Along the Salmon River: from Kalispell to Salmon, Idaho

Every day it feels a bit more like spring. 

The day before yesterday we took the scenic route from Kalispell to Salmon, Idaho, the destination familiar, but the first part of the route a wonderful discovery. Not much south of Kalispell we had to decide on which side of Flathead Lake we wanted to travel, east or west. The eastern route seemed a tad shorter, plus, Johann remarked, we'd not be looking into the sun if we wanted to look at the lake. Thus we left Hwy 93 for a good while and drove east along the north end of the lake before turning south on Hwy 35. This narrow, winding road roughly follows the shoreline of the huge lake, which almost feels like driving along the ocean. Cottages line the shore along a narrow band beside the road, the access lanes still carved out of deep snow banks. Not long into the drive I thought I saw a few fruit trees in a yard, and soon there were not only gardens with apple trees but whole plantations. I would have never expected that here, thinking apple, cherry and plum orchards belonged to the coast. How wrong I was! Orchard after orchard stretched away from the road, sometimes to our right toward the shore, sometimes to our left up the hills. Snow reached halfway up the trunks, and branches left from pruning slowly started to poke out of the snow this area obviously had received quite recently. Now, hardly anybody was travelling on these roads, but it must be very busy in the summer. With 197 square miles Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater body of water by surface west of the source of the Mississippi, about 50 km long and up to 25 km wide. Where we started out in the north the lake was still totally covered by ice, but once it widened there was a big area of open water in the middle. It was wonderful to slowly meander along the shore, passing through forest interspersed with orchards, and I was a bit sad when the road turned west again to once again connect with Hwy 93. I wonder if the west side of the lake is just as beautiful – but to find that out I will have to wait for another year.

Lunch  by the side of the road- the wine is just a prop

From Missoula the road was familiar to us again. We turned into a small road south of Missoula to have a picnic lunch on the tailgate of the pickup. It was a gravel road, and it had turned a bit muddy. Suddenly I heard a familiar bird song: a red-winged blackbird! Soon I spied it perched on a cattail nearby. I love these attractive birds who populate our swamps, and I love their song as well. At home it will likely take until May until we can hear them, but here, at +7 by now, it must sense spring is in the air.

We stayed on the scenic route all the way to Salmon, Idaho, the beautiful Salmon River accompanying us, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. The area from Hamilton through the mountains must have received a massive snowfall not too long ago, and even at lower elevations much of it still remained. The Salmon River was flowing freely now, but the banks were still piled high with huge blocks of snow and ice. 

Two years ago we travelled along the Salmon on the same route, and then already I fell in love with this area where the hills are never far away, though they give the river space to move in the valley. Last time it was dark by the time we arrived in Salmon, so it was nice to see the last part of the way in the daylight as well.

Since we hadn't stretched our legs much on the way we took a walk down mainstreet after we checked in at the Sacajawea Inn, the same place we stayed two years ago. Salmon must see its share of tourists in high season: even now we saw anglers on the banks of the river, and campgrounds and B&Bs would be easy enough to find, though closed now, in low season. On this Sunday evening the town was quiet, except for a couple of St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the bars. We had supper at 'Dave's Pizza', which was almost empty except for a middle-aged couple beside us. The man's cowboy hat suggested a rancher – the pickup with two dogs was parked right outside the window – but it turned out that he was the fertilizer and seed dealer. As always, it's nice to find out a bit about an area from locals. Of course we were interested in agricultural aspects. Most of the farming that's done here is cattle ranching, the hay produced under irrigation. We heard that Salmon had had a very mild winter and apart from a big dump three weeks prior very little snow. 'This used to be a mostly agriculture and tourism oriented town,' the man told us, 'but now it's retirees who bring in the money.'