Postcards

A pilot's perspective on Montana's rugged wilderness

Randy Garrison's 1964 Piper Cherokee easily climbed away from the runway at Montana's Plains Airport. Sun shimmered over the Clark Fork River as we flew along a wide valley. "Yesterday we'd have been thrown around up here by the wind," Garrison said, banking the airplane and turning down the valley formed when a glacier passed through, carving out today's Clark Fork River valley.

Winds can gust through the canyon, making flying along the Clark Fork bumpy at times. Garrison, Plains Airport's manager, had carefully chosen the time for our flight, putting it off for a day to wait on better weather.

The geology of the region is fascinating. Researchers believe that some 12,000 years ago, during the last ice age, a large ice flow moved into northern Idaho, blocking the Clark Fork River. Water trapped behind the ice flooded a 174-mile area. This inland sea was held back by an ice dam more than 2,000 feet high. When the dam failed, water from Glacial Lake Missoula surged down the Clark Fork at a force said to be 10 times more powerful than all the rivers of the world today combined. The water and ice scoured the valley for two days, leaving a landscape of bottom lands and mountain faces, plateaus and canyons that formed some of the most interesting geological strata in the world. Evidence of the power of the flood is clear from the air. Garrison banked and pointed out striations in the rock, high up on the mountains, where raging water and rocks gouged out their course.

Just southeast of Plains at Paradise, Montana, the lower branch of the Flathead River merges with the Clark Fork of the Columbia River. Here, at the confluence of these two bodies of water, the valley is at its most lush, creating wonderful opportunities for aerial photographers.

Continuing to follow the Clark Fork north, then east, you'll see 7,464-foot-high Baldy Mountain. In the valley, prairie lands and rolling hills — once the site of pioneer homesteads — display myriad shades of green. "Settlers came out here and got 160 acres of land. They couldn't make it on that little land in this valley. Most of the original homesteads are gone, bought up," Garrison explained as we banked and headed over the town of Hot Springs following Highway 135. The swimming pool of Quinn's Hot Springs Resort looked inviting from the air.

Pilots and passengers will want to land for a closer view of the mountains and Clark Fork River valley. Throughout the area you'll find excellent trout fishing, horse trails meandering through the forest, and abundant game. Soothing mineral baths bubble out of the Earth near picturesque old mining cabins.

There is no shortage of fine places to stay and eat in this part of Montana, and the three airports owned by Sanders County make them easily accessible to pilots. All three fields — Plains, Hot Springs Airport, and Thompson Falls Airport — are lighted, no-fee facilities, but no fuel is available so be sure to carry adequate supplies.

Just outside Plains is the little town of Hot Springs. Here, Symes Hot Springs Hotel and Mineral Baths is a reminder of days gone by when Native Americans wintered in the valley and soothed their bodies and spirits in healing waters.

Leslee Smith and her husband, Dan, are lovingly restoring the old hotel. They've installed a Watsu pool for massage therapy, and modernized the mineral pools where the water temperature ranges from about 106 degrees in the top pool to about 100 degrees in the lower pool. Slipping into the mineral pools brings immediate relaxation. The skin feels smooth and slippery from silica in the water, which also contains a reportedly therapeutic combination of sulfate, carbonate, bicarbonate, sodium, potassium, and other minerals.

"I see people come here after serious accidents," Dan Smith said. "They get in the baths and their bodies heal somehow." Leslee Smith also believes in the healing properties of the waters. "My stiffness from arthritis has gone away. My skin feels soft and smooth," she said.

If you visit, try to get Dan Smith to drive you to the little ghost town of Camas just down the street. Drive only because he's fixed up an old Model T Ford truck and has a claw-footed bathtub in the back. The old post office at Camas is abandoned as are the mineral baths once operated by a local Indian tribe. It's a good place for pictures and folklore — this is Montana and people will stop to talk.

Farther out of Plains, past Paradise along Highway 135, is Quinn's Hot Springs. Magnificent log cabins and a pine-sided lodge have recently been built on the site of Martin Quinn's old mining claim. "He never really mined here. He filed a claim to get the hot springs," owner Denise Moreth explained.

We hiked up behind Quinn's to get a view of the mountains. An old settler's cabin stood off in a valley surrounded by tall prairie grass. Quinn's owners are committed to enhancing the property with a new pool and waterfall. Martin Quinn's tavern and restaurant was renowned in the valley for its fine dining. Today, Quinn's Harwood House Restaurant still offers up some of the best food in Montana.

Not too far away, just off Interstate 90 in De Borgia, is the Hotel Albert. Today, Pam Motta runs a bed-and-breakfast in the hotel and residence constructed by Edward and Emma Albert in 1911, less than a year after forest fires burned the town and devastated this part of Montana.

The Hotel Albert is said to be haunted by the ghost of little Ginny Albert. The 5-year-old daughter of Emma and Edward caught diphtheria and was confined to her room, where she spent her days sitting at the window and waving to people passing in the street. Ginny was afraid of the dark so her mother left the lamp lit low every night. Ginny died that winter, but some people claim they can still see her waving and a dim light showing from the window of her room.

