Montana Remote

Most people would say Montana is remote. We are now remote in Montana and more remote than most people ever experience in their lives.  We have been remote before, and we like it- remote. Here, the nearest city is only twenty miles if you flew to get there. Flying here would require a floatplane or a helicopter. Driving to get here is not easy.  Our location is Tally Lake, close on a map and very distant in terms of how hard it is to get to.

Missoula

We left Idaho on Interstate 90 eastbound on Friday. Our “destination” is Glacier National Park. It is kind of funny to say destination because it’s really only a stop along the way. Glacier promises to be a real highlight of our route. Anyway, we crossed into Montana with our first stop in Missoula for the night.

Moose Drool

In Missoula, we camped at the Big Sky Brewery. Some people, mostly locals, revere the brewery for its craft beer; we camped out back, within easy flip-flop walking distance of the tasting room. Moose Drool is my favorite of their beers (though it is not my all-time favorite beer)—it is very good. Getting a chance to camp at the brewery was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. As we head south from Glacier, I intend to stop again.  Big Sky Brewery is a Harvest Host location which I discussed in an earlier post.  In this case, free camping, good beer, right off the highway – nice.

Tia’s Big Sky

Tia’s came highly recommended (thanks, Laura), and Tia’s Big Sky delivered with outstanding tacos and tamales right in Missoula. We don’t know much about Tia’s Big Sky, but if you are in Missoula, Tia’s makes great food. I didn’t expect much given how far Montana is from Mexico, but Tia has the taste dialed in.

Big Miles in Big Sky

We expected to stop again at the south end of Flathead Lake for an additional overnight at another Harvest Host, halfway between Missoula and Kalispell. We had to bypass this stop because the museum was closed, so we kept driving.  Driving our previous RV, it was harder to rack up the big miles because the ride wasn’t nearly as nice. I say big miles, but most RVers and all truckers would scoff. For us, big miles on this leg were 160 miles, which I was going to break into two legs. Since our host wasn’t answering the phone, we added a day to our stop in Kalispell.

Montana Basecamp

Just south of Kalispell, we stopped at Montana Basecamp, a brand-new RV park with easy access to Kalispell and the surrounding area. Basecamp is a converted pasture.

Here is our review of Basecamp in this post — Montana Basecamp.

Not Montana Remote

Kalispell is remote in the sense that it’s off the beaten track, except for visitors to Glacier National Park. Really, however, it isn’t remote in terms of the mountains in the west. We had a very nice visit. I stopped here, rather than elsewhere, because of two special lakes I saw in a satellite photo.  Foy’s Lake was ten minutes west. I was intrigued by the water’s color in the satellite photo. Foy’s had crystal-clear water and easy kayak access. The picture is at the top of this page.

Ashley Lake

Ashley Lake was about forty minutes from Basecamp. Since Foy’s Lake turned out to be as beautiful as we had hoped, we also went to Ashley Lake for a mid-day paddle. Again, we enjoyed crystal-clear water and no wind. Getting to Ashley was more difficult than Foy’s, requiring a four-mile drive on a dirt road. One section was wetted by a morning rain shower; mud still cakes the car. Still, the lake was beautiful, and if you don’t mind the mud and dust all over the car, it was well worth the visit.

Not Glacier

We resisted the urge to head straight to Glacier National Park after getting to Kalispell. The urge was strong. We wanted to see more than just Glacier. Had we gone straight to Glacier, we would have missed kayaking on these beautiful lakes. We still get to go to Glacier (tomorrow) and will be camping six miles from the entrance.

Montana Remote

So, we went west rather than east. Twenty miles northwest of Kalispell is a glacier-carved lake, named Tally.  At the north corner of the lake is the Tally Lake Campground. This is remote Montana.  Unlike every lake we visited in northern Idaho, there are no lake houses along the shoreline. The lake is also the second-deepest in Montana, and although not as big as some of the larger Montana or northern Idaho lakes, it is still very big. The shoreline runs eighty miles.

Both the inlet and outlets at Tally are on the north end, meaning that the water doesn’t so much as flow through the lake but rather flows into the lake and sits – forever until it soaks into the ground or evaporates. Foy’s Lake and Ashley Lake are both fed primarily from spring water and are crystal clear – not so for Tally Lake. Because the inlet and surrounding areas have miles of forest in every direction, and because the water comes from runoff, it isn’t as crystal clear as the previous two lakes. The lake has a tea color from tannic acid produced by decomposing vegetation. It is still pretty but in a different way.

Best color is no color

I find watercolor to be very interesting. Clear is the best “color” and creates a deep blue increasing in color with depth. Glacier-fed lakes have a silt blue color that is also very nice. Both Idaho and Montana have beautiful lakes. Some of the most beautiful water we have ever seen was at the Blue Pool in Oregon, pictured in this post- Tamolitch Falls, Blue Pool. In the Blue Pool, the water was the same color as Windex. The color isn’t everything, but it does make a good picture.

How Remote?

If we were more remote, we would need a different kind of RV. Or perhaps horses.

Tally Lake is about halfway along Tally Lake Road. You get there from the north by turning south on Tally Lake Road from Star Meadow Road. Or you get there from the southeast by turning west on Tally Lake Road from Farm to Market Road. The easy way, requiring only four miles of gravel road, is from the north. All of these roads are National Forest roads, which is where the confusion sets in because Tally Lake Road is either NF 913 or NF 113, depending on your location. Do not follow your GPS, which will take you down Old Tally Lake Road—this road does not lead to the campground or Tally Lake.

Here is a link to our campsite review of Tally Lake Campground.

Dusty

The long way is the easy way. The harder way is shorter. Our route from the north required only four miles of narrow gravel road, rather than the more direct route along the lake edge.  As it is, the back of our RV and car got quite the dusting. I have washed off the front of the car twice since arrival, just to see out the windshield. There is no reason to wash off the RV or the back of the car; here, dust is measured in layers and depth, and you can’t escape it.

Once in the campground, we still have dust problems; it’s everywhere. We won’t be coming back here, but I am glad we are here. The final straw is the dust. One and done.

Remote enough for you?

Once you get there, the only lights you will see are the campfires in the campground for about twenty miles. If you need electricity, bring it with you; same for water. The nearest cell service is at the top of a mountain to the south, about ten miles in on a Forest Service double track. (Double track = two tire ruts with grass down the middle)

Not remote enough?

I expected that it would be a great place to view Montana wildlife. It was a tad disappointing in that respect. We did see a snowshoe hare in summer colors and a few still-life turtles.  The turtles were very patient subjects for the camera.

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Links

Big Sky Brewery

Montana Basecamp

Harvest Host

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