Bitterroot River B&B

Valentines Day 2010 Mystery Dinner

2010-02-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Participants at the Mystery Dinner we hosted for Valentines Day.

Winter on the Bitterroot

2009-12-23T17:21:00.001-08:00

A few recent photos

Fire, Fish and Snow

2009-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Some pics of the Kootenai Creek Fire, fish caught at the B&B and our first snow of the season, which will hopefully put the fire out.

Bear Creek, Bitterroot Mountains

2009-08-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

Did some Crik fishin' yesterday.

Fish

2009-08-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

A few fishy pictures snapped on the river in front of the B&B this morning.

Kootenai Creek Fire

2009-08-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

While doing a little fishing this afternoon, I looked up at the fire and there were huge plumes of flame clearly visible from the river near the B&B. I snapped these with my cell phone, but they do not do justice to the amazing huge flames that can be seen from miles away.

Pontoon Boat Day

2009-08-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to float the river from the B&B to the Stevi bridge today. It was great. I threw one of the cruiser bikes in the back of the pickup and drove to the bridge. I left the truck there and rode the bike back to the B&B. That took about a half hour. I packed a lunch and rolled my pontoon boat down to the river using the special wheel assembly that I made myself by gluing together some PVC pipe and fittings. I started floating at about 1pm. At about 1:30 I stopped on a secluded sand bar and ate my lunch of sandwich, pretzels and beer. I watched some large trout feeding nearby and tried a few lazy casts. Back in the water I came to a pod of feeding trout and caught one while I was floating. I pulled over and fished from shore for a while and caught a beautifully colored cutthroat, about 12 inches. I found an abandoned cooler roped to an inner-tube and another inner-tube near the river bank. The cooler had trash and a few unopened beverages in it. I left it all there, thinking that someone was probably coming back to retrieve it. I wonder what the circumstances were? Hope everyone was OK. I floated on down to the bridge and took a nice swim with some little kids near the take-out. The wheel assembly worked great to roll the boat up to the pickup. I was back at the B&B by 3 pm. I should do this every day!

Floatin' the Bitterroot

2009-08-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

When the temperature soars into the 90's, it seems that the whole valley heads for the river, especially on a Sunday afternoon. I snapped this photo of a group of rafters that stopped in front of the B&B for a while on Sunday (with my cell phone). What a great way to spend a hot afternoon. The River is fishing great and who can resist a dip in the refreshing water when it is sooo hot!

Waders

2009-07-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

It is great to see our fishing guests drying their waders on our deck railing again. Lots of waders have dried on that railing over the past few summers. The fishing is really picking up now with warm dry weather and clear water in the River. I fished in front of the B&B last night and there were at least 6 different hatches going on a the same time. Bugs everywhere and fish rising all around me, but I could not find the bug they were eating. The skeeters were eating me, so I gave up after I caught one fish, a whitefish!

Riding 4 Hope

2009-07-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

We recently donated a room to the Riding4Hope team. They are two 16-year-old identical twins and their father who are riding bicycles coast to coast, about 4,000 miles, in 43 days. Their support vehicle driver, Skip, stayed with us for the night, while the riders stayed at the Stevensville Hotel. The team is raising funds and awareness for the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, where they live, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Check out their website and daily updates of their progress at http://www.riding4hope.org/.

Happy July 4th to Everyone!

2009-07-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day! Our busy season is upon us! All four rooms at the B&B are full for 4 out of the next 5 nights and we have guests every night for the next 10 nights. All of the summer weekends are filling up fast. We are so happy to have so many great visitors! Thanks for all of your patronage. Saturday is the annual July 4th Stevensville Pignick where the whole town shows up for a pot luck and the local emergency services folks cook up some mighty fine rosted pork. Here are a few pics from last year.

Bicyclists Visit

2009-06-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

We had a group of bicyclists from the Chigago area visit the Bed and Breakfast yesterday. It was rainy, so it was good that they were able to hang out on the porch, out of the weather. There were eight guys, all of them at or near retirement age. Two of our rooms were reserved, so they stayed in the other two rooms using cots and a blow-up bed. Two individuals pitched tents in the front yard. We had to feed our guests (11 total) in shifts this morning, because everyone could not be seated at the table at the same time. We served Apple Oat Cakes, chicken-artichoke-smoked gouda cheese sausage, fresh ground Indonesian coffee, and fresh cantelope. Mmmm.

