Tag Archives: Kootenai Falls

A very nice advantage of Blogging

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11

I received this email recently

Hi Jim,

My name is Molly. However my maiden name is Molly Blackwell and I’m originally from libby,  MT.  A  friend of mine sent me a link to you’re blog about Blackwell Flats.  And I have to say I enjoyed it very much.  I grew up I that very same spot and spent much of my childhood fly fishing right there.

My grandfather Lewis Blackwell moved to libby from Billings to build the libby dam. There was nothing out there so just above blackwell flats he built blackwell trailor court and that was for the men and their family’s building the dam.  it stayed long after the dam was built and turned into its own tiny town.  Laundry,  gas station,  grocery store….my aunt drove a garbage truck while my dad and uncle dumped the garbage.  Years after it closed Blackwell flats came to be and it was named after my grandfather. Just a little history.  Thank you for the story.  My grandpa would have loved to know it was being enjoyed.

Molly

I wrote her back asking permission to post her email on my blog.  Shen then wrote me the following email.

You can absolutely share that story…. There is a lot of fun history about libby.  We lived off hwy 2 heading towards troy.  So we were all over those trails and swinging bridge growing up.  If you get the chance the movie,  a river wild,  with kevin bacon and meryl streep was filmed at those falls. Also in the early 90’s I believe the movie,  always,  with john goodman was filmed on the other side towards kalispell out at the “airport”. I also read your other blogs about libby and the falls.  I just really enjoyed them all and it made me home sick. Thank you

Molly

Thrilled to get that email

It always makes me feel good when someone lets me know they enjoyed my blog.  But to have someone who actually grew up in that area is really special.  Then you get a sense of what it was like for them growing up.

I visited Libby back in June/July, 2013. just after my trip into Canada.  No one had mentioned Libby to me, but I just thought it looked interesting.  What a treasure that was.  Plus the camping was very cheap.

There are two blog posts that Molly is referring to:

https://jimbosjourneys.com/2013/06/27/blackwell-flats-campground-part-1/

and

https://jimbosjourneys.com/2013/06/27/blackwell-flats-campground-part-2/

There are several other blog posts about the Libby, MT area which you can read.  I loved this area and would highly recommend it to anyone traveling in Montana.

Pics from my stay in Libby.

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Thanks Molly!!

Thanks Molly for the wonderful emails and a bit of history about Blackwell Flats and the Libby area.  It brought back great memories of my trip there.

Kootenai Falls, MT

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7

Kootenai Falls were spectacular

The last thing I wanted to do before leaving the Libby area was to hike to the Kootenai falls.  I was going to drive out there Monday since I thought I would be driving east when leaving Libby, however after talking to Butch, the camp host, he suggested driving a different route to the Missoula area.

This would take me past the falls so I decided to head to the laundromat and did about two weeks of dirty clothes.  I’m glad I got that done so I wouldn’t need to look for a laundromat later on down the road.

So I got all hooked up and headed west toward Troy, MT.  The falls were about 11 miles out of Libby and you could tell where they were by all the parked RVs and cars.

It was a short hike to a swinging bridge where you could get a great view of the river.  There were signs posted stating how dangerous the river is in the spot.  Nine people have lost their lives including rescuers attempting to save others.  I hiked to the swinging bridge and took this pic from it.

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This was taken from the trail leading to the bridge.

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Finally as I was returning I discovered a trail that led closer to the falls.  What a view this was.

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Heading South

My plan was to head west and then south to Thompson Falls, MT.  But as I was traveling down Highway 200 I noticed along the Noxon Reservoir many signs indicating National Forest campgrounds.  I decided to stop for a minute and check in my “Free Campgrounds” book what was available in the area.  I found many in the area and headed for the North Shore NFS Campground just outside of the town of Trout Creek, MT.  What a find!

There were quite a few campers there but I was lucky to find a nice site among the trees.  It also looked like it might be a good spot for my solar panels as well.  Plus the cost was only $5 per night with my “Geezer Card”.  I paid for two nights and got settled in.

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I am behind on my blogging and I apologize, but unfortunately I have been in areas where I have very poor Internet access.  Sometimes I can get on and other times forget it.  As far as uploading pics it is very slow.  The pics in this post took between 20-30 minutes EACH.  I can normally upload 10-15 pics in just a few minutes with a good Internet signal.  I am hoping I can catch up once I get to Missoula tomorrow.