Last week my husband and I (Lo) snuck away for a quick trip to one of our favorite places, Glacier National Park (GNP). This trip marked my fourth trip to GNP and my husband’s third. We’d previously visited in the months of July, August, and November so this was our first early fall trip. On all of our previous trips to GNP, we have always entered via West Glacier so this trip we really wanted to check out a different area of the park.
On our first day, we departed our hotel in Whitefish (The Firebrand Hotel, which we love and highly recommend) and headed out toward Columbia Falls. There we connected with North Fork Road, which leads to Polebridge Loop and the northwest entrance to GNP. In researching our plan, I had read that people recommend four-wheel drive vehicles because the road is unpaved and quite rough with large potholes. Fortunate for us, however, the road had been recently graded and we didn’t have any trouble. The drive is beautiful, traversing the North Fork of the Flathead River with expansive mountain views in some areas. It is only thirty-five miles from Columbia Falls to Polebridge but travel time is just under an hour or more depending on how often you pull off to enjoy the views.
Polebridge is located one mile from the northwestern edge of Glacier National Park and 22 miles from the Canadian border. It’s not a town but rather a tiny, unincorporated, community centered around the Polebridge Mercantile and associated buildings. The Mercantile has been an integral part of the North Fork community for more than one hundred years. Founded by Bill Adair, it is was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and has been in business in the current location since 1914.
Walking into the Mercantile is like stepping back in time. The walls are lined with antique tools, photographs from the past, animal skins, and a vintage stove that now serves as the coffee bar graces the back wall. It’s a really cool place and legnedary for its baked goods! I had read about their Huckleberry Bearclaws so we of course had to try one and it was DELICIOUS! So fresh, so moist, so perfectly sweet but not too sweet…I could have eaten many more. The other bakery items looked delicious too: cinnamon rolls, pecan sticky puns, fruit fritters, cookies, savory rolls, and more.
After indulging in our sweet treat, we continued down the road about a mile until we arrived at the northwest entrance into GNP. Reservations are required at this entrance (like many others) from May 24th to September 8th beginning at 6am until 3pm but we were outside of this window. The road to Bowman Lake from the park entrance is unpaved, narrow, and full of potholes so proceed with caution. Do NOT drive like my husband who navigated our rental Toyota Rav4 as if he was channeling Mario Andretti.
By some miracle, we made it unscathed to the Bowman Lake parking area and got the last parking spot. I cannot imagine how difficult parking must be in the summer months when the park is overrun with visitors. We strapped on our packs, made sure our bear spray was easily accessible, and headed down to the rocky beach shore of the lake to take in the view, which was INCREDIBLE! The mountains in the distance and even the clouds in the sky reflected off the crystal clear waters of the lake, making for an unbelievable photo opportunity. This was the kind of view I could sit and treasure for a long time. But we had hiking to do so we located the Bowman Lake Trailhead and started out.
Uncharacteristically, I had not done much research about this particular hike but knew that the trail traverses the west shore of the lake, leading to a backcountry campground about seven miles out. The hike is mostly level and thus quite easy and although it traverses the lake, much of the time the trail is set off from the lakeshore far enough and the foliage so thick that you can’t see much of the lake or the mountain views. Much of the trail was lined with berries, so many berries, that it made us a bit nervous about encountering a bear. Of course we were armed with bear spray and diligent about making noise, but it was a bit unnerving.
Finally, about five or six miles in, we reached a beautiful area where the trees open up and a large rock outcropping protrudes into the water. It is the perfect picture spot and also where we decided to turn around. As much as I would have liked to make it to the campground, we had to turn back so we could return to Whitefish in time for our dinner reservation. We hiked a total of about eleven miles out and back on the Bowman Lake trail. Thankfully we encountered no grizzlies just beautiful views. I’d definitely recommend a visit to Bowman Lake with a stop both before and after at Polebridge Mercantile. Yes, we stopped on the way home too for another Bearclaw…no judgment please. 🙂
Lo+Mo 
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