Thursday, June 23, 2011

Four Wheelin' the Montana Back Roads...

With the Sky as wide as it can get, and bluer then it's been... the wonderin' of what lay over the other side of the Mountains across the valley drew me across...



... so we warmed up the old Imogene pass climbin' Dodge and started workin' our way up the track, that was juuuuust wider then the truck. It's the track, runnin' across, just below the crest...

Not as snug as Imogene... but... it got kinda tight meeting two trucks comin' down, them squeezin' between the mountain goin' up on their right ...

... and me hanging on the lip... with the ground disappearin' altogether out the right hand window. :)

*Long Views... and juuuuust enough room to pass? :) *
From our camp... you just see a yellow tint to the Mountainside, looking across the valley... when you get up closer...

*A Sea of Yaller Daisies on a Montana Mountainside*
... you really can't do it justice with a camera... a fella just needs to get out and walk in it...

The road curls back into the mountain and climbs up through a rocky area where the fire burned a lot hotter then the places we'd walked before...


... until you top out through Gibbons Pass... this is the way the Nez Perce' came when they tried to escape the army back in 1877... they had a big fight just a few miles east at the Big Hole battlefield... not one of the shinier moments of our history...

Wasn't long after this that Chief Joseph made his "I will fight no more forever" speech... that has echoed through the years...




That 30' Jayco don't look so big from here... Do it? :) ... if you look... reeeeeallll close... you can see it... See that lil' road comin' in from the right... about center picture above? see that first lil' grove of trees as you come in from the right margin along that lil' brown road?... and that tiny lil' white spot in front of 'em?

... Yup... that's home. :)


The only thing... that measures up to, and holds its own, for me, to a fine Motorcycle... are Long Views in Far country...

OK... sometimes... alright... Lots of times... the closeup views are pretty nice as well...



After you top out on top of Gibbons pass the road opens up a lil' bit... You could drag a fiver in from the other side... coming onto Forest Road 106 off of Montana 43...


We worked our way along... pretty much from the area of the Sula Ranger Station down 106 to Hwy 43...

Between the Hogan Cabin and the hwy, there was one big Motorhome... maybe a 36 footer boondocked with their atv's along the road as we passed through... though... the hiking is better... where our Jayco is settled in!


The Hogan cabin would sure make a nice "Writing Shack" for an itinerant word whittler... wouldn't it? :)



The Cabin sits at the top of a few hundred acre meadow on top of the Divide... just below it you come back to the highway... and come back down off of Lost Trail Pass... and back to camp... makes for a nice lil' tour through the Montana Mountains...

Just don't try to pull your whole rig up that road from Sula! :) It's one of those you'll have to really be good at backing up a long fiver... 'cause... if you try to climb it with your rig... you WILL... be backing down! :)

Gotta go and get shined up now... supposed to meet some folks for lunch in Hamilton...

Another Montana Morning
Brian

Return to the main site of goin' RV Boondocking or Visit my Sister website Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road

2 comments:

Gaelyn said...

Thanks for the tour.

Joe said...

That sure is some pretty country.