Northwestern Montana - August 1st - 4th, 2016

We camped in the Flathead National Forest on our way up the Swan Valley surrounded by the Mission Mountains and the Flathead Mountain Range. Arriving in Bigfork, we ate some great burgers, fries and milkshakes and stopped for some tennis at the local courts. We also did some much needed laundry and took some much more needed showers. On the advice of a local bartender in Missoula (and without researching it ourselves), we headed down the east coast of the Flathead Lake to check out the Flathead Indian Reservation since there was supposed to be beautiful camping there. We went to the Walmart in Polson with the idea of purchasing a camping permit. Turns out the Reservation charges over $30 per person for a camping permit. As it was getting dark and we were getting frustrated, we decided to camp for free in the Walmart parking lot. Other than a very talkative fellow camper and the bright parking lot lights, we got a decent rest.

Van life with the Tuck-Man.

The next day, we continued our pursuit of the bartender’s recommendations by checking out the town of Hot Springs, where a supposedly “built up” and resort-like cluster of hot springs awaited us. Apparently, the bartender and us have different definitions of “resort-like” and the town was little more than a tiny run-down reservation town with one or two motels with old grungy hot pools. Disappointed and more frustrated for the pointless 2 hour detour through unremarkable landscape, we continued up the west coast of Flathead Lake to a free campsite at Ashley Lake in the Flathead National Forest. Although the price was right, our fellow campers were drunk for our entire stay and (insert more polite way of saying white trash).  

Ashely Lake in Flathead National Forest

On August 4^th, we drove into Kalispell for some internet research and finally bought our international travel insurance. We continued on to West Glacier and picked up the capacitor from the post office. We wondered how odd it would look to pull up to a random building with an outdoor wall outlet to start soldering something. Oh well… I suppose we’ve done stranger things. Bernie’s engine problems had not returned making us think that something must have just jiggled loose on the dirt road, that or the Vanagon fairy mechanic really had paid us a visit. From our brief trip into West Glacier, we got a free campsite along the Flathead River and headed into Whitefish for some SUPing and swimming in Whitefish Lake. Whitefish was a cool little mountain lake town that we wish we had spent more time in, but Glacier Distillery was calling to us and we got some cocktails while researching Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies.