Big Fish Tory Has Success

 

We arrived at the KOA in Missoula Montana from Wisdom Montana.  We got settled in and got caught up on laundry. Our KOA neighbor and Steve struck up a conversation and Ron is from Atlanta spending a few months in the western states. Nice guy and Steve enjoyed talking with him.

As we were getting ready for the evening, Yongsam pulled up with his bicycle! He discovered KOA was the only campground in Missoula that allowed tent camping and he spotted our truck and trailer. We were thrilled to see him and Steve invited him to pitch his tent on our small lawn.

At the end of the evening I went to bed and Steve, Yongsam, and Ron spent some time outside visiting. The next morning Steve fixed a chili omelet for Yongsam and we were able to visit with him some more. We learned about his family and what it’s like living in South Korea.  He is such a wonderful young man. He left around 0930 and headed to REI for a bicycle tune-up and then to conquer Lolo pass.

Youngsam and his omelet

 

A quick hug

Saying Good-Bye

 

 

Monday we hit Rock Creek with George who Tory worked with for several years. He treated us to a 21 mile float on the creek which gave me a chance to practice my fly fishing casting and Steve to calm his craving for catching fish.

We hit the creek around 10:00 with the goal to catch some really big fish! Well my goal was to at least not stick myself or anybody else with my hook!

Hoping for fish, fish, fish

 

Steve was having success getting some trout, and I was having success at not hooking anybody!  After a while, Steve and George traded places so George could fish and not row the raft. He was having great success at landing fish, while I was still successful at not hooking anybody. I did manage to hook a branch which swallowed my fly. At least it didn’t swallow me.

After a bit I was able to catch something other than a branch. No, silly it wasn’t Steve or George. No it wasn’t me either, it was actually a trout!  Yay!! I caught my first fish with a fly!! I was excited and proud so we took this picture – Steve rescued the fish from my fly so we had a chance to pose before we put this guy back in the water. It certainly wasn't as big as Old Moe but it was really big to me!

My First Fish while Fly Fishing

 

I was quite pleased that I managed to catch two more! Steve of course probably caught 50 or so but he didn’t get the big one he was after. That just means we get to try some more!

We plan on spending some time with some friends before we hit the road Tuesday and we were fortunate to leave the KOA after a few days and put our home at some friends of ours up in a canyon where Izzy can have fun with the deer and visit a creek whenever she wants. The setting is beautiful and Vince, Relinda and Nicholas are great hosts!

The view from our door

Vince, Relinda and Steve

 

We had a few days of beautiful weather and managed to get out on a couple of golf courses. I won’t bore you with the details of our game, but let’s put it this way, you can tell we are amateurs and the word practice should be the first word out of our mouths every morning!

We hitched the trailer up and left Tuesday, June 18^th for Big Fork Montana along the Flathead Lake. Will tell you about that in the next post!!  Happy first day of summer!

Through Virginia City to the Battle of the Big Hole

SIT hit the road Wednesday June 5^th to head to the Battle of the Big Hole.  The drive from Henry’s Lake was beautiful and guess what – it wasn’t raining!!  Did you know there was a Virginia City Montana? We didn’t either!

Driving into the town was so interesting that we decided to pull over and tour the old western town. They have maintained many of the buildings with the original contents still in them so it provided for a great history lesson of the area.

We took this picture of the 1876 Madison County Courthouse. Many of the buildings in the town are from that era and their fame is the discovery of gold in 1873.

Courthouse still used today

 

We left Virginia City around 1:30 and landed in Wisdom Montana for the night. We stayed just out of town at a small park.

Later that evening a young man pulled in riding a bicycle. We befriended him and learned he is from South Korea and doing the North American Bicycle Ride. He left from Virginia and will end up in Astoria Oregon. He is a nice young man and we got a chance to talk with him.  His name is Yong sam (unsure about how I spelled it but you pronounce it Young).

The next morning Steve loaded Yongsam up with some freeze dried food and other items. He took off on his bike with the goal to reach Hamilton for the night. We took off to see the Big Hole Battlefield.

When we arrived at the visitor’s center at the battlefield, Yongsam was just leaving.

We hiked the trail that went to the Howitzer capture site. They have a replica of the Howitzer cannon there, and the actual cannon is in the visitor’s center. I was able to take a few pictures from the capture site. It really is gorgeous country.

The Howitzer

 

From there we took the siege area trail where they have identified where the soldiers dug trenches to try and get out of the line of fire from the Nez Perce warriors.  The history of the battle at Big Hole is quite telling and extremely tragic. If you enjoy learning the early history of this area, this would be one place to visit.

 

The Nez Perce Village that was attacked

We left our little camp on Friday morning to end up in Missoula. We are planning on staying in Missoula for about 10 days so we can get caught up on some things, visit friends, and fish, fish, fish!  Oh yeah, we saw Yongsam on the road as we were driving near Florence.  We hope he makes it to his next destination - Missoula!

