Day 9
Wednesday September 23, 2020
The previous day was originally going to be the bridge and falls in the morning and the hike up to Leigh Lake in the afternoon. Hindsight being what it is, I’m glad I changed plans.
Seven miles south of Libby is the turnoff for Bear Creek Road. It’s three miles of reasonably well paved road.
Things start getting interesting when you turn off on Cherry Creek Rd.
The pavement is long gone, but the dirt and gravel road is in relatively decent shape. After four miles of that, you turn onto Leigh Creek Road and the road condition steadily drops. Two lanes become one with few wide spots to pass. Potholes start appearing. I turned the radio off when I hit the ruts. Fortunately, they weren’t deep enough for things to be heard scraping underneath.
Finally, the parking area for the Leigh Lake Trail. All the guidebooks and websites say variations of the same thing. It’s a moderate to strenuous mile and a half to the lake.
The first mile is a steady climb through thick forest. With plenty of rocks to step around and roots to trip over, it’s a slower pace. But, still not bad.
As you start to approach the waterfall, the earthen path quickly gives way to rocks. At this point, it’s not too steep and the loose shale underfoot is large and fairly stable. Well, at least to the waterfall.
From here it’s a steeper climb and scramble over bigger rocks, with plenty of loose gravel underfoot, causing every step to be carefully planned. At one point the big arrow seemed to be tainting me. I don't mind an occasionally steep or challenging trail, as long as the footing is stable. Sections of this trail are anything but stable.
Yes, that trail marker is point up.
Eventually, the trail rises above the top of the falls to a small meadow, full of autumn colors.
Beyond the meadow, Leigh Lake. As I sat on a rock noshing on a protein bar and cooling my feet in the cold water, I couldn’t help but think about the trip down.
The time came to head back down. For safety sake, the camera, phone and water bottles went inside the pack. This turned out to be the right call. At one point I did lose footing and slide down about six feet before my boot caught on a large rock, stopping me. Yes, it was even worse coming down.
I was almost surprised when I met two groups heading upwards.
There have been trails I’ve looked forward to revisiting. This isn’t one of them. It took me an hour and a half to get from the lake to the car, for a mile and a half trail. This is with zero stops for photography. Every step was deliberate, and the declines were steep enough I was taking small steps.
Between the time the second group started up the trail and I finished, a tree had fallen along the single lane stretch of road, blocking it with branches. There was also a young man with his two young daughters. He was working the chainsaw and they were hauling the debris.
I stopped to thank him when he pulled off to let me pass. The local residents carry chainsaws in their trucks just for this purpose. He asked about the trail and I told him what I thought. He’s lived here for years and loves hiking. But, he won’t do that trail. Apparently, every year a few people have to be medevacked out. Earlier in the season, someone had fallen and died. Funny how that’s not in the guidebooks.
Once I had worked my way back out onto Hwy 2, it was an easy two hour drive to Big Fork, my home for the next evening.
As part of the trip’s running theme, I had a very late lunch at Flathead Lake Brewery. Great food, great staff and an interesting variety beer on tap. Nice view, too.
My home for the night was the Travelers Rest Motel. Nice enough place and a room big enough to throw a party in. Too bad I was only here one night.
After dropping my stuff in the room, it was off to Flathead Lake State Park, just up the street for sunset.
Coming Up,
Three Lakes...or not
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