Holland Lake with Mission Mountains
— — a quiet lake that looks two directions at once.
Not only on a wall.
“A long lake in the Swan Valley of western Montana, with the Swan Range at its back and the Mission Mountains rising across the valley to the west. The lodge on the south shore has been there since 1925. A short walk along the north shore brings you to Holland Falls, where the creek drops out of the high country. People come for the canoe in the morning, and stay for the colour the evening puts on the far peaks. from the studio
Holland Lake with Mission Mountains, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Holland Lake sits in the Swan Valley of western Montana, on the Flathead National Forest, at roughly 3,920 feet of elevation. The Swan Range rises immediately behind the lake to the east, and the Mission Mountains stand across the valley to the west, so the water reflects two different ranges depending on which way you face. The lake is about 1.5 miles long and feeds the Swan River. Access is from Montana Highway 83, between Seeley Lake and Condon. A campground and a historic lodge share the south shore.
The lake is fed by Holland Creek, which drops in from the Swan Range through a chain of small falls. The most-walked of these is Holland Falls, reached by a 3.3-mile round-trip trail along the north shore that gains about 700 feet. The water stays cold through August because the inflow is fresh out of the high country. Mornings are usually still enough to paddle a canoe the length of the lake; afternoon wind tends to push down the valley out of the north.
Holland Lake Lodge has stood on the south shore since 1925 and is one of the oldest continuously operating lodges on the Flathead. The U.S. Forest Service campground next door has about 40 sites and fills early in July and August. The lake is open to non-motorised boats and small outboards. Trailheads from the south end climb into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, which begins just over the ridge behind the lake. Pack-string outfitters have used this approach into the Bob for nearly a century.