August 2004
*** Tuesday August 3rd we traveled north on Rt. 95 and picked up US Rt.2 and traveled east to Kalispell, MT and stayed at the Rocky Mountain Hi Campground. We traveled in rain most of the way. It was the first we traveled in rain since Arkansas in May. The wipers still work.
Wednesday we went to Glacier Nat’l Park and went across the Going to the Sun Road through Logan Pass. These are more awesome mountains with terrific scenery. We could see where the large fires of 2003 had burned. You can see why the park service is using shuttle service in some of the parks. Traffic is very heavy in Glacier.
Thursday we went up to Whitefish and Big Mountain Ski Area. These are really nice little towns in this area, with the mountains and lots of lakes.
Friday August 6th we traveled south to Missoula and stayed at Jim and Mary’s RV Park. After getting settled we went to the Smokejumper Center of Missoula and took the tour. Those people have a lot of grit to jump out of a plane into a fire zone.
Saturday we went into town to the farmer’s market and bought some produce and looked at all the stands. On one street they have produce and on another street they have crafts. We then stopped at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Museum. That was very interesting. There must be two hundred of the largest elk heads in the country on display.
What was just as nice they had full body mounts of every animal native to this area displayed in a really nice fashion, something like the mountain display at Cabelas stores.
Sunday August 8th we traveled east to Deer Lodge MT. and stayed at Indian Creek RV Resort. There are several museums in this town. Sunday afternoon we went to the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. This site is run by the Nat’l Park Service and is preserved as it was at the turn of the century, including the fully furnished house.
The ranch reflects 130 years of history with the cattle baron’s manor, cowboy bunkhouse, horse barn, blacksmith shop and wagon collection. Founded in 1860 by stockman John Grant, the ranch became home and headquarters of cattle baron Conrad Kohrs.
Monday August 9th we toured the Old Montana State Prison Museum Complex located on Main St. in Deer Lodge. This prison was in use from the 1870’s until it was vacated by the state and opened to the public in 1979. It is preserved as it was when last used.
Located next door is the Montana Auto Museum, one of the nicest collections of restored cars you will find anywhere. Most of the cars are on loan to the museum from their owners. Across the street there is the Frontier Montana Museum with lots of guns, spurs, saddles etc. and the Powell County Museum. Needless to say we were there for most of the day.
Tuesday August 10th we moved from Deer Lodge to Bozeman MT. In the afternoon we went into Bozeman and looked around town and did some shopping at Wal-Mart.
Wednesday AM we traveled to West Yellowstone MT. staying at Lyonshead RV Park. In the PM we took a ride out to Quake Lake which was formed by an earthquake in 1959.
Thursday August 12th we got an early start and went into Yellowstone Park and traveled the south loop and watched Old Faithful erupt. We walked around the area and saw the other hot springs and geysers surrounding Old Faithful. On our drive we were pretty lucky at seeing wildlife. We saw four groups of elk, hundreds of bison some were very close, antelope, deer, one bald eagle and a grey wolf. The scenery is spectacular.
Friday we decided to start a little later and stay out in the park until sundown. We traveled the north loop where we saw another bald eagle, some antelope, eleven long horned sheep, three moose, and several groups of elk including four huge bulls, more buffalo, more deer and one coyote. It was 9:00 PM when we left the park. What a great day!
Saturday we took a drive up to Virginia City MT. which is an old west gold mining town that has been preserved with most of the original buildings. The town has a lot of history including crime, vigilantes, hangings, ladies of the night and all the things we see in the movies. We had a nice drive up there and saw several antelope and some long horned sheep.
Sunday, August 15th, we took a drive back up in the park and went back on some side roads that we missed before. I think you could spend months in the park, especially if you fished. We saw more elk and eagles. After we got done in the park we stopped in West Yellowstone and walked around the streets and went in some of the shops.
Home