Into Montana

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Leaving the Upper OBrien Campground around 10 am, we immediately had to stop for about 10 minutes for road construction. Actually there are several spots on the highway where there have been rock slides, and they are trying to clean those up and push the hillside back to eliminate future slides that block the road. Not an easy task.

We enjoyed the drive along the Salmon River, through Challis, on through Salmon, and up to North Fork. There the river bends to the west and runs down through Riggins and on until it eventually becomes part of the mighty Columbia.  The river through this part is fairly shallow and tame as compared to the Middle Fork of the Salmon that is well know for its rapids and float trips.

After North Fork, we climbed a bit, with a number of switchbacks until we crossed into Montana and across Chief Joseph Pass, taking highway 43 to the east. Just a short way down 43 we stopped at the Big Hole Battleground to get some stamps for our passport books, and then went down to their picnic area for a late lunch.

Turning into the road to the VC, we were stopped by a ranger who explained a situation they were having to deal with. It was almost funny, but not quite. They had the parking lot sealed yesterday, but somehow it didn’t dry correctly so they were having to turn everyone around in the roadway, then park along the side of the road and walk back a ways to the Visitor Center. It looked like a sticky gooey mess, and reminded us of the situation on I 84 in Idaho a few years ago.

From there, we continued east, and took a little shortcut road that went through from highway 43 to near Anaconda, Montana. We should know better, but Wilma can really find some off the wall broken down roads for us to take! It did get us to Anaconda, and we stopped to see the smelter stack and the state park they have built to remember it’s history in the town.

Now it’s time to look for a campsite, so we headed out of town to find a Forest Service campground shown on the map. We came to a campground sign and turned in. Drove a couple of miles to find a very small run down site that is no longer maintained. It was too creepy and Betty and Wilma decided it was not for us. So back to the other side of Anaconda to a state park. It was definitely better, but not what we consider good. We just didn’t want to go any farther to unknown destinations, so here we are for the night. It is way back in a canyon, but I do get at least a little signal. Will try to post in the morning from here, but with pictures, it may be too much.

Hope you had a good day. We did.