DISCREET PAL ATE
Text by Kay Bjork
Photography by Steve Wolff
Off the grid and up the North Fork
Northern Lights Saloon
f you want to take a trip to Polebridge on a Wednesday night for pizza and beer
at Northern Lights Saloon, it's not only a drive – it's an adventure. Located 35 miles
northwest of Columbia Falls, Montana, 22 miles from the Canadian border and near
the northwest entrance into a less-traveled portion of Glacier National Park, the tiny
community is off the grid – no electricity, no cell phone coverage and a place where
wildlife outnumber residents. Taking the Camas Road from West Glacier to the seven
miles of gravel road that winds along the North Fork of the Flathead River, you will
sense that you are heading away from things – not necessarily to them – to a place
where the remoteness has preserved the simplicity and charm of an earlier day.
I
The little log saloon sits near the northwest gateway into Glacier National Park.