Distinctly Montana Magazine

Northwest Montana Graves Creek (S.F. Flathead) Description You will fall in love with this place. The Jewel Basin is just to the west, Hungry Horse Reservoir to the east; Handkerchief Lake, innumerable waterfalls, and some nice campsites will more than entice you to come back. Graves Creek Falls is just upstream from the bridge that crosses the road with the small trail heading upstream from a small pullout picnic area. Below the bridge, the creek flows into the reservoir but not before careening off one last glistening cascade. A mile above Handkerchief Lake you'll find a pull-out in the road displaying Sun and Moon Falls, a nearly sheer drop surrounded by low-hanging brush. This section of the creek has recently been discovered as a high quality but very difficult kayaking run. Hiking from the trailhead just up the road from Sun and Moon Falls will bring you to a series of waterfalls and cascades, in fact more than you can count. Be sure to explore these. Have fun! Access From Hungry Horse drive south on the West Side Road (Forest Road 895) 33.6 miles to NFDR 9796. Turn right onto NFDR 9796 and drive 1.0 miles to NFDR 897. Turn right onto NFDR 9796 and drive 300 yards to a small parking area on the left next to Graves Creek. History Hungry Horse Dam was completed in 1953 and is 564 feet high. Hungry Horse Reservoir is 34 miles long covering an area of almost 24,000 acres. It is named after an incident that happened during the winter of 1900-1901, 32 From the Introduction: (Waterfalls are sublime). Thus, the two of us were driven to search through countless maps, to go out in all seasons, driving to sometimes very remote areas of Montana, to hear, see, and discover this most beautiful phenomenon of nature. There have been many times that nestled into our tents, we glowed with joy from yet another phenomenal discovery… Sit quietly next to a waterfall and you will surely discover how meditative and calming the experience can be. The diversity of Montana waterfalls is a result of geology. Much of the western and northwestern part of the state is overlain by very old — 900 million years and greater — sedimentary mudstones. This makes for a plethora of angular and sheer drops, depending on the tilt of the rock. Toward the center of the state and in parts of the western area are mountainous intrusions of granitic, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks supporting waterfalls that vary greatly in form. They range from twisting cascades following faults and fissures into emerald green pools, to bulbous, onion-layered granite waterslides flowing through multi-channeled micro-gorges. ~ Larry and Nathan Johnson when two freight horses wandered away up the South Fork of the Flathead River. They were found a month later in deep snow, starving and weak. The story goes that they were able to be slowly nursed back to health. The name stuck. Western Montana Morrell Falls Description The Morrell Falls National Historic Trail is a 2.3-mile hike into the Lolo National Forest. This is a fairly easy day hike that really doesn't have any steep grades to it. The trail leads through tightly spaced stands of Lodgepole pine, past the 23-acre Morrell Lake and on to a series of waterfalls. Towards the end of the trail you wind around a marsh, and then you hear the falls. Just past an old-growthtimber stand, the view opens onto a small clearing and 90' Morrell Falls. Access From Seeley Lake drive north morrell Falls 0.25 miles to Cottonwood Lakes Road (FR 447). Take the first left at the fork, then go 2 miles to West Morrell Road (FR 467). Turn north for 7 miles to Pyramid Pass Road. Drive only 0.25 mile north to Morrell Falls Road (FR 4369). Turn north again one mile to the trailhead. History Seeley Lake is one part of the Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes. There are 24 or more lakes in the Clearwater River Valley. These lakes — which include Salmon Lake, Seeley Lake, Lake Inez, Lake Alva and Rainy Lake — are easily accessed via Montana State Highway 83, and most have developed campgrounds nearby. From its headwaters in the Swan Range in Lolo National Forest, the Clearwater River flows south to its confluence with the Blackfoot River near the D I ST I N CT LY M ONTANA • SU M M ER 2 013

• Cover