Glacier
National Park is one of the most beautiful parks I've seen!
Left
& Below:
The road to North Fork Hostel in Poleridge, MT was almost as bad as
the road to Deadhorse, Alaska. Thankfully it was only about
7-10 miles long.
It
wouldn't have mattered to me, except that my Kia had already been
through hell and back and had never given me a problem. It's
just a regular 4 cylinder passenger vehicle, not a 4 X4 or a
SUV. Figured it was about due for a broken axel or
something. So I drove slow & cautiously. Didn't feel
like doing any hiking or paying for a tow truck & car
repairs.
North
Fork Hostel
80
Beaver Drive
Tel
# (800) 775-2938
Rates:
$12/person
$25/private
$35/cabin
Beds:
25
Affiliation:
None
Office
Hrs. : 8am-10pm
Yeah!
Arrived in Polebridge!
Left:
Polebridge Center! The store & post office--a tiny, tiny
town.
Bread and
pastries are baked fresh in the mercantile.
There's
no electricity in the whole town! The use propane &
kerosene
After
driving down this bumpy backroad 5 or 6 miles and not seeing anyone
or anything except wilderness, I was beginning to hope that my
trusty "Hostel USA" guidebook was correct and up to date.
The
hostel book did not describe this road or how long it would be
before I reached Polebridge. Time to get the maps out again,
just to make sure.
A truck
finally came by, I waved, and asked him, "...if thisroad
leads to Polebridge & how far it it..." He said it
did--just a couple more miles. Phew!
I've
never seen beauty like this before! (except in pictures)
Even I
couldn't mess up a photo of a scene like this!
Left:
One
of the private cabins available for rent.
Left:
The
North Fork Hostel.
Great...seriously...I
really do like this rustic living!
No
electricity, no TV, no radio, no phone (well, there was a cell
phone), no traffic, no distractions.
The
closest "entertainment" is between the Polebridge Mercantile &
the Nothern Lights Cafe--the volley ball net and picnic tables where
people come together to play, eat, & talk.
Left:
Nails
embedded benieth the windows on the porch to deter bears.
Left:
His
& her outhouses.
But
there was a shower available in the hostel.
Right:
The
Flathead River located about 1/4 mile from the hostel.
Above
& Right:
North
Fork Hostel Kitchen with propane refridgerator and lights.
Left
& Below:
The
Northern Lights Cafe.
Just
a short walk from the hostel.
Right:
Me
& Joyce. She was a hosteller & retired professor from
Holland. She and her husband met at a hostel 25 yrs. ago in
England.
Right:
Waiting
for the cafe to open.
Left:
Just
about the whole town showed up that evening at the cafe for supper.
We all
sat out at the picnic tables. No lights, no candles.
Everyone sat there eating & talking right into the darkness.
Your eyes kind of got used to it after awhile.
Like
most, I brought a flashlight so I could find my way back to the
hostel.
