Thursday, July 23 and Friday July 24, 2015

We had a hard rain last night.  Some lightning, but the thunder rumbled through the canyon – loud and long-lasting.

It was 51 and cloudy at 7:30 when we headed out.  We are traveling through the area of a 1959 earthquake, Earthquake Lake and a visitor’s center that was still closed.  Lots of signage along the road, though. Many campers were killed in the ensuing rockslides.

Out of the mountains, we travel through many ranches, mostly cattle, some sheep.  The land is grassy now rather than sage, with irrigation in some areas.  A few antelope join the other grazers.  Lots of stacks of bales of hay, or bales in the fields where they have been recently mowed.

 

Beaver slide for building haystacks

After Ennis we are back to hills and sagebrush, a few trees.  41 south to Dillon.  Many of the small towns we go through have had painted fish statues.  Also many signs directing you to fishing spots.  Occasional signs for fishing guides, fly casting shops, etc.

We stop at the Beaverhead Gateway Ranch outside of Dillon, where we make breakfast.  This used to be a stage-coach stop on the Montana-Utah Trail and a shipping route when gold was discovered.  Now a restored wetlands area, developed through “Undaunted Stewardship”, a statewide organization of agricultural and conservation groups. This was our breakfast view.

We are back to many hay fields, grasses and cattle.   Bannack, a mining ghost town preserved by the state is our next stop.  Interesting collection of buildings from the mid 1800’s.  During the height of the gold boom it had 3,000 people.  Most of them moved on as the County Seat and railroad depot went to Dillon,  or as gold was discovered in other areas.

The Jail

There is an interesting history  which included a group called the Innocents who robbed gold shipments, stagecoaches, etc.  It was headed by the sheriff of Bannack (who had previously served time in San Quentin).  Another group called the Vigilantes captured and hung quite a few folks, including the sheriff.

We went by many small towns, less than 100 people.  This was the only portable post office that we saw though, in a town called Jackson! (Port-a-Potty too.)

Next we traveled to Big Hole Battlefield, named after the nearby Big Hole River.  This is where the US Army and Nez Perce Indians fought a huge batte.  Nice Visitor’s Center with a short film.  Once again the US promised the Nez Perce a lot of land, but when gold was discovered in 1860 they reduced the Nez Perce lands by 90%....and wondered why they had a battle on their hands! Many of the Indians are buried here.

tipi poles mark where the Nez Perce village was.

Beaautiful Nez Perce beadwork.

The Nez Perce put up quite a battle and the survivors fled – heading for Canada.  But they were followed and captured 40 miles from Canada. Chief Joseph and those who surrendered were sent to reservations that weren’t even their homelands.  Yellow Wolf and a small group did escape into Canada.

The ranger at Big Hole pointed us to some national forest campsites and we find one called Pettingill with three sites, two empty! 

The other people camping there have cut  a lot of wood and left some at each site, so Greg just has to split some and he gets a good fire going!  We are 100 yards or so from a rapidly flowing river.  Dark clouds roll in later, and the thunder rumbles, echoing and vibrating down the canyon.  Glad we aren’t in a tent!

Friday, July 24

Rock Day in Montana

We start the day with a drive to Crystal Park, about 18 miles.  Here you can dig for your own quartz crystals.  We are the only ones there, so head to the designated “Digging Area”.  We have a small shovel so we locate a likely spot (??who knows) and spend a while digging, sifting, sorting and finding a few interesting specimens. When we left, after 2+ hours, there were quite a few folks arriving.

We head north then, to a town called Anaconda.  Through high mountain meadows with more hay, several deer along the way.  In Anaconda Greg gets an oil change and picks up a few groceries while Beth uses the library wi-fi.  We stop at a Forest Service office and lern about  an area for boondocking, but first we head to Gem Mountain Sapphires outside of Philipsburg to try our hand at finding sapphires.  We stop at an operation which has already collected gravel from the sapphire-bearing layer of earth and we simply purchase a bucket, wash it and pick through.  We find a few tiny sapphires,  mostly blue and green. 

No jackpot, but it was fun.

Onward to Maxville and Forest Road 676.  An odd collection of cabins, trailers and nice homes along this dirt road.  This guy’s wife must have said “Not in MY house” to his collection of trophies.

We find a pleasant spot, close to yet another rushing stream which makes wonderful “white noise”. 

Greg gets another good fire going.  At each campsite he cleans the trash and ash out of the firepit and leaves wood for the next person….paying it forward! Some more light showers later, but we are asleep by then!