Montana Meanderings

I loved Bozeman (and Brad!), but there was really very little options for free camping and after the Friday night party of noisy college boys, I decided to try other places. First stop: Elkhorn, the ghost town I've been reading about for years!

Above is the view from the trail to the cemetery which is up a mountain. I didn't mean to hike, but as I walked around town I saw a sign and followed the road UP...to the top! I kept wondering how they transported heavy coffins in wagons up this steep, dirt road? The cemetery is filled with children's graves which always unsettles me. I knew there was a trail down the mountain as I saw signs coming into town for it. I followed it back, very steep switch backs but absolutely gorgeous! 

The weather was finally cooperating, but my camera battery gave out so I didn't get many photos. I planned to stay close and come back in the morning...but the monsoon rains poured down all night. The road in was miles of dirt washboard so I was a little nervous about what I'd find on the way out. I stayed on the side of the road on a grassy road behind some trees.

Next was a visit to Helena. This is the state capitol. I could have taken photos of buildings all day long even in the pouring rain! Lots of history.

I ended up taking Hwy 1 through Anaconda and Philipsburg (beautiful historic town!) and on to Missoula. Out of Anaconda the highway crawled up and it started snowing. As it dipped down into the valley, the snow stopped, the temperature increased and even with the sharp twisty turns of the mountain road, it was absolutely gorgeous with little farms along the way.

I continued to Missoula and constantly expressed profound pleasure at the landscape. The interstate cut through the mountains and kept going down, getting warmer, the sun appeared, and the greenery was a shocking shade of bright emerald! Such a beautiful area! I headed to what I think was Big Pine Fishing Access just north of Alberton. It was four miles off Interstate 90, 2 miles of fairly flat dirt road down to a little fishing park. I found a spot right on the river! 

Beautiful and quiet, but an hour out of Missoula and NO INTERNET! If I didn't have to work, I would have stayed a week. The next two nights I stayed in the parking lot of a very welcoming Cracker Barrel which was very quiet and felt very safe.

I'm not sure I like Missoula. Parking downtown is a nightmare. Parking at park even costs! Even the parking at the library was a limit of two hours IF you can find a spot! There are four free parking spots in front of the library and I was told I'd have to get there early to snag one. Around 8am, library employees took them! Lucky for me I'm an early riser and got there at 7am. 

Big Blue outside Missoula Library in free parking.

Even in the city parks it's paid parking except after 5pm and on weekends. Lots of beggars and more bad-driving men...rude men in big trucks who believe they are entitled. However, they have a superb store called Good Food Market on 3rd Street that is much like the Bozeman Food Co-op, and very much like Whole Foods was before they went to the dark side. After too many rude people and one bad encounter after the other, I left.