Introduction to Montana

Immediately after arriving in Montana we stopped in Dillon to get groceries. When we came out to the truck after shopping we found a flat tire. We rolled over to the free air, hoping we could drive it to be fixed. Unfortunately it was Sunday afternoon and the tire store was closed. So, Pat and I changed the tire. The good news is we now know that truck has everything needed to change a flat. The bad news, we needed to stick around town for the night to get our flat fixed in the morning. We drive through town to the KOA and discovered it was located right on the Beaverhead river. After setting up camp we went back into town to get Pat a fishing license. This was my first KOA experience and let me say I enjoyed myself. I took a dip in the pool and then a nice long show. I chatted on my phone and checked what was going on in the world on-line. Meanwhile Pat fished.

Before leaving on this trip Pat had ordered a solar charger. It was coming from Hong Kong and had not arrive before we left town. A friend of mine who is collecting our mail was kind enough to send it, general delivery, to Bozeman. She informed me that she had sent it and that it would arrive the following Tuesday. So,we had two days to play before picking it up. From the KOA we headed to Alder where my Dad had marked one of his favorite camp spots on our map. We drove through a beautiful ranching valley and into Beaverhead National Forest. We think we found the exact spot that had been described to us and it was a beaut! Unfortunately the Ruby river that ran through the area was totally blown out. We biked around and enjoyed a lovely evening. We thought about staying there for another night but our charger would be arriving and Pat wanted to come back on our way back down, when hopefully the river may be fishable. So in the morning we packed up and headed for Bozeman.

After picking up the charger and hanging around Bozeman for a few hours (getting a much needed milk shake) we headed into the hills to find a place to camp. It was already late afternoon so we decided to try and camp in the National Forest close to town. We drove up Hyalite Canyon which looked like a sure bet for camping. It was a beuatiful canyon but was PACKED with people. They where everywhere! We drove around for a while looking for somewhere to call home before becoming ovelry frustrated and giving up. We got the hell out town. We drove all the way to Butte and into the Flint Creak range before pulling of at a camp ground for the night. The Flint Creak range looked good because it has lots of hiking to small lakes. We knew we were gambling with the snow line, but hoped we would be able to get to one of the many lakes. In the morining we found that we could not. Stupid snow! So we decided to keep heading north.

We drove all the way up past Missoula into Clear Water state forest. There was a down poor as we drove that power washed the truck and removed all the bug guts on our windshield. We found a spot right on Clear Water River, maybe 200 feet off the road, tucked behind a few trees. Pat was excited to find some clear water that was not blown out. He jumped right into the river to fish. Toby and I took a little walk in the mud before it started to rain again, then we cuddled up with my book. Pat became gitty when at dusk there was a large mayflay hatch followed by caddis. I pulled him away from the river long enough to eat dinner with me in the rain. As we were standing around cleaning up from dinner, the hillbillies moved in. They made their presence known by honking at their dogs who were running alongside of their truck as they dronve. They pulled down our lil road and when they saw us camped their, rather then moving on, they positioned their trailer about 60 feet from us and parked. Another car followed them in. They started to pile out of the car; Mom, Dad, Grandma and three kids joined the two dogs who had been running around nearly being run over through out this whole charade. We took a seat on the tail gate and watched them in disbelief, giving them our best evil eye, which had no effect. They unloaded an amazing amount of junk. They set up a few tents, pulled out a full lawn furniture set and piles of fire wood. Not even a wave in our direction.... guess this was their spot, even if someone was already in it. We did our best to ignore them. Pat went back to fishing I crawled into the truck with Tobs and my book.

Today we continued north to Kalispell. We got a bit wet in the rains yesterday and decided we needed to find somewhere to stay for the next few days as 4th of July weekend in just around the bend. A friend of mine from high school now lives in Missoula so we made plans to meet up with him and his family on the 2nd. Until then we are camped in a privet RV/campground to dry out, shower, do some laundry and re-load. We figure the more time we wast before heading back down towards Wyoming the better chance we have of hiking to some of those mountain lakes we enjoy so much. We are very close to Glacier National Park. I look forward to enjoying the area tomorrow without worries of where we will sleep. There's a lot of snow up on the peaks around us, so we'll need to find a low hikes... I'm feeling the need for a nice long one.