Tag Archives: Bitterroot Mountains

Sula, MT to Leadore, ID

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Out of the forest

I decided it was time to descend out of the forest and head on down the road.  I have been in the Warm Springs Campground for 4 days and figured that was enough.  Besides I had to find a dump site and get some groceries.

I checked the atlas and noted that the Sula Country Store and RV Park was only 5 miles away so I headed out of the Bitterroot Forest for the last time and drove over to the country store.  It was a quaint little spot just off of highway 93 and a full hook-up site was $25.

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  I pulled in and found a pull through site so I wouldn’t even have to unhook the “Sami”.

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It was nice and cool here and didn’t even have to run the A/C.  The store was very small and everything was rather expensive so planned on hitting a Walmart soon.

This place is right on the Bitterroot River and you could walk right down to it.

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Treated myself to a great breakfast

This little country store had a restaurant as well that was open for breakfast and lunch.  Since I didn’t have any breakfast fixin’s left in my rig I decided to have someone else cook breakfast for me.  Two eggs over easy, sourdough toast, bacon and coffee.  YUUUUM!

Oops – took the the wrong turn

When I left the next day I filled up with gas and turned left on the 93.  My goal was to turn east on the 43 over to Wisdom, MT and then up to Butte, MT.  I wasn’t paying much attention and continued down the 93 for a ways then realized I should have turned right coming out from the gas station.  By this time I had climbed up a rather steep pass and almost down the other side.  I didn’t want to have to turn around and go up that pass again so checked the atlas to see what was available in Idaho.

I passed a recreation site but it was right off the highway.  Then I came to Leadore, ID where there was a ranger station.  The nice lady inside told me of a couple of spots.  One was a forest service campground about 10 miles up into the mountains and the other was a BLM site about 4 miles out of town.  Since I was only going to stay one night I opted for the BLM campground.  It was a nice little campground and again had a stream running about 20′ from my rig.

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It was also at the base of the the Beaverhead Mountains, which run along the Continental Divide.

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Found an old miner’s cabin

There was a old mine around there somewhere and I happened to spot this old miner’s cabin while on a hike.

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It was very dilapidated.  I walked around the cabin to see if I could find any relics, but all I saw were a bunch of ammo shells.  Someone else must have cleaned it out.

Run Chica Run

I am very careful to always have Chica on her leash, especially in campgrounds and around other dogs.  I am also aware of birds of prey such as hawks or eagles.  There was another couple camping but they were at the far end of the campground.  I also didn’t see any hawks or other animals in the area.  So I let her off her leash for a short time.  We walked around and with a bit of coaxing she walked out on the bridge to see the creek.

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Then I let her run.  Chica loves to run and she will run circles around me.

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Then when she is finished running she heads straight for the rig.

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It was really a fun time.  Tomorrow I will head to the Walmart in Idaho Falls, ID to pick up some supplies and then who knows where I will be.

Warm Springs USDA Campground – Conner, MT

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Found a great spot

I was looking for a spot that was not too far off Highway 93 since I would be driving south on it.  I was fortunate to find a great campground just about 1.5 miles off the highway.  No highway noise and lots of dense forest.  I got parked and took this pic out my window.  You can see that the forest is very dense up here.

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Here is a pic of the campsite just a short distance down the road.

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The sound of the creek is very soothing

We are parked about 100 feet from Warm Springs Creek.  The sound of the water is very soothing.  I wish I could find a place like this every time I decide to camp.  We could hear it but you couldn’t see it.

Chica and I would take walks around the entire campgrounds each day.  Since the forest was so dense there were only a couple spots where you had access to the creek.  They were somewhat steep and Chica did not like them when I first introduced her to these trails.  She was a bit nervous but with a bit of coaxing she did OK.  However, Chica does not like water and doesn’t even want to get close to it.

Here is the only spot where we were able to get down right by the creek.

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The temps got into the 90’s the entire time we were there but we were able to keep cool since we were in the shade.  However we still got plenty of sun for the solar panels to restore our house batteries.

Found a great spot

I had Internet and cell phone service here but the Internet kept cutting out and it took forever to upload pics for these posts.  But I wanted to catch up so usually did Internet stuff in the late afternoon when I was able to stay on line more.

These is a pic of the surrounding area.  We had peaks on either side of us.

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I originally signed up for 3 days at $4 per day with my “Geezer Pass”.  I swear you can’t believe the cost of these fabulous Montana Forest parks.  They are everywhere and so inexpensive.

