Tag Archives: Lolo Hot Springs

6/30/2019 Lolo Hot Springs and Rollins, MT

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Lolo Hot Springs is a tiny little nowhere about 20 minutes outside of Lolo, MT. They have created a small resort area along the Lolo Creek with a restaurant/bar, the hot springs and pool area, a lodge for those allergic to camping, horse riding trails, and the RV/tent area across the road. The RV sites leave a lot to be desired, rutted grass/mud and not delineated at all, with W/E only (30A) and a dilapidated dump station on site. Prairie dogs are everywhere! But it is a very scenic canyon area with a great possibility for critter sightings. We passed a herd of Elk on our way out from Lolo.

Our home at Lolo Hot Springs.
The Lolo Creek runs right alongside the RV Park.
The hot springs and pool area.
Lolo Hot Springs Lodge, Bar, and Restaurant. 
They do horsey rides here at Lolo Hot Springs.
The prairie dogs, always on alert… 
…and ALWAYS, one of my favorite critters!

We took the opportunity to soak in the hot springs. They built a concrete pool around the natural springs and enclosed it in a wood frame structure. The water was definitely hot and relaxing on those tense neck muscles…

Jeanne, soaking in the springs…
The water did not have the really heavy mineral smell usually found in hot springs.

The only place to ride bicycles here was along Hwy. 93. We quickly ruled that out based on the way the locals drive out here – you would think they are racing at the Daytona 500!  So we settled on a road trip into Lolo & Missoula for some urban exploring. In Lolo we found the Lolo Peak Brewing Co. for a little brew tasting. We were underwhelmed there, but made up for it at our next find. The Lolo Creek Distillery is a new venture and right now they are producing gin and vodka in various flavors. Their honey-huckleberry vodka was very tasty, I could use it as a “sippin’ vodka”. While there, I just had to try the “Rip ’N’ Lips”, a Lolo Creek Distillery relative to a Moscow Mule. Tasty, not too much jalapeno…

Some of the offerings at Lolo Peak Brewing.
Welcome to the Lolo Creek Distillery.
The magic machine that creates the gin and vodka.
Established in 2017. I guess that makes it fairly new..
Have a Rip ’N’ Lips on me!
We temporarily rescued one of these kids from the big bad distiller man, only to become a victim later, poured over rocks!

Another road trip day for us took us farther west along the Lolo Creek and the Lochsa River to the Lolo Pass Visitor Center. As usual, scenery was not lacking, and we got fleeting glimpses of a moose and a black bear…so fleeting we had no time to snap a photo. They did a nice job on this visitor center, there are some displays, a short nature trail, souvenir shop, and overall rest stop. The ground squirrels were colorful and plentiful. On our way back we stopped at the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove and took the short walk through the cedars and along the river.

The Lolo Pass Visitor’s Center.
The main display room at the visitor’s center.
Inside the display room.
Hinmatoowyalahtqit, if you really HAVE to know his name. Common spelling. I just call him Chief Joseph.
A little history lesson…
…and more history lessons… 
Ground squirrels were EVERYWHERE! 
A section of the Lochsa River Fishery. 
Jeanne on the walkabout at the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove. 
A shot along the Lochsa River from the Cedar Grove trail.
I’m just funnin’ with this huge, uprooted rootball from a massive cedar tree… 
Sign found between Lolo and Lolo Hot Springs. My profanity laced brain could not resist this photo op. I’m surprised the county can keep these signs in stock… 

Moving day we headed back north on Hwy. 93 to the megalopolis of Rollins, MT, which is right on Flathead Lake. Rollins Restaurant & RV Park was home for a week. It was a very nice facility, not real big (43 RV sites, 7 tent sites), with the restaurant and a meat shop on site. The meat shop offered, among other things, various meats (beef, buffalo, elk mostly), varieties of jerky, and varieties of cheese curds. 

Our terrible view out the front yard at our new home in Rollins.
Looking out over the top of the restaurant at Flathead Lake. What an eyesore…
The “bicycle” fence running along the front of the RV park. I had flashbacks to the Christo fence back in Sonoma County, CA way back when… 
The meat shop at Rollins Restaurant & RV Park. 
Cheese curds for sale.
The jerky wall at the meat shop.
Butchered meats from all kinda critters…
More of that ugly scenery inside the RV park. Somebody’s got to pull these weeds… 
Imagine having to look at this all day…
A loaded baked potato from the restaurant. Like Rodney Allen Rippey said, “It’s too big uh eat!”
The game room inside the clubhouse.
Typical RV sites on the grass.
Me and my two friends at the meat shop.
Jeanne clowning on the “bicycle” fence.
Just a regular sunrise on Flathead Lake, MT!

Not a lot of bicycle paths around here, but Jeanne did manage to find a section of The Great Northern Historical Trail, part of Rails To Trails of Northern Montana, that runs from Somers to Kila (22 miles one way). We got a clear day and got ready to load up for a bike ride, but I got tangled up with a bicycle pump and my low air front tire & wouldn’t you know it, brute strength and awkwardness led me to rip the stem from the tube. Minor change in plans, time for a road trip to the nearest bicycle shop which happened to be all the way into downtown Kalispell, Wheaton’s Cycle. If you ever happen to be in the area and in need of anything bicycle related, the folks at Wheaton’s are outstanding as far as customer service. They got us right in for an inner tube change and “bada-bing, bada-boom”, problem resolved. We hooked up with one of the Kalispell trailheads for the Great Northern Historical Trail and proceeded out along Hwy. 2 to the big city of Kila, about 11 miles one way. The trail was OK, paved at least, but I was kinda hoping for a little more wilderness and a lot less civilization. They do a nice job on their bicycle trails here, there were plenty of benches for rest stops, a picnic area, a port-o-potty and a pit toilet along the way. If we were expecting some wildlife sightings, we got disappointed in a big way. But hey, the blood got pumping and the air was fresh.

Jeanne gets ready to do battle with the Historical Trail… 
On the trail. 
Don’t see this much on bicycle trails… 
They had a nice bicycle repair station on the trail too! 

On our last day at Rollins, it just happened to be the best weather day for our whole stay, temps in the 70’s and low wind. KAYAK TIME!!! I say “low wind” before we ever set oar on the water at Flathead Lake. But once we got our Sea Eagle inflatable kayak under way, we quickly found out the “swirly” nature of the winds over the lake. After spinning a few donuts (not by choice), we figured out the rhythm and spent the next couple of hours cruising the shoreline between Rollins and Lakeside. It was a nice counter to the leg workout we got on the bikes the day before.

“Full speed astern!”
Not too choppy, but beautiful, ahem, I mean hideously ugly views across the water to the snow topped mountains.
I really hate to see our waterways seriously polluted like this. What a shame, somebody dumped all these rocks into the lake…(chrystal clear, ain’t it?!)
I also hate to see people have to live like this!
The camp host told us this is a privately owned island, the owner has the main residence/castle on the right and the “guest” cottage/mansion on the left.
A closer view… 

So tomorrow we suck up the jacks and we’re off to Kalispell. Until next post…

(Tech notes, part dieux…I have no idea how I did it but it looks like I replaced my missing photos from some of those earlier blog posts 2014-2015-ish. I still need to continue through to ensure no further pix are missing. Granted, my sharp-as-a-marble memory may have replaced some of the original pix with different ones, I just hope I did not post photos from Nevada that were actually from Wyoming!)