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Montana Road Trip: June 2005 Itinerary: Coeur D'Alene NF, ID National Bison Range, MT Bozeman, MT Yellowstone National Park Buffalo Jump St Park, MT Headwater's State Park, MT Antelope Basin Beaverhead-Madison NF MT Red Rock Lake NWR, MT Synopsis We headed out to Montana in June to visit a friend who had recently moved out there and to see the sights in the area. We only took a week to travel, so a lot of our time in places was abbreviated. Coeur D'Alene NF, ID We made a stop over in the Coeur D'Alene National Forest while driving out to Montana. We stayed at a lake that we had to ourselves. But as the thunder clapped loudly over head and the raindrops splattered on our tent, we were beginning to wonder what we were going into. Little did we know this was just the beginning of the weather pattern. National Bison Range, MT The next morning we drove out and were greeted with gray skies as we passed over the MT-ID border. We made a stop at the National Bison Range and drove the auto tour. We saw the bison along with other ungulates. It was an enjoyable tour and a good introduction to wildlife in the area. Bozeman, MT While continuing on to our friend, Brent, in Bozeman, we hit stormy weather. The windshield wipers tried to keep up with the fat rain drops as they pour down from above. When we finally made it to Bozeman, the weather improved greatly so we were able to dry out our gear a little at Brent's house... before the next storm hit. Thankfully, staying at a friend's house with a solid roof was an immense improvement over a couple layers of nylon. The next morning's weather was better so we were able to enjoy the mountains in his "backyard." His house, nestled in the mountains, would make any nature-lover envious. Brent was kind enough to show us around the local forests and took us to Ted Turner's Ranch, where we saw his "pet" bison. Yellowstone National Park The following morning, we drove out to Yellowstone with Brent as our guide. We were lucky - the park was actually not too busy (for Yellowstone standards). There were still quite a few cars on the roads, but not as bad as usual. We made stops at Mammoth Springs, where we got our first whiff of the springs. In the Lamar Valley, we got a glimpse of life before humans dominated the landscape. Bison, elk, deer, and coyotes, roamed freely. The valley was a true gem of Yellowstone. It's easy to miss the wildlife in the valley while sitting inside a ton of steel traveling at 40 mph. All we had to do was pull over and watch. We also visited the geyser basin and enjoyed the bubbling/smoking/steaming and smelly waters of Yellowstone. Before dusk, we attempted to see the "grand canyon" of Yellowstone. Even in the waning light it was an impressive deep canyon and raging river. Buffalo Jump St Park, MT & Headwater's State Park, MT Brent had to go to work the next morning, so we were back on the road. We were given a few recommendations so we headed to the Gravelly Mountains. We made a couple of stops along the way. Outside of Bozeman was stopped at Buffalo Jump State Park, where the Native American's would herd bison over the cliff and gather the bodies. It was an interesting stop - for one I thought the cliff would be higher with a bigger drop off, but it makes sense to have a smaller cliff with a steep hill below - better to have slightly bruised meat than a splattered mess. Also the Native Americans really aren't as "environmental," as we were taught in grade school. A lot of the meat goes to waste. Not saying the European settlers were any better - practically killing all the bison in sight, with no purpose (well... to starve the N. Americans). Headwater's State Park was close by, so we stopped into see the headwaters of the Mississippi. We watched the swirling brown waters as they would eventually head down to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Antelope Basin, Beaverhead-Madison NF, MT We drove to the Gravelly Mountains only to find out, they were closed off. Probably for wildlife management. When our original plans fell though, we headed down the road to Antelope Basin. Brent recommended it as an example of how cattle ranching should look when done properly. When we arrived, we could see why. The fields were green and there no signs of overgrazing. The roads were muddy and a little hairy in places, but we found a spot to camp in a field between the patches of quaking aspens. We hiked around the basin, the only people to be seen were two people on dirt bikes (being very respectful by staying on the roads). In one of the aspen groves, I noticed a large claw mark in the tree. It started and stopped well above my head - only one animals makes that mark - grizzly. We thankfully had bear spray (from Brent) on us in case of an encounter (which never happened). We also noticed in the same grove not a few feet a way, was an obvious large animal bed in the grass. In the middle of the bed, lay a ski glove... perhaps a grizzly bear chew toy? We were almost afraid to check to see if the glove still had a hand. Among the stands of aspen and open fields, we enjoyed the wildflowers - the occasional chocolate lily, the pronghorns, and the birds that would flit around in the grass and aspens. We found a couple of cup nests in the dense grass that held 2-3 eggs. We also saw a ruffed grouse that seemed to being talking to herself as she walked along. On the second night of staying at the basin, we watched an enormous lighting storm over the distant mountains of Idaho. It seemed to be moving away from us and without a cloud above our heads, we drifted off to sleep. We were awoken around midnight by the roaring off a pissed off grizzly in the distance. Only a few seconds later, the rain began to pelt down on us. We foolishly did not put the rainfly over the tent. As we scrambled to cover our tent and hold up the tent from the strong winds (yes, we had to literally hold up the tent), we began to wonder if we should leave. If we left we'd probably lose the tent and perhaps everything that was in it. I began to shiver (not from the cold) uncontrollably. Thunder and lighting crashed around us as we sat in our two layers of nylon, vulnerable in the middle of a field on the top of a mountain. About 20 minutes later, the stormed pasted and the night sky opened up. We were thankful we were still intact and our tent was still there to offer us shelter. The next morning we headed out... but not far. As the road neared an aspen grove, we could see a large aspen had been knocked over from the previous night's storm. It lay directly over the road, with no way around it. Using our small ax and a pocket knife, we chopped through the trunk of the aspen and sawed off large branches. After an hour of hard work, we were on our way out of the basin. Thankfully we didn't run into any more damage from the wind storm. We decided to head over the mountains to our next destination for the day. Red Rock Lake National Wildlife Refuge. I didn't know much about the refuge other than it was a popular spot for migrating birds. In June it was pretty quite, but we did see small herds of Pronghorn and Trumpeter Swans with babies in tow. After scoping out Red Rock for a bit, we headed back to Bozeman to meet up with Brent and tell him of our adventures. Yellowstone again After a more peaceful night of sleep with a solid roof over our heads, we headed back out to Yellowstone for the day. We decided to visit the more popular geyser basin area - to see Old Faithful, which has been losing power. I was blown away by the large parking lot and touristy feel around Old Faithful... and the large amount of people. There were definitely more people on our second visit to Yellowstone. We watch Old Faithful blow, then were lucky to see the Beehive Geyser go. It's flume blew clear over the boardwalk and high into the sky. It also lasted for quite sometime. We walked the boardwalks around the geysers and the beautiful sulfur pools. After stopping at other springs and bubbling mud pools, we decided to head back to the Lamar Valley. However, a thunderstorm started to move in and our daylight was suddenly reduced. We decided instead to head back to Bozeman to refuel and rest up for our trip back home. Glacier National Park As we headed back home the next morning, we took a "side" trip to Glacier. We didn't have a lot of time, so we just drove through the beautiful park - entering from the east and exiting out of the west entrance. The west entrance was "developed" if you could call it that - it looked like an extended version of a strip mall - a stark contrast from the beautiful mountains and glaciers of the park. Still the park was worth the trip, I could only imaging how inspiring the scenery must be off the main road. We stayed the night in a national forest in Idaho near a lake. We were awoken early the next morning by the splash of a moose (as we deduced from leftover footprints) that was startled by the sight of a tent next to the lake. It wasn't a bad way the end our trip. Top
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