I and my late wife
purchased our cabin property in the year 2000.
Our path to finding and purchasing the property proved long and
frustrating. To begin, Uyen and I had exacting
requirements. We wanted property
supporting a creek with trout, with at least one border adjoining forest
service holdings, and easy access by any automobile.
I will spare you the
long list of properties and issues we encountered. We looked for months and months. In July of 2000 we rode with some friends
down through the upper Blackfoot Valley while on our way to Big Fork for a
weekend stay. Before we left our house, Uyen
had printed a couple photos and a crude map for another property. As we neared the turnoff to the property, Uyen
told our friends about it and suggested we might swing in for a look.
“That’s okay,” I told
my friend (who was driving), “we don’t need to stop.” I didn’t want to put them out of the way and,
truthfully, I was beginning to doubt we would ever find what we wanted.
“I want to see
the property,” my friend said. “Besides,
I have to pee.”
We turned off
highway 200 and soon entered the forest.
The deeper we drove into the forest, the more I liked what I saw. A bit over a mile later we reached the
realtor’s sign. A bridge across a creek
led into the property. We pulled off the
main road, stopped just shy of the bridge, and climbed out of the truck.
Uyen and I walked
out onto the center of the bridge. “This
creek is on the property?” I asked.
“Yes. Over six-hundred feet runs through. Forest service on two sides.”
I literally spun
around at the center of the bridge.
Though we were in the midst of severe drought, I smelled water. In the meadow and surrounding forest
understory, I saw flowers. Thousands of
them: fleabane, fireweed, sticky geranium, on others. Thousands or reasons to purchase the property.
“This is it,” I
said.
Uyen smiled and
in her cute accent said, “Dis it.”
Within a few days
we made an offer on the parcel.
Yesterday, before
leaving the cabin for home, I wandered the property. I found myself marveled by the proliferation
of wildflowers.
Posted today are some
of the thousands of reasons I fell in love with the property.
Lady’s Slipper Orchid
Lupine
Paintbrush and Lupine
Iris in the Meadow
—Mitchell Hegman
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