Polebridge is an isolated community named for the log bridge that connects the North Fork Road in Glacier National Park to Highway 486, over the Flathead River. This resort community primarily consists of the Polebridge Mercantile and Northern Lights Saloon. Just getting to Polebridge is an adventure. There are two ways to get there from West Glacier: the Outside North Fork Road, or the Inside North Fork Road. Bill Adair and his wife Jessie settled here in 1904. The unhewn log homestead cabin they built in 1912 now serves as Northern Lights Saloon and Café, open most evenings for dinner roughly at 4pm. They built the false-fronted Mercantile store in 1914, and it quickly became a social center and gathering place for other North Fork homesteading families. Though that population has dwindled, it’s still a social hub for the folks who make the North Fork their home, full-time or part-time.
A profusion of cinnamon buns and breakfast rolls, loaves laced with potato strings, onion, cheddar and parsley; guacamole-garlic-mozzarella bread, focaccia loaded with black olives, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, cheddar, jack and Parmesan, plump cookies of all sorts, a couple of generous prepared sandwiches ready for a late lunch… Did I say Polebridge is off the power grid?