Cottonwood "ship"

2009-05-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

We were sitting in the den with some friends the other night and one of them noticed this big tree floating down the runoff-swollen river. We ran outside on the deck and snapped a few photos and this video. It looked like a ship floating by.

2009-05-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

I made my first-ever backcountry ski trip on the last day of April, 2009 (Thursday). I skied with my friend Cathy Locatelli, who is the daughter of Mario Locatelli, known as the Montana Mountain Goat. Mario has recently published a book, The Mountain Goat Chronicles, that Cathy helped write, about his life, and his passion for climbing and skiing many of the tallest peaks in Montana and around the world. My wife Shelley and I served on the Lost Trail Ski Patrol with Cathy and her sister Angela, about 20 years ago. I had a difficult time keeping up with Cathy, a seasoned backcountry skiier who learned well from her dad about how to climb up and ski down a mountain. We skied the chute above the Grubstake Restaurant on the face of the Bitterroots just west of Hamilton, MT. Looking down at Hamilton and the Bitterroot River, we were skiing about 6 inches of light fluffy powder. Simply amazing!

Spring Runoff 2009

2009-04-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

The runoff has officially started. The River is muddy and has come up quite a bit in the last few days.

What is wrong with this sign?

2009-04-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

I walk past this sign almost every day. I just noticed something. Read the last line regarding the Cemetery hours.

Spring with Ziggy

2009-04-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Over this past weekend, my big brother Chris and his wife Carol brought their new dog, Ziggy, over to get acquainted with our dog Tara. Ziggy is a 4-month old Cairn Terrier weighing in at about 12 lbs. Tara is our ultra-friendly pit, weighing in at about 55 lbs. The two terriers hit it off splendidly and we had a great weekend in the warm spring sunshine. Ziggy is a much better lap dog than Tara.

Montana Telemark Skiing

2009-02-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

I decided to learn to tele ski this winter. I enrolled in a clinic at our local area, Lost Trail Powder Mountain with some friends from Stevensville. It has been great fun and I am starting to be able to link tele turns on the groomed runs. After a 16-inch snow at Lost Trail we attempted to ski some tracked bumps on a steeper run, and I learned just how many ways you can fall on tele skis without serious injury. Here are a few pictures taken at Blacktail Mountain Ski Area, a few hours drive to the north, during a temperature inversion. Driving up to the ski area we popped out of the gloom into bright sunshine and we could look down on the sea of fog with only the highest mountain tops poking out into the sunshine. Flathead Lake is out there under the fog somehwere.

2008-11-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago our Town sponsored a scarecrow contest. There were lots of entries lining the walkway along the Stevi cutoff road right at the entrance to downtown. Our entry for the Bitterroot River Bed and Breakfast titled "Fish For Breakfast" featured a 5-foot long rainbow trout seated and enjoying his breakfast; some trout bait and an over-sized dry fly. Here are some pics of ours and a few other entries.

Summer Over?

2008-09-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

We had heavy rain yesterday and this morning, St. Mary is wearing a new white cap. Hard to believe that when we were up there a few short weeks ago, we were overheated and dehydrated from the hot and dry conditions. Today, SNOW. The beautiful cool and clear weather here over the past few days has been spectacular.

St Mary's Peak

2008-08-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

Looking out toward the west from the B&B we have a prominent view of St. Mary's peak, which sits at about 9,300 feet. We had visitors at the B&B from Finland and they hiked to the top one afternoon and shared the experience at breakfast. I realized that I had never been up there and was inspired to do it. My wife Shelley and I made the hike with good friends Mike and Janet and our dog Tara. Here are a few photos from the top.

Willows

2008-08-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

We have started planting more willows along the river bank in our continued effort to stabilize it and prevent further erosion from high water in the spring. With the help of our neighbors and their visiting family and friends we planted about 100 willows in a couple of hours yesterday. Most were planted near the water, but I planted a few up on the bank. These will have to be watered regularly.

A few of the willows we planted last summer survived the flooding this spring and we hope that we will have even better success this year. As always, predicting what the river is going to do is a gamble. We will plant another 2oo in the weeks to come.

Gonefishin

2008-07-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

The Bitterroot is fishing great, with good clarity and still plenty of water in the river. I have been able to get out a few times to float and wade fish out in front of our B&B. The fish are really feeding on the surface, especially just after the sun goes down behind St. Mary peak. The river has changed a bunch, but I am starting to find the new fish hiding places. This is a photo of some of our long time guests and friends that recently spent a few weeks with us fishing and relaxing.

