Photo Blog 002: Kalispell, Montana

Photo Blog 002: Kalispell, Montana

Regions explored: Kalispell, the Swan Mountain Range (pictured below) and the surrounding areas.

Sensory Photo Blogs - These blog posts are designed to transport you to the places we’ve visited and explored, I’ll try to include some specific details to bring your senses into the reading experience. I’ll keep the text short on these new style blog posts and let the images do the majority of the talking, thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy my new photo-blog series.

We had the unique opportunity to travel to Kalispell and Glacier National Park for a tourism photography project I was working on with the Journals of Lost Time. It was amazing getting to explore the awesome town that is Kalispell, MT while the peaks from Glacier National Park stared at us from the distance. I would liken Kalispell to be similar to Estes Park (here in Colorado) a town situated perfectly outside a popularly visited and explored National park. There’s an awesome mix of eateries, breweries and endless adventure activities that surround this quaint Montana town, with a population of 26,000 locals. If you’re near Glacier National Park and need a jump off point, Kalispell should be the perfect spot to stay, eat and drink while leaving you only 45 mins from the entrance gates to America’s gem. During our trip and partnership with the tourism board, we explored and experienced the following activities: kayaking on the expansive Flathead Lake, paddleboarding down the Flathead River, llama-packing and hiking with Llama Treks which took us into the extremely picturesque Swan Mountain Range and wilderness area for an overnight llama-lead backpacking excursion.

Sensory Memories:
-Local Montana Beer …It was delightful to check out the local beers brewed right in Kalispell, if you’re looking for a brewery to check out be sure to stop by Kalispell Brewing or any of the other awesome breweries in their downtown area.
-Llama Packing …This is a great activity for those who are outdoorsy but not necessarily sure about backpacking, the huge advantage with llama-packing is that the llama carries your gear for you and our amazing guides made us a warm meal as we settled into camp for the night. Be ware: llamas while cute when you first meet them, while hiking they tend to fart non stop… we found it pretty funny, until we’re at level and they decided to take a poop while hiking down the trails. Look out for that
-Our Llama… his name was Raffie, and he was super rasta kinda dude. He wouldn’t stop eating, the entire hike in
-Our guides… Placing the Llamas around camp like turrets (apparently bears don’t like llamas and are afraid of them
-Ceres Bakery in Town …damn-good buttery croissants, some amazing baked goods and a super humble story from the owner.
-Favorite Meal: Mercantile Steak
-Best Coffee in town: Ceres Bakery
-Tasty Lunch: Desoto Grill
-Can’t Miss It: Hiking into the views of the Swan Mountain Range

Pictured above: cocktails from Mercantile steak, paddle boarding views looking into Glacier NP floating down the Flathead River, kayaking flathead lake and tasting endless baked goods from Ceres bakery in the town of Kalispell, Montana.

The hike we did was stunning, the wilderness areas that surround Kalispell are some of the most remote wilderness in the lower 48 and eventually lead into the Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park. Once again, when the views got spectacular we could see the Swan Mountains in one direction and were able to peek into Glacier looking Northwest from this trail

As I think back to some of my other core memories from this trip… we could start to see the beginning of fall in this region as the foilage and colors began changing at higher elevations, if you want to catch fall in Montana this is an amazing time to plan a trip. I’d imagine their peak colors wouldn’t hit until Mid-Late September… but there was this unique mix of winter slowly creeping into the high peaks and this golden, red, and orange foilage lighting up the trail every corner we turned. This was amazing to witness… the trail seemed prettier on the way out, like the colors had almost changed over night.

Want to follow along with all my adventures?! Check out my page on Instagram — @fr33water on IG!
Read the full article over on the Journals of Lost Time - Put a Spell on You
Special thank you to Discover Kalispell, Journals of Lost Time and Dave & Matt Vans for making this trip possible. Until next time,
-Frankie S. @fr33water

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Contact me for collaborations or if you want to partner with me on a tourism assignment: f.spontelli22@gmail.com OR fr33water@gmail.com