Sunday Collection

I thought you might like to see my official uniform. I hate how bulky it looks in this picture! The problem is that the shirt is a #14, men's with about a 14" tail that I have to stuff and try to neatly arrange before zipping up and filling my pockets with keys, etc. Adding to the girth is my purse, threaded onto my belt, and a pedometer clipped on the opposite side. I am thankful that (at least for now) this is all I have to stuff and attach since going to the restroom has become a major event!
I was hoping I would get a "Smokey-T-B" hat, but only the commissioned rangers appear to have those here. At CVNP, non-com, seasonal also enjoy the shade. Going to need to remember sunscreen on my ears after all. The uniform also includes a really nice, heavy, fleece jacket and a separate wind shell that can be worn over the jacket or alone.
It's easier for Larry to get dressed in the morning with only a required, historic shirt, his own jeans, jacket, etc.. Pics of that to come.

SUNDAY COLLECTION -
Saturday, I was in charge of the Visitor Center and had a nice talk with a couple from Butte who are regular visitors and bird-watchers at the ranch. They told me about a Wildlife Management Area near Anaconda. We saw it from I-90 on our way to Deer Lodge. Mike, retired from the Forest Service, said about 30 miles of trails wind around through the area and can be hiked or biked. Larry and I started our Sunday with a trip to look it over. The weather was not the greatest and we decided to come back with our bikes on a better day. The pictures below are not ours, they are "borrowed." I will include pictures and information about this part of the Superfund clean-up when we go back to the area. In the meantime, enjoy another person's pictures!







In one of the local tourist ads, Larry saw something about a bar in Elliston, MT that serves giant burgers and hotdogs.
http://www.lawdogs-saloon.com
Since it was past lunch time, we decided to take a trip to Elliston and check it out.
Elliston is located on US 12 about half way between I-90 at Garrison and Helena, MT.
Population - around 250.

Elliston Montana

Elliston began as a trade town for gold and quartz. Later a mill for a lime quarry was built to support the town's economy. The first post office was established in 1884 with S. N. Nicholson as postmaster.
Elliston is located in southwestern Montana, 25 miles west of Helena on U.S. Highway 12, near the Continental Divide.

In town we found the post office, a Sinclair station and the Last Chance Saloon AND Motel! The former is under new ownership and renamed the "Law Dog Saloon." I guess the sign will change when Bill gets around to it.


Inside, we met the owner, Bill, who is a pretty interesting fellow. I'm not sure if he is retired from the "Law Dog" law enforcement group or the "Law Dogs" motorcycle group. In any case, he was very friendly and we enjoyed talking to him.

As per food, he suggested we try this menu item:
The “Lawdog”

1 pound, all beef hotdog smothered in homemade award winning chili and fries topped off with cheese and onions ….........…………..$10.00

We decided to share....

It was delicious! Bill has the dogs custom-produced locally. He also gets his beef the same way.
He guaranteed we would not have heartburn from his food, and we didn't.


One of the big events in Elliston is the annual hunt for Bigfoot in late March. This tradition was in place for many years before Bill's arrival. In its beginnings, it mostly involved guys, beer and knee-high (or deeper) snow. Not much has changed except the addition of female participants. I think winter at 5,800 ' can encourage activities such as this. It's a survival thing.
Participants get a "kit" that includes a picture of Bigfoot, a bag, a whistle and a flashlight. The volunteer, Bigfoot (in costume) is taken to a location in the forest via snowmobile where he will stay during the hunt. Snowmobiles then criss-cross the area with multiple trails to both confuse the hunters and pack down the snow for them. If a hunter is the first to shine his light on Bigfoot, he/she blows the whistle and wins $150.00. There are other prize items hidden throughout the area for the hunters to find as well.
Here is some info that decorates the walls of the saloon.


Bill filled up our tummies and also filled our heads with a bunch of information regarding places we need to go and things we need to see while here. It's been great to get these tidbits of info from the locals who know about cool stuff that's outside the tourist-loop.

Following our hotdog banquet, we continued on US 12 to Helena. The trip includes a climb up and over MacDonald Pass topping off at 6,320'.
We had already heard about the Bark Beetle problems on the local news, but it was sad to see the impact from the top of the pass. Here is a portion of an article from the New York Times:

Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West

By JIM ROBBINS

HELENA, Mont. — " On the side of a mountain on the outskirts of Montana’s capital city, loggers are racing against a beetle grub the size of a grain of rice.

