{"id":2957,"date":"2014-07-13T21:41:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T02:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2957"},"modified":"2014-07-14T08:11:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T13:11:00","slug":"big-sky-vacation-day-10-good-samaritans-of-cut-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2957","title":{"rendered":"Big Sky Vacation Day 10: Good Samaritans of Cut Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another sad day on our vacation.\u00a0 Zerah, Sean, and the boys are heading home today.\u00a0 We always knew this day would come.\u00a0 Rich and I have a couple of more days in Glacier before we head to the Canadian side of the park.<\/p>\n

Last night, I was keeping tabs on the boys.\u00a0 They pretty much slept through the night with very few whimpers.\u00a0 I heard everyone of them.\u00a0 That and the trains passing in the night.\u00a0 I swear they sounded like tornados approaching the house.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t heard them really before then.\u00a0 I guess I was blocking them out until I needed to hear Zane and Owen in the next room.<\/p>\n

Sean and Zerah packed up the car after breakfast.\u00a0 They were headed to Sean\u2019s parents first.\u00a0 Zane is staying there for a few days when the rest of the family moves on to Tacoma.\u00a0 I know he was excited at the prospect of staying at Grandma and Grandpa\u2019s.\u00a0 We will miss them though.\u00a0 The trails will be strangely quiet.<\/p>\n

Rich and I headed out for breakfast this morning.\u00a0 We went up to Luna\u2019s Restaurant on the other side of the tracks.\u00a0 Luna\u2019s is right next door to where we had dinner the other night with everyone.\u00a0 It must have been early because there were lots of empty tables.\u00a0 We got seated and ordered our food.\u00a0 The coffee was pretty good.\u00a0 I ordered huckleberry pancake and Rich got the breakfast burrito.\u00a0 The pancake was done to perfection.\u00a0 The salsa for the burrito was smoky ancho and delicious.\u00a0 This should get us started on our day.<\/p>\n

We came back to the house and got our gear together to go on yet another hike.\u00a0 Today, we were driving down to Cut Bank to walk the trail back into the meadows and forests.\u00a0 First, you have to drive down my favorite road.\u00a0 Everyone on the road this morning was new to it and going slow.\u00a0 We finally got to the Cut Bank turnoff.\u00a0 This is a gravel road that you go back 5 miles to the ranger station and campground.<\/p>\n

When we got there, a sign told us to park at the ranger station as the parking lot was full.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 The ranger station looked more like someone\u2019s house with laundry drying on the front porch.\u00a0 We got our gear and had to walk maybe another mile or so to the campground.\u00a0 We hit the bathroom before hitting the trail.\u00a0 Seemed like a good idea after so much coffee.<\/p>\n

As we started to the trail, a couple of rangers stopped to talk to us and find out our plans.\u00a0 They appeared to be a couple of kids, but it was their job to watch over the campground and those hiking the trail.\u00a0 This trail leads back to an overnight campground for those doing backcountry hiking.\u00a0 So the ranger attempt to know who might be out there on the trail so they know who to look for when cars don\u2019t leave.\u00a0 They told us to talk loud to scare any bears.\u00a0 Where is Zane and the gang when you need them?<\/p>\n

The trail ran through a meadow before entering a forested area of pines.\u00a0 It also picked up the Cut Bank River in the forest and ran along with this for most of our hike.\u00a0 The trail was moderate and stayed pretty level.\u00a0 This was important today since we\u2019ve done some big hikes and we were tired today.\u00a0 Rich decided to follow the trail back to where a creek from the mountains meets the river.\u00a0\u00a0 This was approximately 3 miles in.\u00a0 I was hoping I could do without getting too tired and whining to be carried to the car.<\/p>\n

We did pretty well though.\u00a0 There were some ups and downs, but everything was pretty level.\u00a0 We found the creek by looking up for the waterfall on the mountain.\u00a0 It was quite broad where we had to cross it.\u00a0 The park service had created a log bridge to span the creek.\u00a0 This was our further point out though.\u00a0 After a short break, it was time to head back.\u00a0 We actually did pretty well on the trip in at 1 hour for the 3 miles.<\/p>\n

We had passed a couple of trail runners on our way in.\u00a0 Then a couple of overnight backcountry hikers went ahead of us at the creek.\u00a0 On the way back, we finally ran into the couple who were getting ready to come on the trail.\u00a0 They must have been going really slow.<\/p>\n

Our next group was a family of four heading to the overnight campground.\u00a0 They were loaded down.\u00a0 The Dad had a Texas accent and said they were going for a 3 night stay.\u00a0 Good luck to them.\u00a0 The next group was a family of five wearing Brooklyn t-shirts.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t say much as they went by.\u00a0 Finally, a young couple passed us on their way out.\u00a0 We exchanged hellos as they went.<\/p>\n

We had almost made it back when we began to feel the heat and fatigue.\u00a0 I think the temp must have been around 85 out there at that point.\u00a0 We saw what we thought was a very dark brown squirrel on the trail.\u00a0 Its coat looked like mink, but we knew it wasn\u2019t a mink.\u00a0 Turned out to be what is called a fisher.\u00a0 It was absolutely beautiful.\u00a0 The ranger said they are shy and you usually don\u2019t see them.\u00a0 Lucky us.<\/p>\n

We got to the parking lot when the young couple overtook us again.\u00a0 We stopped when they asked where the parking lot was.\u00a0 I explained that this was the parking lot.\u00a0 They looked a little concerned.\u00a0 They had come in through Two Medicine to the overnight campground and had walked about 14 miles.\u00a0 Over the three days out there, they had done different trails.<\/p>\n

