Second, an apology for not getting an update online yesterday, and for this update being posted a day behind schedule. The phone line on the PBX at the hotel was not the greatest, and things were getting slow and erratic. The real reason is I would much rather be out playing and enjoying this great place instead of sitting in my hotel room tinkering with the computer. I can do that at home!
So, this place that I am in: Whitefish, Montana. Home to the "Big Mountain" ski resort, I chose to stop here because it had the most information I could find on the internet. I have been staying at the fabulous Grouse Mountain Lodge. I found them on the internet, and it looked like a great place. Which it has been. I have a few minor disappointments with the facility: I thought the view from my room would have more mountain and less golf course; and the lodge is a much younger facility that I had thought it would be. Offsetting my nit-picking, is the wonderful service I've gotten here. From being picked up at the train station to having my adventure arrangements taken care of to on-site car rental, everything service wise has been comparable to any other "international" class hotel I've stayed in. The difference is this isn't an 800 room mega-Hilton, but a 130 room mountain resort.
When I had booked the hotel, I had inquired about making some booking for some activities I was interested in. The advice they gave me was to wait until I arrived at the resort. All of the things to do here, besides eat drink and shop, revolve around the weather, so it would be best to wait and see what the weather was when I came in and how much snow had accumulated. Also, this tends to be a low point in the season here, so I wouldn't have any trouble making last minute arrangements.
Dawn, of the Grouse Mountain staff, did a wonderful job finding out for me what was available and making my bookings. All of this got started late in the morning since I decided to sleep in for a little bit. And then I decided to have a leisurely breakfast. And it was a great breakfast. Eggs Benedict with a very obviously homemade Hollandaise sauce. It really pisses me off when I eat in a restaurant and their Hollandaise is obviously from a bottle, or worse yet is the places where it is basically whipped butter and egg yolks. The secret is the lemon juice, and fresh lemon juice. The thing that pisses me off about Hollandaise sauce is that I can make it, it is really easy to make and make well, and places with a bad one are obviously not putting much effort into my meal.
But to recap the lead, the Hollandaise at Grouse Mountain was as close to perfect as I have ever made myself. So I had to have that again for breakfast on Thursday. Anyhow, after breakfast on Wednesday, I got all my adventure arrangements in place with Dawn. I was really looking forward to dogsledding. I had never done it before, and I've always thought that the Iditarod Dogsled Race is a wonder of the resilience of both man and dog. So I guess that I wanted to touch a little piece of that magic and call it my own. And I wanted to do something that nobody I know has done.
Well, this now gets into that weather part. The area where the dog sled outfitter works has been very lean on snow so far this year. In fact, the whole Whitefish are is having a very lackluster snowfall thus far in the season. So, dog sledding wasn't an option because of the lack of snow. The upside to this was that horseback riding was still available. So I made an afternoon booking for a trail ride, and had arrangements made to spend Thursday on an all day snowmobile tour.
On with the Wednesday stories. I rented a car to get to the ranch I would be riding out of. The Lonesome Dove Ranch is a little ways outside of Kalispell, which is just down the road from Whitefish. Keep in mind that "just down the road" in Montana means about twenty minutes. It is a big place. So big that high speed limits have come back so folks can get around to things in a more timely fashion.
When I arrived at the ranch, two horses were saddled and ready to go. One for me, and one for my guide, Bill. Bill has been working around horses for quite some time, and had loads of great stories to tell along the trail. He's also had some great adventures. A few years back, he and a bunch of his friends took a three month trek by horse from Yellowstone Park to British Columbia. Wow, that's all I can say.
One of the other interesting stories "Wrangler" Bill told me was about a friend of his. This friend is a US Marshall who spends most of his time tracking down fugitive criminals. A bounty hunter of sorts, you might say. Well, this guys specialty is tracking criminals who seek refuge in the mountains. Most of this work winds up being done by horseback, just as it was 100 years ago. It amazed me that there are still such people, living legacies of a time long gone by when Marshall wasn't just a job, it became a name.
The ride was great. My stead, Teton, was simply fabulous, especially compared to the last horse I was on in Africa. Teton was responsive and attentive, and went where I told him to without complaint. I managed to surprise myself when I mounted Teton for the first time without the aid of a mounting block. This, of course, was a strange anomaly as I needed to find a stump or boulder for assistance at the several stops we took along the way. Bill was a fabulous guide. He took me on trails with great views, and knew all about the land and it's life.
But we didn't see any of that wildlife along the trail, save for the occasional gander of migrating geese. But on the way home from the ride, a red-tailed hawk swooped across the road and plucked some unsuspecting creature from the field alongside the highway. I, like most, had seen such a site on television, but never in real life. A wonder, it is, that I bird can pick out it's prey scurrying through the brush from a great distance, then come down with such speed and precision and take it's game in talon and fly away. That made my day.
