For any of you that read this blog and would like to view more pictures, sometimes I do not put everything here, let me know by email and I would be happy to share all of the photos we have taken. For those of you who are still wondering, no we are not ready to come back to Indiana,(although we do miss family and friends) and yes we are having the time of our life.
Today, Friday the 5th we took a drive up to Horse Butte overlook. The drive up to the top is now something we have learned to expect, rocky, bumpy, dirty, hole infested, narrow, you get the picture. The rewards of going to the top was nothing short of what we expected. As you can tell by the signs up there, elevation is 7077 ft, but the views were breath taking. We were even able, using the binoculars, to located our camper clear across the lake. I remember my sister MaryAnn had a favorite saying in her year book ( I believe it was the yearbook, if not I apologize to her ) which read something like this, “anything worth having, is worth working for”. Well if one wants to see the beauty that the good lord has created, sometimes you have to put forth a little work or extra effort to accomplish it. Today we did that and the rewards were great!
Sunday morning we woke to find 2 inches of snow on the ground. Vickie said she told Todd not to answer the phone because she was afraid her workampers were calling in to quit. After all the snow we have seen since leaving Indiana we figured 2 inches was nothing, even though it was in June.
Tuesday, June 8th, we took a drive over to Idaho to a place called Big Springs. The name of the town is called Island Park and it prides itself of having the longest “Main Street” in America, about 33 miles long. The owners of the many lodges and resorts there incorporated the town in 1947. The town is only 500 ft wide in most places and 33 miles long. The reason for incorporating the town was to get around Idaho’s laws that said alcohol could not be sold outside the city limits. Pretty smart huh? Big Springs has a log cabin that is listed on the National Historical Registry. The cabin was built by a German immigrant who stood a whooping 4”11 inches. Unfortunately the cabin is closed until July 4th, but to see the craftsmanship that went into it is something else. To give the cabin a finished look, he left the bark on the logs and used this as a decorative finish. The place is really remarkable to see and we only regret it was not open at the time, but we’ll go back in July and see the interior. The drive there was less than 30 miles from the campsite and well worth the trip.
This past week, June 15th through today, we learned some new meaning to the words “cow bells” and “wedding rings”. A couple from Michigan is camping here this week and invited us to go fishing on their boat. They do a lot of trolling and rigged us up some rods with cow bells and wedding rings. It was an experience we have never encountered before, sitting back on a nice soft seat, shooting the breeze and waiting for the fish to hit. We’re happy to say the cow bells, which is a collection of different colored blades from 2-5 inches , attached to a line, a wedding ring, which is some smaller beads and a wedding ring located in the middle of the beads, and a hook with a night crawler, done very well for us. We ended up bring back 8 trout, all between 16 and 19 inches. The rest of the week pretty much was routine, fishing, driving around looking at some new places, and just good of relaxing.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
End of the road !
Thursday , June 4th, we decided to just hang around the area. The road that we use to get into the campground is about 4 miles off the highway but continues another 12 miles up into the forest. Today we decided to drive to the “end of the road”. By now most of you should know by the pictures we have sent, that the county roads in Montana are not quite like the one’s in Tipton County. The only thing I can say is this time the road was a heck of lot better than before due to the fact they graded the road, or at least half way there. We did manage to see some deer and elk. The only difference between here and in the park is that out here you have to look fast, due to the fact they are not people friendly. You do not get the chance to walk upon them to take their picture like some of the wildlife in the park.
The drive proved to be a shaking experience. The road reminded me of looking at a vanishing point where two lines meet. The road kept getting narrow and narrow the higher we went. We were quite surprised to find several summer homes that were located off of the main road. I’m not sure why someone would want to build a home 16 miles from the highway and have to drive this type of road to get there, but I will say I have to believe that once there, they have all the peace and quite one would want. As you can tell by the signs we did make it to the top. My thinking on taking this kind of drive is this, “why climb to the top of the mountain without seeing what is on the other side”. Back down we came and we ended up watching sand cranes, courting one another with their dancing around. Oh, love is in the air!
