On Sunday our plan was to leave Sandpoint, stop in Yaak, MT at a trading post and drive up to Golden, BC Canada where we planned to stay for a few days.

Greg and I got up early Sunday morning and thought we’d go fishing again. The kids wanted to stay in bed and sleep some more. So the two of us headed out.

We found the most beautiful spot. The water looked like a mirror and everything was so green. I don’t like fishing but I like to go to take photos.

There is a yellow bird hiding in there.

Greg got a couple of fish that he threw back. When he had his fill of fishing we headed back to the hotel to get the kids and head to MT. We had Jayse drive for a bit.

We had packed some food for lunch and planned to stop somewhere to eat. We had an appointment at the trading post we wanted to stop at and were not sure what food would be along the way. While driving there we saw a sign for a waterfall. We stopped at the Yaak Falls. It was incredible. We spent a lot of time walking around it, looking at it from different angles, walking up and down the river. There is a lot of photos of it because this is a group from Jaelee, Jayse, me and Greg.

By the time we realized it we only had a little bit of time until our meeting time. We decided to grab some food out of our cooler and eat while we drove there.

Greg loves the show Mountain Men on the History Channel. We have been watching it since it started. One of his favorite people on the show is Tom Oar. Through the show we found out that him and his buddy Will created a trading post. I had looked it up years ago and realized it was in Northern MT, only 9 hours from us. We put it in the back of our minds to visit some day. When I was planning this trip to Canada I thought we could see some of Northern Idaho, drive over the couple of hours to Northern MT and stop at the trading post.

You have to make an appointment with them to go to it through Facebook. I contacted them set the appointment and now we were about to arrive!

When we arrived I didn’t see the trading post but there was a sign so we knew we were in the right place. As we got out of our car, Will from the show met us. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I didn’t think we’d actually get to met someone from the show. I figured they’d have other people staffing it.

While Will was talking to Greg he invited us up on his porch. While we were there talking I saw a blue truck drive up and recognized it immediately from the show. It was Tom Oars truck. I looked over at Greg with big eyes and excitement. Sure enough out came Tom Oar, himself.

He introduced himself and him and Will told us the way to the trading post and that they would meet us over there.

They could not have been nicer! They were so easy going and pleasant. Making sure we were comfortable. Greg, Jayse, Will & Tom sat on the porch of the trading post and talked for over an hour. Exchanging hunting stories.

Jaelee and I wondered the trading post, visited the Teepee out back and took photos.

After conversating for hours we picked the items we wanted from the trading post. Greg and Jayse got knives with sheaf’s signed by Tom & Will. Jaelee got a small knife and a wood instrument (almost looked like a flute) and I got a beautifully decorated walking stick.

Will gave us a deal on Jaelee’s instrument and he gave me the walking stick for free! We sat on the porch of his place some more and talked before heading out.

Tom gave us some insight into this season’s Mountain Men and some better directions for us to head up to Canada.

It was a highlight of the trip and something we’ll all remember forever.

This is the canoe that Tom and Will made on the show!

We could of stayed there longer but we still had a long drive ahead of us to get to Golden, BC. Tom and Will gave us a route to take – that sounded like this turn right and take the road all the way until you see a cow grade, then turn right.

We followed their directions on a dirt road for hours and it fit perfectly, we got to where we needed to go and saved 100 miles. Although, it didn’t save time since we were on a slow dirt road. We did get to see some beautiful country.

We ended up coming out high above this beautiful lake. As I tried to step over some guard railing to get a picture my foot caught and I fell down. I scraped up my arm and leg pretty bad. Luckily I was alright and still took some photos.

We made it to the Canadian border and into Canada!

We were pretty hungry so we stopped at a little place just inside Canada. I didn’t get a picture of it but Greg had to try poutine. It was pretty good. The drive through Canada and up to Golden was beautiful with big mountains just surrounding us.