course.
After lunch, it was time to get out on the lake and try again; time to get out the inflatable tandem kayak, now known as T/T (Tender To) Speedy, in honor of our sailing days. It took a bit longer than expected to get it ready on shore, but we have a new rudder system and new inflatable foot rest that we hadn't set up before. But all went well and we pushed off onto Bowman Lake.
The new rudder made an immense improvement in tracking and steering. The kayak had been rather hard to keep in a straight line before, but the rudder made it track true and allowed us to just paddle and turn using it. Like yesterday, the lake was smooth, with little breeze, but the water kept it feeling comfortable. The water was absolutely clear until the depth reached probably 20 feet, then it immediately turned a brilliant milky turquoise, the characteristic color of a glacier lake.
We paddled for about twenty minutes towards the south eastern shore of the lake and tried fishing from the kayak. I was a little nervous since it is an inflatable kayak and hooks are sharp. No luck for me at any location and any depth. There are fish there. We saw a young girl fishing from shore catch a good-sized one as we paddled by. After a half hour or so of unsuccess, we paddled across the lake to to other shore. No luck there...and no luck trolling the deep as we crossed, either.
It wasn't total loss we did see a loon, fairly close-up, and a family of mergansers along the shore, a mother and five nearly grown ducklings. It was back to the launching ramp. After carrying the inflated kayak back to our site, easier to relaunch tomorrow, it was time for snacks, some reading and birdwatching from the campsite, dinner and this journal entry.
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