Tripometer – 5231 mi
Gas Gauge – 428.040 gal
Location – Wayfarer’s State Park, Bigfork, MT
Lodging – $28
Cans of OFF – 4
Today as Kelly worked, Paul sought fish. The only fly fishing shop in town was somewhat less than helpful so Paul followed the nearest river south as it climbed into the mountains looking for feeder streams and access points. As it turned out, the Swan River in town leads to Swan Lake and then further on south, back to the Swan River again (pic above). There was a wonderful pamphlet found online to describe all of the fishing spots in the area with trail information and stream size. Even though he competed for stream space with many other fishermen throughout the day, Paul caught no fish.
When Kelly was done work for the day we headed to a local rock shop and took in some of the local history. The area is known mostly for cherries. Apparently the climate and soil around Flathead lake is uniquely suited to grow cherries. The local Flathead cherries were amazingly sweet and strong flavored (sorry, Washington, they win hands down).
In our drive around the lake we noticed that the area has an untold number of both man made and natural harbors tucked out of the winds that come across the lake from the west (in our experience). In some cases the little harbors were personal – a house having its own little 3-4 boat harbor, in other cases small nooks in the coastline look like they were modified to enclose a harbor for many dozens of boats. Overall it was a gorgeous area with SO MANY beautiful homes and properties.