Glacier National Park: Its Strange And Lonely North Fork Allure

 

Glacier National Park: its strange and lonely North Fork allure.

When most people think of Glacier they picture Lake McDonald, historic lodges and Going To The Sun Road. However, you should visit the North Fork area in the Northwest corner of the park. This is where you want to explore for a more private experience. It’s worth the extra effort for this rugged corner of the park. Let this journey connect you with wildlife, homesteaders and majestic mountain views.

On The Way To Big Prairie

We drove up from Columbia Falls then took the Outside North Fork Road to Polebridge. Then, we followed the bumpy road along the North Fork Flathead River. In short, locals call this the North Fork. We heard the Polebridge Ranger Station entrance might be open so we decided to give it a shot. We tried a few days earlier but it was closed because of the winter storm.

Would you like to know how to have time in Glacier National Park all to yourself? Here’s our advice. Go after an unexpected winter storm with record low temperatures! Even though there were a few tire tracks before us, we didn’t see a single person or vehicle this day. Just guessing, but those tracks were probably from rangers.

There is a primitive campground with a restroom before the road crosses the bridge. We stopped here since it’s the only one we would see for a while. Because this part of Glacier National Park isn’t very busy in the Fall it was clean and barely used.

Even though the park is very crowded in summer, the Polebridge section doesn’t get nearly the same amount of people. Also, the rangers will only let a certain amount of vehicles through this gate each day. After they have reached the limit they will not let anyone else through. This is done to keep the area from overcrowding.

In fact, this section has fewer tourists than most of the park because it is more difficult to get to. Glacier National Park has its strange and lonely North Fork allure because most visitors want more comforts of home. As a result, the North Fork area gets much less traffic. Notably, mostly backpackers, hikers and camping.

Entering The Historic Polebridge Ranger Station

We stopped a few minutes to look at the Polebridge Ranger Station because of the deep history here. This is the first administration area of Glacier National Park. A fire destroyed many of the buildings but only two remain. Unfortunately, just the residence log cabin built in 1922 and the checking station.

Immediately after the entrance we turned north on the Inside North Fork Road. Signs posted warn you about how primitive this road is. It’s a rough and narrow road with blind curves and few pullouts. Equally important, the maximum posted speed is 20 mph.

Simply, this is not an easy comfortable road. But, if you are willing to take it slow and be patient the rewards are tremendous.

Although the road closed after Big Prairie we didn’t have any problems in this section. Sometimes the road narrowed to one lane but overall a nice drive. Further along is where it gets worse.

From what we gather, this far Northwest section of Glacier National Park is where you have the best chance to see wildlife. Even though wildlife is everywhere throughout the park, the habitat here is best for grizzly bears, moose and grey wolves.

We also found ourselves face to face in a staring contest with a moose. It surprised us while hiking in Baxter State Park, Maine. Come see what happened!

We have also seen grizzlies in the east side from the Saint Mary entrance.

We can’t wait to go back because we want to drive all the way to Kintla lake and everywhere in between.

Entering Big Prairie

We slowly drove through while taking in all the beautiful sights. We love mountains so this was a perfect sunny day for this. Heavy snow on trees and soft golden meadows complimented mountain views on both sides.

Since the Inside North Fork Road follows the Flathead River you have views of mountains on both sides. On the west is the Whitefish range but to the east is the dramatic Livingston Range.

We drove alongside the North Flathead River and through groups of trees before we came across a few houses. A few modern ones and one historic homestead. The Jeremiah and Margaret McCarthy cabin is an original homestead settled before the land became part of Glacier National Park.

Driving through the Big Prairie section of Glacier National Park all alone was amazing. This just doesn’t ever happen.

We know this sounds odd, but check out why we think Crested Butte, Colorado is better without snow.

Sharing Lunch With Elk In Big Prairie

Right after this we came upon the wide open Big Prairie. This is where we imagine homesteaders and fur trappers chose to build their cabins. Here, we could see across the golden meadow for a long way.

The combination of snow, soft yellow grass and awe-inspiring mountain views created a peaceful place to take a deep breath and relax. While taking in the views we paused for a few minutes. We have learned to be still and enjoy the sound of nothing, while at the same time absorbing the magnificent views. These are the moments in nature we look for. In reality, they just happen unexpectedly without planning.

After a few moments we continued driving further into this impressive Montana wide open space.

