Libby Montana August 2015

August has come and gone. It seems as though we just got here and it is almost time to leave. It was a good month.  We had Holly's sister, Debbie, drive over from the Seattle area and spend some time with us. If you have been a regular, you might remember her from our time in Quincy, California. Debbie has never been to Glacier National Park and because it was so close to us, we took a few days and drove there. Here they are sitting at the McDonald Lake Lodge waiting for our boarding time for the lake cruise.

When we had stopped there on the way to Libby in June the stream above was a raging torrent. Now it was just a trickle. We had a nice cruise around the lake even though the day was a little cool and misty. The mountains were gorgeous as usual. There was a ranger on board that gave a nature talk that was interesting at times. After the tour we took the Going To The Sun road up to Logan's Pass.The road was blocked from the pass to the east side due to a wild fire in the area. It was very windy and cold up there and there was a dusting of snow on the higher peaks. We stopped and saw some waterfalls and streams on the way back to the campsite. We had a great time.

It was a nice get away and we had a great time. We had a couple of campfires and even made some s'mores. We finally had to pack up and head back to Libby as Holly and I had to go back to "work". The twins were glad to see us come back (I know it's hard to see but they are smiling). Holly and Deb were exhausted from they trip so they decided to rest and visit some more. It was great to see Debbie again but as usual, she got restless and headed back home. It was about an 8 hour drive so just a nice little trip for her.

There were quite a number of fires all over in the northwest states. We had one that was just over the river from us and they were using a Chinook helicopter to get water out of the lake to bring to the fire. It was about a 10 minute round trip so we got to see them for quite a few trips. It was really interesting to watch as they lowered the  large bucket into the water and then maneuver to get it to tip on it's side to fill with water. At one point there were so many fires to the west of us and the smoke was so thick it was hard to see across the lake. This went on for a couple of weeks and started to cause problems with being outside. There were a couple of days where I spent most of my time inside because the smoke was making my throat hurt and was giving me a headache. We have nothing but praise for the firefighters who risked their lives keeping us safe from the fires.

These are the wonderful people we were able to work with. The first two are Susan and Alana, our supervisors.  They helped guide us and kept me on the straight and narrow (we all know that's a full time job). The next three are Cody, Keeli and Makayla. The next ones are Megan, Tana and Alana. The young people are college students who work as seasonal rangers at the park in the summer. They help at the visitor center, give tours of the dam, do patrols of the project and are all just down right nice people. It was a pleasure getting to know them, except for the one that kept calling me nerd. Oh I guess she was alright too so I won't tell who it was (far right, picture to the right).

Holly and I had some extra time off so we packed up and drove down to Nevada City and Virgina City. They are considered to be ghost towns but there sure a lot of people walking around. The towns sprung up during the gold rush days and were pretty wild during that time. Holly found herself a prospector who said he had lots of gold but it turns out it was fools gold. We meandered around Nevada City for awhile and looked at the shops and talked to some of the volunteers there. Turns out some of the buildings were used in the Lonesome Dove movies.

We checked out the blacksmith shop and the saloon. The had stores and a barber shop along with a fancy fire department. We took a ride up to boot hill and saw there were 5 hangings on Jan. 14, 1864. They said it was common to have 2 or 3 hangings a day.

We drove into Butte and went to the Mining Museum at Montana Tech. We arrived too late for the mine tour but they do have a lot of nice exhibits and old equipment to look at. They have a replica of a mining town. They also have the original mine head. This is all part of the Orphan Girl Mine.

We arrived back at the park and woke up the next morning to a beautiful sunny day with no smoke and just a bit of mist on the lake. On our last night at Libby Dam we drove below the dam and took some great pictures of the dam at night. It's so peaceful and quiet there at night because it's so far from any towns.

Well, that was it; stopped at the local self service station to fill up the motor home and headed for home. Said all of our goodbyes, took one last look at the mountains and knew we would definitely put this down as one of our favorite places. We had wi-fi problems at the dam and bad wi-fi at the parks we stayed at so I had to wait until we arrived home to do this blog. That's why it is late (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). That's it... I'll see you all next month. That's right, I didn't say where our next adventure will be. Well I guess you will just have to check back next time to find out, Bye for now!

