Derry Shoemaker's ranch, Swan Valley, Montana, June 8-15, 2010It was STILL a little drizzly when we drove east from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on I90. We passed near Lolo Pass (I love that name) and Gary reminded me that this is the overland route that Lewis and Clark took as they left the rivers and crossed the Bitterroot Mountains and found the headwaters of the Clearwater River traveling down the western slope toward the Columbia River.
Gary was hoping we would be able to find a place where he had camped with his mom and two brothers in 1953 and 1954. He remembered very clearly that Rock Creek was about 20 miles east of Missoula, but in those years, Interstate 90 didn't exist. He remembered there being a wood bridge over Clark's Fork (river) and there wasn't one at this turn off. But he kept exploring and finally confirmed that this was indeed The Place.
We turned down Rock Creek Road and pretty soon came to Ekstrom's Stage Station. This was confusing to Gary as he didn't remember such a place 57 years ago.
So he asked around and found someone who had been around back in the '50's. And they confirmed that the Stage Station hadn't been there in 1953 ... it was moved to its current location in 1955! It was a fun story. The Stage Station (a restaurant, campground and camping cabins) is a collection of reconstructed western Montana homesteader cabins and frontier buildings moved to the site log by log. The restaurant where we had dinner this night was 150 years old ... it was the Birmingham Flats Stage Station located on the Mullan Trail between Hall and Missoula, Montana. In reading about how it was done, it became clear that it took a few cabin moves to get it down. First, they didn't label the logs when they took the cabin to be moved apart, so it was really hard to reassemble it. The next cabin was labeled with chalk, but they didn't count on rain that washed the labeling off. Finally, with the third cabin moved they succeeded when they labeled the logs with paint!
The dinner we had at Ekstrom's Stage Station was good. There is a hospitality tradition in the Ekstrom family going back 7 generations, since 1883. The matriarch, Anna Elliot, ran a boarding house in Bonita, MT, at that time. Doris Ekstrom (the grandma, age 90+) that Gary talked with about what was there in 1953, was Anna's granddaughter, and she was very interested in cooking and baking. In fact she won the state and regional Pillsbury Bake-Off competitions with her Shrimp Boat Supper, and also won the National Delmarva chicken cooking contest with Oriental Chicken Cook-out. So you can see, we had the pleasure of eating the work of competitive chefs!
The next morning we drove into Missoula and had breakfast with Carla Wissner Cox. Carla is the sister of Gretchen Wissner (our friend from Moscow, Idaho), and the very close friend of Linda Olsen (of La Jolla, California), and Juli Miller (of Sun Valley). She is a state recognized dietitian specializing in diabetes care, as well as a major outdoors-woman. She is closing in on climbing the highest peak in all 50 states! She has climbed the highest ... Denali and Mt. Whitney ... and now is collecting the "easy" ones. Just a couple of days before she had returned with her husband Roger from climbing about 6 in the midwest: Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and a couple of others. I believe the Illinois "peak" is on private property and only open a couple of times a year to climb, so Carla and Roger timed their trip to take advantage of that.
"The Shack" was delicious, and our visit was even better. Again, one of the absolutely BEST parts of our trip has been our ability to reconnect with friends and family all over the country. Here is our picture with Carla.
Since we were in a town, Missoula, we took advantage of city amenities: Gary got his hair cut, we got the car washed, I got a prescription filled at Walgreen's, and a latte! We wanted to make it back to Buster in Rock Creek by about 11:00 or so, so we could give Liz the next part of her comprehensive standardized school tests, and head out by noon, on our way up the Swan Valley to our friend Derry Shoemaker's ranch.
Liz completed her section on punctuation and word usage and expression (about 45 minutes) while I proctored, and Gary investigated the riverside camping area. He did feel it was exactly the same place, on further inspection, where they had all camped over 50 years ago. He really enjoyed being there, and knowing that. It is a gorgeous spot .... it's no wonder he remembered it.
We did pull out of Ekstrom's Stage Station about 12:30 pm, and made out way along Clark's Fork, back toward Missoula for a ways. We turned of I90 going back west onto MT State 200, and headed northwest.