 

Island Park Idaho – A Place to Connect with Great Friends

 

SIT left Yellowstone on May 29^th and landed at the Red Rock RV Park in Island Park Idaho. This spot is right next to Henry’s Lake which is known for big, I mean really big, trout.  Ah, now we can catch some fish!

Steve was beginning to show signs of fishing withdrawals so he headed down to the lake that afternoon.  He came back empty handed, but you know it wasn’t his fault. You see the place to fish was not really accessible, along with 20 mile per hour winds hitting most of the time. Well better luck next time!

Thursday morning started out mostly cloudy and windy. We decided to do a bit of touring so headed to Big Springs which is where the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River just pops right out of the ground.  Sure I believe you “you say”.  Well you should as it really does. It is simply amazing.

Big Springs

Generating Power once upon a time

 

From there we traveled to the Upper Mesa Falls – which by the way is Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.  The Forest Service in conjunction with the State of Idaho, run the visitor center at the falls. The walk to the falls allows dogs so Izzy was able to tour with us up close and personal.

The falls were quite spectacular and one could hang there for quite a long time, although we chose not to as it started to rain pretty hard.

 

Down from the falls

 

Izzy being camera shy all of the sudden

 

We had some good friends coming Friday to hang out with us so waited to do more touring until they arrived. Tom and Becky got there Friday late afternoon and George and Beth arrived that night. It was great to see them and enjoy their company.

Tom and Becky headed to Yellowstone Saturday with Becky’s Mom so the four of us went to the Falls and did some hiking. The weather was much nicer than the other day.  George, Beth and I were taking the hike down to the Lower Mesa Falls when we stepped aside to let a couple of young ladies pass by. You’ll never guess what?  No it wasn’t Taylor Swift, but it was George’s niece Rachel all the way from Vermont!  What a small world!  I of course arranged the meeting!!  NOT!

Steve, Tory, Beth and George at Upper Mesa Falls

Lower Mesa Falls

 

Sunday morning we went for a hike with the dogs in tow before George, Beth and Shelby hit the road back to their home. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was gorgeous. You can see why folks live in the area however I would not enjoy it much in the winter!!

Monday we hit the road with Tom, Becky, and Jessie and headed to the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Izzy stayed at the trailer and I am sure slept all day while we were gone. She has been able to run around pretty freely chasing all of the ground squirrels. We’re glad she isn’t successful at catching them!

The refuge was pretty but we didn’t see too many birds. Since it was getting close to lunchtime, we decided to follow this road to the Elk Lake Resort which according to their sign serves food!  The drive was beautiful along with the view.  The resort is pretty cool and the owners are pretty cool too. Oh by the way the food was delicious!!

 

Once we were full of great food we headed out and kept an eye out for wildlife. We did see a few hawks on the way home, and low and behold we spotted a moose!  He wasn’t too worried about us as it seems he was in the eating mode.

Bullwinkle eating lunch

 

Steve decided to try and tackle the fishing again so when we got back he headed to the lake.  I asked him when Tom and I should go search for him since he was going to be going down a cliff to get a better fishing spot and hopefully a deeper hole.  He said to give him three hours……..he came back in one hour. I don’t need to tell you anymore do I!!

Tom, Becky and Jessie headed home Tuesday and Wednesday we packed up and headed toward Montana.  We plan to visit the Big Hole Battlefield on our way to Missoula.  Will tell you all about that in the next post.

SIT Meets a Wolf Close-up and personal

We headed out of Alpine Wyoming the morning of May 22^nd with our destination being Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone National Park.

It had been since 1996 since I had toured through the Park with Mom and Steve had never been here so we were looking forward to it and hopefully seeing a lot of wildlife.  You have to keep reading to see what I mean about the title of this post!

The drive from Alpine was wonderful and the Tetons were just glowing with snow and their size.  We stopped to take a picture since they were just begging for it!

 

 

We arrived in the early afternoon and got settled. The weather wasn’t supposed to be very nice the next couple of days so we headed to Cody to check things out and tour the Buffalo Bill museum.  We had Thursday afternoon and most of Friday to see the sites.  We decided it was well worth it and the drive out of the park was wonderful.  There are a number of great places to go camping along the way in the Shoshone National Forest in case any of you ever get to this area.

The museum in Cody was huge and our feet were tired at the end of the day.  We did take a break and took the Cody Trolley tour which was fun and allowed Izzy to come along!!

Waiting for the trolley

 

Friday morning we headed to the Old Trail Town and Museum of the Old West first.  Steve had a great time seeing the old buildings and reading the history.  I have to admit I enjoyed it too!  It makes you wonder what life would have been like back in the late 1870’s through early 1900’s…….

 

Early Home Decorations

Old Trail Town Buildings

I'm Glad we have the 5th Wheel

Picture of Curley and Custer

Curley's Cabin

Trappers Stuff

The General Store that supplies anything!

I can come get coffee if we run out

Still has supplies but they are a bit stale

Tory in front of Hole in the Wall Gang Cabin

Well Known Cowboys buried here now

Jeremiah Johnson's Grave

Steve thankful we have the Dodge!