Libby Montana, July 2015

Welcome back to Montana. Big sky country. We heard it was huckleberry time so not to miss out, we headed to the high country to look for them. Now just because we had no idea what a huckleberry bush looks like we were not going to let that stop us. As luck would have it a nice fellow in a pickup stopped and was nice enough to point us in the right direction. Not so lucky is the fact this is a poor year for berries. We picked for a long time and got about half a quart. We have gone again and found a better patch and came back with enough for a pie and pancakes.

The berries like to grow above 4500 feet so we had a nice drive up some forest service roads.....gotta love a Jeep. The mountains here are beautiful and the wild flowers plentiful. We did follow a two track up to the top of Blue Mountain and to our surprise, there was fire tower #3. The forest service no longer use these towers so they are now rented out to overnight guests as cabins. The top of Blue Mountain is around 6100 feet so after you climb all the way up you have a wonderful view (when it's clear out). That is Holly on the second landing, that is as far as she went which is two landings farther then me. Now if you rent one you need to bring all of your own food, bedding, clothes and stuff and carry it all up then back down. No bathroom but there is an out house at the bottom. At 3 a.m. you need to ask yourself "do I really need to go"?

These are huckleberries. We can now recognize huckleberry bushes as we are driving on the forest service roads. See, you can teach old dog new tricks!

We were told where we might see moose as we were out exploring and the first time we went berry picking we drove thru that area and didn't see any. But as luck would have it, the second time was the charm. We were able to see mom and her baby in the pond feeding. We also have bald eagles and their young at the dam. We see them a lot teaching the young to fish. The picture below has a mature bald eagle, a young one (immature) and a blue heron. We also have a golden eagle in the area and I have seen it once but as usually the case, no camera.

It was much larger and they have no white markings. We also have three does in the day use area where we are, and four fawns. That's right one set of twins. We don't see the fawns too often so it is a real treat when they are out with the moms.

There was a rodeo in town so we went for a night out. So exciting, turns out there was a Montana cougar running loose in the area...that's her to the right. They set out some bait in the arena (a small table and two chairs and a bottle of wine) and had trappers waiting.  When she showed up they caught her and made the town safe for all the young men.

The rodeo was on Friday and Saturday nights. We decided to buy our tickets for Saturday. Of course since we have been here we have only had two days of real rain.  Yep that's right...one of them was on rodeo night. That's okay though, we brought raincoats and umbrellas and we had a good time. I took the picture on the left from the stands at the rodeo. Nope, not a mountain just a big nasty looking cloud.

At the end of the rodeo they ran out  a herd of mustangs and their colts. They talked about how years ago (yes, way before my time) these herds ran wild on the western plains.

This is the day use park where we stay and are mostly in charge of. The picture above is one of the three shelter people may reserve. They have picnic tables, sinks with running water and built in grills and if they are not reserved, anyone may use them. The picture to the left is the floating platform (in Michigan we would call it a dock). People drive up here from Libby (17 miles) to swim, sun bath and fish. The lake is down 15 feet from full so the walk down is sort of steep. Believe me, the walk back up is worse.  When we first got here the lake was down 25 feet.

We went looking for grizzly gear. We were given directions to an area that was known to have them so we took the dogs (bait) and drove up there. Nope didn't see any but we did meet a couple from Kalispell that came up on their four wheeler and had a nice chat with them. The day wasn't a loss; how could it be with this view?

On the way in Holly said she caught a glimpse of a big bird. On the way out it flew right over the Jeep and landed in a pine tree right in front of us and posed for this picture. It's the biggest owl I have ever seen. So cool to get these little surprises now and then. Well that's it for July; about six more weeks and we will be headed home. Stop back next month and see WHO we run into (get it "who" can't believe I did it again).

