Elk Bend, ID - Darby, MT - Big Hole National Battlefield - Old Montana Prison and Car Museum, Deer Lodge, MT - Buck Knives - Post Falls, ID

June 22 - 28, 2024

On Saturday, June 22 we drove to Elk Bend, ID to the Elk Bend RV Park.  This was full hookups for one night.  Our check-out time at the previous campground was 10:00 and it was only around 90 miles to Elk Bend so we got in around noonish.  When I went to check in I was informed that since we were earlier than the check-in time of 2:00 he charged us an extra $10.  This on top of the $60 we paid for the night.  I thought it was a little petty/greedy since there was no one in our site, but it's taught me to check and be aware if there are any penalties if we're early.

I didn't get a picture of the campground but here are some pictures of the drive.

Sorry about the bugs on the windshield.  It's impossible to keep it clean.

On Sunday we made sure we were out before check-out time and drove up over Lost Trail Pass to Darby, MT.  We had made this drive many years ago and it was just as pretty as we remembered.  We stopped at the top and made/ate lunch.  It smelled so good with all the mountain trees.  Lewis and Clark took this route.

In Darby we stayed at Travellers Rest RV Park and Cabins.  It was full hookups for $73.17 per night.  I had seen the cabins on previous trips to Darby and thought they were cute.  I didn't know there was a RV park behind them and never dreamed I'd stay there.  I think John got a picture of the campground but I didn't.

Monday I had a 10:00 appointment to get my hair cut in Hamilton.  We got the truck washed and then went from there to Missoula, where we first had lunch at Chick-fil-a (you're not supposed to go shopping if you're hungry).  Maybe things are more expensive out here, but it was almost $24 for lunch for the two of us.  I don't know how families do it these days.  Then we went to Costco to see about getting the final valve stem on the truck tires we got from them replaced.  The other three had gone bad and we don't need a flat tire or blowout out in the middle of nowhere.  We made an appointment for 6:15 the next evening.  From there we went to Walmart and got our shopping done, then back to Darby and dinner with one of John's long-time friends Don and his wife Cathy.  We moochdocked at their house on the way back from Alaska five years ago and it was good to see them and catch up.  We both noticed that the traffic in Missoula was much worse than it was even five years ago.  It's a beautiful area and I guess people are figuring that out and moving there.

Tuesday we took Hwy. 93 back down and up to the pass, then Hwy. 43 to I-90 to Deer Lodge.  We were going to go over the pass on 38 just south of Hamilton but then I realized that most of it was dirt road.  Since the truck was relatively clean we decided on the other route.  On Hwy. 43 is the Big Hole National Battlefield.  We had been there briefly years ago and decided to stop again so I could get my passport stamp.  We spent about 30 minutes there looking at the museum.  Here is a panorama of the battlefield.  It was a beautiful day and so peaceful.  Unfortunately it wasn't always that way.

It was sort of the same scenario as Little Bighorn.  The Army wanted to put the Indians on the reservations and would stop at nothing to do so.  The Nez Perce had lived in the area that is now Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Canada for thousands of years.  Then the Europeans started westward.  In 1855 the U.S. government proposed a treaty: The Nez Perce would give up over half of their homeland but keep the right to hunt, fish, and gather on those lands.  Five years later gold was discovered on Nez Perce land.  This led to the 1863 treaty that decreased their lands by another 90 percent.  Five bands refused the second treaty and would later become known as the non-treaty Nez Perce.  One of the headmen of these bands, Young Joseph, said, "I have asked the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please.  They cannot tell me."  By 1877 the government gave the non-treaty Indians 30 days to move onto the reservation or be put there by force.  The group was mostly families, and began the task of gathering all of their belongings, including livestock.  They lost much during the journey but before they could reach the reservation fighting broke out.  By early August they were passing peacefully through the Bitterroot Valley.  Some of them didn't believe the military would pursue them, while others did.  The group arrived at what is now the Big Hole Battlefield area on August 7.  They didn't know the military was close behind and in fact watching them.  They went to bed around 11:00 on August 8, thinking that they were safe.  On the morning of August 9 the soldiers attacked, killing men, women and children, and burning the teepees.  Some escaped and headed for Canada, but the military was always behind them.  They had almost made it and the military caught up with them and there was another battle.  Young Joseph surrendered at Bear Paw, and over 400 were sent to Kansas and then Oklahoma.  Over half of the band died in the hot, flat country.  The group of over 250 led by White Bird did escape to Canada.  The people that had lived in peace for centuries was now scattered all over the country and Canada.  I've often wondered what would have happened if we had just let them alone and let them live their lives.  But then the gold seekers and settlers would have started wars anyway.  It's really sad; there were no good solutions.

