Steve and I just got back from a wonderful little trip to a beautiful area of the world. If you have never been to the Flathead Lake area and Glacier National Park, you need to plan a trip there.The first night we pulled off the interstate at the Chalet Bearmouth. It was along the river about 25 miles before Missoula. We just saw the RV park and pulled in. Little did we know that we were close to a ghost town named Garnet. We didn't leave the trailer until about 7:00 p.m. and it was a rough road up a canyon.
As we first started, we wondered if we'd find a dredge stuck somewhere up in the canyon since the telltale rock piles lined the road. We found the sign saying there had been a dredge, but alas, it must have been moved.
The first thing that caught my eye when we arrived at the ghost town were the flowers pictured above. For some reason they reminded me of jellyfish in the ocean when viewed from afar. I don't know what they were, but they were everywhere. Their stems almost looked like asparagus.
This is a view from the trail looking down on part of this ghost town. It was probably about 8:30, and starting to cool down a little at this point. But we still took the time to look around.
This was my favorite building. It was the hotel and the the place to be during the boom of the town of Garnet. What fascinated me was the door on the second floor, with no stairs! You can see a beam above the door. Apparently they pulled the luggage up with the beam, and then brought it into the second floor via the door. It was said to have stained glass, and a beautiful front door during the day!
Steve said this was how they busted up the rocks, by drilling a hole in them and watching them split. I just thought it was an interesting picture of metal tools stuck in a rock!
This is another shot of the back end of the ghost town. There were many buildings to see, and another trail that led off to the mines. But by the time we saw that trail, it was 9:30, way past my shot and bed-time, and I thought it would take us as long to get back to the trailer as it did getting to the ghost town.
We actually got down and back to the trailer quickly. I'll post about the rest of the trip tomorrow!