When we reached "the cow" we remembered (from our previous trips to Shoemaker's) this was the junction where we turn more directly north up State 83 to Seeley Lake and Condon.
The drive up 83 is gorgeous, first passing alongside Salmon Lake,
and soon passing into a narrower valley with gorgeous mountains on each side: The Swan range to the east, and the Mission range to the west.
Just before we got to Condon, near mile marker 83, is the turn east on Cooney Creek Road. You know you've gone too far if you get to Liquid Louie's. This is the local watering hole that we had visited a couple of times before! As we hadn't had any lunch, we hoped they served some sandwiches or something ..... but, alas, they only serve liquid sustenance! Here is Liz standing outside.
When we turned down Derry's road, Flint Ridge, and wound our way through the woods, our breath was once again taken away when we came upon her house, pond, barn, etc. It really is simply the most break-takingly beautiful spot as our top photos show. She has snow capped mountains in every direction, with the gorgeous relief of beautiful green pastures, woods, and that Montana Big Sky. It is the best! We thought we'd stay a couple or three days .... you'll read what happened!
Derry wasn't home when we got there. She had gone to Whitefish to pick up her 15 year old grandson Dylan who will spend the summer with her, and work with their handy (young) man, Tyler. Everyone was tired when we finally met up, and we decided to go out to their local eatery, The Hungry Bear. We've been there a number of times before and they do a pretty nice steak and salad bar. Dylan introduced us to Huckleberry shakes/smoothies, featuring this delicious Montana berry.
When we got home, it was time to feed the fish. Liz got to toss in the food, and watch the fish frenzy develop.
Our wonderful Montana visit with Derry and Dylan had begun.
The next morning, Wednesday, June 9, we got busy again with Liz' school testing. Today she took the math concepts section, lasting, again, about 45 minutes. Gary started his activities: mowing, cleaning guns, cleaning up the barn, trapping a skunk, etc. This place is a camp for boys, large and small, old and young. He would work along with Tyler and Dylan. They are ALL good workers, and Derry seemed to really appreciate Gary's help.
We had a delicious lunch of chicken tortilla soup, and then we took a little drive. This country school house is just down the road in Salmon Prairie.
The Swan River was very high. Dylan showed us where they had swung into the river last
summer from a partially submerged tree ..... but it was WAY under now!
Derry is a wonderful cook, and she invited her good friends and neighbors, Roger and Jerry, to dinner of grilled salmon, bruschetta, rice and broccoli. Gary helped her figure out how to use her grill, get it started, etc. Derry lost her dear husband of 50 years, Don, in February, 2009, and all last summer she never got going on the grill. So she really appreciated Gary helping her get the hang of it.
It is really hard not to miss Don when you are at their ranch. Don was so enthusiastic about the outdoors and he was so thrilled when their success in corporate real estate development in Chicago enabled them to spend as much time as they wanted in this very best place. There is fabulous fishing, hunting, hiking ..... it truly is glorious. And we were glad he could be there.
Liz did another section of her test on Thursday, June 10. It was the math computation section. It was a little frustrating for her, I think because the problems in the test booklet were all laid out horizontally instead of vertically. She had to recopy all the addition and subtraction before she even started it. This caused a little anxiety, but we tried to reassure her it would all turn out ok.
Later, after 250 fish were delivered to stock the pond and Gary spent the morning on the riding lawn mower, we had lunch at the Swan Valley Cafe. They have a great Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, and delicious soup. Then we took a walk down their road to the other house, which they call the West House. Some professors from North Carolina had built a house about 3/4 mile up the road from Derry and Don's. But after a couple of years they decided Condon was too remote to live year around, and they returned to their home. So Derry and Don bought the house. It's available for their guests, so we decided to walk down. It also is where there was a super tall grain storage area that functioned beautifully as Buster's parking spot.
We passed the swollen Cooney Creek,
and after a little up and down, came to the West House. Buck and Knuckles, their dogs, walked along with us.
We had fun taking pictures of Liz in the field with her cowboy hat on. We have a picture of her in this same field with a cowboy hat on when she was about 3, so it will be fun to frame those two together.
You can see what a great spot Buster was in!
