My Trails

I spent the night in Gallatin National Forest at the end of a dirt road. It was a parking lot for a trailhead and not really a camping spot but nobody seemed to mind. In the morning I drove to White Sulphur Springs and stopped at the Ranger Station for the Lewis and Clark National Forest. They were helpful pointing me to several dispersed campsites deep in the forest with streams and trees for my camping pleasure. I asked if there was any place in the forest where you could get cell signal and they had to think hard about that. One of the Rangers told me of a high mountain ridge where she could get a signal and gave me directions to the road.

After winding up a narrow, rough, rutted, dirt road for 5 miles, I finally came to a campsite where I had a tiny bit of cell signal. It took me half an hour to reach the ridge and I would have turned around and gone back down after two miles if there was any place to turn around.

Even though I had a tarp over my motorcycle, it was still covered with dust. It took a long time to wipe and wash it clean enough to ride for a look around. I went higher up the road but couldn’t find any more campsites and I lost cell signal altogether.

The ride back down to the main road was much easier on the Honda. I explored a few miles through the forest and checked out two pay campgrounds. I will probably be here for a few days and then make the next step to Glacier NP.

It is time to move to a new location. I have enjoyed the area around Red Lodge with many motorcycle rides, visits to interesting landmarks, and trips into town. The weather has been almost perfect. A few chilly mornings and a little smoky haze from the western forest fires have not been a problem.

Tank Vent

Richard has been telling me to get one of these for a while now. I happened to find it at the True Value Hardware in Red Lodge. It is working great and has solved my odor problem.

I have noticed a couple of behavior scenarios among solo travelers which strike me as interesting . Some single people are almost like hermits and avoid contact with everyone they see, while other individuals are starved for companionship and become clingy when they meet someone. I try not to fall into either category and attempt to be friendly but not impose on people’s space. I guess it is more of a personality thing than anything.

I’m heading north in Montana and will post more when I know where I end up.

We made it!

Yesterday I rode the Beartooth Highway to the top of the pass. It was a beautiful day for a motorcycle ride and a beautiful road for a motorcycle ride. The road is a marvel. My admiration to the engineering and building of such an awesome stretch of highway. After winding up through miles of switchbacks and hairpin turns, it tops out at almost 11,000 feet, high above treeline in a landscape littered with rocks and tufts of tundra. I’m pretty sure the wind constantly blows and it is always cold at the top. I could see patches of snow on the shady slopes across the valley. While not as craggy or rugged, it reminded me of some of the passes we hiked through in the Sierra.

It is only a few miles to the town of Red Lodge. There is a supermarket there and good cell signal. Other than that, the town is a typical tourist haven with plenty of inns, shops, and restaurants to delight all vacationers with a pocket full of money.

Camp

The camp where I set up is in an open meadow, surrounded by mountains on two sides, and only a few feet from a roaring, mountain stream. There were only three other campers here when I arrived, but as the weekend draws near, more people pull in with there trailers.

My plans are to stay here through the weekend and then move up through Montana. I don’t dare move any more west because everything that way is on fire. I want to get up to Glacier National Park and see if I remember anything from the last time I was there 35 years ago.

Today I explored some backroads where people boondock along the Rock Creek. There were quite a few nice, secluded spots along the road, but as I drove deeper the road became filled with holes and rocks until it was not fun even on my Honda. I turned around when the road turned into a boulder field.

It is already starting to feel like Fall. Several nights have been in the 30’s and daytime highs in the 60’s. People here tell me this is not normal and the temperature usually would be in the 90’s. I have been lucky to adjust the climate by moving up in the forests, and I guess a little cool weather is better than hot. I can always turn on the furnace and put on a jacket. If it was hot, I would have to go to an RV park or suffer.

Bridger Wilderness

The mountain road that I’m camped on continues up to the Bridger Wilderness. I drove up the other day and was surprised to find about 50 cars parked at the trailhead. Some girls loading up backpacks told me it is a very popular trail system. These rugged mountains are home to grizzly bears so everyone is required to take bear canisters. The main trail through the mountains is part of the Continental Divide Scenic Trail, the third north/south long distance trail in the US. I would love to hike some on that trail.

Backpacker parking

Yesterday I visited the Mountain Man Museum here in Pinedale. It was quite interesting. There were many displays of rifles, traps, knives, and other trinkets used by the mountain men, but mostly it was stories of the beaver fur trade and the men who lived in the mountains trapping and surviving the harsh environment. They say that scores of men vanished to a mysterious death from the danger of the wilds. Hostile Blackfoot Indians that hated mountain men, bad tempered 600 pound bears, and brutal winters, all claimed untold trappers.

I’m doing laundry today and then will push on down that long, lonesome highway. I’m hoping it will get a little more lonesome now that kids are going back to school.