County: There is river access from several county roads in Polebridge, no access signs taken down

There is public access to the North Fork of the Flathead River from Polebridge Drive, despite what the signs may have said, Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty confirmed.

Polebridge Drive is the short dirt road that runs south from the Polebridge Mercantile.

There are four roads that serve a multitude of structures and properties that run from Polebridge Drive,  including Beaver Drive, Rainbow Drive, Skyline Drive and River Road.

They are all county roads, but only one, Rainbow Drive, does not provide public access to the river, Prunty said in an email to the Hungry Horse News.

The remaining three do, despite what signage in the area has said for decades.

Prunty said signs that said there was no river access have since been taken down. They were up as of November and there were many of them.

The roads that do provide river access look to run into Forest Service lands that abut the river itself according to GIS maps.

Beaver Drive even has a sizable county park at the end of it.

But over the years “the no river access” signs have popped up, many of them looking like official government signs.

River Drive is marked as a dead end road, which it is, but according to GIS maps, it also ties into Forest Service Road 10915. Forest Service law enforcement is looking into the matter for clarification, said Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Kira Powell.

The overall problem is there’s no place to park on many of the roads. 

The best thing for the public to do is park along the main drag to Polebridge and then walk in. Locals we spoke to Polebridge said they have walked to the river for years without any issues from landowners.

The matter of access to the river in Polebridge came to light after Polebridge Mercantile owner Will Hammerquist raised concerns in letters to the editor in local newspapers.