Montana

Well, we've been having so much fun, I've gotten behind on the blog. We left Cody on Wednesday (8-31) and logged about 350 miles to reach Deer Lodge, Montana on I-90 where we spent the night at Indian Creek Campground. We normally don't make trips this long in one day, but there were no available parks closer. This was an overnight stop, so we were up bright and early to continue our trip of 180 miles to Rollins RV Park in Rollins, Mt. where we met our buddies, Terry and Kathy Derouen. Our friends were work camping at the park and we signed up for a weeks stay. Rollins is on the shores of Flathead Lake and is in the middle of some of the most picturesque country we've visited. It's about fifty miles from Glacier National Park which we visited two years ago. A buddy asked me the other day if I've visited a place where I would rather live and I told him nope, not yet, but this part of Montana would be pretty high on the list if I were looking for such a place. The weather here has turned cool with highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's. I've had to break out the jeans and put up my shorts, which I'm not real happy about! Maybe as we go back south, I can get them back out!

                On Friday we went to the little town of Bigfork at the head of Flathead Lake to see a musical play at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse named "Hits From the 50's, 60's and 70's" that was pretty good. It was the last production of the season.  We also made a day trip to Glacier National Park where Terry and Kathy took us to a section of the park I've never heard of called Many Glaciers. It's actually part of Glacier National Park but you have to travel outside the main park to reach this section of it. The road going into Many Glacier's is paved, but is undoubtedly the roughest paved road we've ever been on! Once reaching the end of the road  we were treated to a postcard like scene of snow capped mountains in front of a lake with a Swiss style hotel on the shore of the lake. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain and very windy, making any picture taking difficult. I encourage you bloggers to follow the link here to see the pictures and read about this hidden treasure. Afterwards, we went into the main part of Glacier in the east entrance and came out the west, which is backwards from the direction most visitors take.  One side note about this area, there are deer everywhere you turn here. There are so many, locals consider them a nuisance. 

                That brings us to the present. We left Rollins today and have stopped for the night in Coeur D' Lane, Idaho at the Blackwell Island RV Park. We will continue on tomorrow to Yakima, Wa. where we will stay for several days before heading into the Columbia River Gorge region for some sight seeing there. 

Our location, Rollins, Montana. Some of the prettiest country to be found anywhere!

Our campsite here at Rollins Campground, #23

Inn and restaurant in Bigfork, Mt.

Wooden carving of a bear in a park in Bigfork

The town was full of flowers and flags, very nice!

We ran across these deer on the outskirts of Bigfork.

Shot of east side of Flathead Lake with the sun trying to break through the clouds.

On the way to Glacier National Park. The weather was constantly changing with it being sunny one minute and cloudy and/or raining the next.

There are actually two lakes going into Many Glacier. This is the lower one, which is low due to low rainfall this summer.

One of many Red Jammer buses we saw in the park. These are 1940 and 1950's vintage touring buses that have been restored and are used for tours throughout the park. They are owned by the National Park Service and operated by Xanterra, a park concessioner.

The only decent picture I was able to get at Many Glacier.

I "borrowed" this shot from the internet to give you an idea of what the lake and mountain background looks like at Many Glacier. We're already wanting to come back! Btw, there are many hiking trails in this area where you can explore glaciers and the park but need to be sure and have bear spray!

Shot of the hotel out our windshield!

Entrance to main section of Glacier National Park.

We finally found some bighorn sheep. First ones we've seen in the wild in our two trips here. He's actually much further away than he appears, thanks to a good zoom lens.

Absolutely breathtaking view here. The photos don't come anywhere near portraying the beauty and magnitude of the area,

One of the Jammers with the top open.

Entrance to National Bison Range, about 50 miles south of Rollins.

One of many deer we saw in the park.

While on top of mountain in the Bison Range, this storm hit us with hail and temperature drop of about 20 degrees.

Hard to tell from this picture, but there are many elk, deer and buffalo in this one huge herd

This Pronghorn or Antelope seemed to pose for us. He had his harem of about 12 females in his command and kept them close by.

Pretty countryside in park. You can see the Pronghorn grazing in the lower part of photo.

Fresh snow on the mountain peaks near the park.

This Bighorn was just sitting beside the road and was oblivious to us.