Today we went to Polebridge a few miles from Canada. What is Polebridge you ask? We can answer that question in two ways:
1) The tiny community of Polebridge is a 27-mile drive from West Glacier on a primarily dirt road, and it’s less than a mile from the northwest entrance to Glacier National Park—from which you can access Bowman and Kintla Lakes.
2). A tiny community of Polebridge is a 27-mile pothole gravel road with a lot of dirt thrown in and less than a bumpy mile from the NW entrance to Glacier National Park followed by a 6 mile one lane (touted as a 2 lane) where one has to pull over in the ditch to pass a car on the drive to Bowman Lake.
It was such a bad road that the group assigned a theme song (Shake it, shake it baby).
To Continue: The town consists of a handful of houses, cabins, a hostel and small ranches along the North Fork Road, with the Polebridge Mercantile as its center. This shop is known the world over for its fresh baked goods, sandwiches and authentic personality.
Always one to eat a world famous pastry, Debbie and Joyce loaded up on pastries including huckleberry, chocolate, raspberry and cinnamon rolls.
The view from the lake was great but the hike not as great. Debbie says if she had not been sitting in the front seat then she would have been hanging out the window seriously car sick. After we bumped our way back down the road, the park service closed the gate to stop cars going to the lake. (Maybe they saw Debbie hanging out the window). Debbie thought that crossing into Canada would have been a better option. Of course you can’t go into Canada but Debbie was willing to chance it. It was only 20 plus miles away.
Travel Tip: Load up on emergency pastries at the Mercantile in case your car gets stuck in a pothole.
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Before the bumping began -
Leaves are changing -
Internationally known -
Horses at Polebridge -
Sadly closed -
Changing leaves -
Yellow is a pretty color -
Art shot -
Bowman Lake -
Locked out -
Masonic Lodge