Still Roaming Around Montana

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
  - Robert Hunter
 

Ennis Lake, We parked right there

 The "Ghost Town" of Elkhorn

 State Capital

 

Cathedral of St Helena

Tuesday, June 11 - We drove a little farther north today - a whole hour and 20 minutes. Some great scenery, but there were no pull outs and we had two trailers behind us, so no pictures. I finally just stopped in the road and let them pass, but we were out of the really good stuff. And so it goes. The speed limit is 80 on the interstates and 70 on highways. I recall when it was reasonable and prudent. Never got back to that after Nixon’s double-nickel.

Our mission here is to find the ghost town of Elkhorn. If there was any signage on the way north, we missed it. We will retrace our steps later this afternoon.

We finally located the dump station in the city park. Dumps and trash even fresh water are scarce in these parts. We then parked in a great BLM campground only 70 yards from I15. You would think it would be noisy, but there is very little traffic and the Boulder River is gurgling white noise between us and the roadway.

Wednesday, June 12 - We went to the “ghost town” of Elkhorn. It was not much. Seen the same in Colorado.

Thursday, June 13 - Neighbors told us about a scenic trail, so we took off for the hills. It was nothing more than a drive through the trees. Don’t trust ATV drivers. There were few view points and all you could see were other tree covered hills. Some hillsides were green, others were brown completely destroyed by pine Beatles. We crossed the Continental Divide, but it was only six thousand or so.

It had been 2.5 weeks since we have seen a Walmart and Dorothy was hot to shop. We after lunch we drove into Helena. We loaded the Jeep up atWalmart and then went to Safeway for more items which included 8 pieces of fried chicken for $6.

Friday, June 14 - Back to Helena to get haircuts, tour the Capital, and shop at Costco.

Helena is unique among the many mining towns. The money stayed in Helena. Downtown has dozen of multi-story brick buildings built around the turn of the century. Contrasted with the mining towns of Colorado where the money went to Denver. In California much flowed to Sacramento and Los Angeles.

The capital was fine. I thought it bore a strong resemblance to Iowa’s. And since they used architect’s from Des Moines it’s easy to see how some thing look the same. Only two western capital’s we have not toured, California and Arizona. I really doubt we will ever enter California again.

Saturday, June 15 - I finally quite procrastinating and drew a colored line on the map for our route in Montana. In stone? Probably not.

Of the five days we spent at the campground, we had cell two days. It was “on” this morning and we surfed for two hours before breakie.

After lunch we decided to leave the delightful campground and park in town where there are full hookups and 4 bars for free for one night. We will be ready to make the next jump in the morning.

We have had great weather all week!

Sunday, June 15 - We took a shot and went to the Gates of the Mountains which is east of Helena. Lewis and Clark had difficulties here as the hillsides are too steep for towing and the river is too deep for poling. We did the scenic road tour, but we were not impressed. We will head west tomorrow.

Our BLM campground is right on the Missouri, but it is busy being so close to Helena.

The Big Sky country we saw in the southern part of the state peters out just south of Helena. I recall it being open and lush green along US2 in the north, we hope to get back to Big Sky.

About every other day, someone comments on Rubi. I don’t think we had a single comment before we got her lifted. I am thinking being a two-door with large tires gives her a “cute toy” look. Don’t know, but she sure gets attention.

Monday, June 16 - We are probably moving as fast as L&C did. We went west and then south to Deer Lodge. Crossing the Continental Divide on the way. The Little Blackfoot River was our companion on the west side. The scenery improved remarkably.

Deer Lodge was another shot that was on our way west. We struck gold stopping here. The old Montana Territorial Prison is the main tourist attraction, but the map showed a NHS - the Grant-Kohrs Ranch.  We turned in to see what it was. What we could see from the parking area did not look interesting, but I was tired after our 90 minute drive so we went in the VC. We learned what was a five minute walk away was a ranch built at the turn of century by a man who started with nothing and became a “cattle baron” shipping 10,000 cows to Kansas every year.  If my math is correct that is about 2.5 million dollars a year.

The furnishing in the house are as they family left them in 1945. Expensive, ostentacious and definitely not our style. Everything there was used on the ranch, nothing was acquired. They also bred thoroughbred and draft horses. I was most impressed with the large collection of wagons and sleighs that were used on the ranch. One for every purpose. Each had a sign informing us of its purpose.

There were interp rangers in the Blacksmith shop and one making cowboy coffee. We passed on the latter. Well done parks service.

The walking tour drained our strength and pushed me past my feeding time. We got back to the RV, wolfed down some food and took a long nap.

