Wednesday, after our last adventure of scouting out waterfalls, a friend of ours loaned us a book of Montana waterfalls. So we decided to scout out North Crow Creek Falls. Like the last time it starts off with a dirt road heading to the mountains, turns into a two track, then a 4 wheel drive road. It ended at a small trail head. The hike in was about 2 miles, up hill with about a 750 ft. gain. The trail was visible, but not as well worn as we would have hoped. Over every hill there were beautiful vistas of the canyon we were going up.........................
We spotted this fall way up above us...................................
As we hiked closer it was evident by the sound that the falls were near. These falls are comprised of an upper fall which drops 22 feet into a pool that then slides down a granite chute and gives way to the lower falls.......... BEAUTIFUL. The sound of these falls is incredible..........
There is a bit of folk lore about these falls and an old gold prospector back in the late 1800's. It seems he was exploring these hills for gold and came across an exposed vein of gold that was about a foot wide and 100 feet long ! He chipped off a hand full sized nugget and went back to town where he told only family and close friends. The next day he snuck out of town with some dynamite and blew the ridge above the vein to cover the it up until he could file a claim and get some men together to dig it all up. He then died mysteriously the next day never disclosing the location except to say it was above these falls. Along our hike there were several granite cliffs and fields of stone that had fallen off of them that the trail went across. At each crossing we could not help but wonder is this where the gold is ????????????
Friday we road the tandem with 2 other couples from the park down the hill into Polson for the Farmers Market. Once again, the sticky bun did not last long enough to take a picture. When we got back we went swimming, took a shower, did some grocery shopping, and then hit a couple of local bars to do some research for places to hang out later this summer when our friends come out for a week. We ended up the night listening to a great band at the Finley Point Bar and Grill. A great place just up the road. It could be our new hang out...............
Saturday, Our third falls adventure takes us down to the Jocko valley about 20 minutes south of the resort and then about another 20 minutes into the mountains. The directions to the falls in the book were very inaccurate and it took us about an hour and a half to find them. They did not disappoint..........Jocko Falls.......................
The nice thing about these falls was you could pretty much drive right up to them (once you actually find them !).... Again the sound of the falls is amazing. We just sat on a large slab of granite along side in awe of Mother Nature......Back home we hit happy hour and had some dinner.
Today, Sunday, was the first day of our next work shift. Back in the groove of working around the park and meeting new people. One couple that came in today started full timing the same day we did. They too sold off everything and hit the road.............we are not the only nuts in the world.........Not looking back !
More to come !
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