A cold, but rewarding trip
Boy! What a winter! Thank goodness March is here and spring is only about two weeks away.
Because it was such a beautiful day on Saturday and the same was forecast for Sunday, I decided to drive up the North Fork with my camera. Left Columbia Falls at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning under clear skies and a temperature of seven below zero.
As I drove north, the temperature dropped like a rock. It was negative 17 at Blankenship Road (Junkins Corner), minus 25 just south of Polebridge and then the sun started warming the air and it was only 11 below when I got to Becky Braunig’s Trail Creek Road.
Did not see a single deer, elk or moose on the drive. Did see two cats cross the road ahead of me on Tepee Flat, but was not close enough to tell if they were bobcats or lynx, so no pictures. Later learned that as many as five lynx have been seen in that area in recent days, so I am unofficially calling it a lynx sighting.
Either way, it is always a thrill to see cats in the wild, even if I don’t get a picture. With the sun and blue sky, it was a great day for scenic photos, although I just looked and didn’t take a single photo. After all, I already have several hundred taken over the years on similar days, even if they were taken in January or February, not in March.
After delivering Beck’s prescriptions and fortifying myself with coffee, I moved on to Lynn and Bonny Ogle’s for a visit where Lynn was frying bacon and cooking eggs and pancakes. By now it was slightly above zero, so I went south to visit Bill and Lois Walker. More coffee and a bunch of fresh, warm molasses cookies. Now, it was 10 above zero and I got back to Columbia Falls at 2:10 p.m., where it was an almost balmy 14 degrees. A beautiful drive in a reliable vehicle with a good heater. A picture perfect day for an 80-year-old. Didn’t have to bundle up (did have heavy clothes in the car in case of emergency). No snowshoes or skis to strap on. Just enjoyed the great outdoors in comfort and only saw two other cars on my way north – almost a wilderness experience with modern comforts.
It did remind me of the past. Until well into the 1960s, the county did not plow the road north of Polebridge. I have clear memories of riding my snowmobile from Polebridge to my cabin, 17 miles north. Of course, snowmobiles were different then, too. I bought a brand-new Fox-Trac powered by a 12-horse-power Kohler pull-start motor. Top speed was 8-10 miles-per-hour, but with enough power to pull a sled. Two people could sit side-by-side on the seat and three more could ride the sled. If five of us went to the cabin, it took two trips to get all of the people and provisions. Fun, but tiring. I’m not sure I could do that today.
With the passage of time, the road has been improved, vehicles are better and so are snowmobiles. Even so, if the county can’t plow the road within hours of a dump of snow, current residents are whining and sniveling in a chorus. Madge Terrian always had her winter provisions in by Oct. 15th, just in case of an early winter, and could live comfortably until May. She also had horses, cows and chickens to care for all winter. I don’t think many current residents could handle that.
What do you think?
Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.