Railroad Stuff which most will want to skip over.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad is often referred to as the Milwaukee Road operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1980. They came to acquire 12 electric locomotives, called the Little Joe [think Joe Stalin] that were built by General Electric for export to the Soviet Union in 1946.  GE built 20 locomotives of this type, but the company was prohibited from delivering them as relations between the United States and Soviet Union deteriorated into what became known as the Cold War. 

 See Above

 The Old Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge

Draft Horses at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch

 
Tuesday, June 18 - Another hours drive brought us to Georgetown Lake and a delightful and pristine Forest Service campground in a forest of Lodgepole Pines. The downside of being in a forest is that you never get your batteries fully charged.

Our purpose here is take the 35 mile drive to Skalkaho Falls. It’s not a road that KoKo would be happy on. I have never learned to take pictures of fast moving water in high contrast situtations. I tried to stop it at 3,200, but that was not enough. Anywho, it was decent drive and the falls were not bad.

Wednesday, June 19 - A 40 minute drive brought us to a city park where we are the only occupants. For $10, we have water, trash and are open to the sun.

We went to the ghost town of Garnet, reputed as the best preserved in Montana. Well, they have  lot of buildings, but none of them furnished. The floors are gone in most of them. For us, hands down, the best ghost town in Montana is Banack. It’s my all time fav. Brodie remains. Dorothy’s fav.

Ghost Town of Garnet

Two good things about Montana, no sales tax and regular gas is 87 octane, which means I don’t have to pay for mid-grade to 87/88 octane.

Thursday, June 20 - Laundry day. The day started with full gray skies. We had two lights showers on the way to Missoula. We managed to turn a 1:45 drive into 4:30 with lunch and laundry. The place we planned to overnight close by the Bison Reserve is now day-use only. We found a large turnout and made that home.

We were surprised at the number of visitors to the reserve. There were over two dozen vehicles in the parking lot and no doubt more on the roads through the reserve. Having seen Bison at The Tetons, Yellowstone and Custer they are not on my list. But, it seems they are extremely popular with others. I came hoping to see some Big Horn Sheep in the “wild”. I have seen several by and on the roads. The ranger was not optimistic about my chances.

Friday, June 21 - The longest day of the year broke ugly gray. No photo’s today. We decided to head back toward to Missoula to find a cell signal to use to find a place to hang until the rain passes through. We found a casino about half-way between Missoula and the Bison Reserve that offers a free electric site, so we took it. We are the only ones here.

Casino’s are everywhere and every casino is also a liquor store. “Quick Marts” have refrigerated cases 30 feet long with beer. Folks must like a buzz on here. We had a pizza at a casino and it was full of tradesman having a liquid lunch. Maybe just on Friday’s?

We have voted Montana folks the worst dressed. And they are not very handsome either.

We downloaded the movie Deadwood. Dorothy really wanted to see it. Gee, how the actors have aged! The story line took their advanced age in considered and their roles were made tame. Dan never drew his knife or even threatened anyone.

Saturday, June 22 - Dorothy wanted to go to Dilliards to get some makeup. Then she got sick. Then we came home. We remain in time out waiting out the rains.

Sunday, June 23 - It was supposed to be partly sunny today. At 9 it looked like it might happen. We drove back to the Bison Reserve and took the drive. We saw a few bison, some elk at a distance, antelope by the roadside and an occasional deer. According to a ranger most of the 350 bison were “on the other side of the hill”, where there are no roads and hiking is not allowed. I took an obligatory picture of one the beasts. Looks tasty.

Monday, June 24 - We reached our west most place and are headed east. Our last 10 movements have been about an hour and 15 minutes. Today was no different. We left Missoula and drove along side the Flathead River to Seeley Lake.

Into Montana

Dear Diary, 

Monday, June 3 - I have not blogged for over a week. I will not recap the lost days except to say they were mostly dark and cloudy with some rain. We have done nothing worth blogging about, even to ourselves. A period best left blank.

Dorothy has been telling me for years we have almost spent 2,000 nights in KoKo. Last night was finally the night.

We returned to a fav CG for a short stay. We have enjoyed almost 72 hours of glorious weather. The chap next to us told me the source of the river we are on comes out of the side of a hill. I had to see that. It was not difficult to find, I just looked at the map to see where the river started and followed the Forest Service roads there. I don’t do photograph waterfalls very well and the sun would not be illuminating the entire waterfall for another hour or so. But I got some snapshots to remind me of the place.

In the afternoon, we decided to go to an area shown on the map as having many lakes. I thought I might get some interesting reflection shots. We got to within a mile of the place and ice was blocking the road. I used 4WD to go a little farther but bailed when the ice became solid across the road. We had seen no one the whole drive, no cell service, so we would have to self-rescue. No thanks. It’s not the first time ice has stopped us, but this was at only 6,600 feet.