The drive proved to be a shaking experience. The road reminded me of looking at a vanishing point where two lines meet. The road kept getting narrow and narrow the higher we went. We were quite surprised to find several summer homes that were located off of the main road. I’m not sure why someone would want to build a home 16 miles from the highway and have to drive this type of road to get there, but I will say I have to believe that once there, they have all the peace and quite one would want. As you can tell by the signs we did make it to the top. My thinking on taking this kind of drive is this, “why climb to the top of the mountain without seeing what is on the other side”. Back down we came and we ended up watching sand cranes, courting one another with their dancing around. Oh, love is in the air!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Old Faithful
This past week we went into Yellowstone Park and decided to take in some of the beautiful views. Our last trip here was in 1994 and we only were able to visit the highlights of the park. This time we decided to take some of the not so traveled routes to Old Faithful and see what we could find. Our first road we came upon was Fire Hole Canyon drive. This is the area that everyone that fly fishes end up going to. The drive proved to be quite spectacular. The Fire Hole Canyon was cut out many many years ago by hot lava from an erupting volcano. For those of you that are not aware of it, Yellowstone Park and its 2 million acres, actually sits on an active volcano area. The pictures posted below (as most all pictures) cannot began to show the actual beauty of the area.
We then continued on to an area called Fire Hole Flats where we found more buffalo in one place than we have seen almost anywhere else. When one is traveling in the park and comes upon traffic blocking the roads, it is a good bet you are going to see something out of the ordinary. Well this traffic jam came to a halt to view a bull elk with the start of a nice looking rack on it. On to Old Faithful we continued.
We entered into the Old Faithful area from a different direction than we had when we were out here in the 90’s. We kept looking at each other like we were in the wrong place, until we came around a bend in the road and saw the hundreds of cars. The light came on and we now knew we were in the right place. We walked around and visited the Old Faithful Inn, which by the way, is one of the most beautiful Inns we have ever seen. Again the pictures here do not begin to show the beauty of the craftsmanship that went into building this Inn. Our goal in sharing these photos is to give you the “itch” to someday come and see the beautiful sites that are here.
We then continued on to an area called Fire Hole Flats where we found more buffalo in one place than we have seen almost anywhere else. When one is traveling in the park and comes upon traffic blocking the roads, it is a good bet you are going to see something out of the ordinary. Well this traffic jam came to a halt to view a bull elk with the start of a nice looking rack on it. On to Old Faithful we continued.
We entered into the Old Faithful area from a different direction than we had when we were out here in the 90’s. We kept looking at each other like we were in the wrong place, until we came around a bend in the road and saw the hundreds of cars. The light came on and we now knew we were in the right place. We walked around and visited the Old Faithful Inn, which by the way, is one of the most beautiful Inns we have ever seen. Again the pictures here do not begin to show the beauty of the craftsmanship that went into building this Inn. Our goal in sharing these photos is to give you the “itch” to someday come and see the beautiful sites that are here.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Time For A Change !
Well the holiday weekend came and went and we both survived it. Actually we had a very good group of campers this weekend, with the exception of a couple of people, the holiday went smooth.
This week also has seen a few changes. Cindy got her hair cut short, I lost a friend of the past 37 years (Dylan calls it my "stach" ) I shaved it off. I also had to go and buy a hat, not a cowboy hat, but something to cover my bald head and tops of my ears. I found out the sun and the tops of my head and ears do not get along. Yea I know you all want to see pictures of us, well I guess I might as well put them out there
.
This past week has been pretty much doing the usual, fishing, taking care of the campers that come in and spending a night in Bozeman. Let me back up and start from the beginning. While we were in Wichita visiting David, the last day there it got pretty warm out so I decided to turn on the ac in the truck. The only problem was it did not want to cooperate and cool the truck down. Now our truck only had 69,500 miles on it, short 500 miles of the warranty expiring. I called a Dodge dealer, told him the problem and he got us in the next day. He found out the ac compressor was broken and would need a new one. Thankfully the warranty covered it and the only cost to us was the $100 deductible.
