We planned to visit my cousin Jenn and her husband James when we went to Glacier, hoping to catch up and spend some time with them as well as take advantage of them a little, mainly their large driveway for parking the trailer for a bit and their brains for what we should explore while we were in the area. They were kind enough to let us do so.
Jenn headed us toward Upper Stillwater Lake in the Whitefish Range as a quiet spot from which we could paddle and find some good hiking. For the first couple of days, though, we wound up shuttling back and forth to Kalispell to take advantage of Jenn’s free time. She first took us on a hike near her house in the Jewel Basin, just east of Kalispell and what a beautiful introduction to Montana it was in spite of heading off from the Camp Misery trailhead. We headed out in cloudy drizzly weather that quickly cleared up and gave us lovely views of the Flathead Valley and Jewel Basin and beyond. Jenn was determined to help us spot some wildlife (hopefully a mountain goat across the way) and we got to see lots of grouse right on the trail, an osprey and eagle, and we might have heard a mountain goat on the mountain above us. The highlights, though, were all of the amazing views.
We went back to Jenn and James’s after the hike to make pizza and sample bourbon and be entertained by the dogs waiting hopefully for pizza leftovers. Jenn sent us off with resources and ideas for things to do in the area both in and out of Glacier.
After a night at Upper Stillwater, we headed back down to Kalispelll so that Jenn could shuttle us to the San River and let us use their tubes for a peaceful float on the Swan River.
Over the next couple of weeks we were in and out of Jenn and James’s driveway and lives and they were great because they had just about anything we could need to complete the projects on our to-do list. Vise, blowtorch, and hammer to straighten our stabilizers? Check. Tile saw to cut more backsplash for inside the trailer? Check. Leather punch to add a hole to Mike’s belt? Check.
The dogs kept an eye on us when their people were gone and we enjoyed our time together when we were all at the house at the same time.