Thankfully, the road is flat and easy through the meadow. Even though this road gets more difficult further along, this is a spot where you want to linger and remember the beauty in the details. In spite of this, we love driving on primitive mountain roads.

All of the sudden a herd of elk started walking out of the woods. They slowly started crossing the road while grazing at the same time. We waited nearby until they were across the road far enough for us to slowly creep closer.

This created the perfect spot for lunch. But what better time and place despite the 18 degree temperature!

So we stopped in the middle of the road and pulled out the cooler and chairs. They had grass and we had sandwiches and finger foods, but together we shared a quiet lunch alone in Glacier National Park. Yes indeed, alone in Glacier National Park!

This is another reason Glacier National Park has its strange and lonely North Fork allure.

Early Homesteaders Find The North Fork

Living the life of a homesteader in Montana’s rugged wilderness is a difficult task, especially with hard winters. Here is some insight to what life was like in Big Prairie during the early 1900’s.

If we were homesteaders we would choose Big Prairie too. With big flat meadows and grand mountain views, it is an impressive location for a settler.

Naturally, homesteaders claimed their land here before it became Glacier National Park in 1910. Homesteaders became interested in this area after the founding of Columbia Falls and the finalization of the Great Northern Railway.

To begin with, settlers started moving to the east side of the North Fork since this is where the first road started. It came from Columbia Falls and went north along the river. Along with an occasional job with Glacier National Park, most early settlers survived by gardening, hunting and trapping.

In Big Prairie and the surrounding area 14 homes claimed land on the west side of the North Fork by 1910. In contrast, 144 homes on the east side. We only saw the McCarthy Homestead but we can only imagine what the rest looked like.

However, Glacier National Park was established in 1910 so homesteading stopped in park boundaries. Thus, across the river in Polebridge, the west side became more established with the construction of a new road in 1912.

Polebridge Becomes A Community

Polebridge got its name from local settlers that built a 400 foot long bridge across the North Fork. Even though the bridge only lasted a year the name stuck.

In addition to the bridge, local settlers also built two “Flying Dutchmen,” otherwise known as a hand pulled cable car, to cross the North Fork River. These were alongside the original 400 foot long pole bridge leading to Big Prairie.

Due to settlers moving to the west side, William Adair moved his store to Polebridge from Sullivan’s Meadow in 1913 to serve this growing community of over 100 homes. Now, Polebridge Mercantile is still open and a popular place for tourists and locals.

This era of America was important for shaping who we would become as a nation. Read about what influenced each single person during this same time, as well as a lot of photos.

What Life Of A Homesteader Looked Like

Living the life of a homesteader was hard but here are some interesting views of what to expect.

Since the Polebridge area was so isolated there wasn’t a place to buy supplies and groceries. In fact, Polebridge Mercantile is still the only place around today.

For this reason the post office was put here. Although mail carriers delivered mail this wasn’t their only job. As was the case in those times, Adair had accounts on credit for each family at his store. So, mail carriers also delivered shopping orders too.

Simply give your order to the mailman. Then Adair goes to Kalispell each week to buy special orders that were not in stock. Later, it was delivered with your mail. This is a little different from today’s world of instant deliveries!

Accordingly, education was a challenge. Some students went across the river in a rowboat while others rode a horse and walked. Even though most students attended from the west side, residents built a log schoolhouse across the river in Big Prairie in 1915.

Surprisingly, on a dark night, some members of the west side community removed all the desks and the contents from inside the school. Then they made a new school in the new location closer to Red Meadow.

What does a homesteader do to satisfy their social life? Have a dance! Usually at night in homes and barns, but occasionally at the Polebridge Mercantile. On the other hand, picnics were a big deal in the daytime too.

The North Fork region was unique. For example, some early homesteaders raised elk then trained them for racing at fairs. As another illustration of this period, a stage coach followed a route here only once a week.

Final Thoughts

Although it takes a little more effort to go off the beaten path, it was definitely worth it. We were rewarded and were able to experience a piece of Glacier National Park all by ourselves. Even though we drove around the whole park this was an experience we will never forget. We clearly recommend visiting Glacier in the off or shoulder seasons to avoid crowds. On the contrary, go see the main sites in summer too! You don’t want to miss them.

As always, thanks for reading!  Come follow us on social media for even more.

Tom and Kristi