A Surprising Day!

We've been wanting to drive up the Nine Mile Road to visit the historic Ranger Station there. The cutoff is just before Alberton, Montana. The Station was built in 1930 after some devastating forest fires in Montana and Idaho. Mules are still trained there to go into areas too rugged for trucks. All the mules were in another pasture when we arrived, so we didn't get to see them. We did have a great visit with the workamper couple manning the Vistor Center, though, and after our time there we decided to head up a little further on the Nine Mile Road, which is not 9 miles, but over 35! We never did figure out why it's called that!

What is that critter up ahead? Is it a...  no, it can't be! Yes, it is...  a llama!! What on earth is a llama doing out in the wilderness on this narrow one-lane mountain road? When he saw us he trotted right up to the car.

I rolled down my window a little to see if he was friendly. He was, very! A ranger car came along and stopped, and she didn't know where the llama came from either. We began to worry about him being lost, but the ranger said she'd inquire around the area. He is obviously someone's pet, very tame, and wearing a bridle.

Keith, animal lover that he is, rolled down his window and received a llama kiss! We had triscuits, which we offered to Mr. Llama. He gobbled them down. We drove off, but worried some more about where the owners might be. Coming upon this beautiful animal was the highlight of our drive up the 35 mile long Nine Mile Road. By the way, which one do you think is the better kisser — Mr. Keith or Mr. Llama?

Here we are at the top of Siegel Pass. The sign proves how far we had to drive on the very narrow, twisting, rocky road. The signs were good, or we could easily have gotten lost at several crossroads. What a great day!

A Higher Plain.

Typically on days off we like to take rides around the Missoula area. Today we decided to explore the road up to the top of Blue Mountain in hopes of getting some great views of the valley below. This was our reward! Missoula stretches out in the distance, and we could barely see the white "M" and the "L" on the clearcut hills above the city. (Click to enlarge.)

And an even greater reward for our drive up the narrow gravel road was this lookout tower! We parked under it and looked up to see the ranger looking down on us. He invited us to come up for a chat, so we happily climbed the ladder-like steps to the top. What a fabulous view we had! The lookout tower was built in 1946 and though worn looking is still very sturdy.

It was a hazy day, but here you can see the road we traveled on, and in the distance, to the west, are the hills of Idaho.

The ranger was kind enough to allow me to take his picture, along with his little companion, an aged fox terrier. This man is 74 years old, a retired school teacher, and has been doing this summer job for 30 plus years! What beauty, what solitude! He does have a family back down in the valley, with whom he spends his days off. We had an informative conversation with him about the area and about more beautiful drives to take. From this viewpoint in the tower we could barely see the Mission Mountains, near Glacier Park.

Here is another view, slighty more to the northwest. Notice the little fox terrier again. In the below picture — deer are all over the hills and even in some neighborhoods around Missoula. At this time of year they are sleek and healthy looking and don't seem to mind the looky-loos.

Another Montana Ghost Town

The town of Philipsburg, on the Pintler Scenic Loop, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Most buildings are solid brick and stone, and are fully occupied as businesses or as gift shops, restaurants, and other touristy attractions. The town was a prosperous mining burg in the late 1800s and is now restored to look as it once did. The building above is the high school, still in use.

And here is the jail! It seemed to be still used as a police station, and maybe still as the jail. We walked up and down the streets, crowded with tourists, bought some awesome homemade fudge in the famous "Sweet Palace", and ate a delicious lunch at a restored saloon now used as an eating establishment, "Doe Brother's Fountain and Restaurant."

The ghost town of Granite, in the hills above Philipsburg, presented quite different scenes from the town of Garnet, which we visited a couple of weeks ago. Garnet contained many wooden structures still in place, while Granite was obviously built mostly with stone and brick, and those buildings were lying in ruins, decimated by weather and scavengers. Granite, like Garnet, is up high in the hills, reachable by a narrow dirt road.

 

This is the remainder of the only bank in Granite.

Here we were amazed to see the ruins of a 3 story brick and stone edifice used as the Miners' Union Hall, where the miners found rest, relaxation and entertainment. Trees and bushes have taken over the floor area, and I was surprised to find many raspberry bushes growing here and there over the town property. Someone must have cultivated them when the town was new, and the years and the birds have spread them around.

