This was the first time I got out this Winter for either skiing or hiking. It hasn't been much of a Winter for snow but I found the snow on this trail was ok for skiing. It wasn't fresh, but also not crusty or icy.
The road to the trail head was closed near the horse corrals and we had to ski about a mile to the trail head. The Flathead Ranger Station trail is near the Apgar Lookout trail.
We saw Apgar Mountain as we skied to the trail head.
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| Apgar Mountain |
We skied over the bridge where McDonald Creek enters the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.
Once we were on the Ranger Station trail we began to encounter fallen trees across the trail. This area had been burnt in the 2003 Robert Fire. The Park left the burnt trees and over time they fall. Because this is a popular trail for cross country skiing and snowshoeing, I feel the park should have gone over the trail one last time in the Fall to clear the trees that had fallen across the trail.
New and old life after the Robert Fire.
While not steep hills, the trail had hills nonetheless. Skiing down them was a challenge due to the lack of snow for snowplowing, curves, and the occasional fallen tree across the road. I think I crashed at least once on each long downhill. I had carried my camera in my right rear pants pocket and after a couple falls - each fall landing me on my right side - I moved the camera to my left pocket. The snow was relatively soft but I was taking no chances with my camera. My last fall was on hard packed snow so I was happy I had moved my camera.
We had to take off our skis to get down a steep hill to cross a creek. On the return trip the bindings on one of my skis had froze and for a while it looked like I may have to go up and down the steep hills on one ski.
I had hiked this trail in the past and never saw signs of the location of the old ranger station. Naturally under the snow I didn't see signs this time either.
I did see lots of animal tracks. Elk tracks and dropping were common. I also saw signs of several perhaps coyote tracks. Dogs are not allowed in the Park and the Flathead River and the remote location reduced chances that dogs would come here on their own.
We skied along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.
We skied all the way to the North Fork of the Flathead River where it joined the Middle Fork of the Flathead. At the steep bank overlooking the North Fork I found what looked to be the same trees eroding and overhanging the river bank as when I was last here in 2006.
In the sun's warmth small rocks were loosened from the river bank and rolled noisily down, many to the river. Probably not a good idea to stand close to the edge to look at eroded trees.
As began to ski back we saw a guy down below skiing on the south side of the Middle Fork of the Flathead. With the water level low he was able to ski on the snow covered parts of the dry side of the river bed. That didn't last too long as in less than a quarter to half mile there were no more areas to ski in the river channel.
While we had only skied 11 miles Kendra was exhausted by the time we got back to Joyce's car. Kendra and Greg haven't skied with us since.
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