We had a marvelous eight days in the Treasure State. As I look at the map below, we stayed in such a small portion of the state just north of Yellowstone before traveling to the south eastern corner and the Black Hills. Most of the time here was not planned but all of it was simply amazing.
We definitely needed some decompressing in Gardiner after the crazy drive out of Yellowstone but first we had to find someplace to camp that night. We had reserved the next two nights at Yellowstone RV Park but they were not open for the season until tomorrow. The hosts allowed us to park by the road for the night; Lodging problem solved!
It was a sunny warm Sunday afternoon, so we played in town at Red's Blue Goose Saloon,
watched the Elk walk through town, then dinner at Antlers Lodge. It was a good day.
We enjoyed a couple warm sunny days on the shores of the yellowstone watching elk, deer and antelope, doing some preventive maintenance as well as making beef stew for our upcoming bookdocking.
One of the things I have enjoyed most in our wander is when something unexpectedly wonderful presents itself. The next few days were another such experience.
We headed over to Gallatin Gateway to visit with our good friend's brother, Bill. A stop on our way at Chico Hot Springs was just what we needed. Chico is a 1900 resort that consists of a hotel, spa, riding stable, bar, restaurant and hot spring pools nestled in the mountains in Pray, Montana about 30 miles north of Yellowstone. After a couple hour soak we decided that this would be a great place to stay a day or two!
Bill and Ann allowed us to park in their front yard during our stay. It had a beautiful view across the road deep in the canyon along the Gallatin River between Bozeman and Big Sky. Bill and Ann were tremedous hosts showing us the wealth in the Big Sky's Yellowstone Club as perspective members. We walked the common areas of the club at the base of their private ski resort that connected to Big Sky. Out of respect to these ultra wealthy we took no pictures but there was more opulance than I could have imagined with the stone fireplaces, huge chandeliers, grand pianos and stately coridors decorated with Warren Miller posters. The average home costs $25M in the Yellowstone club and we could see a glimpse of a few of these homes. Simply stunning. The scenery of the mountains as we drove around was just as breath taking.
Bill takes care of a 200 acre property behind his home that one of these ultra rich own. He worked to clear the home site, create a trout pond just off the Gallatin River and maintains the place when the owners are not there. He took us with him as he checked the generator one afternoon. Nellie loved her first experience on the four-wheeler and the ability to explore around this remote place.
Bill and Ann also treated us to Montana meals. Grilled Antelope steaks were my favorite although Elk steaks were also delicious. When going out, Stacey's Old Faithful Bar & Grill was a must see and I could see why. It's slogan is "where the west is still the west" and we had a great time listening to Montana stories during the meal
It was time to wander again. Bill had suggested a couple of fishing access to the Yellowstone but when we arrived overnight camping was not allowed. We regrouped at the Livingston visitor's center then checked out the town before heading to our campsite.
Our most unusual food to date was served at the Livingston Bar & Grill, deep fried deviled eggs. Suprisingly good! We got the recipe so watch out for what we bring to summer barbeques this year!!
Just south of town, there were a number of campgrounds the visitor center had suggested. We settled on a nice spot right on the edge of the yellowstone. Good fire and nice evening before our planned weekend with the Zeller cousins in Big Timber.
Liz has been a faithful follower of our wander so when she invited us to meet up with them in Big TImber we jumped at the chance! The meetup of Grover and their new trailer, Midge, grew to a group camp with their friends and even another Zeller cousin, Greg! It was great to spend time visiting with Liz, Lowell, Sean, Stormy, Jen, Greg and Donnalee all weekend. The campfire tales grew tall as we reminised and laughed into the evening. I am grateful to have bonded with Liz our perception of our tallness.
After much discussion one afternoon, I convinced a few of our group to take a hike. Although we couldn't find the original trailhead, we wandered south toward Mcloud and the Custer National Forrest in pursuit of another trail. We were ubruptly stopped by deep snow at 6160 ft.
Greg deftly backed his truck down the dirt road until we found a wide enough spot to turn around and off to Shelly's Road Kill Saloon to watch the Kentucky Derby and quench our thrist ofter the drive. No hike that day but again the scenery was stunning and the company was loads of fun.
Things I learned is there a book out there to identify animal poo. It could come in real handy while boondocking so I will add that to my Amazon wish list! Discussing the droppings we found was much fun at the fire when we returned to camp that evening.
One last stop in Montana was with Aunt Shirley in Billings before we headed south east to Devils Tower and the Black hills. Was a lovely time to catch up and so glad we made the stop. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture. I'll make up for it the next visit!
So many new memories made in our time in Montana and so much wildlife that we saw. Elk, antelope, bison, moose, cranes, grizzley bears, turkeys, pheasants were all sited in this state. Sampling of all we saw below.
See you on the dirt road
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