Into Montana

We were kind of up in the air as to when we were leaving Yellowstone…and then it snowed. It had rained almost everyday we were there, but it was the acceptable brief, late afternoon, after a warm day, thunderstorm kind of rain. So it wasn’t too much of a bother. But snow is completely out of the question. Yellowstone was telling us it’s time to go…and we were listening. We drove out through West Yellowstone and up into Montana.

BEAUTIFUL, DESOLATE MONTANA

We wanted to follow the Lewis and Clark trail for awhile. So we turned up State Highway 287 and followed the Madison River. Within an hour we ran into the eeriest of Historical Landmarks…Quake Lake. Stopping at the visitor center and…enrolling the kids into the Junior Ranger program – this is something like their 25th – we heard the horrifying story of a peaceful night in 1959 camping along the Madison, a massive earthquake, landslides, 100 plus mph winds caused by the landslides blasting down the valley, and 29 dead…in many cases entire families. Today you’ll find a six mile long lake with dozens of dead trees standing guard over the lost campers where the Madison used to flow freely.

QUAKE LAKE MONTANA

Montana is something like the fourth largest state but it only has about 1 million citizens. That translates to long scenic drives with very few other cars…paradise. Around 90 miles north of Quake Lake we ran into Lewis and Clark Caverns. This is a very nice campground of…I’m guessing here…50 sites, and it’s a clever bit of marketing by the Montana State Park System because Lewis and Clark didn’t discover the caverns here…in fact they walked right by them.

Turning into the campground “The Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin came onto the satellite radio that my friend Rocco gave me as a parting gift. Even before I had kids I thought the song was a very, very sad song. Now that I have kids, it absolutely breaks my heart. It’s about misunderstanding the role of a father, unfulfilled promises, and a Dad “getting it” too late. The sad reality…this is the rule more often than the exception where we escaped from. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard or even thought about that song…I’m so glad not to have replicated it in our lives…so far.

We’d say that the cavern is a must see. It’s the largest in the state by far, complete with several grand rooms and an underground lake. The tour takes about 2 hours, costs about $12 a head (under 12…if I remember correctly are half price) and, believe it or not, they have a FREE kennel for dogs…HALELUJAH!

DRAMATIC LIGHTING IN THE CAVERN

DOES THIS REMIND ANYONE ELSE OF ALIENS?

INDIE IS THAT YOU?

FYI – Montana has a State Park Card that they sell for $30. Holders of the card get $10 each night they stay in a State Park. The math is obvious. Since we were only going to stay for a couple of nights I passed on the card. Seven days later I was scrambling to get a card and get reimbursed…will I ever learn? “Why seven nights at a small State Park campground?” You might ask. Beautiful, sunny, warm weather. Warm nights. Free showers. The caverns. A playground with lots of kids. The Jefferson river within walking distance. And the sparsely populated, strangely cool town of Whitehall just 15 minutes away, which also had a steady supply of a great beer we have recently discovered – Double Haul IPA from Kettle House. Frankly, I’m surprised we didn’t stay longer.

Our last night in the park Ma Nature treated us to yet another fantastic lightning show…much to Copper Dawg’s dismay as the thunder was greatly accentuated by the canyon walls that surrounded us. We sat for nearly two hours with our neighbors cheering the lightning strikes like a fourth of July fireworks display.