This was perhaps the most fascinating ruined structure we saw. It was once the stamp mill, where the ore was crushed to extract the metal. It is amazing to think how these early miners could construct these edifices without the machinery we have today. This mill was made of huge boulders and bricks, all covered with a wooden facing. We could still see the massive amounts of dust the mill produced.

Here is a wooden house along the way, still more intact than many of the other buildings, most of which were simply holes in the ground surrounded by rock foundations.

The view from the top was spectacular. Looking down, we could see the light-colored dirt left from the mining process, and beyond that, the valley below; such a beautiful sight. Montana has so much awesome beauty, which we are thankful to be able to enjoy.

Click on any of these photos to enlarge.

A Ghostly Day!

 We had a day at the Garnet Ghost Town, east of Missoula. Here's a great photo of the wildlife we saw on our way up the mountain. Free range cattle were abundant, grazing throughout the forest.

 

Here's a view looking down on the town from the pathway near the parking lot. The town of Garnet was born in 1895, a gold mining town, and within several years 1000 people called it home. This is all that is left today.

 My granddaughters and we were looking hard for ghosts!

 

This is one of the better preserved rooms in the hotel.

Push hard, Natalie!

One of 2 or 3 bird nests we saw on the buildings.

Two lovebirds leaving the ghost town after a great visit.

Proud Family!

A very proud family! My daughter is now an RN! We attended the graduation in Wenatchee on Friday, followed by a delicious barbecue at Betsy's house. It was a highlight of our lives. She's accomplished so much in her four years of classes and clinicals, raising two daughters and working besides. God is good! In this picture — Mom and Keith, Mom-in-law and Mike, and Betsy's daughters.

Out Walkin'

Just for fun — this is the first view incoming campers have of the Missoula KOA, our 5th wheel! We love this spot because there is no one on the door side of us and we can see everyone entering and exiting the park. We have a lovely flower bed next to us, and the KOA sign lights our way at night.

We found a great walking trail right downtown bypassing this old train station, now on the National Register of Historic Places. The trail and the station are on the banks of the Clark Fork River.

Isn't this a great view? It's the underside of the Orange Street Bridge, also on the walking trail. We hope to explore many more of the hiking trails in the area.

National Bison Range

We set out to take a short ride into the hills around Missoula, but our ride turned into a day trip on back roads, ultimately taking us to the National Bison Range, north of Arlee. On the way, on Highway 93, we passed under this "Animal's Bridge". Last summer, as we drove through road construction, we wondered why they were installing a huge culvert on top of the road. I thought then that it might be one of those 'over the freeway' animal crossings. Sure enough, it is. There are 2 or 3 more animal crossings along here going under the road. I feel happy that Montana cares about its animal population and does what it can to prevent road kill. (Click to see the sign close-up. You can also see the written Flathead Indian language, since this is on the Flathead Reservation.)

                  

The grass is always greener? Yes, in this case it was!

We couldn't resist this photo of a longhorn resting in the field with other, more common cattle, including a few newborns. Near the entrance to the Bison Range we also saw some very strange looking critters. I thought "Yaks" and proved myself correct when I looked them up on my handy, dandy iPad. I didn't get a picture, though.

The National Bison Range includes some very high hills above the very flat lands below. It features a narrow, winding, one-way dirt-gravel road taking us 19 miles around the reserve. From this vantage point we could look down on the route we'd just traversed, and see the beautiful Flathead River flowing through its valley. All of the places in this post are on the Flathead Reservation.

We've seen so many bison (or buffalo) in the Black Hills that we weren't too excited to see some here in Montana. But this trip turned out be the highlight of our time in Montana, because of the views and the billions of glorious wildflowers. Our "ooohhhs" and "aahhhhs" kept coming. What an awesome imagination God has! Here is my favorite picture. We took a 1/4 mile walk out onto a promontory and were rewarded with this wonderful scene, the flowers, and the steep descent to the valley below.

Here is Keith amongst the beauty. It was a chilly, windy, overcast day, but the flowers brought us sunshine!

A look down into the flatlands below — the white line is a gravel road going somewhere straight away to the north! This area is near St. Ignatius, where we visited an old, historical and beautiful mission church last summer. Farther north is Glacier Nat'l Park. This is also supposedly part of ancient Glacial Lake Missoula. The hill where we were standing boasts the highest level of the lake.

And, just to prove we were on bison land, here they are, one small part of the herd grazing amidst the wildflowers. We also saw 4 pronghorns, 2 deer, and a pheasant!