Well sometimes it pays to listen to your gut and sometimes it doesn’t. We knew the warranty was going to expire by the time we got to Denver so we talked and decided that maybe we should extend the current warranty while we were still within the 70,000 miles. Long story short we purchased a new 2year, unlimited miles warranty and felt we had done the right thing. We felt if we were going to be towing the camper and driving more miles than normal, maybe this was the thing to do. So we bought it, and hoped we would never have to use it. Which brings us up the night in Bozeman.
The previous week we drove up to the big city to stock up on food and other necessities, (one could not afford to buy all of their groceries in West Yellowstone) beer ( my essentials), fruit and veggies (Cindy’s essentials), small gas grill that we could stow away, ( to keep Yogi from wanting to come and enjoy our leftovers that were clinging to the wire grill), these kinds of things. We went to a Costco, bought some stuff and started toward Wal-Mart (Randy McKay’s favorite store) and the truck did not want to accelerate properly. Got to Wal-Mart, done our shopping and started back to West. Well the whole 90 miles the truck ran like an old farm truck I used to drive working for Don & MaryAnn, no power what-so-ever. I could not get any rpm’s out of it unless I turned off the Overdrive. We got back home and had no other problem with it. I called Jimi and told him I saw on the net a topic about error codes. He told me how to bring up any codes stored and I found 2 error codes, (thank heaven for smart sons). The first being a fuel injection pump, the 2nd excessive turbo boost. Called the dealer in Bozeman and set up any appointment to have them look at it. Long story short, bad lift fuel pump, and bad fuel injection pump.
Now this is where listening to your gut sometimes pays off. Our “new warranty” we just purchased, covered a rental for 5 days if needed and more importantly it covered the above-mentioned items. Dealer had both items in stock; we took the rental and hung around Bozeman for the day. The only problem that came up was the new fuel injection pump leaked and the dealer did not have another one. We decided instead of driving back to West Yellowstone and turning around the next day and drive back we would go all out, celebrate my birthday early, and eat a nice meal, stay in a nice cheap hotel and get the truck the next day. Unfortunely not all plans go as planned. The dealer called the next day after our evening of staying in Bozeman, and explained he could not get a new pump until ????. So for now as bad as I hate to tell anyone, we are left driving a KIA minivan around. In defense of KIA, I will have to say it is a very nice riding van (nothing compared to a Chrysler) but all in all a nice van.
Hopefully Monday morning will bring us some good news and we will be able to get our truck back then. Until then I just want everyone to know that I have not abandoned the American Made vehicle, just that I have no other choice in the matter!
This week also has seen a few changes. Cindy got her hair cut short, I lost a friend of the past 37 years (Dylan calls it my "stach" ) I shaved it off. I also had to go and buy a hat, not a cowboy hat, but something to cover my bald head and tops of my ears. I found out the sun and the tops of my head and ears do not get along. Yea I know you all want to see pictures of us, well I guess I might as well put them out there
.
This past week has been pretty much doing the usual, fishing, taking care of the campers that come in and spending a night in Bozeman. Let me back up and start from the beginning. While we were in Wichita visiting David, the last day there it got pretty warm out so I decided to turn on the ac in the truck. The only problem was it did not want to cooperate and cool the truck down. Now our truck only had 69,500 miles on it, short 500 miles of the warranty expiring. I called a Dodge dealer, told him the problem and he got us in the next day. He found out the ac compressor was broken and would need a new one. Thankfully the warranty covered it and the only cost to us was the $100 deductible.
Well sometimes it pays to listen to your gut and sometimes it doesn’t. We knew the warranty was going to expire by the time we got to Denver so we talked and decided that maybe we should extend the current warranty while we were still within the 70,000 miles. Long story short we purchased a new 2year, unlimited miles warranty and felt we had done the right thing. We felt if we were going to be towing the camper and driving more miles than normal, maybe this was the thing to do. So we bought it, and hoped we would never have to use it. Which brings us up the night in Bozeman.
