Southfork Weekend
August 31 - September 2

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Brother Dan & Tracie and his daughter Kaitlyn & her husband Strite have all bought in as owners of Montana Wilderness Lodge & Outfitting.  We had never been there, so we joined Larry for a long weekend up there.  It's located at the edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  It's a LONG drive up along the Hungry Horse Reservoir, but so nice once you get there.  They have a bunch of Instagram pictures here.  (Be warned, there's a lot of dead animal photos!) 
 
   
Buddy making friends with one of the lodge dogs.  This is his "I'm tough" stance.  
   
 A view of the main lodge and the entry driveway.  Inside the lodge. 
   
 The giant dining table.  The nice outdoor patio, I was too lazy to open the screen door to take my picture! 
   
 A friend stopped by and we had to admire his first aid skills.   Dan & Rose relaxing on the porch glider. 
   

The view from the lodge building. 
  The outdoor kitchen 
   
Outdoor eating area and fire ring in the background.  Here we tour the many cabins they have on site. 
   
A lot of the trips are spent camping so the cabins are basic, but nice. This one sleeps six! 
   

Looking back at the lodge building.
  Views along the drive to Meadow Creek Gorge. 
   

Where we parked before walking down to the gorge.  It's also the shared wrangler corral 
area where the outfitters all have their own section.
  A line of Casazzas. 
   

Always good to know about bear activity.  
Looking down at Meadow Creek?  Just guessing on the name because
it runs through Meadow Creek gorge.  		  
   

The stock all use this bridge when they go out into the backcountry.  Here Eric & Larry
think deep thoughts about the deep gorge.  
  Looking down into the gorge. 
   

Buddy prefers to stay in the center of the bridge. 
  The gorge on the other side. A tree is wedged between the two sides.  Spring 
runoff will knock that loose!  
   

 It's really stunning to see in person. 

  
   

The guys going to check out a small waterfall, mostly dried up now. 
Someone was nice and left a rope for easier access.  Buddy & I 
elected to watch from above.  
  The guys checking out the small cave and the late-season waterfall. 
   

Dan & Rose have caught up to us now. 
 Buddy is happy to see them returning, he didn't want to follow!  
   
   

A barn at the lodge, it's got a bit of a sway to it!  Those old axes are cool - all one piece. 
  Buddy is monitoring the dinner preparation activity in Rose's camper.  
   
 A giant slug on our camper entry mat.  I have never in my life seen such a big one!  And the outfitters have returned.  They'd been on a 2 day trip in the wilderness repairing
the corrals that are way out in the woods.  They were bushed! 
   

Kaitlyn. 
It took ages to unload all the horses and mules, strip their tack, and
turn them out.  This is Strite, Kaitlyn's husband.		  
   

Spectators, admiring the team at work. 
The outfitter dogs all know how to behave around horses & mules, 
Buddy however, gets carried.  		  
   

Dan Jr., Kaitlyn, and Dan Sr. 
  Dan Sr. grabs a cat nap while Larry & Dan chat on the porch. 
   

We hung with them long enough to see some beautiful sights.  
 The next day we tried to follow Dan & Tracie & Lane on a fishing excursion. 
 Larry kept up with them, but it was too advanced for me!  Eric stayed back
 with me when it got too much for my skill set.  		  
   

A smaller gorge, which I'm told gets really impressive in spring. 
   That huge round rock is trapped in a small area, during spring runoff all 
 of this is under raging water, so I'm sure it rolls around getting more 
 and more polished each year.  
   

I loved looking down into that beautiful clear water. 
 Lane is fishing up ahead, but this is as far as I went.    
   

There is a big bull trout in this picture! 
   
   

My boys going back across that super slanted rock. 
 Brodie loves to find flies & lures, here Eric & I find 3 at one time!   
   

The sign for Strite & Kaitlyn's business back at the corrals. 
  Leaving the gorge area, we had to pull off the road for one last picture. 
   
 Next we stop at the big river, the South Fork of the Flathead, for pebble throwing.   Back at the lodge, Eric makes friends.  
   
They seem to like it when you dig deep into their ears.  I didn't try it for myself.   Some more of the little cabins. Larry used one of them.  
   
 Dan Jr., Larry, and Eric - out for a walk.    Strite has an engineering problem in that the spring-fed water system provides too much
 water.  The uncles enjoyed trying to help solve the issue.  
   

Dan ringing the dinner bell.  Tracie & Kaitlyn & Strite put on a wonderful meal for us all.  
Beautiful Scout.  He loves Kaitlyn even more than Strite does!    
   

The boys were looking at all those fish just waiting for a fishing lure.  
The next day we went out exploring with Larry.  Here we are at 
Spotted Bear campground.		  
   

Next we crossed the swinging bridge.  That's Larry on it now. 
  Looking back at the rocks where we had just been standing. 
   

Buddy is very afraid of swinging bridges, but he also won't stay tied up at the end, so 
we always have to carry him across.  
  I don't know why he finds this iffy!! 
   
 Larry, looking at more and more fish.  Buddy, wondering why we can't see the danger as clearly as he does. 
   
 See?  He's not any happier when we leave him on the side.  Swinging bridges are dumb.  Next we go to Spotted Bear Falls, it is an amazingly beautiful stretch of river.  Gorgeous! 
   

Buddy, not sure if he should hang back with me or run ahead to catch up to Eric. 
  Spotted Bear Falls looking upriver. 
   
This is a natural swimming pool.  Eric took a dip in it, but we can't show that here!  
   

Trying for the big bull trout that were hanging out down there. 
 Larry caught a fish!   
   
Larry is nearly 60 and still thinks it's a good idea to see if he can cross the creek on that log!   Me, I sat down and threw pebbles for Buddy until my arm was tired.  
   
Next we toured another outfitter place, which has a restaurant and an amazing patio!! This is on the drive out, when we stopped for a comfort break.  
   
 Another view on the drive out.  It is a gorgeous part of the world for sure.    
   
   
   
 

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