After a brief stop to eat our lunch we went to Deer Lodge to the Old Montana Prison and Auto Museum.  

We did the Old Prison Museum and the Auto Museum, but didn't have time for the things across the street.  Our ticket is good for a year so if we get that way again we can see the rest of it.

The history of the prison is quite long, so if you are interested you can go to https://discoveringmontana.com/museums/old-prison/.  They also have a video to watch.  I'll post a few of the many pictures I took.

If a prisoner crossed this line the guards in the tower below had permission to shoot them.

The secretarial pool.  Read the picture below; it's interesting.

Anyone remember what this is?

TV room then and now.  Not much has changed.  No big screen TVs then!

Then we went through the Auto Museum.  It was an impressive collection and they were all in pristine condition.  If you go through the area it's definitely worth a stop, but plan for at least two hours.

Camping has definitely changed!

This was just one room.  There were many more.

John had an Impala like this only it was a 1959.

I bought a t-shirt.

We left and got back to our appointment at Costco in Missoula for the tire.  Our little cooler we use for our lunch bit the dust the day before so we got another one.  The one we use on shopping runs didn't always hold all the cold things we bought so we got another foldable one to add to it.  The truck was done about 7:00 and it was over an hour drive back to Darby.  It was a long two days.

On Wednesday, June 26 we headed for Post Falls, ID.  On the way we stopped at a parking area off the interstate for lunch.  Another car pulled up and John said, "Hey, that's Riley!".  They have a YouTube channel that is one of his favorites.  I like to watch it too.  It's https://youtube.com/@ambitionstrikes?si=xBkW3292f4XhyLNT.  He got out and met them and talked for a couple of minutes.  He got back in the truck and I said he should have gotten his picture with them.  He sat there for a bit and then asked me to take his picture with them.  He said if he didn't he'd regret it.

We're now at the Coeur D'Alene RV Resort in Post Falls, ID.  It's full hookup for $68.09 per night.  It's a big park with a lot of monthly+ people, but very nice and well kept.  It's sandwiched between the interstate and a busy road so pretty noisy during the day, but I haven't had any trouble sleeping.

On Thursday we went to the Buck Knives factory in Post Falls for a tour.  We couldn't take any pictures but it was a very interesting tour.  It just went to fast; I wanted to watch for a while.  I had to make reservations as they only do tours Monday-Thursday at 10:00 and 2:00.  It was well worth the time.  They also have a small museum on the second floor.

When we stopped at the parking area the day before John noticed that one of the tires on the 5th wheel had a spot on it that was down to the wear mark.  Another tire was wearing on one side.  We went to Les Schwab (recommended by several people) and decided to get new tires put on (yes, I know we just got some last November but they don't seem to be wearing well) and get them balanced.  One of the wheel rims was cracked too, so we got four new wheel rims.  Traveling is wonderful but it isn't always fun and games.

Obviously that won't take care of the wear issue on the one tire, so we're headed for Boise tomorrow morning to get the MorRyde independent suspension looked at and have them do whatever they need to do to fix it.  It's the closest place where they have the equipment to do the alignment.  It will be a quick fix down to get it taken care of and then halfway back up to meet friends at the end of next week.

We're roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1

Corvallis, MT to Henrys Lake State Park, ID - Butte and Yellowstone

Corvallis, MT to Henrys Lake State Park, ID
Butte MT and Yellowstone

September 2 - 8, 2019

We have seen many things in the week since my last post so this is going to be a long one.

On Monday, September 2 we left Don and Cathy's house.  We had a good time with them and enjoyed our visit.

We drove to Deer Lodge, MT and stayed at Indian Creek Campground.  Unfortunately neither one of us took a picture of it.  It was by an interstate and on the side of a truck stop so kind of noisy.

On Tuesday, September 3 we took a trolley tour of Butte, MT, which has an interesting copper mine history.

  There were mining headframes all around and a huge open pit mine.

  One of the stops was Berkeley Pit.

Underground copper mining started in the 1860s.  In the mid 1950s they started open pit mining and ran into some of the old mine tunnels, which had flooded.  They ran pumps to keep the water out, but the decline in copper prices in the 1970s caused them to shut down the mine in 1982.  The water flooded the underground mines and the pit, and is now 5,340 feet deep.  It rose about 1' per month and holds 40 billion gallons of water.  The had a problem with birds landing on the water and dying so now they have a loudspeakers that make different noises like cannons shooting, sirens, and other weird noises.

The whole hill on the north of Butte is a mine.  Not very pretty but I'm sure it looks like money to the locals.

The downtown area was very historical and many of the buildings were being restored.

