ELKHORN HOT SPRINGS AND HOME FRIES

I am sitting in my jammies under a giant 6 x 6 elk head in the darkened lobby of Elkhorn Hot Springs and Lodge in Polaris, Montana under the light of the only lamp that is on tonight. It is only 9:00 pm. A few moments ago, I walked over from the Hot Springs building after my soak for the night. The stars are very, very bright tonight; a faint smudge of the Milky Way streaks across the sky. It is so cold that on the short trek back my body, even heated up from the hot springs pool, began to chill as we walked the short distance from the pools to the lodge. But now I am warm, sitting in my little pool of light, thinking about how vastly different are the lives of people that intentionally shuck the business of business in the city to live more simply in remote villages like this.

Besides my son Daniel and me, there were a handful of lively young people playing beach ball in the smaller of the two outdoor pools of the Springs. I spoke to one young man who is living the life here in remote Montana, working three days a week at the very local ski resort, Maverick Mountain, trying to make enough with that and occasional other work in the Polaris Valley to live in a place that bleeds serenity. I have met people like this – people who work in Yellowstone or Glacier or other remote Western villages. You can often find them at the day’s end at places like this hot springs or at the local watering hole.

I don’t like to use the word ‘rustic’ to describe these remote mountain places. To say that Elkhorn Resort is rustic is so subjective. Some people would consider the hotels and homes in Vail, Colorado ‘rustic’ for example, but that kind of very planned and very perfect rusticism is a far cry from the eclectic themes of places like this. Elkhorn’s main decorations in the lodge are hunting trophy heads and Audubon-like drawings of trophy heads. The 6x6 elk and another enormous trophy head of a moose have the prime corner over the sofas. I am guessing that in its long history, this place has been a popular hunting lodge. I would say Elkhorn lies somewhere between shabby and chic without really being either one of them. Their website calls their décor “spartan” but it is also clean and warm and homey which suits me just fine.
 

I’m sure when they are very busy, the barman bustles at the old bar in the main gathering room of the lodge. But it is a Sunday night in the middle of January. Only two of us are staying in the main lodge tonight with another two staying in one of the rustic cabins on the property. The lodge has the feel of a big family house where you are a guest, expected to get your own water from the tap behind the bar and to feel free to top off your coffee in the morning. Where you are welcome to bring your late night snacks down to the tables set for tomorrow morning’s breakfast and to pull a brew out of the bar frig late at night as long as you leave a note to add it to your bill.

Getting to Elkhorn from Missoula means driving through yet another of Montana’s astonishing valleys, the Bitterroot. Small towns break up the unending range land, mountains paralleling on either side. On this trip, snow starts at the edge of the road and runs all the way in an unending blanket to the top of the mountains on both sides.

Long past Hamilton, the 4-land divided road becomes narrower and snow blew across road the closer we got to the valley called Big Hole. We had not had cell service for miles. The road stays mostly clear until we get past Big Hole, the locus of one of the biggest mistakes in the Indian Wars – a massacre that killed many innocent Nez Pierce women and children and nearly wiped out the troops that did the killing. The Big Hole valley is wide and luscious – certainly a valley worth fiercely defending as the Nez Pierce did.

Leaving the Big Hole, we drove through Wisdom and Jackson, small towns with a few ranches and several summer cabins punctuate the snowy landscape. It is good to be reminded that it is still possible to find small, local places like this one. We finally arrive at Polaris and then Elkhorn Hot Springs, our destination for the next few days. Where we find the locals outnumber visitors in January but treat them as old friends. 

No one locks their door here. We were not given a key for our room upstairs. “You don’t need one.” the guy taking the money for the rooms and handing out the towels at the hot springs pool says. Neighbors are neighbors here. Implicit is that you will be a good neighbor too.

Tomorrow Daniel and I are on the hunt for good cross-country skiing. We have been assured that we will find that abounds in the forest roads closed for the winter. Just strap on those skinny skis and go. Between the skiing, the stars, the hot springs and the well-prepared full egg and home fries breakfast we were presented as part of our 'package', I think we will leave Elkhorn feeing well cared for indeed.