Our Mountain Retreat

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Many people visit Glacier each summer, and our busiest season is from mid-May through mid-September, though we stay open year-round. This past year, we had guests sporadically throughout the winter. Big Mountain, a popular ski area, is only 20 miles away, but most people consider that a bit too far to travel. However, Glacier offers many winter attractions, including cross-country ski trails and ice climbing, so there’s a lot of potential for attracting vacationers year-round.

Confirmed “greenies,” Hunter and I eat organic food, recycle everything we can and try to live a thoughtful, balanced life in tune with our natural surroundings. When we started the B&B, we knew it would be a challenge to live sustainably while at the same time offering our vacationing guests a bit of luxury. We would have to take baby steps, doing as many small things as we could to maintain the delicate balance between nature and the effects of people who come to experience it.

Running an inn requires a lot of housecleaning and laundry, but I use only biodegradable, eco-friendly soaps. Also, to minimize the impact of our solid waste, we installed a state-of-the-art septic system twice the size specified for us and our guests. To cover the resulting excavation, we planted red clover, a hardy, nitrogen-fixing ground cover that’s highly prized by grazing deer and elk.

We draw all our water from a shallow, natural underground spring and test the water twice a year to ensure that we aren’t polluting it. The pond on our property is an overflow of the spring. It’s a few hundred feet across and a frequent stopover for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. We looked into stocking it with trout but were told the eagles and hawks would catch them all before we could.

Our business license required an on-site inspection by the local health department. Although our inn passed every other category with flying colors, we flunked the part on chemical cleaning and disinfecting products. The law requires us to use these products to protect our guests from germs, even though many contain toxic chemicals. It’s a puzzling requirement, to say the least. But during our discussions with the health department, we made a strong case that these substances harm our water, the valley’s migratory animals and their forest and river habitats. Ultimately, we agreed to keep bleach on hand “in case of emergencies,” and our license was granted.

Attached to our wilderness inn is a 350-square-foot glass solarium we call the Going-to-the-Sun Room, after the famous scenic road that runs through Glacier. In the winter, the sunroom collects radiant heat to warm the house; acts as a greenhouse for seedlings, tomatoes, herbs and peace lilies; and allows our guests to sit “outside” year-round in the company of green plants. The plants help purify the indoor air, an important consideration in a climate where it’s often too cold to even consider opening the windows.

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