Today, they were looking for the fastest way out of the wilderness, which was the Cut Bank trail.\u00a0 They had figured they could get to the parking lot and find someone going to Two Medicine.\u00a0 However, they thought this was a major trailhead, which it is not.\u00a0 This is a very remote section of the park.\u00a0 The parking lot held maybe 8 cars and there were 6 more up by the ranger station.<\/p>\n

Most of the cars in the lot were for the people we had passed.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t see the likelihood of them finding a ride with anyone.\u00a0 Since we had to go by Two Medicine, I offered to take them.\u00a0 They seemed surprised, but really happy how it worked out.\u00a0 We got them loaded and talked to rangers at the station to let them know they had come out.<\/p>\n

Now, I offered them a ride to Two Medicine, but I didn\u2019t warn them about how I drive.\u00a0 I did slow down and take it easy.\u00a0 Rich said he heard a few gasps from the backseat and assured them I knew the road.\u00a0 We got to the Two Medicine turnoff and I told them I would take them to their car.\u00a0 It was hot and 7.5 miles back to the lake.\u00a0 Once again, they were surprised.\u00a0 I told them this would give me two days of good deeds done.<\/p>\n

We got to the lake and dropped them off.\u00a0 We found out their names were Nate and Natalie.\u00a0 He was from Tennessee and she was from Massachusetts.\u00a0 They worked in Missoula, MT and had come for a long weekend.\u00a0 Saying good-bye, Rich and I headed to the house.<\/p>\n

Once back, we got cleaned up and rested our feet.\u00a0 Wow, another good day of hiking in.\u00a0 That was approximately 6 miles round trip, which accomplished by 5 mile goal per day.\u00a0 Rich wanted to go to the Izaac Walton Inn before dinner.\u00a0 Our friend, Spank, said we should check it out.\u00a0 Apparently, it was hotel for Great Northern Railway guest and some of the rooms were actually rail cars.\u00a0 We ran out to Essex and found the place.\u00a0 It was pretty cool since it appeared to have been at the turn of the century.\u00a0 We checked at the desk before we walked around the grounds.\u00a0 There was an engine converted to a room as well as a couple of cabooses.\u00a0 Walking across the bridge over the active rail tracks, we found a bunch of wooden cabins and several more cabooses.\u00a0 This would be cool for kids.<\/p>\n

ADDENDUM 7\/14: \u00a0Rich informed me that the hotel here was really the bunkhouse for trainmen. \u00a0This is a train yard and the hotel structure was a place to sleep besides on the trains.<\/p>\n

We headed back toward town and found our dining spot for the evening.\u00a0 We went into the Bison Creek Restaurant.\u00a0 Alex had wanted to eat here, but we never got to it before he left.\u00a0 We went in and only a couple of girls were seated.<\/p>\n

The waitress told us to see wherever we wanted.\u00a0 The menu looked pretty good.\u00a0 I got huckleberry lemonade to drink.\u00a0 There is a pattern out here.\u00a0 Huckleberry everything.\u00a0 I ordered the country fried steak and Rich got the New York strip.\u00a0 The meat is all Montana raised.\u00a0 That was a good sign.\u00a0 Everything we had was tasty and wonderful.\u00a0 Rich\u2019s steak was a little too rare, but they fixed that pretty quickly.\u00a0 We ended with huckleberry ice cream.<\/p>\n

During dinner, the phone rang and the waitress, who was Molly, said, \u201cDad is out fishing, Ed.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have him call you back.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently, Molly knew the other people who came in for dinner.\u00a0 She was telling them about what her mom was fixing in the kitchen.\u00a0 It was a real homemade place.\u00a0 Molly did the dining room and her mom was the cook.\u00a0 Apparently, her dad did the fish entry.\u00a0 No wonder it was so good!<\/p>\n

As we sat and talked, or had silence a lot since we were tired, we watched the clouds coming over the mountains just in front of us.\u00a0 It was pretty cool that you got great food and a great view at the same time.\u00a0 I also noticed that Molly had a great accent and ended everything sentence with, \u201cRight?\u201d\u00a0 Is it a Montana thing?\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n

So we headed back to the house to put up our feet and write this blog. I\u2019m working on cleaning up after everyone left.\u00a0 Seemed right that I did it.\u00a0 We still have a couple of days here.\u00a0 There\u2019s not that much to do anyway.<\/p>\n

Well, tomorrow is our last day here.\u00a0 We plan to go back to Many Glacier and hike the Swiftcurrent Valley. \u00a0We plan on another flat trail day.<\/p>\n

Miss y\u2019all, Zerah, Sean, Zane, Owen, Alex, and Joe.\u00a0 Safe travels.<\/p>\n

\"Trail<\/a>
Trail sherpa about to start down Cut Bank trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View of the mountains at the beginning of Cut Bank trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Waterfall<\/a>
Waterfall that told us where the creek was.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our destination about 3 miles into the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Great<\/a>
Great tan hunter looking for the river and creek confluence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex,<\/a>
Alex, we saw bear scat on the trail today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Izaac<\/a>
Izaac Walton Inn in Essex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Front<\/a>
Front side of the inn on the Great Northern Highline tracks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Caboose<\/a>
Caboose room at Izaac Walton Inn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Engine<\/a>
Engine room at the inn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Standing<\/a>
Standing on the bridge over the tracks looking at the inn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cabooses<\/a>
Cabooses on the opposite hill from the inn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Other<\/a>
Other cabins in the woods at the Izaac Walton Inn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bison<\/a>
Bison Creek Restaurant where we had dinner. It was truly a homey place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View of the mountains from Bison Creek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another sad day on our vacation.\u00a0 Zerah, Sean, and the boys are heading home today.\u00a0 We always knew this day would come.\u00a0 Rich and I have a couple of more days in Glacier before we head to the Canadian side of the park. Last night, I was keeping tabs on the boys.\u00a0 They pretty much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2957"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2979,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2957\/revisions\/2979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}