Glacier National Park, Day Four: An Autumnal Beauty Display

Day Four: October 29, 2020 Libby, Eureka and Whitefish plus the Hungry Horse Reservoir

On this, the fourth day of our Glacier National Park (west) Fall-Foliage Tour, we, once again, had a fine breakfast at the Kalispell IHOP. If you haven’t already figured it out, we really like the International House of Pancakes (LOL). This day’s journey was two-fold; the first part was a trip actually heading west, then north, before finally returning south toward Kalispell. In essence it was a big square-loop, encompassing the towns of Libby, Eureka, and Whitefish, Montana. The second section was eastward to Hungry Horse and then southeast to the Hungry Horse Reservoir. That part did not pan out so well.

It is about ninety miles from Kalispell to Libby, Montana, following US Highway 2 all the way from downtown Kalispell to the county seat of Lincoln County, Montana, not to be confused with the Lincoln County, New Mexico made famous by William Bonney, aka, Billy the Kid, during the later part of the 19th century. The first two-thirds of the journey follows a generally east-west line, before turning north by northwest for the last segment.

Larch first started to appear after about ten miles. There was nothing spectacular about these “confused-conifers” (actually they are deciduous conifers, in that they have needles like a conifer, but these needles do change colors, like a deciduous-leafed tree, and drop in the fall). According to my brother, the larch in this area were only about 5-6 on a 10-point color transformation scale. They were in the light green to pale yellow stage of transformation. Very heavy concentrations of larch finally began to emerge, about five miles later, at mile marker 107, on the left, or eastbound, side of US-2. The first really nice fall-color started to pop up about twelve miles later as we approached McGregor Lake. These trees were between mile markers 94 and 95. This stand of larch, which were on the left side of the highway, were very close to peak color.

McGregor Lake, which is about thirty miles from Kalispell, is a reversed L-shaped body of water, known for excellent fishing. US Highway 2 follows the 1,522-acre lake, often hugging it’s northern shore. Somewhere around mile marker 89, we first glimpsed Little McGregor Lake, which, at 35 acres, is tiny in comparison to it’s big brother south of US-2.

While McGregor Lake lies to the south of US Highway 2, the Little McGregor is north of the freeway. Tiny in comparison to its big brother, McGregor Lake, this small body of water kind of reminds me of a rounded-off Tennessee standing on its end. As one native-Tennessean to another, If you look at the lake on a map, you’ll understand what I meant.

Having gradually gained approximately 900 feet in elevation after departure from Kalispell, larches were more prominent on mountain slopes visible on both sides of US Highway 2 and much closer to peak color, with average color progression values in the 7-8 range. At mile marker 81, a few miles past the western end of McGregor Lake, there was a small pull out on the left, where I was able to shoot some photos. The larch were abundant, particularly on the left, but the angle of sunlight was problematic at this time. The trip meter read 43.2 miles at this point.

A few miles down the road, we reached Lower Thompson Lake, the first of a series of lakes covering a twenty-mile area. Larch were profuse here, particularly on hillsides visible above the shoreline. The first three of the eighteen lakes that comprise Thompson Chain of Lakes State Park, are Lower Thompson, Middle Thompson, and Upper Thompson Lakes. Middle Thompson, the largest of these lakes, is home to Logan State Park. Although that park is heavily forested with larch, Douglas fir, and Ponderosa pine, it would be the area around Loon Lake, the last of this group of lakes, that we would see the best fall-foliage color. Once again, I will let Doug’s notes explain what we saw.

“Trip meter reading: 56.4. Loon Lake (elevation 3340 feet). The area adjacent to mile marker 67 is practically carpeted with larch in near peak color on both sides of the highway. Once again, safe pullouts for photographic purposes are at a premium on Highway 2. Sunlight is certainly more prominent today, and that will accentuate color, thereby enhancing visibly apparent color saturation. Nevertheless, this area is most consistently at or near peak color of any area seen thus far where larches are heavily concentrated. This area is just over 30 miles east of Libby; portions of this particular area are more densely populated with, and thus brilliantly illustrated by, larch than other indigenous conifer species.”

These next photos were taken just a few miles past Loon Lake. As you can see, they were among the best of the entire trip. The larch in this area were magnificent in their fall glory.

We came to the best spot on this trip about five miles past Loon Lake. As you can see by the next several photos, the larch were absolutely stunning. Although I parked on the right side, I walked across to the opposite shoulder to take these photographs. It was a truly beautiful spot. Behind me, on the left side of U.S. Highway 2, was a small stream, while the larch were beckoning on the other side of the road. This was around 55-56 miles since the start of our journey.

Within ten miles the Larch, although still brilliant in color, were beginning to thin out just a bit in terms of density. But there were still a few good spots left for fall-foliage aficionados. One of them came with the trip meter reading about 70 miles from Kalispell. The mountain on the left side of US Highway 2, between mile markers 55-54, as defined for westward-bound travelers, is practically carpeted with larch. There was a small pull out so, I pulled over and took a few photographs of this larch-covered mountain. We were not sure about the name, but Doug said it could be either Flat Top Mountain, Twin Peaks West, Elephant Peak, Snowshoe Peak or Bockman Peak.