From New Mexico to British Columbia, the region’s signature pine forests are succumbing to a huge infestation of mountain pine beetles that are turning a blanket of green forest into a blanket of rust red. Montana has lost a million acres of trees to the beetles, and in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming the situation is worse. "

In these shots, anything rust-colored is already dead. Very sad. There are only a couple pesticides that they can use that won't contaminate water, kill fish and wildlife, etc., making containment costly and time-consuming. It also makes for added conflict between the logging industry and local environmental agencies. I've been told that the recent, mild winters add to the problem because colder, extended temps will kill the beetle larvae.

These "standing dead" are prime fuel for wildfires and Montana has just experienced its second winter of record, low snowfall.
Sorry to end this issue on such a sad note.

We say goodbye today from the top of MacDonald Pass as the camera slowly slides from its car, rooftop "quadripod" to certain death.

Day 1

Sorry, no pictures to share today. I have to find out what the policy is. I know that visitors can't take pictures in certain areas.
The day was busy and started with everyone on site meeting at the maintenance barn to learn procedure for proper inventory of a vehicle's condition before driving it anywhere. While there, we met the Superintendent of the Site and various other administrative and maintenance persons. It was interesting that the chief mechanic is named Bob. He's got to be at least eighty so I guess that our friend, Bob D, has the right idea? (I know seeing the shop area would bring back memories of his dad's place on Sherman Church.)
After the meeting, everyone went their separate ways. Larry had a truck tour of the property and found where all the irrigation canals run and the equipment he will be using. (That's all the information I was able to get out of him!) I walked with my supervisor, Julie, to "FRED," the building that will be my home base. There is a long name for this building pertaining to the fact that it houses artifacts not on display in temp/humidity controlled rooms. FRED has nothing to do with the long name, but the building is red and thus the easier name. Julie shared her vision of what I might be doing as part of the interpretive division and it all sounded good. She put me to work coming up with a hands-on project for "Junior Ranger Day." Through the day, I also went with Ranger Lyndell as she led a tour through the ranch house. She is a very interesting person. Born and raised in the area, she actually grew up hanging around the ranch (before it was sold to NPS) and knew the last owner and his wife very well. She has a diverse collection of skills, mostly self-taught, including blacksmithing and is the blacksmith for the ranch. She also knows how to tell a good story! I am sure you will be hearing more about her. Her assignment before coming back here in 1972 was at Alcatraz.
I did not want to make the weather the highlight of the day, although it became that for everyone in Deer Lodge. This morning there was milky sun with breezy conditions that turned to gale force winds around 1 PM. That was about the time the house tour ended and Lyndell and I were walking the 1/4 mile back to FRED. Soon after we got there, the snow started. The wind was blowing so hard that the snow was going sideways and visibility was down to maybe 1/4-1/2 mile. This continued for about two hours. The snow finally stopped around 4 PM and the sun came out. The wind is still giving us its two-cents and we are anticipating a cold night.

Better Weather - Ride #2

Just a couple shots from nowhere near the top of this ridge. We had climbed about 800' at this point. Between not really being in top riding form yet and the altitude, I was pretty pooped out. Of course, Larry (Energizer Bunny) was going strong. We walked on about 100 yards to what we thought was the crest and found that it was just a bend in the road that kept on going up as far as we could see. About that time, the wind picked up so we started back down. The 7.5 miles back down was certainly faster, but I was about frozen solid by the time we got back to town.

First official day at the ranch tomorrow. The forecast is calling for rain followed by a cold front dropping in from the northwest bringing a high wind warning by afternoon. Maybe we will see if cows really do fly! Everyone here says this is not the normal weather for this time of year. It's usually much warmer and not as windy.

Our first Bike Ride

The sun was shining and the wind calm this morning. As soon as the temps climbed out of the 20's, we set out to explore a road we checked out in the car on Saturday. It's actually about a twenty-five mile loop that starts from the end of Main Street in town, winds through the valley dotted with ranches until the pavement ends. What follows is a dirt road maintained by the Forest Service and used mostly by big, log trucks piled high with lodge pole pine. If you follow that road, eventually the chip and seal returns and the road ascends sharply to the top of a ridge where it again winds around through high, ranch pasture until it descends back to the valley floor and town. On our driving tour, we went one way on Saturday and the opposite way Sunday. We opted not to take the dirt road on the first outing since Larry had just washed 2,000 miles of road dirt from the little, red "towed." Sunday afternoon was sunny and beautiful and we drove in the opposite direction. Once again the pavement disappeared, but the road was wide, in mostly good condition and well-traveled. (But the car did get dirty again) At the point of descent, we started down and saw only lots of snow ahead so the car quickly went into reverse until we found a place to turn around! Getting stranded in the middle of nowhere did not seem like a fun activity.
Back to this morning. We rode about a mile and I realized that although this road appeared to be flat, we were steadily climbing. Coming from an Ohio altitude of 1,500' to 4,500' was something our lungs noticed when we ran on Saturday. Now we were climbing another 400 feet in just five miles. We stopped to take a few pictures and catch our breath. We also enjoyed what we think was a golden eagle looking for breakfast, soaring around and around over the fields. We had intended to ride as far as the FS road and turn around to get in twenty miles, but when we stopped for pictures, we noticed a change in the weather and decided heading back to town might be the smart thing to do. Both of us are looking forward to more stable weather when we can explore several other routes. Most of the traffic outside of town is on I-90. The roads are really wide and the drivers (few and far between) give us a wide berth and wave! Imagine that....


