The Attack of the Kamikaze Blood-Suckers!

The title comes from Larry, but it is quite accurate.
We left on Monday morning on a return trip to Crystal Park. Arriving at the parking area, we were happy to see only a few vehicles. As time passed, we figured out why. The minute we stepped out of the car, we were engulfed in mosquitoes. Add bug spray...with Deet, and head up the mountain. We came to the conclusion that they liked the Deet. After around 1 1/2 hour, we gave up.
We spent the next hour driving along the Pioneer Scenic Highway, stopping at campgrounds to do "mosquito checks!" Somewhere along the way, we decided to go up the mountain to visit the Coolridge Ghost Town. The scenery was very beautiful along the winding, gravel road and we were excited to finally see a building.

A mere quarter of a mile later, the road turned into 20 feet of muddy water. Since we weren't sure how deep it was, we decided to turn back. I think a 4X4 truck is in our future, especially since we seem to like exploring these dirt roads.
Back on the highway, we finally found a campground that had the "normal" ratio of mosquitoes to people. Boulder Campground is located on Boulder Creek...what a strange coincidence. We put our $4. fee in the locked container and set up camp. Besides the camp host, there were two other campers in the entire place. We liked that!
We set up our camp,

enjoyed a walk along the creek to collect firewood,

and settled in to have dinner and enjoy the pleasant evening.

When we crawled into the tent, I noticed that the air mattress seemed low. We dug around for the pump and filled it before being lulled to sleep by the sound of the creek. Somewhere in the night, we woke up and found ourselves lying on the ground. It was not comfy. Larry went to the car and found our small thermarest mattresses. He was so sweet to inflate both of them so I could just stay inside my cozy sleeping bag. Dawn came with bird song about 5:30 AM. We finally crawled out of the tent about 6:30. Larry started a fire and we were enjoying a nice breakfast of oatmeal when the first rumble of thunder came. That was soon followed by raindrops. We scrambled to empty the tent and pack it up before it got too wet. About the time we had nearly everything stuffed into the car, the rain stopped. (Sigh)
Tuning in to weather-radio, we heard a forecast that was not encouraging. We again reworked our itinerary and decided to head first to Wisdom...hoping to get a bit, then continue on to the state line at Chief Joseph Pass.

Which way to go?






We turned to the north and started a 10-mile trip down the mountain pass.

A lot of cyclists travel south on this road (Rt 93), many are doing the Adventure Cycling TransAmerica ride. We saw a number of them laboring up the pass as we went down.

We later met and talked with a couple from Australia who flew to Seattle, intend to arrive in Virginia by September where they are renting a car to drive back to Seattle...exploring additional states along the way.

They flew their gear to Seattle as well.
We also talked to another cyclist because we recognized his Bike Virginia shirt. He is from Fairfax, Va..

As we traveled north along Rt 93, we took a side trip out the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. I was hoping we would be able to have lunch at the BroadAxe Restaurant. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere on the East Fork which dead ends at the Pintler Wilderness. It's great because they provide you with binoculars at your window-side table to watch the Big Horn sheep in the steep mountain slopes. Unfortunately, they are only open for dinner Th-Sat.. Yet another (sigh).
We decided to explore several National Forest campgrounds along the way. The weather forecast we were hearing did not sound good, but we thought we might as well note places we would like to stay at another time. We found about five. One was way back a narrow road that cut up a gully. The campground was right at a trailhead for the "Warm Springs" trail. It looks interesting and the campsites were pretty nice. We spent some time there just enjoying the solitude. We will try to get back there and do it again.

By the time we returned to the highway, the sky to the north was a nasty shade of black. The radio indicated a severe t-storm warning with hail and high winds to the north. We came to the town of Darby, one of my old haunts, and decided to just give up and find a room in Darby for the night. Darby is a quaint place and I am happy to say that not much has changed there in the last thirty or so years. Storms were to the north,but the sun was shining in Darby and we had a pleasant 

evening.

At one time, Darby had numerous small sawmills scattered throughout the area and logging was the occupation of most males. Then, big business came in with helicopters and sophisticated equipment... essentially putting those small mills out of business. The rough and tumble reputation of the town has disappeared, but the Sawmill Saloon still remains. The bullet holes in its ceiling testify to another way of life than exists here today.

In the good-old-days, the rooms over the bar were occupied by "ladies," or so I've been told.
When I first came to this town many years ago, this main street had four or five very active watering holes. Now, it appears to be down to just two...and a few empty buildings for sale.

The town still maintains many of its historic structures and has made sure than any new structures follow the building style that exists. I like that....

 The original jail still stands. Some things never change. Years ago, the town marshall would pick up anybody who went even 26 mph in the town's 25mph zone.
The marshall is still here...

and still on the job!

We ate dinner at a unique, little place,

got an icecream cone and enjoyed the lovely evening in Darby.

