FL9

After lunch on October 15th we left the WalMart at Kalispell, MT with a freshly patched tire and headed back out of civilization.  We had paralled a branch line from Columbia Falls down to Kalispell on our way in, and having done no advance research, I assumed it was operated by the BNSF.  The error of this assumption came suddenly to our attention when we overtook an SW-1500 and a GP35 lugging a string of cars north towards Columbia Falls.

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Sunday morning on October 15th was overcast when we awakened, but no rain yet.  While Judy was getting dressed for breakfast, I walked down the path from the caboose to an opening in the fence between the hiking/cross country skiing trails and the BNSF yard for this picture of one of the helper sets at rest.

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In today’s chapter of our October 2006 Montana trip, we will finally finish off Saturday the 14th.  After leaving the rugged beauty of Lake McDonald behind, Judy and I started back towards Essex along Highway 2.  The radio indicated we had two eastbound trains coming up behind us, so I pulled over at a spot known as “Ken’s Curve,” named after a forest service employee and railfan who cleared out the trees to open up this view before his tragic death in a plane crash a few years ago.  I would really have liked to catch a westbound train here, but it was not in the cards for this afternoon.  The first eastbound was an empty grain train.

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Tonight we will take another brief respite from train pictures, as after catching the meet at Belton, Judy and I decided to visit Glacier National Park.  It cost $25.00 to get in at West Glacier, but it was worth it to see the scenery even for our brief visit.  We drove along the southern shore of Lake McDonald, and paused at one of the lookouts for this view looking east up the length of the lake.

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