REMINDER: Oliver Meister, the owner of the North Fork Hostel, is throwing his annual summer solstice celebration again this year. The event is on Saturday, June 21 (that’s today!), starting about mid-afternoon (or when the lamb is done). If the hostel grounds are too wet from all the recent rain and flooding, the event will be held at Square Peg Ranch. Oliver is supplying lamb, everyone else should bring a pot luck contribution.
Tag Archives: North Fork Hostel
Update on Glacier Park’s North Fork
Oliver Meister posted a very useful update on the North Fork Hostel’s blog describing current conditions in Glacier Park’s North Fork area (with photos!) . . .
Glacier National Park swung two gates open yesterday morning;
– One will get you full access to everything Bowman.
– the other will get you as far south as Logging Creek along the Inside NF Road.
The Bowman CG remains in primitive status ($10/night) until the water gets turned on Thursday ($15/night). The lake water is “up”.
Expect 3+ miles of post-holing snow along the Quartz Loop. The last two miles of the Numa LO Trail will also grant you a post-holing experience. The Logging Creek Trail is in pretty good condition. Bowman Head, Quartz, Lower Quartz, Logging Foot and Adair can all be placed in summer status. Grace is still under snow.
Polebridge curls up for the winter
The Missoulian posted a pretty nice article today discussing the North Fork’s shift from summer’s bustle to winter’s quiet. The Polebridge Mercantile and the North Fork Hostel both get mentions, as well as some other people and places . . .
The knuckles whiten, the undercarriage rattles and the trappings of civilization recede.
This is the route to Polebridge . . .
North Fork offers more remote experience at Montana’s Glacier National Park
Susan Gallagher did a nice Associated Press piece about the North Fork that is getting national and world-wide distribution today. Just for fun, the “continue reading” link below sends you to New Zealand to read the rest of her article . . .
The Blackfeet Tribe named the greater Glacier National Park ecosystem “the backbone of the world.” Use the park’s remote, northwestern entrance and the bumpy access road will have you feeling like you drove over each vertebra. But you’ll be grateful you made the trip.
For an out-of-the-mainstream take on America’s 10th national park, go to its northwestern expanse, the North Fork. It invites “a more self-reliant visitor,” the National Park Service says in its Glacier literature.
The North Fork doesn’t have the grand old lodges like those near Glacier’s principal gateways, but this piece of paradise isn’t without comforts. Rustic, marvelously tasty and memorable, they are in Polebridge, a mile (1.6 kilometre) from the park’s northwestern entrance. This off-the-grid community increasingly reliant on solar power is the hub for an area where the summer population numbers maybe a few hundred, up from five to 10 in the winter.
Spring Visitors
The North Fork Hostel and the Polebridge area got a nice write-up in the Helena Independent Record last Thursday . . .
I awoke to a thump-thump-thump sound of fresh spring snow blowing off the trees and landing on the metal roof.
It was morning in North Fork Country.
Situated next to Glacier National Park’s western boundary about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, Polebridge offers visitors a relaxed attitude and sweeping views of the Livingston Range to the east and the Whitefish Range to the west.
Read the entire article . . .
A new year, a new banner
A new year, a new site banner.
This image was contributed by Oliver Meister of the North Fork Hostel. It shows a view from the river of the back yard of the hostel. The North Fork was frozen over and Oliver walked out onto the ice to get the photo.