Returning to our room, we enjoyed the luxury of our own shower and cable tv!!! We went to bed still wondering if we should have been camping since the evening weather was perfect.
About 10:45, we heard a strange sound. In a few minutes, we realized that thunder was in the distance and the sound we were hearing was the howling of the wind. In a short time, I was grateful to be inside a building because I believe the wind that came through was well over 60 mph. The power flickered and then went off. The howling wind was accompanied by mother nature's spectacular fireworks. Fortunately, the lightning seemed to have passed us by and lite up the sky as it moved away. No power ended our enjoyment of cable, so we just went to sleep.
As we traveled back to Deer Lodge today, we saw trees and power lines down along the way. We stopped to look at a campground we have considered for camping. Here is what we saw throughout the campsites:

This Ponderosa Pine must be over 200 years old. The combination of soaked ground and high winds ended its life. I just hope everyone in this campground made the decision to stay inside like we did.
The weather continues to be pretty crazy. As I was working on this blog earlier, there was a little thunder, then rain started and quickly turned to hail! Larry had gone to the laundry room to use the phone and was stranded there for about 20 minutes. I was here in the RV with my fingers in my ears.It was SO loud! Here is what I saw once it stopped. The RV was surrounded by a lake!

 Well, I've had a lot to say here today, so I think it's time for this edition to come to an end.

Across the Sapphires we go!

We left the Bitterroots and traveled over the "summer only" Skalkaho highway.

The dirt road is narrow and winding, as you can see from the pic above. What you don't see is the sheer drop-off on the right that complimented the scenery nearly the entire way. Sorry...it was bad enough just knowing it (and a very soft road shoulder)was there was bad enough without having to look that way to take pictures!
We eventually reached Skalkaho Falls. It's been 28 years since I was last here and it is still awesome.

Climbing still higher, we finally reached the top of the pass.

Continuing down the other side, we stopped to check out a couple campgrounds before eventually reaching our destination, the Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine.
We spent about four hours washing, shaking and searching through buckets of gravel to find gemstones.

First you pick out a bucket of gravel that looks "lucky."

Then you put a couple scoops of gravel into a screen box, take it to the water trough and wash & shake, wash & shake, etc..

You bring that back to a table and quickly flip it upside down onto the surface. If you are lucky, a great-big sapphire will be staring up at you, because they are heavier than the rest of the gravel. We weren't quite that lucky....
The next step is to pick through the remaining gravel with tweezers to find smaller sapphires that did not settle to the bottom of the pan.
You look...

and look...

and look some more.

We did find several that could be faceted, but nothing that exciting.

It's an interesting one-time thing to do.
Tomorrow, we return to Crystal Park where we can dig as much as we want for $2.50!

Lovin' the Bitterroot

Monday was rainy, but the forecast called for clearing on Tuesday with no rain predicted until Thursday. The car was packed and ready to go on Tuesday AM. We headed west to Missoula for a stop at REI and then drove south toward Charles Waters Campground in the Bitterroot National Forest.
The campground only had a few campsites occupied and we found a nice spot for the tent.

The Pine-Bark beetle has done some damage here and trees were removed around the campground. Fortunately, plenty of healthy trees remain, unlike some other places we've been.
It was too late to hike the trails and we decided to drive further south to explore some of my old stomping grounds. Sadly, the forest fires of 2000 wiped out not only homes but many of the familiar landmarks. I could not even locate the area where the road had been that went up the mountain to my friends' homes. We dropped by the town of Darby and I was happy to see that it is pretty much as it was twenty-some years ago. We also stopped to take pics at Trapper Peak. This is a tradition for those coming to the Bitterroot for the first time...like Larry.

Tuesday morning after breakfast, we set out to hike the Bass Creek Trail. The trail goes UP for 2.5 miles to the boundary of the Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness. We went as far as the boundary enjoying the beautiful waterfalls of Bass Creek and the varied geology, flora and fauna.

I don't think that rock is going to move, Larry....

Interesting rock formations with a jet.
The crystal-clear water of the creek is absolutely beautiful. The white water is the most brilliant "white" we have ever seen.

We finally came to Bass Lake and took a short break to enjoy the pristine view.

The trail turned away from the creek and entered a dark, lush green forest of Douglas Fir. After the constant roar of the creek, the silence was strange. In less than a mile, we reached the wilderness boundary.

I suppose I am a "tree-hugger," but we wanted you to see how large these trees are. This one is probably over 300 years old.
What goes up must come down. We turned around at the wilderness boundary and headed back toward the trailhead. Along the way we encountered some unusual wildlife.
This is a rubber boa, one of only nine species of snake in Montana.

Everyone asks about snakes here. The funny thing is that Montana only has one poisonous snake...Ohio has three...including two species of rattlers.
I caught this lovely dance between two butterflies.

This cave is home to some larger animal. We decided not to investigate!

The rock formations on the cliff side of the trail are very unusual, including this natural arch.

It was a great hike.
 At the end, Larry was proud to find that he is a part of the forest recreation.

That's it for now. Time to get ready for work. It's going to be a hot day. We may have finally made it to typical Montana weather.