Montana Wanderings

This past weekend my friends and I headed out towards Dillon, MT for some adventuring. Our first stop on Saturday was to Clark's Lookout State Park. In 1805, the Lewis and Clark party passed through this area of the Beaverhead Valley. On August 13, 1805 Captain Clark climbed this high bluff to get a sense of his surroundings and document the location. This monument, which sits on top of the bluff, shows the three compass readings that Captain Clark took that day. We just happened to be there on August 13th so we had to stop. I loved the fact that I stood, looking out across the valley, in the vary place Clark stood exactly 206 years prior.
After spending some time at Clark's Lookout State Park we head to the Dillon KOA where we were staying for the night in a Camper Cabin. It was a cute little cabin and we enjoyed the evening grilling hot dogs, swimming in the pool, roasting marshmallows and chatting the night away.


On Sunday we headed for Bannack State Park, which is a preserved Ghost Town, for a little exploring and touring. Bannack was founded in 1862 and was the first territorial capital in Montana.At its peak, Bannack had a population of about ten thousand. There were three hotels, three bakeries, three blacksmith shops, two stables, two meat markets, a grocery store, a restaurant, a brewery, a billiard hall, and four saloons.

This building housed the school in the bottom level and the masonic lodge in the top level. The masonic lodge is still active and masons from around the world can be members. They still hold annual meetings here. This was originally the courthouse and was then converted into the Hotel Meade. It was very cool to wander around inside the buildings and imagine what life would have been like if you were a guest there.


Some other buildings include the Methodist Church, the Gibson Hotel, the view of the gallows and what is left of the Governors house. After leaving Bannack, we drove the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway to get back to Butte and the freeway home. About halfway down the road we saw a sign to the Coolidge Ghost Town and took decided to go see it to. Coolidge is about a 5 mile drive down a dirt road and then a half mile walk back to the town site.
I loved Coolidge! It was just an abandoned town sitting in the middle of the forest in gorgeous surroundings. Coolidge just happened to be the site of the largest, and final, silver development. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the buildings and mine.





As always, I loved getting out for another Montana Adventure and learning a little about Montana's past. I can't wait for the next adventure!

The Apartment!!!!!!

After 4 months of being homeless (don't worry I wasn't living in a box down by the river, just couch/spare bed surfing)I FINALLY found a decent place to rent and moved in! Welcome to my new digs.....
This is the view of my kitchen, looking towards the living room, from my front door.
More kitchen. Look at all that cupboard and counter space!
Living room and door to my back deck.
One of the two bedrooms, which are located in a small hallway off the kitchen.
The bathroom.

I am SO excited to finally have my own place and to start unpacking. At the moment I only have a futon, but eventually I will get a bed, kitchen table, chairs, bookcases, etc.

Butler Family Reunion

This past weekend I traveled to Bliss, Idaho for the Butler Family Reunion. The reunion was held at the ranch and many cousins/aunts/uncles from all sides of the Butler family were in attendance. Due to a few things I was only able to attend Friday night and most of Saturday. On Saturday the whole clan ventured out for a family history tour up Clover Creek, where our family originally homesteaded. The day was enjoyable and it made me grateful that I grew up near the ranch. I had been out to Clover Creek several times growing up with Grandpa and hearing all his stories, for many people at the reunion this was their first trip out this way.

The first stop was at the location of the Clover Creek School. Aunt Frances told stories of teaching here when she was a young girl.

One of the next stops was the site of the Clover Creek Homestead, which was started by Pleasant Bassham Butler.


We had several other stops including the Natural Bridges.



Next up we headed to Clover Creek Cemetery where several of our family, including PB and Sarah, are buried.




Our last stop of the day was for lunch up near Dempsey Meadows, then a stop to see the petroglyphs.


After returning to the ranch after the tour we relaxed, played softball and then had a family bbq. It was an enjoyable weekend seeing everyone.

