We spent yesterday at home doing - whatever. I washed the front and back of the RV but couldn’t get to the sides since there are some pretty close bushes and we’re in a 1’ depression. Since our next stop is a week in Deer Lodge, MT, a town of 3000, we’ll take some time off to relax and get some things done that have been sitting aside while we adventured in some National Parks. The two weeks after that will be in the Tetons and Yellowstone and we don’t anticipate much time there either. Thus, I’ll wash and wax the RV in Deer Lodge, do some RV park reviews for the RV Park Review website. Since I use this website all the time, I want to help with my own reviews of the campgrounds we stay in.
Tom worked on packing for his great trip, doing laundry and Gary worked on the RV. There’s always some kind of maintenance needed. He also worked on my Camelback mouthpiece which seems to be broken and dripping. My part in any maintenance is to say: ‘I think this doesn’t work.’ Gary’s part is to fix it. Works for me.
Today, we began with breakfast out at the Trapline Restaurant, attached to the Cenex Gas Station. The line in Montana is that you can’t judge a book by its cover and everything looks scary from the outside. Well, this did not look scary and we had checked on Yelp already so we entered, took a table, looked the menu over and ordered. Pretty standard eggs, hash browns and toast is what Gary and I ordered. Tom ordered the eggs, bacon and a pancake which was 1/2” thick, covered the plate but was extremely fluffy and light.
Then it was time to part. We’ve had a marvelous time with Tom and enjoyed his company mightily. We’ve been looking forward to seeing him and now can look forward to seeing both him and Cathy in Iowa when we arrive there.
And some last minute instructions from Gary
Time for a decision: which hike today. Hmmm. After rejecting both the hike with 4314’ in elevation gain and the straight-to-the-top 4175’ hike, it ended up being the Snyder Lake hike, another 8 miles with 2200’ of elevation gain. Whew. We didn’t get to the trail head and begin the hike until 12:30. We met a young couple coming down who had spent the last night up at the lake. They told us that the first mile of the hike was the worst, almost straight up. Luckily they told us this since, if they hadn’t, I might have gotten really discouraged. As it was, they were right - it was grueling but we knew that it would level off in a bit.
Got to tiptoe through my favorite - a rock avalanche.
The hike was mostly through the forest with lots of tree cover. Nice since this kept up cool until the end when the trees opened up and the last mile was through some meadows. We saw this marvelous waterfall, blowing sideways in the wind. There is a smaller waterfall off to the left but, with the breeze, it is mostly mist.
The lake finally came into view, we crossed the bridge and found a nice shady rock to sit on for a snack.
There are 3 campsites here and we saw where they hung their food so the bears couldn’t get it.
But, where do you pitch your tent so the bears don’t get you?
Then we headed back.
Back at the trail head, we explored the old Lake McDonald Lodge
with its interesting ‘lodgey’ interior.
It is right on the lake with kayak and paddle board rentals along with a tour of the lake.
Very nice setting and place to stay.
Back to the RV, two tired hikers.
8.5 2208’
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