We lost a good bit of elevation during the last fifteen miles on the approach route to the county seat of Lincoln County. Libby, in fact, is at an elevation of only 2,062 feet. Consequently, by mile markers 41-42, larch density was decreasing and concentrations thereof more dispersed. Predictably, color progression here is lagging just a bit. Nevertheless, there are quite a few larch trees that exhibit significant degrees of yellow foliage. We ran into fog on the last few miles before arriving in Libby. But it cleared up rather quickly and thus did not dampen our day.

It was nearing noon, and the trip meter was sitting on 91 miles, when we arrived at the small town of Libby, Montana. With a population, as of 2019, of just 2,703, Libby, nevertheless is the county seat for Lincoln County, Montana. We stopped to fill the gas tank and reset the trip meter. With a fresh cup of coffee and a snack to munch on, Doug and I left this first waypoint and turned right onto Montana State Highway 37 heading north by northeast toward Lake Koocanusa, Rexford and Eureka.  This is the Lake Koocanusa Scenic Byway, which connects Libby with Eureka, Montana, not to be confused with the fictional Eureka, Oregon of which the television series, “Eureka” starring Colin Ferguson was based on. The Lake Koocanusa Scenic Byway is not listed in S. A. Snyder’s Scenic Driving MONTANA, however, it is a nice scenic ride that covers almost sixty-nine miles.

A little over seventeen miles from town, Libby Dam, which stands at 422 feet in height and spans a width of 3,055 feet, formed the reservoir known as Lake Koocanusa. This body of water, which extends for about ninety miles, half in the United States and half in Canada, derived its name from the treaty between the Kootenai Indian tribe, the Canadian government, and the United States government. President Gerald Ford dedicated the dam on August 24, 1975.

Tall, stately larch trees periodically accentuate the far shore of the broad Kootenay River. Prior to reaching Lake Koocanusa (2472 feet), however, larches were not particularly common on this route. Shortly after passing the dam that impounds the Kootenay River, larch began to reappear. Doug saw a bald eagle, at very low altitude, perhaps fifteen to twenty feet, take off and begin Its flight. Unfortunately, I was busy driving and failed to see the bird.

From the dam, MT-37 follows Lake Koocanusa north by northeast, for the next forty-eight miles, to the tiny town of Rexford. With a population of just 160 hearty souls, this community would rate no higher than “a wide spot in the road” back in Tennessee where I originally lived.

About a third of the way to Eureka, larches began to more prominently line the corridor traversed by MT-37. On the whole, these are earlier in the course of color transformation (i.e., light green and pale yellow, with quite a few having almost a rust, tinged with orange, hue but few were brilliant yellow). The few miles of MT-37 immediately before and after mile markers 30-31 certainly conform to this variegated color pattern.

Note: My brother said that larch would normally peak around the middle of October, somewhere between the 15th and 23rd of the month, but this year conditions were not favorable. The month of September was much warmer and drier than usual, thus delaying the process. Every year is different, based on climate conditions. Unless you are fortunate enough to live in the area of interest all you can do is make plans based on the averages. As we found out, just a few weeks earlier, when we visited the Wind River range in Wyoming, a massive “wind event” came through on Labor Day and, in some areas, completed “obliterated” many of the aspen. This was long before they could change over to their fall colors. Every year we hope for the best, and make do with whatever the local weather conditions give us.

I pulled over about ten miles down the road. There was no pull off, nor even a wide shoulder, but there was enough leeway with the roadside and grassy area to make room. Plus, it was a straight away, and there was not a lot of traffic. I got quite a few shots of Lake Koocanusa, larch trees that border its near shore, and detailed close-ups of larch in what my brother called “the lime-green phase.”  Or, as Doug later said:

“If you break down larch color progression into subtle but distinct incremental stages, this MT Hwy 37 corridor currently illustrates the spectrum of soft-color values very well, progressing first from summer green to lime green, pale green, light yellow and the transition between the last two phases, which creates a rather washed-out look.”

At Rexford, MT-37 took a southeasterly turn as an arm, or peninsula, of the lake jutted out to the southeast, and thus the road had to follow it accordingly. But eventually the highway straightened out and turned due east where it intersected with US Highway 93, about two miles north of Eureka, our second waypoint on this fall-foliage journey. I’ll let Doug sum up the sixty-nine-mile drive from Libby to Eureka:

“On the whole, MT Hwy 37 does not provide as rewarding a larch-viewing experience as US Highway 2 from Kalispell to Libby, nor are larches as highly concentrated anywhere on the former route as they are on Hwy 2. However, the larch corridor transited by MT 37 provided, at the time of our visit, a superb tutorial on, and representation of, early stages of larch color transformation: lime green, pale green, the washed out transitional stage to light yellow, as well as alternative color values, notably a brownish-rust color, tinged with orange.”