In most of the country as soon as you are a few hundred yards away from something, it’s gone. What I like about the west is that you see mountains 70-100 miles away. They may disappear for a time, but when you crest a hill, there they are again. This is farming country. The terrain is much like the rolling hills of eastern Washington. Here the Tetons pop up above the fields from time-to-time.

I did not get a single shot of the Tetons this trip, they have been cloud covered for a week. Did you know that seen from the west side there are two sets of Tetons. 

The West Fork Of The Henry River

Tuesday, June 4 - We drove north an hour and parked at a county park on a lake that is one of the sources of the Henry Fork of the Snake. Tomorrow we will trip out to see another source of the Henry Fork.

We are trying to decide where to go next. The forecast for Friday and Saturday is poor, maybe a wintry mix? When is summer again?

Were have had strange weather the last few years. On our first trip in 2006, we had perfect weather for eight months except for a hail storm in Colorado. 

Wednesday, June 5 - There was an unscheduled shower overnight, but the skies were blue by 8am. We went to see a first magnitude spring that is the major source of the Henry Fork of the Snake. It looks just like the springs in central Florida - water gushes out of the ground. A house was built on the site by Johnny Sack. No, not the Johnny Sackrimoni of the Soprano’s, but a 4’ 11’ chap who built it himself. Alas, it’s was too early in the season for the house to be open, but we have seen wood log cabins.

I wanted to go back to Harriman Park. You know the E.H. Harriman in Butch and Sundance. Turn of the century big money built ostentatious mansions in Newport, the Hudson River, Lake Tahoe, etc. This is different. The setting is magnificently picturesque, while the cabins are comfortable, but rustic. 

It was named the Railroad Ranch as the owners were railroad men, but the Guggenheims were also owners.

You may have heard more about one of his E.H.s’ sons, Averill, who was a power player and ran for president twice. https://adst.org/oral-history/fascinating-figures/averell-harriman-the-old-crocodile-of-diplomacy/

We sat on the lawn and enjoyed the view for an hour or so.

Thursday, June 6 - Birds! There are all sorts of birds here. I guess the riparian setting is appealing to them. Several species of ducks, geese and even swans. We are fond of yellow birds. There are three types of yellow ones here. One with a yellow belly we could not identify, a yellow rump warbler and third I will get to. The former put on a show for us. He did a dance on a favored table, a partner appeared and they fluttered face to face like hummingbirds for a few seconds and then zoomed off in different directions. Wonder is it was a hookup?

After a mid-afternoon rain shower, the birds came alive in the Aspens out our rear windows. There was a pair of our favs, the Western Tatanger. They will not perch for more than a second before hopping to another branch, so photography through windows covered with raindrops is a challenge. Dorothy got some that were in focus, but she forgot to zoom, so it was not much of a shot.  

The South could Use A Few Colorful Birds

Friday, June 7 - We made the 30-minute drive to West Yellowstone to pick up some essential groceries. The rain started on our way back and continued off and on the rest of the day.

Saturday, June 8 - We awoke to the promised wintry mix, about an inch of slushy snow. The temp was 32. This did not stop the fishermen from putting their boats in by 6am. The sun broke through for a few minutes around 8:30. It took us a minute to figure out why the solar panels were passing only a fraction of an amp to the batteries. They were covered in snow and there is no way I will go up on a wet slippery roof to clear them. Thankfully, the snow melted before noon and we were fully charged by 2pm. The mountains around us got a good layer of the white stuff and they are sparkling in the sun this afternoon.

Sunday, June 9 - Sunshine! Yippee!  We drove few miles north crossing into Montana. We have never understood why, but just crossing the border puts you in Bay Sky country. What changes so quickly? We are so damned pleased to have a few days of sun. We dropped 1,200 feet and drove along the Madison River to a BLM campground on the river. Us, one other RV and the camp host. Dorothy declares it the best she has seen anywhere. We are in a valley with the sparkling snow-covered mountains just to the east. It’s about 65 degrees.

 Along The Madison River In Montana

 Check Out The Last Bullet Point

 Unusual Rock Outcrop In Montana

I had thought we would tour Virginia City this afternoon but after discussing it, we both recalled we had driven through it sometime in the past and thought it looked like Gatlinburg. A tourist trap. We will just stay in the campground and look at the views.

Monday, June 10 - We drove 22 miles north to another BLM CG. This one overlooks a lake. It would be a fantastic home site. Only two sites. Free. Good cell signal after being in a hole yesterday.