Annual Stevi "Pignick"

2008-07-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

We attended the Stevensville "Pignick" today. Each year the Stevensville Fire Fighters Association cooks up a bunch of roast pork and much of the town shows up at Lewis and Clark Park with side dishes and desserts. There was old-timey live music and a great time eating and visiting with good friends and neighbors.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

The weather is beautiful this weekend. We spent much of the day outside yesterday attending the grand opening of the new River Otter Fly Shop, in Florence, about 10 miles north of here. The day included good food, good beer, fly tying demos, rod and reel demos, drift boat displays, live music and lots of good conversation in the hot sun.

Snow

2008-06-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Our cool spring continues and this morning, we woke to a mix of rain and snow! The picture shows the snow line a thousand feet or so above the valley floor. We are expected to get more snow in the valleys tonight with a heavy snow warning from the weather service.

Summer's almost here

2008-05-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

We didn't loose much ground to the river, but looking downstream you can see the pieces of sod and topsoil that have fallen in the river.

Here is a closeup of the sod chunks. As the river continues to fall, it will be interesting to see if any of the willows we planted last year are still hanging on.

Aftermath

2008-05-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

Looks like the worst of the flooding is over for the time being. Although the weather remains wet and cool, the river has dropped significantly, allowing us to get a glimpse of the new order of things along the shore line.

Good News, Bad News

2008-05-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

The good news is that the temperatures have cooled significantly over the last two days. The high today will be in the low 50's. The bad news is that it is raining. We had a pretty good thunderstorm Tuesday night, and there is a steady light rain today. The flow in the river has leveled off and is dropping a bit. Rain is in the forecast for several more days. Lets hope that the rain is light and the river will continue dropping.

Lakefront Pasture

2008-05-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

The low-lying pasture to the north is looking more like a lake this morning. The river is supposed to peak today. Our property has fared pretty well so far, with only minor sloughing of the bank.

Goodbye Old Friends

2008-05-19T09:43:00.001-07:00

I happened to be looking out the window when the last of the Cottonwoods on the point started leaning so I grabbed the camera and shot this as they fell.

Another one bites the dust

2008-05-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

We lost another large cottonwood last night and as you can see by the picture, the river water is up all around the remaining stand of trees. It looks like we may loose all of them. The pasture to the north is quickly filling with water and the fence where the shoreline used to be is submerged and dangling in the river. Wow.

Cottonwood last Stand

2008-05-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

The large cottonwood trees on the point just north of our property are losing the battle against the river. One or two have fallen today and at least one more will go before it is over. The water has just started coming over the bank in the pasture to the north, and the fence line along the river bank here is starting to fall in to the river. Too bad the River is not fishable, 'cause I have been finding Skwala stoneflys all over the place today.

High Water

2008-05-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

The high temperature was 86 yesterday and will be close to 90 today and tomorrow. That is about 25 degrees above normal for this time of year. As you will see from the little movie I shot today, the Bitterroot is approaching flood stage.

The Bitterroot Mountains

2008-05-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

May 13 and there is still lots of snow waiting to melt. We took this picture from our back porch yesterday. This is looking south across the River to the Bitterroot Range. The cottonwoods along the River are just starting to leaf-out. The temperatures are supposed to reach the low to mid-eighties later this week. With 150% of normal snowpack we are expecting flood stage early next week.

Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

The temperature is supposed to get up to about 75 today. Feels like summer! I mowed the lawn for the first time this season. The trees are just starting to get their leaves and the Mountains are still holding lots and lots of snow. Here I am in my pontoon boat checking out the beginnings of the spring runoff. We also had a marmot out front this morning, doing some major excavation work. I noticed the dirt flying up out of the ground, then he surfaced and rested in the sun for a while.

Spring Runoff

2008-05-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung on the Bitterroot. The grass is greening up and warmer weather seems to be taking a tenuous foothold. The River flow is increasing as the runoff begins in earnest. We are hopeful that our riverbank will hold this year. This picture was taken in May of 2006 when unseasonably warm weather combined with a 120% of normal snowpack and we lost a substantial chunk of ground to the River.

We have planted 300 willow plants along the waterline in an attempt to hold the bank against the encroaching water. We plan to plant another 300 this year, after the runoff subsides in June. The water is still fairly clear and it is fishing pretty well.

quick virtual tour

2008-04-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a very quick virtual tour of the B&B.