Intro to Whitefish Lake State Park

Today, I took a hike on the Whitefish Trail. It goes on for long distances, but because this is my first real day of hiking, I took it easy. Here's a picture of one part of the trail:

While hiking, I saw a lot of pretty flowers. Here's one.

Here's a picture of my truck, trailer and site at Whitefish Lake State Park. That little bald hill in the background is the railroad track. It can be quite loud, but it doesn't seem to wake me at night. Thank goodness!

I took a picture from the end of the dock. It shows the Whitefish Mountain Resort, where there is skiing during the winter. There are a lot of houses located in the lower hills in front of the mountain. The lake is beautiful and cold. Just a tad too cold to swim in right now.

From the end of the dock, I took a picture of the picnic area and the parking area for the park. Just a tad hard to see, but it is there. No business today, which is nice, considering that in a couple of weeks it will be wall-to-wall people.

This is Whitefish Lake State Park. Gorgeous and quiet, except when the train goes by (many times during the day and night). But it isn't that bad!

Next time, it will be back to Glacier!

May 12, 2015 Whitefish State Park

So, I have arrived at Whitefish Lake State Park. I arrived Saturday evening and set up in my semi-permanent spot. Semi-permanent because it is only until September 20. I will be taking pictures of the park and my trailer location later when the weather gets nicer. Right now it is cool and cloudy with a potential for rain.

Yesterday, we had the intro meeting for new and returning camphosts from all over Montana's Region 1 district. Apparently, all of the state parks in Region 1 are near or on lakes. Our little 10 acre park has one of two public boat launching ramps on Whitefish Lake.

More will follow as things progress. I will also be making trips into Glacier during the summer, so I'm excited about being here. I can also breathe, since the altitude is only around 3200 feet (instead of the 5600 feet at Heber City and 6700 feet at Deer Valley. It is so quiet and the air is so sweet smelling, it is incredible that a train runs within 50 feet of my trailer. About once every two hours or so, even at night, but I'm beginning to not even notice. I haven't been awakened from sleep by a train, so I'm not even sure the trains run at night. I was told they do.

Right now, I'm sitting at my little desk playing on my computer. A couple of days ago when I was sitting here playing on my computer, I looked outside and saw this:

 That pedestal is around 10-15 feet away from my front door. I took this picture through my window, and my movement caught his attention. A few minutes later, he took off after his momma. I was told that these two were probably last year's babies, since about now the new babies are coming. They are smaller than the larger doe that was with them, but walked across the road to the left.

I've been told that there are bears around here and do visit on occasion. We have bear-proof garbage dumpsters, since I guess they like people food.

I've also been told about the mountain lions. They aren't as populous, but to my right is a mountain called Lion Mountain, apparently for a reason. I don't want to see them and I really don't want to hear them!

I'm off to training on the state park reservation system tomorrow and if I'm a good girl and learn it quickly, I don't have to go back on Thursday. I hope so. Three days off before I have to start work would be wonderful!

Butte to Kalspell

During my time in Butte, I went to two places. The first was Phillipsburg. The sole purpose of this little wide spot in the road is mining. Sapphires. So, I decided to do some "mining." You get a bucket of gravel and a place to check the gravel for sapphires. The washing is done by one of the employees. After looking through my bucket, I found a whole bunch of little sapphires in the rough. I got a total of about 8 carats of cutable gems, so I'll probably get them done. Here's a picture of the total stones I found and the cutable stones.

These will be heat treated and cut. The bottom stone is a white sapphire with a bit of yellow. It won't be heat treated but will be facetted.

All the stones I found that are too small to be cut. They may be heat treated (which improves the color).

Large stones that are fractured and can't be cut. The one on the right is a "pink" sapphire. But too small.

The second place was Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park - not for the state park part of things, but for the caverns. I'd been to Lehman Caves and this was similar except for the huge number of stairs. The hike was 3/4 of a mile to the entrance, 3/4 of a mile into the cave (mostly down stairs and one "slide" that was shaped like the many butts that had slid on it) and 1/2 miles back to the visitor center. Other than the up and down shape of the cave, the formations were essentially the same as at Lehman Caves. So I didn't take many pictures. There were only 3 of us since it was so early in the season. The guide says the usual is 30 (up to 47) and it takes FOREVER to get through the cave with that many.

I left Butte and drove to the Flathead Valley (past Flathead Lake). It was an easy drive and pleasant to view. It is one of those places where I wished someone else was driving. There was a lot to see and 70 mph makes viewing difficult, if not dangerous.

Made it into Kalispell and after parking I made a quick drive over to Whitefish and found the park. The road construction near the entrance is HORRIBLE. A train also wanders by the site at least once a day, maybe more. It is still a beautiful place. More pictures will come later.

One of the mountains in Glacier National Park

One of the small drops in the McDonald Creek leading to Lake McDonald

Today, I drove to Glacier National Park. Very few people there. I met a ranger who had told me that a bear had been browsing close to one of the turnouts. She said it headed off into the trees, so I didn't see it.

I drove to the road closure, took lots of pictures and turned around. On the spur of the moment, I decided to drive to Polebridge (or as far as the pavement went). On the way toward Polebridge, I saw a momma bear and her baby. I thought she had one baby with her. Then I noticed the second baby. After a couple of minutes, I heard a lot of noise in the trees and thought it was a large bird. Turns out it was baby number 3. Babies 2 and 3 got into it a bit before they all went back to grazing.

One Baby

Two Babies

Babies Two and Three Getting It On!

Three Babies

 By the time I returned, the bear family was gone. And the clouds were really piling up like it was going to rain. I left the park and drove home.

Can't wait until later in the season when the road is open and the shuttle runs up and down the mountain. Save the truck!