July 19 - Walk in the Treetops on Big Mountain, Whitefish, Mt.

Alarm wakes us up and we have our leisurely 2 hour breakfast and ready time before leaving for our 10am walk. It will be 2.5 hours 60'-70' above the ground with a guide to tell us all about the flora and fauna. We're very excited for this new adventure.

We reached Big Mountain and met our guides, Andrew & Kelsey, who lead and bring up the rear during our time in the treetops. They explain that we will ride up the mile to their base camp, get our equipment and then walk the half mile to the beginning of the walkway in the trees.

Our limo for the 1 mile ride.

Base camp in the middle of nowhere Big Mountain.

The ride was in an open-air wagon that Andrew pulled up the mountain and our group consists of four other women our age, a husband of equal age, and then a mother and 11 or 12 year old son team.  We clambered down out of the trail and into the windowed tent. Just inside the tent were fanny packs for our use with a bottle of water and energy bar. We grabbed one of each and sat down for our instructions on how to don our harnesses and rope carabiners with a double safety lock by looping our two ring ends through the tied loop at the other end.

We partnered up and then practiced on the short little walkway inside the tent as we announced, "One on!" and our partner responded, "One on!" followed by "Two On!" and then walking without leaving our partner behind since we had to repeat her one and two on announcement too. This exercise required clamping one D-ring at a time to each of two different arresting wires as a double safety precaution in case of a fall. Both ropes and wires would not fail...or so they say.

I can't get the sound to play! Let me know with a comment below if YOU can hear it.

We left our hats and car keys in the tent, put on our loaded fanny packs and headed for our half mile hike up the mountain trail. Andrew & Kelsey told us about many of the plants on the way and some were very unusual.

The Pathway plant used by hunters to follow their game into the woods. When stepped on, it turns over and points the way to the game.

Thimbleberry Plant. Edible. If you have too many and need to heed the call of nature, you could come back to get the leaves that are the "woods" version of Charmin. Note the 5 points.

Now THIS leaf looks the same but has 7 points and is called Devils' Club or a WalMart off-brand of tissue paper.

Twinberries. Poisonous.  

Made by the Spittlebug and it looks AND FEELS just like too! Yuk!

I think the scariest part of the Walk in the Treetops was getting on the first board. Andrew would stand on the board as Kelsey led the first person across. As Kelsey and company reached the center of the boardwalk, Andrew's end of the planks raised him up a good 2' which made stepping up there almost impossible. As they reached the opposite end, Andrew's board lowered him back to ground level and the next person stepped up.

The side guide rails and support cables were made from arresting wires used on aircraft carriers for the jet's tailhook so they could take a great deal of weight and stress easily. The boards on the other hand are checked and replaced each season but the wires remain in the treetops year round. The land for the Walk in the Treetops is leased from the Stoltze Lumber Co. who practice selective cutting of trees instead of the full-scale demolition of a side of a mountain.

After everyone had gone ahead across the first board, Andrew brought up the rear and it was pretty smooth walking after that initial step. There WERE two good inclines to some of the trees and we were able to stop and pause on two different tree stands and enjoy the view. It's really weird being at the top of a tree looking down instead of the other way around.

Walkway in the background.

Our 2.5 hour trip took 3 hours since everyone in our group was taking photos and having a ball! We reached the end of the hike, disappointed it was over, and hiked the half mile back down the mountain to our tent.

Rope & D rings disconnected, you wear them hooked together and around your neck for the downhill hike.

Modeling the latest in highline hiking.

Here we turned in our equipment and were able to sign the log of our great trip and guides before taking the "limo" ride back to the base lodge.

We just HAD to buy the t-shirt and, hopefully next time, we'll get a zip line t-shirt! I've got some serious talking to do to get Melodie on the line.

We ate lunch in the coolness of our car at the top of the mountain before heading back down. Our drive took us through Whitefish and, then in Columbia Falls, we saw IT! A winery with wine tastings 9 miles out of town. So, of course, we HAD to go check it out! Well, that 9 mile drive seemed to last forever through forests of no civilization. Melodie said, "If we start to hear banjos, we aren't stopping."

We ended up at The Flathead Lake Winery and tasted their wares. Perhaps more Christmas presents in my kids' stockings. We bought a bottle of the sweeter Huckleberry Wine for sharing between now and Tuesday when we leave for home. By the way, if you're in the market for a Montana home and/or winery, just look up Glacier Sotheby's for the listing.

Stopped by the Depot Park to see Thomas for my granddaughters and then checked out the location of the Whisky tasting shop very near our lodge. THAT will be for tomorrow after we do our last virtuous hike.