Steven and I had spent the first morning of July hiking on Spokane's Centennial Trail and treating ourselves to the city's phenomenal Manito Park and Botanical Gardens. Finally around 1:30, we headed east toward Kalispell, Montana, via the International Selkirk Loop, a 280-mile-long scenic highway in the U.S. states of Idaho and Washington, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC). The US portion of the loop had been designated an All-American Road by the United States Department of Transportation. If the US/Canada border hadn't been closed since March because of Covid-19, Steven and I would definitely have headed up to BC for a bit and explored the Canadian portion of the highway. Given the times we were in, however, we had to content ourselves with only going on a small portion of the highway but at least that was better than not exploring any of it in our minds.
Murals in the small Idaho town of Priest River seemed to tell the history of the community.
Near Sandpoint, Idaho, we spotted about two dozen tankers, each with about eight cars on a siding but no caboose. Anyone have any idea what sort of tankers these might have been as we hadn't come across any like that previously?
We stopped briefly by the Pack River outside of Kootenay, Idaho, where a historical sign referred to the importance of hunting and fishing in the lives of Native Americans because the river was a traditional bear hunting drainage.
Pend Oreille Lake was one of many lakes we passed on our drive east. We were glad we'd chosen to take the smaller Hwy. 20 as it looked far more scenic passing by so many lakes.
After the clouds cleared up a bit, we began to see why this area was such a big resort area.
A little further east, near tiny Clark Fork, Idaho on the border with Montana, we came across one of the strangest sights - all these classic cars and trucks laid to rest in a 'car cemetery' perched atop a hill! We were so lucky the 'highway' was such a small road with little traffic that Steven was able to stop suddenly on the side of the road so I could take these photos. I am not a car buff but these sure caught my eye! What a story they could tell.
Welcome to Big Sky Country, Montana near Thompson Falls!
I could only wonder if someone had sadly hadn't admired the view too much and ended up in the Clark Fork River. The speed on the fairly narrow road was a crazy 70mph so it was hardly surprising accidents had occurred.
A sign beyond the community of Thompson Falls warned drivers as they whizzed by to be on the lookout for bighorn sheep crossing the highway, How anyone could stop fast enough for a sheep in the road when driving at 70mph was beyond me!
In the middle of nowhere, or actually in tiny Plains, Montana, we were thrilled to find the Plains Farmhouse Cafe open for dinner. We took a chance on ordering and both had a mouthwatering sirloin steak dinner with all the fixings for just $12 each. I'd go back in a heartbeat, it was that good! The last time we'd had a steak dinner out at a restaurant had been back in January for Steven's birthday so this was extra special.
Across from the restaurant was not a sheep but a deer!
Just another 85 miles to go northeast to Kalispell from Plains via the Flathead Indian Reservation:
Our first rainbow in a while:
Hard to think of more spectacular views than these! Little wonder people rave about Montana.
This was our first view of Flathead Lake that we then drove beside for almost an hour. We finally arrived in Kalispell about 9, after the one hour time change to Mountain Standard Time. Despite the late hour, it was still a perfect hour for photos, thank goodness.
Next post: Muddy hikes in Glacier National Park.
Posted on November 10th, 2020, from sunny Littleton, Colorado, now that yesterday's sprinkling of snow has melted. I hope that there is plenty of sun in your life despite the scary times we are all facing.
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