Glamping Days

 Ran into a traffic jam on the way out of the national forest this morning.  Near Helena, I took a boat tour to the "Gates of the Mountains", so named by Meriwether Lewis. The cliffs surround a narrow section of the Missouri River. At the to far end of our tour, we arrived at the prairie east of the Rockies.  Coming back up, we see the view that Meriwether Lewis saw. When approached a bit to the left of where this pic was shot, the cliff on the left side covers the opening (gate closed), such that it looks like the river doesn't go through, but when we moved to the middle of the river here, the opening appears (gate opened). It was a cool effect. Then I toured the Montana State Capitol. The statue is of the first woman ever elected to the US Congress. A Republican, she was elected in 1916 before women in most states could even vote. The wire underneath the seats in the house chamber is for the man seated there to stow his cowboy hat. I often don't like spaces as busy

 Drove in to Butte today. On the way, this guy stared me down.  In Butte, I took a trolly tour through the largest historic district in the US - 6,000 buildings. These towers remain from the underground mining, which was discontinued in the 1970's. Open pit mining continues. The water in this mine is so polluted, that a bird landing in it will die, so gun shots & other noises ring out every 30 seconds or so to keep the birds away. The water is cleaned up before being released into a stream.   This is a typical landscape around Butte, & the view from my campsite. It's very quiet here, as so far, I'm the only one in the campground. Good thing I'm happy with my own company...& that of a deer that just wandered by.

After the ferocious hail storm yesterday, today was a beautiful day. The sunrise on the mountain seen from my campsite was magical, & an early morning drive took me to 2 other beautiful spots. Then I drove to Basin, MT, north of Butte, & joined my cousins Kathryn & Clark (along with friends of theirs) at the Merry Widow Mine Campground. People come to the mine from all over as it supposedly has healing properties. If you come for treatments, you spend an hour 3 times a day for 11 days in the mine. We just enjoyed the campground & a yummy meal made by Kathryn. 

Driving west from Billings to Bridger, I first drove the Shield River Valley Scenic Drive. These are the Crazy Mountains. (I felt right at home.) The Bridger Canyon Scenic Drive was even prettier. I'm camped at a pretty spot along the Bridger Canyon Scenic Drive. There are 2 towns named Bridger in MT; yesterday, I drove through the one southwest of Billings, & now I'm near the one northeast of Bozeman.  There are beautiful thistles in the campground. A terrible hail storm blew through - thought that the trailer was going to be flattened by 20 minutes of ferocious hail. It put a small hole in the rear wall of the trailer, so I hate to think what it did to the top.    

 The propane detector in the trailer went off 3 times last evening when the trailer was closed up with the AC on. Most of the trip, I've had the windows open. So, this morning, I dealt with that. This is the second person who evaluated it & assured me that there isn't a leak. The consensus seems to be that it's off-gassing from the adhesives & such used in construction. So, I'll carry on with the windows open.  After noon, I drove most of the way to the northern end of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. It turned out to be further than I'd planned, & a storm blew in when I was getting close. I'd been told not to go in when the roads are wet as they are red clay & a real mess when wet.  So, I turned around. Hence, I just took a few landscape shots. The first one has a windmill support on the left side & the mountain is Pryor Mountain, where I was headed.  Back in camp, I made 2 big batches of food & froze a bunch of meals for the next fe

Near Billings is Pictograph Cave State Park. There are 3 caves at the base of a cliff, & the largest one has been used by native tribes for several thousand years. It had many pictographs, which were documented, but they have deteriorated due to weathering, souvenir hunters, & such. So the history is interesting, & the site is worth seeing, but the pictographs are underwhelming.  The Art Deco Moss Mansion is stunning. The interior is extremely well-preserved, & all of the original furnishings remain. The family history is interesting too. I've visited many historic homes through the years, & this is one of my favorites.    This sign has several reminders as one leaves the campground I'm staying in, 

On the way from Bighorn Canyon to the Bighorn Mountains, the landscape is pretty desolate.   On the way back through the Bighorn Mountains, I saw 2 bull moose dining near each other. They are solitary animals, so it seems that they both just happened to show up here at the same time.  Custer's last stand at Little Bighorn was a sad affair all the way around, but the area is beautiful.    Will be in Billings, MT, for the next 3 nights. It was 100* when I arrived here at 6:00, so tonight will be the first night using the air con in the trailer - hurray for glamping!

Yesterday, I posted pics of the Big Horn Canyon. These pics are of the hills & mountains around the canyon. The first 2 pics are of the view from my back window here, & the next 2 are on an old ranch; they had to be hardy souls to scratch out a living in this harsh landscape.       The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range overlaps with the Big Horn Recreation Area. Several horse lovers are following this blog, so these pics are for them.                                                                                 I drove the road through the park this evening, saw 3 horses in the road, & stopped a distance away from them. As I sat parked, they walked right by the truck in a line, then wandered off to graze - pretty cool.  z