There's lots of history and adventure nearby. The historic Savenac Nursery was started by Elers Koch in 1908 along Savenac Creek on the site of an abandoned homestead. The raging fires of 1910 destroyed the nursery and most of the towns in the county, but Koch would not be defeated. Trees were needed to reforest the land so he rebuilt the nursery, and it was in full operation by 1915. By the 1930s Savenac Nursery was the largest supplier of trees in the United States, at one time shipping a million fir trees each year.

Now owned by the U.S. Forest Service, Savenac Nursery has buildings for rent for overnight stays, hiking trails, and wonderful history to share with visitors. Volunteers have formed the Friends of Savenac to preserve the property and tradition of Koch's dream.

If you travel a little farther east along I-90 to Superior, the county seat of Mineral County, then 17 miles up an old mining road, you'll find the Gildersleeve Mine. George and Fern Gildersleeve and their family worked the mine for more than 60 years. While the elders are gone now, their children and grandchildren continue to pan for gold in mountain earth that was once so rich that miners took $2.50 worth of gold out of every pan. Gold sold for $20 an ounce back then.

By appointment, the Gildersleeve descendants host visitors at a real country dinner up at the mine and offer them a chance to find gold. There's still plenty of color in every pan. The old cabins attest to the grit and integrity of George, Fern, and their close-knit family, which continues the tradition of Montana hospitality to strangers.

"Things don't change much up here," George Gildersleeve was fond of saying. That's proven out by the splendor of Cayuse Creek and the lush growth that has reclaimed mountains where once 10,000 miners toiled for Eureka in the streambeds and hills.

Ripples and eddies in the Clark Fork that look almost placid from the air churn and chop when a canoe, kayak, raft, or riverboard runs through them. Mike Johnston owns Montana River Guides on the Old Sawmill Road at Cyr. A modern slide enables rafters to put in conveniently and raft the white water through Alberton Gorge. Riding the river after flying it gives you a whole new perspective on its power.

"It's about a 10-mi1e run. We're one of only three companies in the U.S. to offer riverboarding," Johnston added with a smile. It's great fun. Spots in the river can be chosen depending on the skill and daring of the riverboarder. Even beginners who've never done it before have a keen time, safely tucked up with neoprene wet suit, booties, fins, life jacket, and helmet.

Running the rapids in a whitewater canoe, kayak, raft, or on a riverboard is exhilarating, and Johnston ensures it's safe. Waterproof cases are a must for cameras, or you can use the disposable waterproof kind available at any drugstore.

The Clark Fork is full of honey holes for fly fishermen. Drifting along in dories, they can catch good-size trout. While it's not required, most fishermen practice catch-and-release unless they find the thought of a broiled brookie for breakfast irresistible.

The country along the river is laced with trails. Some are just rugged game tracks while others are maintained by the U.S. Forest Service for horseback riding and hiking. Ray Rugg has been outfitting in the area for a long time. He prefers to take visitors out for a couple of days or a week on pack trips, but if time is short he'll provide day and half-day rides. Rugg also has a cabin that is available for overnight guests.

For those who want to hike, there are plenty of spots. Bird-watching and wild-life viewing are specialties of Orvall and Brenda Kuester, who also cater wonderful picnics and barbecues along the way.

Orvall Kuester loves to take visitors into the National Bison Range at Moiese. The Bison Range is only a short way from Paradise. There's plenty of wild game in addition to the bison herd of some 350 animals. Leave plenty of time and go early in the morning or evening for the best game-watching. Pronghorn antelope, elk, deer, bear, bighorn sheep, bison, and coyotes abound in the 18,500-acre refuge. The Kuesters are renovating their home to accommodate guests.

Flying in and having a guide or outfitter meet the airplane is a great way to see the area with the added convenience of not having to arrange rental cars. But regardless of how you see it, the rugged wilderness along Montana's Clark Fork River is some of most beautiful in the world. The airports in Sanders County make it accessible and convenient.

John C. Fine of Scarsdale, New York, is the author of 19 books including Free Spirits in the Sky, on hot air ballooning. A private pilot, he has been flying for more than 30 years.

Useful contacts

Pilots can rent aircraft in Missoula, which is served by Northwest Airlines (800/225-2525).

More information about this part of Montana can be obtained by calling Glacier Country Tourism toll free (800/338-5072) or visiting the Web site ( www.glacier.visitmt.com). The Montana Department of Commerce offers extraordinary full-color brochures and travel information, available by calling them toll-free (800/847-4868) or on the Web site ( http://travel.montana.state.mt.us).

For more information or to make reservations at the resorts and outfitters mentioned in the story, contact them at:

Symes Hot Springs and Mineral Baths
888/305-4106 or 406/741-2361

Quinn's Hot Springs Resort
406/826-4042 or 406/826-3150

Savenac Nursery (Lolo Ranger District)
406/822-4233

Montana River Guides
800/381-7238 or 406/273-4718

Gildersleeve Mine
406/822-4974 or 406/822-4790

National Bison Range
406/644-2211

Orvall and Brenda Kuester
406/826-3221

Ray Rugg
406/822-4240

Dick Crain Outfitting
406/649-7220

Hotel Albert
800/678-4303 or 406/678-4303