 

 

 

The School House

 

 

The desks don't look very comfortable

Glad I don't know how to sew

 

The Transportation

Tells you all about it

 

 

When we left the Old Trail Town we returned to the Buffalo Bill Museum and finished touring the sections.  If you ever come here you will want to break it up over at least two days and where really comfortable shoes.  The displays are great and provide just the right amount of information. We took a few pictures from within so you can get an idea of the quality of exhibits.  Seeing this museum sort of closed a circle for us as we were able to visit Buffalo Bill’s Scout Ranch in North Platte Nebraska one time when we took Mom there to visit her brother. Now that was a beautiful ranch.

Buffalo Bill talks to you

The Buffalo Hunter Camp

Plains Indian Tipi

Elk Sculpture makes me feel pretty small

Just one of the wonderful displays in the museum

 

Our drive back to the park was great too since we took a different route. We ventured on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway to enter the park on the northeast corner.  What a gorgeous drive and we encourage you to come see this part of Wyoming – you will not be disappointed.

The Stop on the Highway where the Nez Perce traveled

This area is also known as Dead Indian Pass

 

The road from the top

Just one of the views along the way

This is called Antelope Mountain

 

 

 
After entering the park we of course had to stop and stand there and stare at the view.  Oh we also ran into some bison (not literally!).  I had an opportunity to take the pictures but the one that was special was this little guy getting some fast food – they were getting ready to cross the road so mama was walking while he was eating!

Dinner time

 

Slow down Mommy so I can eat

 

 

Izzy enjoyed looking out the windows at them too, although we just tell her they are big doggies but she can’t play with them!

Can I go play, please??

The weather didn’t provide warmth but it was good enough for us to travel around the park and check out all of the special places.

Looks like you could eat it

Terraced geyser

Blue and steamy

 

 

Desolate but beautiful

 

The trees didn't survive

Blue water is inviting but a tad too hot

Color at the bottom of the hot water

Almost looks like a starfish and some coral

You could boil vegetables if you wanted to

The view from the Mud Volcano

This spring was roaring and pretty amazing

 

We toured the Norris Geyser Basin and were able to see one of the geysers going off.  It was tame compared to a photograph they had from years ago and you can see a man running away as fast as he could – guess he didn’t want a hot shower!

This could be your swimming pool naturally heated!

Tame compared to what it once did

 

Stinky Geyser not Geezer

 

We did the traditional visit to Old Faithful and Steve shot some footage of it going off while I took a couple of pictures.  It was surprisingly crowded already!

Old Faithful

 

We then toured the Firehole area and took in the Firehole Falls. Some pretty country in this area.

Firehole Falls

We missed it going off but quite the contrast from the Firehole Falls

We visited Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It is well hidden but worth taking time to see that part of the park as well.  We were amazed at the geology in that canyon, not mention the river!  Too bad we couldn’t fish while we were there!

Yellowstone Falls

The viewpoint for the Falls oh and Steve!

The path of the Falls

 

We were able to get a few pictures of wildlife other than bison. The elk were out, a couple of grizzly bears, and even a wolf.

Getting a drink

Grazing along

A lone grizzly bear

 

 
You see one of the days we decided to take a little hike from a picnic area to give Izzy a chance to sniff and explore so we headed out. We weren’t on a trail and were just following along a tree line heading towards a meadow and some rolling hills. Fearless Steve with his trusty walking stick was in the lead, Izzy was oblivious to us as she was in heaven sniffing out all the scents, and I was keeping an eye on both of them when Steve suddenly stopped and got Izzy’s attention. He had me place Izzy on her leash and then he said “there’s a wolf” over that ridge. I worked my way close to Steve and then past and sure enough there was a wolf laying down looking over the meadow that lay below him.  Steve wanted to work his way around to get closer for a better picture but just as he started to walk again the wolf stood up and looked over at us. I know we used deodorant and took showers but apparently he smelled us anyway.

I kept Izzy on the leash and stayed there while fearless Steve walked to where the wolf had been laying down. You see once he stood up he decided to head down the hill and disappeared into some trees.  I being the smart, intelligent, and not as fearless person stayed put with Izzy.  I wanted to make sure it was long gone before we approached the wolf laying area. I finally spotted it again and it was leaving the area but kept looking back at us. He definitely was keeping an eye on us. Go figure, he didn’t trust us either!  We finished our hike and headed back to the truck. So when you look at this picture, believe it or not there is a wolf there!

The Guardian is there, just not up close!

 

Overall our week in Yellowstone was great and we drove all but 23 miles of road within the park. From a beauty standpoint, we think the Lamar Valley is spectacular which is what you see from the drive entering the park at the northeast entrance, but you can’t beat the wildlife!

Izzy on the other hand thought every place she could play was spectacular. I think she has gills as she thinks the water is nothing but a playground!

Getting Ready

Success! Can we do it some more please??!!

 

We left Yellowstone on May 29^th to head to Island Park Idaho (Henry’s Lake) to hook up with friends and hopefully catch some fish!