Friday 10-2-26 Bitterroot National Forest, Hiking & Having Fun

 

Foggy Morning in Drummond

We had a super day. 

We woke up to a brisk 35 degrees and fog at Drummond Town Park. Our high temperature was 77 degrees in Florence Montana at 6:00 pm.

I woke up about 7:30 and got dressed. Larry was bundled up under the unicorn blanket on the couch. The heater was on high it was 65 degrees in the Minnie. When I went to bed it was 64 degrees. I had set the thermostat at 64 because we like to sleep when it's a little cool. We started to put things away and secured. Once this was done we had a quick breakfast, which was a couple of Little Debbie's apple pies. I heated them up. We're going to be without power for awhile.

After breakfast I took the trash out because we weren't sure if we're going to have trash service at our next destination Then we backed the Minnie into a site where there was water. We topped off the water tank because a lot of places in Montana turn off the water at the first of October. We were on the road at 8:00. By the time we left Drummond the fog had lifted.

Clark Fork River in Drummond

Old train track in Drummond

Our next destination was Charles Waters Campground in Bitterroot National Forest. It was 80 miles from Drummond. We took I90 four lane interstate to Missoula Montana (50 miles). The drive was very pretty, we saw a couple of mountain ranges and ranches with cattle and horses. We also saw a few deer. As we drove the mountain passes, we saw beautiful red colors on the maple trees and other fall colors.  When we got to Missoula Larry had to drive through it. Last night Larry located a Walmart in Missoula. We were going to drive right by so we stopped. We bought a few things we were getting low on because we weren't sure when the next time we would be at a Walmart.

Fall colors in Montana (red are maple trees)

After putting the items away we were back on the road. We drove another 30 miles. The campground is first-come-first-serve and it was Friday so we wanted to arrive early in the day. We didn't have any problems. We decided on site #5. Then we walked down to get an envelope to pay. We had a pleasant surprise, as of September 27th it was free to all campers. There was no garbage service so you have to take your garbage out with you. The toilets are vault toilets and the water is turned off. We were glad we got rid of the trash at Drummond Town Park.

Charles Waters Campground

We thought this sign was cute for the dogs to read

By the time we were all set up it was time for lunch. We shared a salad from Walmart. After lunch we decided to check out the hiking trails. We went on a 4 mile hike for a couple of hours. We started from the Minnie and walked to the trailhead, which was at the fee station. Larry had the trail maps on his phone. We picked up the nature trail, it actually had signs about the different furs and trees in the area. The pine trees are Ponderosa. We hiked the trail for a half mile to where it Ys off. Then we took the blue trail Larry Creek. We shared the Larry Creek Trail with horses. The trail was very nice and weaved us through the forest of Ponderosa pines, different furs and other trees. We noticed that the forest was thinned out and looked great. We crossed over the creek multiple times via bridges or planks made from fallen trees. There were a few areas that were muddy but you can get around the area. We saw a lady riding a horse and she had two dogs. We saw a few other people walking their dogs. We hiked the trail until we got to a dirt road. Then we took the road back to the campground, which was 1.5 miles. We stopped and sat on a fallen tree to rest. As we were resting a couple of dogs came down the road to say hi. A lady was walking her three dogs. One of the dogs was 11 years old and couldn't keep up with the other two. They didn't get too far when they turned around and went back to their car. After our rest we continued down the road. We walked until we got to a cattle guard and fence, where we saw the lady and her three dogs and a couple more ladies and dogs. We were glad there was a gate for hikers and dogs to weave through instead of the cattle guard. We had a great hike.

The creek we crossed

One of the bridges we crossed the creek with

Horse trailers in a parking lot

 View of the ranches and mountains from the hiking trail

When we got back we relaxed in the Minnie. Larry read and I played games. I may not do a lot of my games because we don't have power and I have to conserve power. Today I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and the Daily Event. The event was Event: Tri Peaks Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 15 minutes and 59 seconds to complete, which put me in 8th place in my group.

For dinner we barbecued pork sausage burgers. After dinner I walked around the campground for 30 minutes and did 2 miles. By the end of the day I had done 17,000 steps.

The rest of the night we relaxed with a book. 

Enjoying a good book