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After 3 days I still had room in my tanks and plenty of water.  However, I was out of beer and just enough wine for another day.  So Chica and I went down and paid our $4 for the next day.  So now we have been here four days and enjoyed every minute.

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I have been in the Bitterroot Mountains and Bitterroot Valley since July 15.  I cannot say enough about this area.  It is really beautiful and a place I would always like to return to.  There are so many campgrounds that need to be visited.  Unfortunately I will only have one more day in this area and then heading to new adventures.

Way up in the Bitterroot Mountains – Slate Creek

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Campground Full

After I left the Crooked Tree Ranch I headed south to Darby, MT.  I wanted to stop and call my sister.  I try to keep in contact as much as I can to see how my Mom is doing as well.  Everyone is OK.

Painted Rocks State Park

I looked on my atlas and thought that Lake Como just north of Darby might be a nice spot.  It was about 6 miles off of 93 and not too far to drive.  It was a beautiful setting, however the campground was completely full.  Lots of campers pulling boats for fishing.

So back to the 93 and headed south again.  I saw signs for the Painted Rocks State Park that was 23 miles into the Bitterroot Mountains.  I have not stayed at any of the Montana State Parks thus far so thought I would check it out.

About a mile before the park you turn a corner and this is what you see.

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A beautiful mountain lake.  I drove another mile to the state park.  The cost for camping for non-resident campers was $20 per night with an additional $5 entrance fee per day, plus there were no hookups.

Slate Creek Campground

Just about where I took the pic above I saw a sign for Slate Creek Campground so I decided to go back and check it out.  It was a small campground made up of about 6 sites and right on the Slate Creek.  But the best part was that there was NO FEE as in FREE.  What a deal!  I found a nice site and made myself at home.

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Chica and I took a walk down to the creek.  This creek flows into the large lake seen in the first pic.

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The forest was very dense up here although we did have access to the creek.

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Chica was looking out the door in the evening and saw a large deer pass by our camp about 25 feet away.  I wasn’t fast enough with my camera to get a pic.  However the next morning I got this pic of a doe and her fawn.

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The next morning before departing, I took a ride over to the lake to get some pics.

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I went down to the State Park where they had a boat landing and a dock and got this pic from the end of the dock.

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I stayed at a beautiful campsite and the best part was that I was able to save $25 by not staying at the State Park.  Not too shabby!

Visiting friends – Day 3

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Just horsing around

I was a good boy and stayed away from too much wine last night since Tad had mentioned that we should ride horses in the morning.  He saddled up Trinket for me and then worked on his horse named Blue.

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Here I am on Trinket all ready to to hit the trail..  What a cowboy!!  HA!!

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Then Tad saddled up Blue and off we went down the great trails in the forest.  I didn’t take my camera so didn’t get any pics.  I had my IPhone but was enjoying myself too much to remember to take any photos.  Sorry!

Riding horses is probably one of the best ways to see the beauty of the forest.  I can’t begin to explain my feelings.  We took the dirt road for a while and then it was off on some forest trails.  I am not a horseman and knew nothing about riding a horse or getting the horse to do what you wanted it to do.  But Tad is an excellent teacher and told me what to do and how to do it.  It was so much fun.

We even went up and down some trails that seemed rather steep to me (although probably not to Tad) and I hung right in their.  It probably was a good thing that I had a wonderful horse.

We were gone a couple of hours and probably went about 8 miles.  I was ecstatic throughout the entire ride.  Thanks Tad for the ride of my life in a beautiful forest setting.

 When we returned, Tad cooled down the horses and put them back in the corral.

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After they are watered down they love to roll around in the dirt.

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Thank You Tad and Diane

I cannot begin to thank Tad and Diane enough.  I had the time of my life.  I am really lucky to have such wonderful friends.

The Crooked Tree Ranch was much more then I ever expected, even after I had seen pictures of it last year.  They have worked very hard in making this a wonderful place.  I told them that this ranch is like a western Disneyland.  It truly is.

Good Bye to Crooked Tree Ranch

After riding I hooked up my rig, said my goodbyes and headed on down the road.  I really wasn’t sure where I was going to go except I knew I was heading south.

I am behind on my blog posting and reading by several days.  Some of it was due to the fact I was just having too much fun at the Crooked Tree Ranch and some was due to the fact I couldn’t get Internet service where I went after leaving the ranch.  I am going to try to catch up in the next couple of days.

 

Visiting friends – Day 2

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Brave Chica!!!