On Wednesday, September 4, we drove to Henrys Lake State Park in Idaho, which is on a beautiful lake.

The sites are large with water and electric hookups.  When the water tanks get too full John dumps them into a 5 gallon container and takes it to the dump station.  It's allowed us to do laundry and have good showers and is the next best thing to full hookups.

On Thursday, September 5 we went into Yellowstone.  We started on the west side of the south loop, stopping along the way to see almost everything we could.  I have so many pictures it's hard to choose the ones for the blog.

We downloaded an app called GyPSyGuides that has been very helpful.  As we drive our 'guide' tells us what's ahead and if it's a must see or recommended stop, as well as park history.  It's well worth the $9.99 and they have guides for other locations too.

Our first stop was a waterfall.

Then we moved on to the Lower Geyser Basin with Fountain Paint Pot...

...and Great Fountain Geyser (although it wasn't geysering).

Here are some other pictures of the area.

Then we went to Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic Spring.  This area has the big pool with the deep blue center and all the other bright colors around the edges you see pictures of.  Unfortunately those pictures were taken from a drone and you can't really see the colors like that from the ground.  These pictures are from that area.

Our next stop was Biscuit Basin area.

Finally we got to Old Faithful!  We had to wait less than an  hour for the next eruption and used that time to eat our lunch.

I took a video which is posted on the RoVing Walkers Facebook page.

We went into the Old Faithful Inn and it was beautiful.

It was hot that day and after all the walking we decided to go back to the campground.

On Friday, September 6 we set off again to finish the lower loop.  We went back to Old Faithful because we wanted to hike around the boardwalk.  There were several other interesting sights along the way.

When I was five years old my family came to Yellowstone.  I only have a couple of memories but I think we stayed in this cabin.

Our next stop was Kepler Cascades.

It was a long way down into that canyon.

We stopped at the Central Basin...

...and saw Yellowstone Lake.

Not very pretty in the rain.

We made a couple of others stops.

We also saw a bison along the road.

We decided to skip the Yellowstone River Falls for another day when it wasn't raining.  We stopped at Norris Geyser Basin but there wasn't any parking so headed back to the campground.

On Saturday, September 7 we decided to go directly to Norris Geyser Basin before it got too busy.  We walked along the boardwalk, John taking the longer loop and me the shorter one.

We then decided to head north to Mammoth Hot Springs, making a stop at Sheepeater Cliff.

It reminded me of a small Devil's Postpile, which is near Lee Vining in California.

I wish we had smell-a-vision so you could smell all the awful sulfur smells all these geyers, mud pots, fumaroles, and hot springs put out.  Sometimes you can smell an area before you see it.

These pictures are from the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

We stopped at the Visitor Center.  There were some elk on the lawn around the center building.

Yellowstone became our first national park in 1872.  Nathaniel Langford was the first park superintendent, but they didn't give him any salary, funding or staff, so it was hard to protect the park from poachers, vandals and lawlessness.  He asked Congress to create a federal agency for the park but they refused.  He was forced to step down in 1877 and Philetus Norris took his place.  He finally convinced Congress to fund a salary and minimal funding to operate the park.  A gamekeeper and first ranger, Henry Yount, was appointed to control poaching and vandalism.  However, neither he or the three following superintendents were given enough manpower or resources to do so.  The railroad came to Livingston in the 1880s, connecting the northern entrance.  There were few roads and travel was by horse or stagecoach.  However, the number of visitors did increase.  Continued poaching and vandalism brought the U.S. Army to Mammoth Hot Springs in 1886.  Over the next 22 years they built buildings and called it Fort Yellowstone.  In 1894 the Park Protection Act saved the park.  The army developed their own policies and regulations that permitted public access while protecting park wildlife and natural resources, most of which the park service adopted.  The Army turned over control of to the National Park Service in 1918.

These are some of the buildings that the Army built.

The Visitor Center. 

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.

After leaving this area we found a parking place for the Liberty Cap and Palette Spring.

I think Palette Spring is what most people think of when the hear about Mammoth Hot Springs.  It's beautiful and changes all the time.

This was our last stop for the day.  I had no idea there was so much walking to be done to see the sights.  John had over 14,000 steps and I had over 10,000 that day.  There have been lots of people and sometimes hard to find a parking place, but I can't imagine what it's like in the summer before the kids go back to school.  We headed back for the campground and the beautiful view out our back window.

Sunday, September 8 was a day of resting and catching up on laundry and the blog, as well as making banana nut bread.  Yum!

Tomorrow we head back into Yellowstone to see the more of the park.  The weather forecast is calling for 50% rain but we're hoping they're wrong.

Roving on...

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Psalm 19:1