We did pretty much nothing except for "The Last Supper" with Phil and Doris at Timberline. It was OK.
Phil's coach. He reserves this site for this week every year.
Relaxing at Grizzly
We took the scenic route to Helena, MT and the Lincoln Road RV Park.
Lincoln Road RV Park is a pleasant place. TL 23, $22/night.
We did Wal Mart, Home Depot and Albertsons. We hadn't seen a big grocery store in a while so we stocked up. I replaced my 12V Black & Decker cordless drill that I use to raise & lower the stablizers with an 18V Ryobi. The charger for the Black & Decker died and I wouldn't want to have to manually crank the stablizers. Actually I bought the 5 peice set: Drill, circular saw, recipocating saw, vacuum and light.
Very pleasant and interesting 3 hour, 150 picture day. The boat ride
was 105 minutes and it was about 15 minutes from the RV Park.
Our pilot, tour guide was very knowledgable and interesting.
The limestone canyon is about 6 miles long from the marina up to the "gates". There are a lot of caves in the limestone. This one is square, that is interesting because there has never been any machine mining or blasting here.
This enfolded strata is a result of the earthquake that formed the Rockies. This area is part of the Rockies.
Natural Bridge
Can you see the elephant?
Mann Gulch where a fire in 1849 killed 14 smoke jumpers.
The Gates of the Mountains, closed
Opening
Open
Moss discovered here and unique to this canyon. Only one season the
tour boats came out early and the moss was blooming. Moss doesn't
bloom. It is actually a member of the roase family.
Stop at a National Forest Service picnic area. Very pleasant.
The map makers called this "Cap" Mountain. The Hilgers called it Mae West.
Can you see the face?
The story of Gates of the Mountains is also the story of the
Hilgers. They bought this area in 1864 and ran the first tour boat in
1887. They lost the land at some point but the kids were able to buy it
back. The kids put the land in a conservation trust so that it can only
be used for argiculture. One side of the canyon is Hilger land, the
other side is National Forest Wilderness.
Roadside park, just off the interstate, headed towards the Marina.
