Sunday, July 12 More Montana and into Glacier Nat'l Park

 Sunday, July 12

53 degrees this morning at 7AM!  Nearly 50 degrees different from yesterday afternoon!  Blueberry Pancakes and oranges for breakfast - yum! 

We head into Butte this morning.  There is a Folk Festival in process and we pass a fairgrounds/camping area that looks very busy.  We head to The Berkeley Pit, a large open pit copper mine.  It doesn't open till 10, so we read a group of signs with information about the history of Butte, then continue up the mountain to the Granite Mountain Memorial till then.

The open-air plaza memorializes 168 men lost in the Speculator Mine fire in 1917, as well as 2,500 mining-related deaths around Butte between 1870 and 1983.  Butte was a booming mining town and production was massive as WW I created a huge demand for copper. Butte had over 90,000 people who spoke over 30 different languages as people from all over the world came here. The fire was caused by a damaged electrical cable.  Lots of union strikes and violence over the years.

Nice view of the Berkeley mine and surrounding mountains. This was known as the richest hill on earth, beginning with gold mining in the 1870's,  silver in the 1880's and then copper.

The towers seen here and there are called headframes (or gallous frames) and housed the cables and elevators that went down into the mines.

That tiny spec just right of center is a building. 

We join a few others walking through the tunnel to the Berkeley Pit - the remnants of a huge open-pit copper mine which operated from 1870 to 1983.  It is a mile long, half mile wide and 1,780 feet deep.  It is about half filled with toxic, acidic groundwater contaminated by metal and minerals from the mine.  Although the signage minimizes the problems, it does mention a water treatment plant which treats the water to keep the level such that it won't flow into nearby creeks and water sources.  It is a Superfund site.  And steps have been taken - noise, light, pellets - to keep waterfowl from landing in it.   Mining continues in other nearby areas.

It's ironic that they now charge a fee to view and read about the Berkeley Pit.  I'm hoping the money goes toward remediation!

We attempted to visit a Mineral Museum on the nearby Montana Tech campus, lots of nice, older stone buildings on campus.  The website showed open, but signage at the building said closed.  

We decide to head towards Glacier National Park next.   Beth is able to reserve campsites at St. Mary's Campground on the eastern (less busy) part of the park - two different sites for one night each, but heh! we'll take it as it is often totally booked way in advance!

We wind our way northeast through mostly ranch land, at one point traveling on the Ivan Doig Memorial Highway.  He is an author Beth has enjoyed whose books are mostly set in his native Montana. Finally, the mountains around Glacier become visible.

We arrive at Glacier with no lines to enter around 3:30 and it is 83 degrees.  We are in nicely wooded Loop A (no generators) and find the sites here quite large and nicely spaced - at least this one is! 

 A few chirping ground squirrels in and around the site - caught this one in mid chirp! 

wild roses

fireweed

Some pretty wildflowers here and there.

 A walk of the loop shows folks from  Wisconsin, California, Maryland, South Dakota, and Colorado and we talk briefly with a man ( late 40's maybe?) from Washington who is in the process of cycling from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine!  (Pic of his site, but he didn't want to be included.)

Nice sunset.  Beth scorches in Cribbage tonight!

Saturday, July 11, 2026. Tetons, Yellowstone and into Montana.

 Saturday, July 11

The temperature has fallen to 50 degrees by 6AM this morning.  We've decided to get an early start to make the drive through the Tetons and some of Yellowstone before it gets too crowded.  This is one of the few north/south routes in western Wyoming and is always worthwhile as long as you avoid 10-4 hours.

No line at all at the Tetons at 6:15!  A few stops to admire the scenery.  Noisy ravens have an unknown commentary.

We see several elk and deer along the way, very little traffic and beautiful scenery!  

Then into Yellowstone, where there are two cars ahead of us. 

 This elk was munching away right beside the road - oblivious. Man, they are big!

 The early morning mist was still floating near the ground.  And some of hot water features were extra steamy.

This young bear was traveling alongside the road and crossed over after we passed.

Here is lovely Lewis waterfalls.

Hot water features abound, and we follow beside Yellowstone Lake for a while. Fishing is allowed in some areas.

This bison was so close I could have put the window down and patted him (if I was nuts).

The bison are up and moving, causing a bit of a jam when they decide to cross the road.  Quite a few young ones in the herd.

This guy was off by himself - thought he was white at first, but only part of his hide was white and grizzled.  I think he was just an old bull.

Gibbons Falls, and more pretty wildflowers as we turn west.

We avoided the left side (Old Faithful) of the park and instead looped up and around and along the Madison River to reach the west entrance and the town of West Yellowstone, where we stopped for lunch.  The Madison River doesn't freeze in winter because of all the thermal activity around it.  We recognized some of the places from a winter stay here a few years ago. 

Then north into Montana - Big Sky Country!

 

We stopped at 5-mile-long Earthquake Lake, where an earthquake in 1959 created havoc, killing 29 people and creating a huge lake when a collapsed mountain dammed the Madison river.

Next stop: Virginia City.  Remnants of an old mining town which once flourished.  Today it is a mix of old buildings and a few new businesses in refurbished buildings.  (It isn't the Virginia City from Bonanza - that one's in Nevada.)

 It was pretty busy today because of two shows in town - a car show which has been held annually for 25 years, and a beautiful quilt show.

We tried Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park for a place to stay, but it is miserably hot (over 100 degrees) and the only sites available were without electric.  That might have been ok, but those sites also had not a stitch of shade.  A kind ranger there mentioned a private campground 15 minutes away called Caldwell's.  It was pricey, but did have the winning trifecta - shade, electric and showers - worth every penny today!

Met a young camper from Switzerland.  She was in awe of the wide open spaces here!