I did not note the time when we arrived at Eureka, but it was fifty-one miles from Eureka to Whitefish and another sixteen miles to Hungry Horse. Doug noted that we left Hungry Horse for the Hungry Horse Reservoir at 4:42 PM, so I figure we arrived somewhere around 3:00 PM. With a population of a little over 1,400, Eureka is a larger town than any of the other ones in this border area with Canada, a mere nine miles away. But it was getting late in the afternoon, so we breezed on through and headed south.

Traveling south on US Highway 93 from Eureka, the Whitefish Range provides an impressive backdrop when timber opens up to the east. US-93 travels in a southeasterly course for about forty-five miles before turning east for the last five miles into Whitefish, a more substantive city of a little over 8,900 people. As we traveled south, the Whitefish Range loomed to the east. Beyond them, lay Glacier National Park.

At mile marker 156, US Highway 93 is bordered, on both sides, by tall, stately larch trees, that were, to quote Doug, “the color values are again in the 6-7 range: light yellow with flashes of possible brilliance yet to come. The terrain traversed by this route is more impressive than the other two legs of this loop.” And to further illustrate Doug’s opinion of the view in this valley, I will let him do the talking:

“Initial impressions of US Highway 93, as we progress toward Whitefish, strongly suggest that the tall, stately larch trees that border this route on both sides, the terrain which increasingly takes on a Glacier-like feel, courtesy of the Whitefish Range, deserve more extended visitation, as does Whitefish itself, Whitefish Lake, E. Lake Shore Dr., and the Big Mountain ski resort, as well as back roads that access the Whitefish Range proper.”

We found a small lake near mile marker 131. We did not know the name of the lake. There are a lot of small lakes in the area. It may have been Dickey or Upper Stillwater Lake. I got some good “shimmer” shots of larches reflected from the distant shore. There was a rest area, one that was still open, located just as we entered the town of Whitefish. It is next to the Grouse Mountain Lodge.

***        Note: When traveling south from Whitefish toward Kalispell, MT Hwy 40 can be taken due east to Columbia Falls, where you pick up US Hwy 2, thus serving effectively as a cutoff that avoids Kalispell and significantly reduces mileage that otherwise would be transited between these points. ***

From Whitefish it was just over twenty miles to the Hungry Horse Dam via US-93 S, MT-40 E, and US-2 E to the town of Hungry Horse and then south by southeast on Colorado Boulevard and River Drive.

At Hungry Horse, we turned right onto Colorado Blvd. and followed that road to its junction with River Drive. Continuing south brought us to the Hungry Horse Dam in less than ten minutes. I’ll let Doug take it from here:

“We departed the town of Hungry Horse and US Hwy 2 for the Hungry Horse Reservoir loop (west side) at 4:42 PM. Larches in the Hungry Horse Reservoir area truly are thick as fleas, but preliminary impressions indicate that they are still well shy of peak color. The sun is low enough in the sky to cast a soft light on the larch that carpet these steep mountain slopes. Nevertheless, they are, thus far, primarily in the lime green to light yellow stage.”

I stopped to take some photos before and after we crossed the dam, which is 564 feet high. We did not know what to expect but had planned on driving along the western side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir Scenic Loop, at least for several miles to see what fall-foliage hotspots we could find. That did not happen. Neither of us had ever been there before, so we did not know what kind of road to expect, except that it was not paved, on either side of Hungry Horse Dam.

The entire loop is approximately 112 miles, most of which is gravel. The first eleven miles on the west side, though, are paved so visitors will often choose to begin their journey on that side. This is what we were planning to do. However, we found the paved portion of this road to be quite narrow in places, and it still had a good bit of snow that would soon glaze over. And the road was climbing in altitude almost as soon as we crossed the dam. Despite today’s warmer temperatures, road conditions here did not dramatically improve, so we exercised the better part of valor and turned around. Snow-cleared pavement ended rather abruptly after crossing the dam. Therefore, we headed back to the comforts of our motel room in Kalispell. There is always another day. But only if you survive this day.

I took these photographs while atop the dam. I believe they are the Flathead Range of mountains. Although I did an extensive online google search, I could never find a definitive answer as to which mountain range this was. Sheer logic would dictate those mountains belong to the Flathead range which runs north to south along the eastern side of Hungry Horse Reservoir. But if the dam, itself, is actually facing more to the southwest rather than due south, they could belong to the Swan range which runs west of the reservoir.

One further note to end this day, however, as Doug noted, and I agree, the next time we decide to follow the Lake Koocanusa Scenic Byway, in the Kootenai National Forest, for fall-foliage purposes, we would do so in a counterclockwise manner, i.e., go from Kalispell to Whitefish and Eureka first, then take MT-37 along the Koocanusa Reservoir to Libby, and then U.S. Highway 2 back to Kalispell. I could have probably gotten some really nice photos of the larch along US-2, from Kalispell to Libby, if not for the morning sun’s glare.