I forgot to mention in my last post that after the quad ride we sat out in front of their house and watched the horses.  Diane took one horse out of it’s stable and of course Chica went wild.

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I don’t think she factors in the fact she is outweighed by the horse 1,200 lbs. to 2 lbs.  She showed no fear whatsoever and let that horse know who was boss.

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Finally after telling that horse who was boss she decided to kick back with us.

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What a great watch dog!

My head is killing me!!!

Unfortunately we drank a bit too much and felt it the next day.  We had planned on going horseback riding but that was definitely out of the question.

So while we were recuperating I decided to walk around their property and get some pics.

Tad set up a target for his bow and arrows.  I would have liked to try that but just ran out of time.

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This is their storage building.  It matches their house perfectly.

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The campfire area and the tree the ranch was named after.  Crooked Tree Ranch is a great name.

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Stables for the horses…

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A pic of the corral showing the Bitterroot Mountains in the background.

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Plus their beautiful home.

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This shows the entrance to the Crooked Tree Ranch.

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Changed Plans

We decided not to ride the horses but instead they drove me around their area in the Bitterroot Valley.  Our first stop, I was treated for lunch at a neat little restaurant in Victor and then drove to Corvallis, Darby and Hamilton.  We stopped at the Daly Mansion and walked around a bit.  What a fabulous place!

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A beautiful pic of the Bitterroot Valley and Bitterroot Mountains.

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Then we stopped for an ice cream cone in Darby.  They must have scooped at least a pint of ice cream in each cone.  We walked around this small town for a while and checked out some great shops.  One had a fabulous display of antiques and another had a fantastic array of taxidermy of all the animals you would find here in the valley and up in the mountains.  I am sorry I didn’t get any photos of those.

Then it was back home where we just had a relaxing time of watching the All Star game on TV.  I had planned on leaving early tomorrow, but they invited me to go horseback riding in the morning.

Visiting friends

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Tanks full!!

The next day we made our way to the Missoula area.  I needed a place to dump my tanks and decided to spend the night in an RV park.  After being out with no hookups for the last 10 days, I wanted to take a good shower and not have to worry about water usage.

I drove through Missoula, MT and then on to Victor, MT and was surprised there were not too many campgrounds.  My friend Steve had suggested the Black Rabbit RV Park in Hamilton, MT just south of Victor.  So Black Rabbit it was.  Thanks Steve for a great suggestion.

The lady at the desk only had one campsite left so I was very lucky.  The longer shower was sure nice and I was able to clean up my rig from all the dust I accumulated.  After all I had been down a bunch of dusty washboard dirt roads going from campsite to campsite.

Great friends at Crooked Tree Ranch

The next day I got up and headed to my friends ranch outside of Victor, MT.  They had given me directions to take to get there and then said to call them once I hit the dirt road.  I called and Diane said they would be down shortly on one of their quads and escort me to their place.  Tad came down and led me to their place.  I would never have been able to find it on my own.

They are way up in the Bitterroot Mountains, where they have built the Crooked Tree Ranch over many years.  They used to come up there on their vacations from work and live in a trailer.  Their property is heavily populated with trees and it took them many summers just to clear them before they could start building.

This is the entrance to their ranch and you can see the Bitterroot Valley far below.

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Their trailer reminded them of all the hard work they put in and had it enclosed in a log cabin.  How cool is that?

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They had both 30 amp and 50 amp hookups with a dump station and water for their RV visitors like myself.  Here is where I was camped for two nights.

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Driving quads – What a blast!!

The first day I was there they got out the quads.  They were 4WD and could go anywhere.  This was my first experience driving a quad.  I am hooked for life.  These things are a blast.  You can go anywhere in them.  At first we stayed on the dirt road until I got used to driving it.   We made this stop at the Bear Creek Trailhead.  What a gorgeous view of the creek.

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We stopped at one of their neighbors homes built right on a creek.

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Here is a pic of my gracious hosts, Tad and Diane in front of their neighbor’s home.  Those were the quads we drove over there on.

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Here is another pic of a different portion of the creek.

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Then we drove home through many really neat forest trails.  Later in the evening, after dinner, Tad and I took went for another ride through more steep terrain and found some bones.  I didn’t really run over them. HA!

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Then we drove over to a lookout where another neighbor had built a home.  The scenery around here is breathtaking.

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Here is a pic of Tad under the neighbor’s outdoor shower.

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What a wonderful day!  Then back to their home where we got out the wine and enjoyed some great conversations and star gazing.