The previous week we drove up to the big city to stock up on food and other necessities, (one could not afford to buy all of their groceries in West Yellowstone) beer ( my essentials), fruit and veggies (Cindy’s essentials), small gas grill that we could stow away, ( to keep Yogi from wanting to come and enjoy our leftovers that were clinging to the wire grill), these kinds of things. We went to a Costco, bought some stuff and started toward Wal-Mart (Randy McKay’s favorite store) and the truck did not want to accelerate properly. Got to Wal-Mart, done our shopping and started back to West. Well the whole 90 miles the truck ran like an old farm truck I used to drive working for Don & MaryAnn, no power what-so-ever. I could not get any rpm’s out of it unless I turned off the Overdrive. We got back home and had no other problem with it. I called Jimi and told him I saw on the net a topic about error codes. He told me how to bring up any codes stored and I found 2 error codes, (thank heaven for smart sons). The first being a fuel injection pump, the 2nd excessive turbo boost. Called the dealer in Bozeman and set up any appointment to have them look at it. Long story short, bad lift fuel pump, and bad fuel injection pump.
Now this is where listening to your gut sometimes pays off. Our “new warranty” we just purchased, covered a rental for 5 days if needed and more importantly it covered the above-mentioned items. Dealer had both items in stock; we took the rental and hung around Bozeman for the day. The only problem that came up was the new fuel injection pump leaked and the dealer did not have another one. We decided instead of driving back to West Yellowstone and turning around the next day and drive back we would go all out, celebrate my birthday early, and eat a nice meal, stay in a nice cheap hotel and get the truck the next day. Unfortunely not all plans go as planned. The dealer called the next day after our evening of staying in Bozeman, and explained he could not get a new pump until ????. So for now as bad as I hate to tell anyone, we are left driving a KIA minivan around. In defense of KIA, I will have to say it is a very nice riding van (nothing compared to a Chrysler) but all in all a nice van.
Hopefully Monday morning will bring us some good news and we will be able to get our truck back then. Until then I just want everyone to know that I have not abandoned the American Made vehicle, just that I have no other choice in the matter!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Memorial Day Weekend
Goods news, we finally got our internet hooked up here which means I no longer have to drive into town and update the blog. Net not working too good tonight, upload pics another day.
The weekend came around and we had around 7-10 campers here with us. One of the pleasures of this work is you get to meet people from around the area. Most of the people that come here have been doing so for years, some came with their parents when they were little and now they bring their children with them. Another nice thing about Lonesomehurst is that we do not get the younger age party people.Yea I know some of you are saying that I did the same things when I was young (and you might be a little right) but it’s nice to have the older, more mature, wiser and somewhat responsible people here.
What we learned real quickly is that here in Montana they take the food storage laws very serious. By this I mean if one is caught leaving a camp site unattended with any kind of food or drink outside, it can cost them a hefty little fine of anywhere between 100-500 dollars. Part of our job is to make people aware of the “bear situation” here. We had two groups of campers that knew all of the laws; they grew up here, they knew if all. Well guess who left food, dirty cookware, beer bottles, dog food, etc, out? Yea, you guessed it, the know- everything people. We ended up having to call the Vickie, which in turn called the local law enforcement. We ended up packing up everything left out and was just getting ready to haul it off and lock it up when they came back, (about 9:30 or 10:00 pm). Vickie explained that if the forest service ranger would have come through and saw it; the cost would have been $500. The next night guess what, (yea they had it all put away), This has been a very educational week for us in how to live among the bears. I had no idea that the critters would take a 12 pack of beer and consume it if it was left out on a table, and I’m sure not sharing my beer with any bears.
The next week was pretty much routine, performed our duties as host, fished, ate, and done some site seeing. I did catch my first brown trout, he was about 19 inches and put up a real good fight getting him in. We cooked it over the fire the next night and had our first brown trout meal. We also got to see a couple of Moose come in from the lake and walk between the camper and the lake. You notice in the sentence about the brown trout I mentioned it was about 19 inches in length; I did not take an accurate measurement so officially Cindy is still the “fishing queen” with the largest fish taken.