Another Weekend in Jackson

I headed down to Jackson again this weekend. Last weekend, as I tried to gather my things for camping, I realized all my gear was in my storage unit in Jackson. This weekend I went down to retrieve it all and have some fun too.

Saturday I drove straight into town, ran a couple errands and went to my storage unit. I was also very excited to grab lunch at Betty Rock, one of my favorite sandwich places ever. My 2 favorites are the Thai Chicken and the Turkey, Gouda and Roasted Red Pepper sandwiches. After I was done in town I headed back up to Blackrock. The Bridger-Teton National Forest Fire Crew was having a bon-fire, so I went to that Saturday evening. It was nice catching up with friends and meeting some new people as well.

Sunday my friend Ross and I headed over to Teton Village. The Jackson Hole Resort was offering free admission on the tram to locals and we couldn't pass that opportunity up, even if it was a rainy, foggy day!

The tram, which takes skiers to the top of Rendezvous Peak in the ski season, takes you from 6,311 ft to 10,450 in about 15 minutes. This day the top was socked in with fog so all you could see was fog and snow everywhere! The ride back down the mountain was a little clearer and I am really looking forward to returning on a clearer day.


On our way back home we took the Kelly road and saw this little pronghorn on the side of the road. It's always so nice when they pose for you. :)

Trail Creek Forest Service Cabin

This last weekend I was invited to join my friends Mary, Laura and Kim for a little adventure. We were to hike into the Trail Creek Forest Service cabin off of Trail Creek Road (a dirt road between Emigrant and Bozeman, MT in the Gallatin National Forest). The adventure started out with us driving down Trail Creek looking for the proper road to turn off on. We eventually found it, drove until there was a large drop-off, parked our car and loaded our gear up.
From where we parked it was a short walk to the Trail Creek Trailhead where the hike began. I was very much under the wrong impression of what we were doing. I thought we were taking a 1.9 mile walk down an old road to this cabin. Instead it was a 3 mile hike on an actual trail. Needless to say I was a little un-prepared, as in I had on tennis shoes and was carrying food in a little cooler. (Still brings a smile to my face picturing me carrying a cooler around. Ha!)
The trail was a very nice one through the forest and paralleling a creek for most of the way. Well, I should say most of the trail was nice. There were many sections that were muddy. Very muddy. I was lucky enough to have only had one major fall, which resulted in mud from my knees down, and only lost my shoe 2 or 3 times. One of my friends, Kim, was not so lucky. At the start of the hike she sunk thigh deep!


After some speculation as to whether or not we were on the right trail, we finally found it! The Trail Creek cabin sits on the edge of a small cabin and was built in 1924 for the Bozeman Ranger District. There is a fold out table and 2 sets of bunk beds inside, a nice fire ring and an outhouse. Once at the cabin we all explored a bit, ate dinner and started a fire. I took the time to go relax in the meadow, got my paints out and drew a picture. (It felt great to be drawing/painting, even if the picture didn’t turn out great. For some reason I put my paints, pens and pencils down about 4 years ago and have not picked them up since. Ever since this winter I have had a strong desire to draw & paint again and was so excited I finally did it!)

As it started to get dark we gathered our stuff and headed inside the cabin for Boggle (which always reminds me of Grandma) and Kissmet (a game very similar to Yahtzee) before turning in for the night.

Sunday morning I awoke with the sun and took advantage of the morning peace and quiet. I sat on the front porch for awhile enjoying the mountain views and then took a small walk down one of the old roads which leads to a different trailhead. Eventually the rest of my friends woke up and we headed back out on the muddy trail. Funny how easy it is to walk through muddy trails when you are already muddy and don’t car if you get muddier. Lol! What a gorgeous day it was for a hike too, the sun came out and it was in the high 70s! Once back out to the car we drove back to Emigrant where I left in my car and the other 3 went out to breakfast.

I enjoyed my adventure, but will make sure to do my own research about where we are going next time.