Belgrade, Three Forks, & Kalispell

Refreshed and rerigged after a week at the Longwell family cabin, we headed into Montana. Staying at a trio of Harvest Host spots, 2 farms and Bridger Brewery!

The Moose Saloon, Kalispel, MT

We left the cabin about 4 hrs later than we originally anticipated, but all rigged up with the camper running in tip top shape and upgraded with new ventilation for the pups and some additional 12v power upgrades to help with battery management... It turns out keeping everyone's computers running requires a lot of juice!

We started north and took the western road through Ennis, MT on to Belgrade just outside of Bozeman driving straight through we ended up at our camp spot for the night, a 600 acre farm that had been family run since 1903. We spent a peaceful night by the creek and got up early to check out Bozeman Coffee, do a quick hike and resupply before Glacier!

Our hike was on a mixed use trail called Cottonwood Canyon north of Bozeman in the Bridger Range. We hiked a few miles on a trail rated for Moto, MTB, hikers & Equestrian's and it was amazing. We got surprised by large toads on the rocks in the creek! Everyone was friendly and had dogs off leash but under control. Was a great start to our days in Montana.

After the hike we headed back to the camper, rigged up quickly and made our way to town to resupply. We filled up on propane, groceries, diesel fuel, and ciders for Kelly and hit the road west, next stop Three Forks about a 30 minute drive to our next camp spot: Bridger Brewing! It turns out the Robertson's our Evergreen friends from Australia, were also in the Bozeman area! We made plans to meet up and have dinner together at the brewery!

Sunrise over Three Forks, MT

The next morning, we packed up after a quick breakfast and cruised over to the Missouri Headwaters State Park for a brief nature/history/social learning session. We saw a bull snake, various crickets and rodents, heard the story of Lewis & Clark & Sacajawea, as well as talked to the park rangers about much more modern challenges of the park with squatters and pollution.

Bull Snake, Three Forks, MT

We then saddled up and started the long drive up to Kalispell, MT. It took us around 4 hrs and of course we arrived later than expected. We dropped the camper quickly and headed into downtown Kalispell, our friends the Foster's had given us a great recommendation: Moose's Saloon, Kalispell, MT. The pizza and cheap beer (seriously $3.50 for a pint of Cold Smoke, $1.50 for a PBR!) was just what we needed especially after our appetizer of a boat of peanuts which we shelled all over the floor as expected. We scarfed down dinner and returned to camp for a good rest, getting ready to head to the Foster's lake house the next day.

Carving our initials in the well loved Moosee Saloon booth

Mackenzie's first surf launch!

Monday started as they often do with coffee and breakfast. This was a working monday to be sure as we headed off to the Foster's house to spend time with Inness's friend Brandon, his wife Courtney and their son Shep. It was a perfect monday at the lake with temps in the high 80's and a water temp of 73deg F.

Cherries Jubilee and that's it...

Brandon and family were amazing hosts and we spent the day playing on the lake and enjoying a fantastic home cooked dinner! After dinner Brandon impressed the girls with homemade Cherries Jubilee complete with a falambe finish! One of our best days of the trip yet in the books we said our good bye's reluctantly promising to impose again in 2027 at the Foster home and headed north to Apgar campground in Glacier National Park. With lots of bear spray in hand we headed into the wilderness of the tourist zoo that is Glacier.