Derry did another great dinner of flank steak with the trimmings, and in the evening Boys' Camp was in session: Gary and Dylan did target shooting with clay pigeons. Gary actually is pretty good .... he hit most of the targets thrown out. Derry was thrilled to have a guys' guy there for Dylan .... like his Grandpa Don had been.
We ended the evening with a game of Mexican Train (dominoes), and we shared some caramel apples we had brought from Sun Valley. Unfortunately, one of Dylan's braces came dis-attached, but fortunately we had an orthodontist in the house! If was fun that Gary could fix him right up!
On Friday, June 11, we returned to the Swan Valley Cafe for a good country breakfast, and decided on an outing to Big Fork. This is a super fun town at the head of Flathead Lake, a little less than an hour's drive north. It's a headquarters for recreation (fishing, boating, hiking, etc) on the lake, and has nice shopping and restaurants. One of Derry's favorites is the Echo Lake cafe where we had lunch. Liz had a tuna melt, and I had a delicious Cobb salad.
We did a little shopping before lunch, and then stopped for a brief introduction and visit with Chuck Weyerhauser, Derry's friend, before heading home.
Our stop at Flathead Lake Lodge was lovely ..... including some of their beautiful flowers!
We wanted to make sure we got home in time for dinner as we had an incredible experience awaiting us. We were the incredibly fortunate folks to be included in an invitation to Jerry and Roger Watson's home for their prime rib dinner. Roger slow cooked this incredible rib roast, and also treated us to his unique and delicious cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped grilled jalapenos. Jerry, his beautiful bride, prepared delicious sides of cheesy potatoes and asparagus, and then Roger did banana splits for dessert. It was tremendous! We look pretty happy, don't we?
Well, by Saturday, June 12, we had thought that we would be taking off for Glacier. But we were having too much fun at Derry's Boys' (and Girls') Camp. So that's the beauty of League's Excellent Adventure (and Derry's gracious hospitality!) ..... we just stayed put. I mean when you're hanging out in a place that looks like this, why would you go anyplace else?
Liz had done a couple more sections of her test, and today and tomorrow would be the last two. So after a delicious breakfast of Derry's Banana Bread French Toast, Liz took on social studies and science. We were happy that we would be able to send the test back to the University of Minnesota testing center on Monday, the 14th.
Standing on Derry's deck is such a glorious experience. You really don't know which way to look. I took a series of pictures, rotating in a circle. You can see what I mean.
Later in the afternoon, Ryan arrived. Ryan is the communications guy for a really neat project being run on the land adjacent to Derry's ranch. It is called Condon Wildlife Cam. A gentleman in Chicago acquired the land next door formerly owned by a logging company. He is a devoted conservationist, and he put together a team to take perpetual monitoring pictures of animals, birds, fish, etc on the land. You can log on and watch the live feed. Ryan is the guy that designed the computer systems, and checks the cameras, etc on a regular basis. He lives in Missoula. And when he's in Condon, he stays at Derry's cabin on the pond, now affectionately named Ryan's Cabin.
Derry got out the grill again, this time with the smoker and she and Gary smoked a turkey all afternoon. This made for another great dinner preceded by our famous Cowboy Caviar (a yummy black bean/olive/onion/garlic mixture on top of cream cheese and garnished with hard boiled egg and chopped green onion and served with tortilla chips). It was another lovely day.
On Sunday, June 13, Ryan kindly agreed to show us around the project. Here, he and Dylan are walking across Derry's pasture toward the property under wildlife surveillance.
Ryan showed us how they had built a special box to house a camera that could take pictures of birds and their nests.
and then he showed us the shed he'd built for all the computer and camera hardware. This log crosses the river just upstream from where the fish cameras are.
Derry took this picture of the three of us on the hike; we were a bit in the shade under our cowboy hats!
We got back and I had to snap another picture from Derry's tremendous back porch!
I had put some beef short ribs (with potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, etc) into the oven before we went on our hike, so dinner was delicious and ready about 5 pm. Then Boys' Camp went into session. This time: bow and arrow target practice.