Then back to the lodge and a short nap before dinner. I made reservations in the restaurant for 1900, and found it quickly creeping up on me. Amazing, isn't it, how much energy a good vacation will take from you? The restaurant at Grouse Mountain Lodge was everything the bill it as - wonderful and creative food and a very impressive wine list. I settled my mind on peppercorn crusted fillet with a 1995 Merlot. The steak was perfect, and the wine had an almost energetic body with plenty of fruit. And a classic perfectly done, Creme Brulee for dessert.
Then back to the room where I tried to motivate myself to work on the website, but soon gave up and passed off into slumber. A big, long day awaited me, and there would be no sleeping in tomorrow.
Tomorrow came, as it normally does, just a little earlier than normal. I had to pack my bags, get suited up for snowmobiling, refuel and return the renal car, and catch some breakfast before 0930 when my snowmobile guide would arrive to pick me up. Short story is I got it all done, including the great Eggs Benedict again this morning.
My snowmobile guide was waiting for me as I checked out of the hotel. This is the start of Carl's second season as a snowmobile outfitter. In the summer he has worked as a short logger, bringing 8 foot logs out of the mountains and down to the mills. It pays very well, he says, but the work is very tough and in every kind of weather. So he is trying to get more and more into the tourist trade. Snowmobiles is his first step.
From the lodge in Whitefish we drive for about 45 minutes to the trailhead. Carl will be taking me through state and national forests, which require him to have a guiding permit. This is one of the many things the government is increasingly screwing up, and one of the reasons militia groups flourish in the west - not that Carl is a part of one. In talking with Carl today and Bill yesterday, I get the sense that more and more the government bureaucrats who are charged with managing the public lands are more interested in nitpicking rules and relaxing in offices, so much so that they have lost sight of a concept known to the populous as common sense.
I was amazed at the amount of paperwork, proposals, and pirouettes that Carl needs to go through to be able to run snowmobile tours on public land. Now, a private citizen can do just about anything in these same places, often to the detriment of the land. But when a small businessman attempts to run responsible and safe tours, watch out - the government IS out to get you!
Despite the politics, Carl has been able to put together a first rate operation. Not to mention the fact that like Bill, he is a helpful and knowledgeable guide. Like I said, this is my first time on a snowmobile (sometimes just called a sled). Carl took me through the operation and safety of the Yamaha Mountain Max I would be riding. After we set out, Carl made a few short stops every few miles to make sure everything was running good and that I wasn't having any problems driving. No problems at all, Carl. After about an hour of riding, I really started to get a feel for the sled, and how it handled around the turns and in different kinds of snow.
Carl let me set my own pace for things. I could stop wherever I felt like, mainly to take pictures. If I got behind him a little, he would hold up and wait for me to catch back up to him. There were definitely some fine opportunities for pictures up here - too many almost! Mountain lakes and cliffs and vistas along the river valleys. Too bad for the pictures it was a foggy and overcast morning, and would be for the rest of the day. The upside to the weather is the light powder that fell throughout the day; good news for a tourist economy here that thrives on big snowfalls.
Up through the mountains we went. Through a pass and down into another valley and a stop for lunch. Tucked up here, "Conveniently Located in the Middle of Nowhere" is the Loon's Echo Lodge. Carl does a lot of tours and rentals for their guests, and we stop here for a bowl of hot chili next to the fireplace. I wish I had some more time on this trip that I could have spent the night here. A former trout farm, the main house has been converted into a lodge or first class amenities - bar, pool, cozy dining room, porch with hottub looking out across the lake and towards the mountains. There are also several guest cabins available. I should think this would be a perfect place to simply detach from the world, and maybe work on a novel or a screenplay!
With our tummies full and bodies warmed, we head back onto the trail for the rest of the afternoon. All too soon we are back at the trailhead shaking the dusty snow out of our jackets and hats. I think I am hooked on snowmobiling!
Back to the lodge, I warm up a bit by the huge fireplace. I had thought about going into Whitefish and exploring a bit, but I'm too tired from the long day on the trail. And I have a few things to do yet. So I grab a large table in the bar and start writing my postcards to everyone from Whitefish. A few drinks later I'm getting sleepy and ready for dinner. Top sirloin tonight with onion fritatta, the Creme Brulee again, of course, for dessert. Not long now until I have to go to the train station, but enough time to start hacking out my account of the last two days.
I get to the Whitefish station with a few minutes to kill before the train arrives. A rustic alpine building, it was recently restored to it's original look as it was when built by the Great Northern Railway. The train is running a head of schedule tonight, but that doesn't affect the departure time. On the platform as I board, passengers take advantage of the long stop to stretch their legs - and their arms. Being the first real snow they've seen so far, a few skirmishes involving kids and snowballs naturally erupt.
My sleeper has already been made up by Bonnie, my car attendant. Which is a good thing because I am just about ready to pass out. While I really should work on the web site, I only get about two graphs written before more lead is added to my eyelids. The conductor comes along quickly, the only thing I really need to stay awake for. As soon as he has my ticket, it's lights out for Ben! Continue to Page Five!
