K Bar L – An experience of a lifetime.
In the spring and early summer, the ranch is accessible by boat from the Gibson Reservoir. Once the lake pool lowers from irrigation draw downs, boat access is not possible, but the long-established and well maintained Sun River trail provides three season access by foot or horseback over the seven miles of National Forest lands from the end of paved road at the lower end of the Gibson to the ranch. A sturdy pack bridge, rebuilt in the August of 2016 and rebuilt by the Forest Service after being damaged in the infamous flood of 1964, crosses the North Fork of the Sun River and onto the ranch in the last leg of the overland route. The ranch also is accessible anytime by helicopter with an adequate landing site on the grounds of the property.
THE SETTING: BOB MARSHALL WILDERNESS
Wildlife: Grizzly and black bears, elk, gray wolves, whitetail and mule deer, Canadian lynx, bobcats, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, wolverines and cougars are at home in the wild lands surrounding the ranch. Smaller mammals such as beaver, river otters, snowshoe hares, and marten also inhabit the territory, as do dozens of bird species such as bald eagles, falcons, hawks, owls, woodpeckers, camp robbers, and chickadees.
The Rocky Mountain Front region is known for gusty winds and sudden, occasionally extreme air temperature changes. Here it is possible “to slip on the ice, fall in the mud, then get up and brush off the dust.” Blessedly, the ranch is not often subject to these extremes, tucked as it is in the interior river valleys of the mountains. Thirty five miles downriver at Augusta, Montana the frost free growing season is typically May 29 to September 10, which amounts to 104 days to grow your petunias. Augusta is about 4,000+ feet in elevation, but at the K Bar L Ranch the elevation is 5,000 feet, meaning an even shorter growing season. Augusta gets about 14+ inches of precipitation per year. At the Ranch the annual precipitation would be slightly greater.
Guests return to the K Bar L for not only the incredible landscape but the memories that are created year after year. Your children will love the natural freedom and will not want to come in at night.
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