Montana 2015

After a good chunk of time in Wyoming – which feature both Grand Tetons and Wyoming national parks – the bar was set pretty high for Montana. I knew we’d only be seeing the western part of the state on this trip, but I had high hopes of continuing the amazing landscapes we’d come to admire in Wyoming.

Deer Lodge

After I arrived back from a work trip to San Francisco, we began our trek North into Montana. We wanted to make sure we visited the Grant Kohrs National Historic Site for another junior ranger badge. We decided to stop in a little town called “Deer Lodge”. We stayed in an RV park about 15 minutes North of town. It wasn’t much, but it a good mid-way stop before getting to Missoula. Grant Kohrs wasn’t huge, but it was definitely fun. We’d seen pictures of the working ranch from other traveling Instagram friends and were excited to visit. Unfortunately, the blacksmith wasn’t working the day we visited. But touring the ranch was still lots of fun.

Missoula

After a few days in Deer Lodge, we made the short drive further North to Missoula. On this route, I learned about the vast quantities of different diesel fuels in Montana, including “dyed diesel”. Montana provides an entirely separate pump for dielsel meant for farm and recreational vehicles. This diesel isn’t taxed, but it is dyed – to prevent usage by other road vehicles. Don’t get caught with the dyed stuff – it’s something like a $2,000 fine. (thanks to the other Ford truck owner who gave me all this info at the gas station)

We had planned to stay in the National Forest East of town, but we were a bit tired and didn’t want to deal with the ramp up and lifestyle of boondocking at the time. So we opted for an RV park on the North side of town. It was very cute and well-located, but it was definitely geared towards the older crowd. We got a phone call from the park about our kids arriving at the general store alone – that they weren’t alowed to roam without adult supervision. Meh.

Missoula was a great town. We loved the carousel downtown, and we spent way too much money at Costco and REI.

Glacier National Park

THE MAIN EVENT! We drove North from Missoula, past Flathead Lake, and into Kalispell, MT. We stayed at another RV park – far more friendly to kids, and right on the Flathead River. That weekend was Father’s Day, and fishing was free for the weekend. So me and Ava tried our luck. I managed to catch a single trout – not bad considering my $30 Target fishing pole and my assortment of lures from my late grandfather meant for ocean-going fish.

After Kalispell, we continued on to Glacier. Erin and I have had a few times where backing in our trailer has caused some strife, but none compared to Glacier. Our campsite was described as having a max length of “35 feet” (our 5th wheel is 34). The site was also located on the outside of a loop right at the turn, which meant we started at a significant deficit. To top it all off ,the road was lined with trees, making it next to impossible to turn the truck hard. It took Erin and I about an hour to get situated. In the meantime, Erin and I just about tore each other’s heads off. It seems the National Parks – especially having had their campgrounds created long before the existence of travel trailers – have some issues accomodating longer trailers. This part of the trip definitely got us thinking about downsizing even further … more on that in a future post.

Once we got settled, we began our longest “dry camping” experience to date – 2 weeks. No hookups meant lots of conservation of our resources. I had originally planned to simply move the trailer if our tanks got full, but after our difficulties getting parked, I knew we wouldn’t get back in. So everyone used the campground restrooms and Erin was a trooper by washing all our dishes in a small plastic bin and dumping our grey water in the provided grey water dump area.

Despite all the above “difficulties”, our time in Glacier was incredible. We’d heard GNP describd as the “crown of the continent” and once we made it up to Logan Pass, we understood why. The hikes with the kids – including an overnight backpacking trip with Ava – were awesome. I even managed a solo day hike along the Highline Trail.

After 2 weeks on the West side, we took the long drive around South to make it to St. Mary, Montana. We stayed at a KOA for a few days and managed a day trip into Many Glacier to see Swiftcurrent and Lake Josephine.

Off to Canada!!

To see pictures from this part of our journey, visit this Facebook gallery