Lemhi Pass

Today Quinn and I set off for Lemhi Pass.  Right on the border of Idaho and Montana.  Driving South from Dillon then West until you hit the dirt road to the pass.  Most of the time from the state highway to the pass you are traveling through the Bar Double T (-TT) ranch.  This is dry country and no sign of irrigation equipment but still very pretty.

Lemma Pass is part of the Lewis and Clark Route, although not while I choose it as I just expected beautiful views and was not disappointed.  It is also an old stage route.   The foliage here isn't quite as yellow as it was yesterday except at higher elevations.

Most ranches around here have at least one old log building on them.  There are several here in Dillon as well.  Most are being used, but on the -TT they have fences around them, possibly to help preserve them.

The view from the top of the pass to the east!

Back down the valley we drove through.

And to the west from the top of the pass.

Just so you know I don't cheat and use someone else's photos here's Quinn at the pass! 

You can go on down the other side of the pass into Idaho but I choose not to.  25 miles of dirt road to the State highway.  Then I'd have to find my way back to Dillon, without a map of Idaho.  Just didn't seem like fun so we went back the way we came.

Saw  lots of cows, a few mule deer, lots of Pronghorn Antelope-Speed Goats, and one herd of Elk.  The elk were so far away I had to use my binoculars, and then it was iffy!

The whole time I was driving today I kept thinking of this song.  One we were taught in school, well we were taught PART of it.  They probably don't teach it anymore-kids are missing out!  So I'll leave you with "Home on the Range".

Snow!

Gold valley, site of an early pioneer homestead.

After two days of sitting in Ceili listening to rain on the rubber roof I was more than happy to hear from my cousin!  Could we meet in Virginia City?

Absolutely!

It was still raining.

I wasn't going to be out driving on mountain roads.

We had a lovely lunch and a good catch up.

It had been 4 years since I'd last seen them plus I finally got to meet one of their sons and his wife!

He and his wife live on Lake Roosevelt in Washington State but their two sons and grandchildren are in Montana so they spend quite a bit of time over here.

In fact they are planning to move over in the next year or so.

Virginia City is an old mining town now basically a tourist thing, this being after the season most everything was closed.  Including the candy store, darn it!

Today dawned partly cloudy, well mostly sunny here in Dillion, so Quinn and I 

headed up to drive the Pioneer Scenic route and into the Grasshopper Valley.

We drove this last year south to north so this time I went north to south-you see different stuff in different directions.

There was so much lovely fall color!  That splash of yellow on the mountain is an aspen grove.

See the clouds on the mountain? 

Yep, it was misting where I was standing to take this photo and as we drove on through the national forest and got higher it rained a bit harder.

Then it SNOWED!

Not really hard and not sticking but definitely snow.

When we started down into the Grasshopper Valley the snow stopped.

I stopped for lunch in Polaris at the Grasshopper Inn -yummy.

While I ate the clouds lifted and then I could see this!

Some of you know that I Beta read for Suzie O'Connell whose books are actually set in this valley,

Even though it's called Northstar.

The Grasshopper and other sites in the area are featured and I loved seeing the real places!

(Also, really good novels!)

This is closer to the South end of Grasshopper Valley as is the next one.

All in all it was a lovely trip.

We got back fairly early so we were off to the park for a walk and then some errands.

Then I re-arranged the trailer---again!

Just a short drive

Actually, this one was taken in the campground!

Then Quinn and I took a right out of the campground.

Just to see where the road went.

Didn't drive too far until I was up at the top of a hill looking at 

this!

Then I turned around the other way and saw this!

I swear there's something beautiful in Montana at every turn!

Quinn is a five year old Shetland SHEEPDOG.

She had never before seen sheep.

Or goats.

She is intrigued by them even though they don't think much of her!

Everytime we go for a walk we have to go over to their pen,

sniff and watch while they walk away.

Poor Quinn!

Missoula to Dillon

Moving day!

Headed out from Missoula to Dillon about 11 am.

Arrived about 3pm.

Absolutely nothing went wrong!

After the last move

I was afraid that more disaster would strike!

We stopped at a rest area on I-15 for lunch.

Starvation had struck me and while the scenery is gorgeous

there's not much in the way of food joints.

Not even fast food.

Lunch in the trailer was nice though

A bit longer than usual maybe 

but I'm in no hurry, ever.

These photos are all of the Divide valley.

Fall has come.

You can see it in the grass and the trees along the streams.

Beautiful.

Clouds creating a dappled countryside are also 

beautiful.

Bison,sheep and bears, OH MY

Remember when I asked if you we tired of Mountains?  Same mountains.
By the time we got down they were lost in the clouds

Today, we made our return trip to the National Bison Range.

I'll begin with the facts this time.

By the early 1900's the number of plains bison found in the wild was numbered at 100.

Then President Theodore Roosevelt signed a law establishing a "Permanent national bison range" to be manage by US Fish and Wildlife.

(Good old Teddy-we have him to thank for our National Park System too!)

In 1908 Congresses funded the range and the next year 34 bison were brought here to live.

Numbering now between 350-400 head they free range on nearly 14,000 acres.

In 1921 part of it's purpose became as a refuge and breeding ground for birds.

So here's a fine looking bison!  

I only saw maybe 40 of them but 14,000 Acres is a big space.

 The road through the refuge is gravel and you have two choice

-go left and turn around and come back.

Go right and there is no way back until you meet the other road.

I went right, of course.

They tell you to plan for at least two hours.

I think I took longer.

The road goes up and down a bit with a little mostly flat thrown in.

Then it goes UP.

The views from the top are amazing!