Gary was pretty good with the bow and arrow, too, initially hitting the bear target in the leg, but after just a few shots he got him in the lower neck and shoulder .... right where he wanted. Liz had fun trying it, too.
We had gotten up on Sunday, and Liz had said, "We don't really have to go tomorrow do we?" And Gary said, "No, we don't!" So we had another beautiful day with Derry and Dylan in Montana paradise. We spent Monday, June 14, doing mundane but enjoyable things: writing some notes to people, getting Liz' 4th grade test into the mail back to Minnesota, mowing! Gary absolutely loved that zero-radius (it turned on the dime!) mower! He looks right at home on it doesn't he?
Later, Derry had once again invited Jerry and Roger, along with another neighbor, Kathy, to dinner of anti-pasto and lasagna. Ryan was still there, along with Dylan and us, so we had a nice big group. It was so friendly and lovely. After dinner Roger, an experienced bow hunter, did some target practice with Gary.
Some clouds came up and we got some rain later in the evening, but then we had the most beautiful rainbows!
Tuesday morning, June 15, dawned and we realized we really did need to move on a bit if we were going to get home by the end of the month, and still see what we wanted to. So we had to say our good-byes. Here is our intrepid group.
Gary, Lizzie, Dylan, Julie and Derry
Lizzie with Knuckles (whom she loves!!)
We were excited to be heading to Glacier .... it had been one of the National Park highlights we really wanted to make. Gary had gotten really interested in coming back to Derry's in the fall to elk hunt with a bow. So we stopped at the Montana Fish and Game office in Kalispell. But unfortunately he learned that he needed to have applied for a license earlier that spring, and entered the lottery for an elk tag by the first of June. So he got all the information, and will really try to do it in 2011. Derry said she would be happy to have him back because he's such a good worker!!
As we approached the park entrance we saw signs for helicopter tours. Aren't those peaks simply majestic? This part of the Rockies is the narrowest, contributing to high, peaked mountains.
Just inside the south entrance is Apgar Visitor Center and campground where we easily found a campsite just right for Buster. We had worried when we couldn't make a reservation at the campground ... it is first come, first served. It makes you a little nervous to get all the way to someplace like that, and have to just hope there will be room for you .... but this early in the season we were fine. And, of course, Gary got Gary's Senior Pass discount again. It's such a great deal.
We headed off up the Going to the Sun Road. It had been beautifully repaved. It was a beautiful drive along Lake MacDonald and then along a rushing MacDonald Creek.
The rushing glacial melt and sedimentary rock felt so powerful and elemental.
I have to share this moment with you: I was standing, waiting while Liz went to the restroom. I looked through the trees, and up to the glacial peaks and had this awareness of environmental perfection. It was the perfect temperature, with just the hint of breeze, not humid, fresh air, and beautiful green and sky and mountains all around. I felt my ambient environment was as perfect as it could be. So I had to take a picture of where I was: here it is.
The horn-like peaks are the result of glaciation. Glaciers that lie against mountains erode ever-steeper cliffs by repeatedly freezing and thawing, plucking rock loose. The moving ice carries the broken rock down-valley. Where glaciers surround a mountain peak they may eventually erode it to a tooth-like horn.
We stopped at Avalanche Creek and took a little hike up the Trail of the Cedars. Avalanche Creek was the farthest we could go up the Going to the Sun Road on June 15. It wasn't going to open all the way over Logan Pass until Friday, June 18. We doubted we'd be able to stay for that. Both Gary and I have been on it in the past .... but I can hardly remember it.
At Avalanche Creek we saw the famous Glacier Red Buses which are gorgeous sight-seeing vehicles. And the beautiful glacier water flowing once again.
Gary and Liz looked so serene walking through the cedars.
This is what was interesting about the trail. It reminded us of the Ho Rain Forest we had seen on the Olympic Peninsula. And then we came to under the incredible uniqueness of where we were. We were very near to Triple Divide Pass where a "hand's width" can determine whether a raindrop becomes part of the Columbia, Mississippi or Saskatchewan river systems. Those waters then ultimately flow to the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, or northeastward into Hudson Bay. It is simply phenomenal!
