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
The "Ghost Town" of Elkhorn
State Capital
Cathedral of St Helena
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.
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.
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