Road trip, day three: potholes and lakes.

In the morning I ate breakfast at the hostel (which, by the way, has an AMAZING kitchen!), then grabbed some coffee at the Mercantile and headed north to Bowman Lake to see what I could see. The road to the lake was even worse than the road to Polebridge and I could feel Clarence's patience wearing thin over that short but verrrrrrry long six miles.

There were a lot of people at the lake by the time I got there. Most were picnicking but some headed toward the trails so I followed, my borrowed bear bell ringing like a Christmastime Salvation Army collector at the mall.

I hike alone all the time and never think twice about it but on this trip I was a bit freaked out by the bear prospect. Aside from the warning signs at the park entrances/on the park brochure stapled to my entrance ticket/along the sides of the road/at the head of every trail/etc., a girl at the hostel had walked up toward Bowman Lake the day before and seen a black bear from the road. (She immediately turned around and walked back to the hostel.) It's true that I want to swim with great white sharks someday but getting anywhere near any kind of non-stuffed bear is not on any kind of list I have going... so instead of doing the Numa Lookout hike that Oliver had recommended, I just wandered close to the lake ringing my bell.

not a bear

It took a few hours for the ringing in my ears to stop but I didn't see any bears. I did see some gorgeous reflections of the mountains in the lake.

After a few hours I headed back to the car and took the road up to Kintla Lake, "a place to go only on purpose" according to the Moon guidebook. No kidding - 15 miles of treacherous potholed dirt road leads you through lovely meadows and forest and drops you at a beautiful lake and campground.

serenity now

Unfortunately for me, a large Ford truck followed me the whole 15 miles kicking dust everywhere, and after the Truck Yahoos got out and made snide comments about my "little car" making it up that road (to which I replied, in my head, "yeah, it sure did, and it won't be Found On Road Dead anytime soon, AND I get better gas mileage" but outwardly just smiled in response), said Yahoos proceeded to throw large rocks into the lake where I'd just sat down for a peaceful view.

So I found a nice river/bridge combo a few hundred feet away and admired the lake, forest and mountains.

hey Yahoos, I said, serenity now!

A woman quietly walked by and pointed out two baby hummingbirds testing their wings in the tree above the bridge. She said she thought I "might enjoy that." Either I give off birder vibes, or she saw me walk away from the Yahoos. Whichever the case, I was thrilled to watch those babies flap around for a good 30 minutes while the river ran below my feet.

prepare for the flight

Lots more dirt road on the way back to the hostel, where I finished the second Harry Potter book (yeah, I'm only a bazillion light years behind on this, I know) and hit the sack in prep for another big driving day en route to East Glacier. Still decompressing from city life, but this intro to the mountains was definitely the way to go.

Again I say: well done, Polebridge.