LIBBY MONTANA, JUNE 2015

When we left you last month we had left Michigan and were headed west. After  a wild and crazy drive around Chicago we were pointed towards the northern route headed for Libby Montana. After crossing parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and all of North Dakota we ran smack dab into Montana. No, we were not almost there; Libby is way over on the other side in the northwest corner. We are about 30 miles from Idaho and 54 miles from Canada.  We traveled all the way thru Montana on U.S. 2 away from the hustle and bustle of normal every day driving.

We thought that since we were driving right by Glacier National Park that we might as well spend a couple of nights and rest up before we arrived at Libby. Of course as things go, shortly after we arrived it started to rain, and it rained until we were ready to leave. It did give us a chance for some nice pictures in the park. As you can tell, the boat on the calm lake and the majestic mountains in the background are beautiful.

Due to the rain and snow melt in the mountains  the streams and rivers were filled to capacity and roaring down the mountains headed for the lakes.

Even with the rain we were out sight seeing and had a great time. The Going to the Sun Road was not open yet due to the snow pack so we went as far as we could and just enjoyed the drive. We were lucky enough to see a mountain goat standing on this rocky slope surveying his domain. It has been great doing all this traveling and seeing mother nature at her finest.

We awoke on the 3rd of June to no rain and sunny skies, packed up, folded up and headed to Libby Dam for our next great adventure. After a short 4 hour drive we had our first glimpse of Libby Dam. Libby Dam is 3,055 ft across, 54 ft. wide at the top and 310 ft. wide at the base. and 370 ft. high above the stream bed. It is a straight axis concrete gravity dam. That means it's not curved but runs straight across the river and holds back the water because of it's size and weight. It has 7.6 million tons of concrete and that is enough to build a two lane highway from Libby to Washington D.C. or 2,290 miles.

After stopping at the visitor center and meeting Tana we were given directions to where we would be spending our summer. We met up with our co-hosts Paul and Kristina. They are from North Carolina and very nice. Paul helped me get backed into our site and we proceeded to get set up and make ourselves at home. It's a lovely site and there are just the four of us staying here once the gate is closed at 9 p.m. It's very peaceful and quiet. The only camping is below the dam and we are in the day use area. Holly helps in the visitor center and I pick up around the park and sweep out the rest rooms and stock paper products.

The town of Libby is 17 miles away and that is where we need to go to get cell service. We have wifi at the visitor center so that helps. They do provide us with a phone at our site for incoming calls and emergency outgoing calls but it is one of those really old kind that has a cord on it. Libby is the city of Eagles. There are several sculptures around town of eagles and we see eagles all the time below the dam, teaching their young how to fish.

The dam was built across the Kootenai River for flood control and provide additional hydroelectric power. The lake that was formed behind the dam extends about 40 miles into Canada. The total length of the lake is 90 miles. The lake was named in a contest.... It's called Koocanusa. That is Koo for the river Kootenai, can for Canada and usa for the USA. So it is Koo-ca-nu-sa. The water falls on the left are just west of Libby they are the Kootenia Falls. A little bit of a hike to get to them but well worth it.

A little further down stream they have a swinging bridge. That is Holly standing in the middle of it. I would of gone, but someone had to hold the dogs!

We took a trip to Ross Creek Cedars to see the giant cedar trees. These  things were really big.  Some were almost as big as the Ponderosa trees we have seen in other places. It was a nice shady walk on a nice trail. The dogs enjoyed it and Ruby even walked out in the mountain stream to get a drink of cool water.

On Tybee Island we had to deal with sharks... now we deal with bears. We've seen one bear when we were leaving the cedar trees. It crossed the road right in front of us. By the time I had the camera out it had run into the trees. I tried to get Holly to take the camera and go get a picture but she wouldn't. I would have, but someone had to stay with the dogs. We've also seen big horn sheep just down from the day use park and of course, deer.

Holly has put out three humming bird feeders and we have been overrun by them. All day long we have from two to eight or more at a time. it's hard to tell how many for sure, the little buggers don't hold still long enough to get an accurate count.

That's all for now.  Be sure and stop by again next month and see what we've been up to. Until then we will just go along exploring N.W. Montana and humming a merry tune (can't believe I said that). Bye.