Things got really cloudy,windy and cold for about an hour and then the wind died down and out came the sun again!
We walked to the laundromat (boring and expensive) and then decided to go for a run to enjoy the weather before a snowstorm comes in tonight.

This shot doesn't clearly show how the clouds were coming in since sky and snow-covered mountains seem to meld into one gray mass. There are some big mountains in this shot...somewhere.

Around Deer Lodge

We had our first meeting with our supervisors at the ranch today. Mine is Julie who is Chief of Education and Interpretation - NPS. Larry's is Dawn who is with the Department of Natural Resources. Actually, he will mostly be working with Alan, in charge of irrigation, who was not working today. We enjoyed getting to know them, touring part of the ranch and getting our uniforms and gear. Our previous experience with government involvement proved valuable when Julie and Dawn shared the regulations that all volunteers and employees must follow. At CVNP, the latest new regulations are frequently a time for "rolling of the eyes" by the rangers and volunteers alike. We can easily see that there is "nothing new under the sun" here in Montana. A new mandate this year that everyone must follow is the assignment of certain safety items to daily be carried with each person to their assigned work place in a special, bright, yellow, duffel bag. Those items include: CPR barrier, a small baggie of bandaids, gauze,tweezers for splinters, etc., also work gloves and safety glasses - these mostly make sense. However, in addition, we are required to carry (government supplied) sunscreen, insect repellent, chapstick with sunscreen, and a filled, water bottle. Our first working day will be Thursday. We will start the day with a meeting for all employees/volunteers to learn new procedures for vehicle use on the ranch. According to our supervisors, the "check-list of procedures" for each use includes checking the oil and fan belt before you use a vehicle. (You may now feel free to roll your eyes. Fellow CVNP-TB tuning in may totally LOL!) Seriously, I am so thankful that those who do the "real" work in our parks continue to love protecting and sharing the wonders of our beautiful country with its citizens in spite of the extra time they must spend with these kinds of things.

We will be taking pictures at the ranch and sharing information as we get involved. In the meantime, we thought you might like seeing a bit of our life here in Deer Lodge so far.



We were happy to find a wonderful, river pathway close to our camp. It was created as a part of the Superfund cleanup of the Clark Fork River seen in the background. The wide-spread mining of gold, silver and copper in the area over decades caused not just the river to die, but even wildlife that drank the water and also surrounding plant life. It's wonderful to see the area full of wildlife and fish in the river. The path will be a wonderful place to enjoy running.

The path passes by the back of the old, Montana Prison. Lots of stories there for another time. We will visit there probably this week.




This is "home" for the next five months. It will be great when the weather warms so that we don't feel quite so confined, although the space is really pretty adequate for two people...but not the seven the literature says it can sleep. I can't imagine how "mom, dad, three kids, grandma and grandpa" would survive even one night in the space!

The Bedroom. The door at the left leads to the bathroom, fairly large with adult-sized shower. We have lots of inside storage - two individual closets and one larger one with two, large drawers beneath, a big area under the bed and cabinets above the bed.


Kitchen


This is mostly my "office" space. Larry seems to like the sofa. As I am writing this, he has pillows behind his head, his tootsies covered with a blanket and the computer on his lap.
I am continuing to take on-line courses in Interpretation through the Eppley Institute at Indiana University. I guess my goal is to eventually be certified and have a paying job as a seasonal ranger. Time will tell on that one. In the meantime, I find the courses interesting.



Living Room -
If you decide to go for a short, 2,000-mile drive to visit us, we have a comfy sofa and chair, also HDTV for your entertainment pleasure, in case Larry and I are too boring. Not only do we have the HDTV (drum roll) we get ONE (1) channel (if the wind over the mountains is right....). We are happy that the one channel is NBC since I like Today with my morning coffee and we both like Leno.


