A scenic cruise down the Inside Road

When I tell people that when I was first on the North Fork (1947) that the Inside Road from Polebridge and the West Side road each took the same time to drive to Belton or Columbia Falls, they have trouble believing me.

Nevertheless, it’s true. The West Side, North Fork Road, is vastly improved. Earliest work was done in the mid-1950s by the U.S. Forest Service. They improved the road from Columbia Falls to the north of Whale Creek to facilitate logging of the spruce trees infected by spruce bark beetles.

Since then, of course, much more has been done. The road is now a highway from Columbia Falls to Canyon Creek, and the Federal Highway Administration has done major road-bed work from Canyon Creek to Camas Junction. Also since the 1950s, Glacier Park put in the Camas Bridge and a paved road to Belton (now West Glacier).

But after World War II until the mid-1950s, it was different. The Inside Road was used as much by residents as the road to Columbia Falls. Also the mail carrier, Ralph Day, brought North Fork mail from Belton, not Columbia Falls as it is today.

In recent years, the Inside Road has mostly been closed. Errant stream and river erosion, major fires in 2001 and 2003, plus a lack of money made it seem like it might never reopen. In fact, I have accused the Park of intentionally keeping it closed.

I was wrong again, and it is now open to the public from Fish Creek Campground to Polebridge and on to Kintla Lake Campground. The section from Kintla Lake turnoff to the international border has been abandoned for years.

I used to like to travel the Inside Road at least once a year but have not been on it in over a decade. Took a drive down it this week on a beautiful sunny day. Due to the recent repairs, the road is probably a little better than I remembered it.

Even so, it’s much the same as it was in 1950, mostly a 20 mph road. It’s still narrow, has sharp curves and is dusty, but slowing down minimizes the dust. Anaconda Hill is still steep, with loose rock and over a mile long.

There are still marvelous areas where you drive through groves of old growth ponderosa pine, larch and spruce. The meadows, fringed with yellow quaking aspen, are also as remembered. There have been changes, though.

The Red Bench, Moose and Robert fires all passed over the Inside Road and made major changes. The 1988 Red Bench Fire area now has 10-foot-plus lodgepole pine, and that limits the view from the road, although the river overlook points are great.

Where the Moose and Robert fires crossed, there are new vistas of the mountains, punctuated by snags from the fire, and new growth lodgepole coming up underneath.

Altogether a great drive and well worth the extra time. It took me more than two hours from Polebridge to Fish Creek, but I stopped to take scenic photos. I urge you to take a trip into the North Fork as it was.