All the way going up you know in the back of your mind that at some point you

HAVE TO GO DOWN!

The sign said steep grades.

They weren't lying!

The rest of the wildlife I saw:

Big horn sheep.  There were four together but this is the best of my pics.

Mama black bear and her two cubs walked out of the brush and sauntered up the road in front of me.

Luckily, I saw them coming.

It's really a good thing I like slow,

I'd have missed them if I'd been going faster.

Pronghorn Antelope-called Speed Goats around here.

One other thing I saw that got me excited (the bears really did it)
I saw some OREO COWS! Black on both ends and white in the middle.
The Belted Galloway

Lolo Pass and Elk Meadows Road

Yesterday, Quinn and I went up to Lolo Pass to the Visitors Center there.

I've noticed that here in Montana the eastern approach to a pass is often long and shallow where the western side is "Trucks use low gear" straight down!

I hardly knew we were going up, the pass is 5235feet high and in Idaho, barely!

They built a new Visitors Center here in 2000, changed where the road was so they could bring back this swampy meadow and creek.

The forest service and some First Nations groups are hard at work reclaiming the drainage in the area since a big flood in the 1990's

For the first time I could actually smell the forest proper.

Many deep, deep breaths were taken.

Lolo pass was the route of several First Nations groups who joined with the Nez Pierce in their unsuccessful flight from the US Army towards safety in Canada.

This is Packer meadow, Lewis and Clark camped here and they speak of the meadow and the pass in their journals.

Having worked on and studied Lewis and Clark since 1998 (in preparation for a new exhibit and the bicentennial) I'm pretty tired of Lewis and Clark!

They are, or at least seem to be, Montana's claim to historical fame on the national level and it's right up there with "George Washington slept here!"

When we left the visitor's center I took the scenic route back to Missoula.

Elk Meadows Road (Forest Service Road 373).  Gravel for 33 miles.

Good gravel though so only slow (like 15 mph) but not terriby brain shaking!

The road was mostly through the trees.  I wish I could have captured how tall these trees are.  

I couldn't get all of one in a photo. 

We went high, really high!

Met two cars passed one other truck going my way.

 Through a burn zone-1910 I think they said.

I will whine about tree tunnels but I will admit that open spaces with big drop offs on one side make me nervous.  After those I was always grateful to be in the shelter of these massive trees.

Indian Paintbrush

There is no way for me to adequately explain the expanse of these National Forests.  I was in parts of Lolo, Clearwater and Bitterroot National Forest.  Just beyond the pass is the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness which combined with the Frank Church Wilderness constitutes 5 million acres-there is one road between the two.  Otherwise, you're hoofing it!

The National Forest Service administers 232,053,392 Acres(2014 total) of forest and grasslands in the US.  Now you know why I am in awe of the SPACE and the trees!  I said before, if you knew what you were doing you could disappear into one of these forests and no one would ever find you!

Bee stings, bruises and floods

Tired of mountain pictures yet? Taken at National Bison Reserve.

Yesterday was a day that will live long in my memory! And not in a good way, sigh

Several days ago I stepped on a bee (or maybe yellow jacket) in the trailer.  I'd been sending bees out of the truck and trailer and away from Quinn for a couple of days but I didn't think I'd missed any.  (It was the same color as the floor!)  I was quite concerned as two of my boys have allergic reactions to stings.  Rob ended up in the ER the last time. I've never had a bad reaction but there's always a first time.  I took a Benadryl (Seriouly, where would I be without that drug?!) and put ice on it-cause it HURT-and watched closely for swelling.  I considered getting in the truck and driving to the hospital in Whitefish just in case.  No swelling, just pain.  Next morning pain gone, glad I hadn't driven to Whitefish.  Since then though it has itched like the devil. While still not significant the area of itchiness and redness is getting larger. Yesterday I hit a drug store for epsom salts hoping to draw out the itchy making stuff. If it doesn't improve I'll have to find an MD.

I packed up for the move to Missoula. (For some reason I always want to spell this place with 2 z's instead of 2 s's- Could be my MIZ-ZOU getting me!)

Taking my guitar (that I haven't touched as yet) to the truck, I backed out of the door.  Cause truly there isn't room to just walk through the door carrying a guitar case.  I missed the bottom step of the trailer and you guessed it went splat on my tush!  Managing somehow to hit the bench of the picnic table--Big bruise! Oh well, nothing really damaged except my ego.

Then I couldn't get the water pressure doohickey off the spout.  (Keep in mind there was a heavy frost the night before and it was still cold.)  Finally, managed with pliers and liquid wrench (Thanks Rob) to get it off.  Got ready to go and could hardly move.  I'd  left the jack  down.  I'd walked around that trailer twice checking to be sure I had everything done correctly!

Managed to get to the National Bison Range without a wrong turn.  Opened the trailer door to put Quinn in while I checked the place out to discover that at least two cabinets had come open and deposited stuff on the floor, including 4 bottles of wine-none of which broke.  Big mess to clean up!

Found the KOA here and got checked in, un-hooked, and set up.  Left to take Quinn for a walk.
Came back to find water running out the bottom of the trailer!  Turned the water off quick!  Then tried to find out what had happened.  The floor of the trailer had water on it, maybe and eighth of an inch.  The culprit?  The tub faucets had jiggled themselves open and the drain stopper was in!  Overflowing bath tub.  Drained it, hung up the clothes that had jiggled off the rod and were now wet, used nearly every towel and rug to sop up the water after getting everything off the floor.  What a mess.

Guess what I'm doing today-yep,  reorganizing and cleaning the truck and trailer.  Again. Not the way I'd hoped to spend the day!