Southfork - Montana
Wilderness Lodge
May 24 - 26, 2025 |
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Our niece and her husband manage the Montana
Wilderness Lodge at the very end of Hungry Horse Reservoir, one of
only three outfitters (that I know of) who are licensed to run backcountry
trips into the Bob Marshall Wilderness from the Spotted Bear area.
In May we went up to take in the amazing sights & scenes with a few of
the family.
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| Instead of hauling our camper on the 4 hour trip, we opted to use one of
their neat little cabins. |
Buddy wants it known that he's willing to help out with any meat stick
consumption needs. |
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| Four of the 11 dogs that roamed the place that weekend. It was
like doggy nirvana. |
Strite & Kaitlyn's beautiful little home in the high
country. |
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Buddy is an old hand at sharing a sleeping bag with Eric.
He knows to be sure and take up all the room! |
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| That evening, we headed over to one of the other outfitters' to catch some
live music. |
The youngsters sat on one side, and us old fogeis on another. |
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| Eric getting a selfie fail with Madison. |
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The next morning, Strite & Kaitlyn were working a couple of new horses
they just bought.
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The two fathers look on. |
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| Next stop - Spotted Bear Falls |
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We visited here last fall and it looked SO different
with low water! There are lots of circular "bowls"
cut into the rock below this raging water.
The day before we visited, the fish were jumping
several feet clear of the water, heading up the falls.
On this day, the water was too high for them to do
that.
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| Jeb & Amy's gang with Eric. |
In the fall, this was a crystal clear, deep, circular pool where Eric took a
dip. Not right now! |
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| Watching for fish jumping up the falls. |
Giving a beaming smile for the camera. |
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| That water was so impressive in person! |
Adventure dog. On a leash to make sure he didn't get too close to the
edge. |
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| Still no jumping fish, but Eric is ready for them. |
The butterflies were especially friendly. Buddy & I make friends
with this one. |
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Jeb & Amy's crew - fishing & sunning |
| While Eric has made his own new friend nearby. |
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| Colter doing the fly fishing thing. |
Spur, his little dog - nearly a year old in this picture and such a
sweetie. |
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| Next stop - Meadow Creek Gorge. It's a must-see in this area! |
The water is really powerful as it heads into this deep, narrow
gorge. |
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| Straight down from the bridge. |
Looking downriver. |
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| We next visited this little waterfall. |
And I got this picture of my boys with the bridge in the background. |
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| Eric & Jeb, flashing me their matching snarl faces. |
Beautiful scenery abounds. |
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| Aubrey & Amy were a little more cooperative with my camera! |
A glimpse of the river as it goes on past the gorge. |
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| One of the many random little waterfalls in the area. I love
waterfalls. |
Saturday night saw a family poker tournament, complete with some adult
beverages.
What could possibly go wrong? |
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| It stayed calm & polite for at least 15 minutes. |
Then it dissolved into arguments like this that had us cracking up all
evening. |
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| The next day, we took a very slow path out, stopping at anything we
wanted to see. |
There is no shortage of lovely views along the 2 hour drive back to
civilization. |
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| Intrepid explorers. |
Rushing water. |
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| Buddy hates it when we pick him up near dangerous dropoffs! |
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Next we head to Graves Creek Falls. We have a "Grave
Creek" in the Eureka area, which
everyone calls, "Graves Crick" - so don't be embarrassed if
you're feeling confused right now.
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This was a pretty waterfall, but any chance of viewing it is blocked by
overgrown foliage. This was the best I could do. |
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| This is maybe slightly better. But it was gorgeous in real
life. |
Eric, trying to get a better vantage point while Buddy looks on. |
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| Can you read his expression? I see, "She's going to drop me, I
know she's going to drop me..." |
The river takes a very sharp turn just before it drops into those
falls. |
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There is a road on both sides of the Hungry Horse Reservoir. The
mountains are across the lake
from the road we used, which I think is the "west road".
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I can never keep the west road & east road straight in my mind because
on the map it looks like a north
road and a south road. We were on what looks here like the south
road. |
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Eric got sleepy on the drive out, so we stopped at this pretty creek
so Buddy & I could stretch
our legs while Eric got in a nice nap. |
A last look up the lake as we drove over the Hungry Horse dam. |
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