There is also a convergence of habitats: Pacific Coast, Rockies/Alpine, Plains, Great Basin. And all the natural North American carnivores can be found there: Grizzly and black bear, wolf, cougar. When you are there, it feels like all those elemental things are there.
On the drive back to Apgar we caught a couple of gorgeous views across Lake MacDonald.
The next day, Wednesday, June 16, we drove around to the east entrance at St. Mary since we couldn't cross the Going to the Sun Road. We saw the Burlington Northern driving over there.
And our weather turned. We were not to see the sun again in Glacier National Park.
The cloud cover just got greater and greater until when we were parked looking at the mountains there was no way we could see the tops. This was our view for two days.
We reverted to viewing some Friends and a Civil War mini-series called The Blue and the Grey!
By Thursday, June 17, we knew it wasn't going to let up for two to three more days, so we decided to cut our losses and move. Consequently, Glacier will remain on our "we must return" list. I definitely want to go into the Canadian part of the park. Glacier is an International Peace Park ... a joint park with Parks Canada. The Canadian part is named Waterton Lakes National Park, and is in Alberta. There is an International Peace hike, from Waterton Lake into Montana which would be really great to take some day. I want to go back!
We headed east towards Great Falls, and started seeing more and more about Lewis and Clark (whom we really like!). I'm going to put all the stuff that relates to Lewis and Clark in the next post ... On the trail of Lewis and Clark.
So I'll skip ahead a little bit and tell you about another cool Montana thing we did the next day ... on Friday, June 18. We had parked in a nice little RV park in Three Forks, and after great breakfast rolls and lattes at Montana Wheat
we explored where the three rivers come together to form the Missouri (see next post). But after that, we had read about the Madison Buffalo Jump, so we drove a little south and west to see it.
Buffalo jumps were a huge part of tribal life before the mid 18th century. For the Shoshone and other tribes, life centered around the bison/buffalo. The slide below describes the many ways they used the buffalo: the women were in charge of skinning and butchering the meat, and transporting it back to the campsite. They would boil the large bones and extract the marrow. Stringy tendons would be separated and used for thread. Of course the skins became lodge covers or robes. What was most interesting to read about was pemmican. Once the meat was dried it would be mixed with marrow and berries (chokeberries, for example) or other dried fruits and then spread out in sheets. When dry it would be cut in bars .... like ancient energy bars and saved for the winter. Pemmican.
The first slide below is a diagram of how the Indians would strategically move the buffalo herd over the plateau, moving toward the cliff. As I mentioned above, this was largely until the 1750's to 1760's. By that time, most tribes had acquired the "elk dog" .... horse. Imported by the Spanish Conquistadors, horses had long legs like an elk, but seemed to be tame .... like a dog. Once they could hunt on horseback, tribes' use of Buffalo Jumps declined.
Here is the actual Buffalo Jump. It was a beautiful little hike up there.
We drove back to Three Forks and hooked up the car. I felt kind of "Wild West"ish in my cowboy hat that morning, so I had Liz snap my pic.
We headed east on I90 past Bozeman and Livingston and on to Columbus. There we took a little cut off which hooked us into US 212 southwest to Red Lodge. We saw some spectacular scenery along the way!
We pulled into the KOA in Red Lodge, and liked it right away. They had a nice pool, and cooked a hot breakfast and served it on their deck the next morning. The town is old and quaint, and it's set in a breath-taking valley with glorious snow-capped peaks all around. We picked up real estate brochures!
When we walked to dinner we saw two stores that sold high end jams/jellies/condiments/wines, etc. We picked Foster Logan's Pub and Grill, and were glad we did. Gary had the local ale, and I had the Perfect Margarita. Liz had Buffalo Chili Fries .... a particularly tasty delicacy. It was was a beautiful summer night and we had fun eating out and scoping out the town.
We are excited about tomorrow. We have decided to leave Buster at the Red Lodge KOA, and take Bella over the Beartooth Highway. Charles Kuralt has said this is the most beautiful drive in the country ..... I'm excited to see if I agree.
If it's great, I'll devote an entire blog entry to it .... so tune in to see if it made the grade!
Love,
Julie, Gary and Liz
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