Bye Bye Canada, Hello Montana

Having flip-flopped the itinerary to see Canadian Rockies first, then reevaluate Glacier National Park on the return South, we were definitely unable to go to Glacier – things had gotten a bit worse, and the campground that we would have been staying in was now closed, so we finally and sadly abandoned the plan to see Glacier.

We are thankful Tom didn't get eaten by a bear in Canada.

The plan adjusts, again, and we move South through Kootenay (Brittish Columbia) Provincial Park, overnighting in Radium Springs. 

Radium is a cute (and a little quirky) town of 800 people with a tourist industry built around natural hot water springs.

Moving back into the lower 48 through a small border crossing in Montana, we saw evidence of firefighting activity,seeing firefighter camps, ‘hot shot’ work stations, heavy equipment and fire rangers.  

There are large inflated tubs of water with hoses laid out beside some homes.  Speed limits are reduced.  The weather was cold and rainy which apparently is very helpful in calming down the fires.  We are reluctant to ‘boondock’ at an ‘off the grid’ national forest site because we are concerned that no one would know we were there … that could be a problem if the fires advanced, so we picked a spot in a state campground by a lake.  We had a lakefront site, but the weather was too horrible to allow much enjoyment, other than  the view out our bedroom windows.  

The rangers knew there were campers in there – having passed one on the way in.   It  was 38 degrees tonight.

Since we had gained some days by skipping Glacier, we decided to tour Garnet Ghost Town in Montana.  It’s a grey day … seems perfect for a ghost town.  Eleven miles down a snarly dirt road, up, up, up into the mountains, through open grazing range, 

it started to rain.

 

And if that wasn’t fun, the ensuing snow really topped it off!  We pressed forward, deciding to turn around only if the ground picked up an accumulation.  It did not, but the road was a wash boarded mud bath.

We were nearly the only people at the ghost town.  It was a town built around a gold strike in the 1860’s.  

Most of the local gold was extracted by 1900, though there are still a few small claims still in operation to this day. 

The town had 1000 residents in 1898 and continued to grow until 1905.  

At one time, there were four stores, three livery stables, four hotels, a doctors office and thirteen (!) saloons. Permanent residents were gone by the 1940’s.  

Souvenir hunters started stripping the town of artifacts and woodwork.  The Bureau of Land Management took over the property for preservation as a historic site. There are about 20 remaining buildings on location.

 

In 1906, a dozen eggs cost 30 cents, a pound of butter 30 cents, a can of salmon 20 cents, a can of coffee 25 cents etc.  You get the picture.  Inflation adjusted, those normal goods were expensive by today's standards.

The local hotel was luxurious in its day.

Leaving the ghost town, we stopped in Missoula for food, then aimed for Salmon, Idaho.  The day is getting long, the weather is poor, the driving is slow, so we stop in Sula (population 37), the last ‘gas station/gift shop/restaurant/liquor store/camp site' before heading up into the mountains.  This was the only business in town, and it is for sale. A firefighter in the store reports that it’s snowing up in the mountain pass we intended to cross … THAT’s not going to happen tonight, so we’re in for the night.  

Stinky loves the campsite and goes for a long walk, not seeming to mind the cold rain.  We make him come inside when he starts to shiver and feed him a good dinner.  

What a difference a good night’s sleep makes.  We have a hearty breakfast at the diner, then headed up into the mountains.  The sky is opening up, the storm is clearing and it’s turning into a beautiful day.  

The couple of inches of snow that fell is mostly on trees, and we conveniently followed a salt truck down the mountain pass.  It's beautiful !!

There are several ways to travel down the East side of Idaho.  We chose the secondary road that followed along the Salmon River, through the Sawtooth Mountains. 

What a great decision for a spectacularly beautiful drive, starting with gentle rolling hills, building up to the jagged Sawtooths.

The Sawtooth mountains are a 'young' range, explaining the jaggedness and although they are alpine glaciation mountains, there are no glaciers in the mountains today.

 

Stinky rides up front, supervising the navigation, and occasionally showing interest in something outside ... usually a squirrel or a dog.

We arrived at Redfish Lake late in the afternoon. 

Redfish lake is a small (5 miles by 1 mile) alpine lake (6500 feet elevation) surrounded by jagged Sawtooth Mountains.  

The lake is so named for the brilliantly red Sockeye Salmon that once returned in such massive quantities during spawning season that the lake shimmered red.  There are now a string of dams on the Columbia River that impedes the upstream movement of salmon.  

There are good sized fish in the crystal clear lake - this spot was reportedly 30 feet deep and we could clearly see the bottom.

Although late in the day for a boat tour, we took one anyway.  It was just too pretty outside not to.  The lake bumps right up into the jagged mountains.

We consider staying overnight at one of the many campsites around the lake.  It would be beautiful … water … mountains … hmmmmm.  BUT, the forecasted low temperature is 24 degrees.  

It will be a hard freeze and our RV is NOT equipped to deal with that (freezing pipes etc).  So we press on to lower elevation, and further South.  We might get a light freeze, which we can deal with. 

Tom directs Kris into the campsite. 

Night Night

  

Next Post – Craters of the Moon and Nevada Part 1