The temps have been dropping into the teens and twenties at night, so we can't hook up the water yet. Every couple days, Larry fills up our internal reservoir. The water is not yet turned on in the campground's bath/shower/laundry rooms so we will depend on the pump in the RV for our showers and will be going to the local laundromat.


There has been quite a bit of wind here so far and we hope the coming of warmer weather will calm things down so we can roll out the awning once in a while. It seems that the screen room will not be an option due to what our campground owner calls "five-minute, wind warnings." It has something to do with the position of this valley in relation to the surrounding mountain ranges that creates occasional, short-lived, high winds. In lieu of the screen room which attaches to the awning, I think we are going to invest in a small, inexpensive, free-standing screen room that we can anchor against the windy attack!


Our campground is right on the Clark Fork River. We took time this Easter morning to take a walk in the beautiful, morning sun.


Larry is looking forward to enjoying fly-fishing right from our backyard.


These are some views across the river from the campground.




On our walk along the riverbank, we got acquainted with a few of our "neigh" - bors!

Exploring

We called the park office and found out that the persons we are to report to were not working today. We toured around the town of Deer Lodge, found where to go for groceries and noted several historic places we plan to visit during our stay here. We then decided to walk to the ranch which is about a mile from the KOA. We had been told that there was a "back" way to walk or ride our bikes and that was our goal. I had checked Google Earth and saw where a road turned into a path and we set out in that direction. We finally came to a fence and gate with the official "This is NPS boundary." The gate was locked, but we didn't see any other way around, so we squeezed through the opening.


The trail took us to another gate close to the historic ranch. In the background you can see the house built by the original owner, Johnny Grant, around 1862.




1,500 acres of the ranch were sold to the National Park Service in 1972. In 1960, the ranch was officially declared a National Historic Site. This designation enabled funding for the preservation the artifacts and the sharing of historical aspects of the ranch with the public.


We are excited to learn more about the ranch. Just knowing that the buildings we have seen only from the outside are 150 years old is awesome. There were only two families who owned the ranch in that time, the Johnny Grant family and the Conrad Kohrs. They obviously took care of what they owned and the museum is a testament to the fact that they threw away little or nothing.

BIG sigh of relief!! Welcome to Deer Lodge.

Following a rainy night, we looked outside to see the full moon over mountains to the west and the rising sun in the east. There was a lot of ice on our parking lot, but no snow. I decided to start the generator so we could catch the weather forecast. It started weakly...and stopped. Larry tried...same result. Okay, this means NO COFFEE for Mary. (Those who know me best understand the problem here.) But I rose to the occasion and suggested getting things stowed away and driving down the road to McDonald's. I actually owed that to Larry after my mini, panic attack the night before concerning going over the mountain passes if there was snow...brakes failing, sliding off the edge into space, etc., etc.. Enter problem #2. A couple of the tires have been losing air (corrosion on the wheels) and Larry has been using the electric, air compressor to refill the tires and, hmm, no generator...no electricity. We went to McD's, crossed the street to visit a new TSC store. While there, I bought two wheel chucks in the event that we had to stop somewhere on the pass (review previous comments about sliding off the mountain). We then visited two different truck stops looking in vain for a working air compressor station. No luck. I remembered that there was a rest stop in about three miles and suggested that we might find an outlet there for the compressor.
We did stop and I was glad that warm weather had not yet arrived when I saw this sign.




The local weather person called what fell in the night a word I had never heard before, gropple. I guess that means everything was coated in frozen slush. It was pretty cool.






Okay, I got to take pictures while Larry traveled up and down the hill six or so times to the potty area to charge and recharge the air compressor.



We finally were ready to continue the trip.
Here are shots taken from the passenger side along the way. They really show the many faces of Montana.




A nice feature of the "big sky" is seeing the storm, knowing where it is and if it's coming for you, and all in advance.


It's bad enough to drive over passes at 6,500'. It's even worse when huge pieces of "something" are being moved over the same road, taking up both lanes, at 20 mph.



A trestle on an abandoned railway.


This huge statue stands above the city of Butte, MT. I thought it was a statue of Christ, but my friend, Elaine, sent me some info about "Our Lady of the Rockies." (Thanks, Elaine!)
http://goldwest.visitmt.com/listings/11122.htm


The snow finally found us after we had descended the final pass.


Finally...a sign!




Our next report will be from the TOP sign!