Leaving Glacier was not easy. We really enjoyed our time there. It is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. The campground was peaceful and quiet. Birds and squirrels were abundant.
Driving along Rt 2 there are dozens of businesses selling huckleberry everything. This must be the home of Huckleberry Hound. They have huckleberry jam, chapstick, perfume, preserves, ice cream, candy, lotion, soap.... you get the idea. Huckleberries are small berries that resemble a blueberry. They are much more tart, however. My daughter, Tina, gave us some frozen huckleberries for our pancakes and some jam for our toast. They do go well with breakfast.
When we left, we took a scenic route we had driven on our last visit to Glacier. Rt 83 runs down a wide colorful valley between the Swan and Mission Mountain ranges. Several small lakes lie along the route. Two of the largest are Swan Lake and Seeley Lake. Swan Lake had few cottages on it. There were no water skiers or jet skis. Only a fisherman putting along trolling for lake trout could be seen making ripples across the clear blue surface.
Seeley Lake was beautiful but was very busy with skiers, jet skies and other powerboat traffic. Everyone was zooming around in circles seeming to go no where fast. Such nonsense. There was a day I too love such nonsense. I guess going slow comes with age. You miss so much in life when you are young because you fly by it without realizing what you passed up. I digress.
We stopped along one of the lakes on an overlook. We fixed our lunch and took a nap. Old folks do that, you know. As we continued on towards Butte, the Montana landscape kept me in awe. This is my favorite place. I love Montana, as a whole, more than anywhere we have been.
Any direction you look there is a snow capped peak in the distance. Green hills and valleys covered with a million wildflowers spread out before them. In some places I am sure you can see mountains two hundred miles away. All of western Montana is jaw dropping beautiful to me. Darlie has said many times, “If you grew up here I bet you wouldn’t have moved away.” Ah yes, maybe. The snow is measured in feet most places out here. Subzero temperatures are standard fair also. If I was wealthy, I think I would have a summer home here though.
We set our sights for Butte because there is a Walmart there. After a week in the bush we desperately needed supplies. At the top of my list was a battery operated tire pump. Groceries were also running low.
When we got there, the parking lot to the side was filled with RVs. People were sitting out in their lawn chairs chatting or reading a paper. It always makes me laugh to see Walmart “campgrounds”. We made our first trip in for the hardware items on our list. Darlie wanted a hairdryer so she could thaw out the freezer. It has built up a pretty good layer of ice. Our freezer is not self defrosting. I wanted to try out my new tire pump on the MH wheels. It worked perfectly. I now have happy firm tires.
My tire pumping drew some attention from other campers. One of the biggest activities while camping is watching the other guy. You see how he sets up his awning. You watch how he levels the rig. You chuckle at all the hand signals wives use to help their hubbies back into a space. It is part of the RV lifestyle. Draw up a chair, pop open a beer and watch the new guy screw up. It is great entertainment.
We worked on our grocery list until early evening. We headed off to the store for our second attack. We filled the cart with everything we would need for the next week or two. We are heading into the wilderness again.
As we pushed our loaded cart a half mile to the “campground”, we passed an elderly gentleman sitting outside his very high dollar MH. He greeted us and rose to visit. Darlie went on to unload the groceries. It was well after 10:30 PM when I finally excused myself from the conversation. It was only then I realized Darlie had gone to unload the groceries two or three hours before. The MH was dark.
I popped in with a cheerful greeting hoping she wasn’t mad at me for not helping with the groceries. Instead, she had gone to bed. She was worn out and had not felt very well all day long. She took three nasty falls recently while on hikes. Her knee was bothering her making her nauseous all day. Anyhow, that is how we came to camp at Walmart a second time.
I had intentions of getting a space at a commercial place so I would have internet. We need to add minutes to our phones. They are both on zero. Tracfone service is spotty in the northwest. No one sells phone cards for them. We have to fill them online. We now are out in the woods with no phone minutes on either phone with no prospects for filling them soon. So if you call, we won’t answer.
As always happens, in the morning Darlie thought of several more things we couldn’t live without. While she got around, I ran back into the store. Coming back I recalled a conversation I had with the elderly gentleman about Yellowstone. He said it had rained, sleeted and hailed while he was there the day before. My windshield wipers are very ragged. We have not needed them since leaving home. So I went back into the store and bought new wiper blades. Those installed, we finally got on our way to Yellowstone.
We took Rt 287. It is not marked as a scenic highway on the map but the other two roads that go down there were through the mountains. I didn’t feel up to a workout today so I went for the easy route. Rt 287 is more scenic than most highways I have been on back east. The valley is very broad with snow capped peaks all around.
Rt 287 follows the path of the Bozeman Trail first discovered back in 1864 by John Bozeman and John Jacobs. It provided as shortcut to the newly discovered gold mines in Montana. From the historic landmark, you can still see the Bozeman Trail etched into the ground. It winds around the valley right past an old stone building in disrepair. It must have been a layover for teams in those days.
The trail goes around that rock. Follow it around the valley to the old stone building.
This is cattle country. We have seen cowboys and girls out riding around the cattle doing whatever it is they do. We saw one guy riding up along the road that looked like he rode in out of a John Wayne movie. He had on a weathered cowboy hat with a long feather, buckskins and a rifle lying across his saddle. He would have fit the scene a hundred and fifty years ago.
The highway follows the Madison River that flows out of Yellowstone. Hundreds of fly fisherman are in the water wading or in dory shaped boats, casting. The water is swift with rapids yet they are rowing around with ease. The boats must be specially designed for this type of water.
Lake created by 1959 earthquake along the Madison River. Earthquake rubble is that lighter colored material in the distance.
We rolled into West Yellowstone at about 1:30 PM. The place was a mob scene. I had thought about looking for an RV park before they all filled up. Darlie said she would rather stay in the park if we could.
We entered the park to find that all the campgrounds were full. We decided to go ahead and drive the north loop. We had been advised there was more wildlife and less traffic up there. We stopped at some bubbling hot springs and some hissing gurgling waterspouts, none of which was too impressive. We saw hot water running out of the ground in Idaho.
Traffic was very heavy. The pace was hectic. When someone spotted an animal, everyone stopped in the middle of the road backing up traffic for a mile. If this is less congestion than the south loop, I can only imagine what it is like down there. Knowing we would not find a campsite in the park, we headed for Gardener over the line in Montana.
All the RV parks were filled there too. I reminded Darlie that the Lord has always led us to the perfect campsite. Today would be no different. After passing up a couple of pull offs we came to a beautiful spot along the Yellowstone River. We are sitting about forty feet above the stream. People are floating by in rubber rafts squealing with delight. Another RV pulled in. The gentleman came over to ask if I was going to camp here. I told him I was and he should join us as there isn’t another campsite to be had. He pulled up behind us. It is nice to have company.
Our campsite overlooking the Yellowstone River.
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