Blogs from Montana, United States, North America - page 7

Today we had another short ride to Virginia City. We did have one major 1800’ climb, and then it was all downhill to the RV Campsite where Jane had reserved a spot. ( Once again I have been able to set up my tent at their campsite.) This gave us time to explore historic Virginia City. One great thing about low mileage days is the opportunity to be a tourist. Virginia City grew as a result of a Gold Strike in Alder Gulch in 1863, and within months the city exploded to 20,000 prospectors, business owners, prostitutes and thieves. Everything except lawmen. It became a lawless town, and robbery and murder became commonplace. Vigilante Justice was the way justice was done. Finally Congress declared the region as Montana Territory, and the bill was signed by President ... read more

As a pure coincidence, it turns out Pat and I are both ahead of schedule. He is meeting his daughter Becky, and I am meeting Bruce Tipton in Missoula on July 30. That gives us several extra days to get to Missoula. We decided to just do fewer miles per day and enjoy the sightseeing. Today was the first, and we easy peddled to a campground called Driftwater Resort, situated about 37 miles from our start. We spent most of the day riding along Hebgen Lake, and it was just beautiful. In 1959, a 7.5 Earthquake centered on the lake caused 28 fatalities and a huge landslide that blocked the Madison River thus creating a new lake called earthquake lake. There were numerous turnouts and side trips that allowed us to see how the earthquake altered ... read more

All is well . The last few days have been extremely exciting and busy. However, there was absolutely no WiFi or Cell Service so I was unable to communicate. I left Moran Yesterday and rode through Grand Teton Park and into Yellowstone. Camped with Pat and Jane Scanlon at Louise Lake 10 miles South of Grant Village. I then rode in their car for a tour of part of Yellowstone. Today, Pat and I rode through Yellowstone and arrived in West Yellowstone, Montana. Tomorrow,I am taking the day off and we will again see Yellowstone by car. I am exhausted and need some sleep so the big blog to fill in the last two days will occur tomorrow sometime. Until then.... read more

Glacier-drove to Siyah Falls then took shuttle to Logan Pass (on the Continental Divide). Rick, Chrissy and Maggie hIked part of Hidden Lake Trail and touched snow! Then we drove to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. In our campground at WLNP there were lots of ground squirrels. Rick and Maggie went for a hike. We rented a surrey (pedal cart) and biked though the townsite. The townsite is a town with private businesses and residences inside the park. When I asked the townsite it I was told this was common in Canadian Parks. The day was very windy and luckily the campground had cooking shelters (as did other Canadian campgrounds last year). In the evening we went to a fire program led by a Warden (Canadian name for a Ranger), which was fascinating. There was ... read more

Glacier still. We drove from the east side of the park to the west side by way of the Going To The Sun Road. The GTTS is an engineering marvel and the drive was spectacular. We checked in at our new campground, Fish Camp, where we are staying for two nights. We drove on an unpaved road for five miles to a trailhead for Howe Lake Trail. The hike was 4 miles round trip and Howe Lake wasn't special. We had a fun hike tho - we saw one group on our way there and one on our way back. We sang, clapped and yelled out to scare away the bears, and later realized we were also scaring away mountain lions! Our van is filthy.... read more