This is Saturday night, the 23rd and we have been very busy today. We only have 4 sites left out of 25, so this weekend is keeping us very busy. Tomorrow I’m going fishing and try and knock Cindy from the throne with a 21 inch or better trout. If not, I’ve still got all summer to get the job done
The weekend came around and we had around 7-10 campers here with us. One of the pleasures of this work is you get to meet people from around the area. Most of the people that come here have been doing so for years, some came with their parents when they were little and now they bring their children with them. Another nice thing about Lonesomehurst is that we do not get the younger age party people.Yea I know some of you are saying that I did the same things when I was young (and you might be a little right) but it’s nice to have the older, more mature, wiser and somewhat responsible people here.
What we learned real quickly is that here in Montana they take the food storage laws very serious. By this I mean if one is caught leaving a camp site unattended with any kind of food or drink outside, it can cost them a hefty little fine of anywhere between 100-500 dollars. Part of our job is to make people aware of the “bear situation” here. We had two groups of campers that knew all of the laws; they grew up here, they knew if all. Well guess who left food, dirty cookware, beer bottles, dog food, etc, out? Yea, you guessed it, the know- everything people. We ended up having to call the Vickie, which in turn called the local law enforcement. We ended up packing up everything left out and was just getting ready to haul it off and lock it up when they came back, (about 9:30 or 10:00 pm). Vickie explained that if the forest service ranger would have come through and saw it; the cost would have been $500. The next night guess what, (yea they had it all put away), This has been a very educational week for us in how to live among the bears. I had no idea that the critters would take a 12 pack of beer and consume it if it was left out on a table, and I’m sure not sharing my beer with any bears.
The next week was pretty much routine, performed our duties as host, fished, ate, and done some site seeing. I did catch my first brown trout, he was about 19 inches and put up a real good fight getting him in. We cooked it over the fire the next night and had our first brown trout meal. We also got to see a couple of Moose come in from the lake and walk between the camper and the lake. You notice in the sentence about the brown trout I mentioned it was about 19 inches in length; I did not take an accurate measurement so officially Cindy is still the “fishing queen” with the largest fish taken.
This is Saturday night, the 23rd and we have been very busy today. We only have 4 sites left out of 25, so this weekend is keeping us very busy. Tomorrow I’m going fishing and try and knock Cindy from the throne with a 21 inch or better trout. If not, I’ve still got all summer to get the job done
Saturday, May 16, 2009
For those of you new to the blog please double click on the slideshow to view pictures in a new window full size. We also like to read any comments you would like to leave. Yes we are having a wonderful time and no we are not ready to come back to Indiana.
The past week we have just been hanging around Bakers Hole and cleaning up the sites, cutting wood, and just plain getting tired. We used muscles we haven’t used for a while, but even so it felt good to be doing something productive. We drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs and over to Lamar Valley and enjoyed the day and all of the beautiful country that is out here.
Wednesday the 13th we decided to do a little adventure seeking. Vickie’s husband told us of a drive which is around 60 miles round trip. We went to the north side of Hebgen Lake and headed west. He told us of a couple of “hidden lakes”, one being Wade Lake and the other Cliff Lake. Well if you look at the slide show you will see the county road we took to get there. The entrance off the highway to the lake was around 3 miles and I can tell you we should appreciate the county roads we have in Indiana. The first 3 miles was pretty much rocks, not the kind you find on our roads but we’re talking large ones that are coming up through the ground. I’m sure Randy can relate to the kind of roads I’m talking about. Unfortunately my Ram does not quite ride as smooth as a Jeep with nice balloon tires, but it does get us where we want to go. The two lakes were nothing short of being some of the clearest water I have ever seen. The pictures I have here can not begin to tell what it really looked like. We headed out again and had to decide to take the 3 miles back or the 6 miles the other way. Well you can guess which way I chose. The 6 miles out was just a little better than the 3miles in, due to the fact it was nothing but dirt and there hardly any rocks. We did get to see 3 Eagles flying over the meadows and stopped and watched them for a while. Finally we saw actual homes and realized we were getting close to an actual highway. The total drive took considerable time but it sure was worth the bouncing and shaking around we received, I do think we lost a few pounds on the entire trip.
Well we finally made it “home” today, the 14th of May. We headed out to Lonesomehurst before noon and got everything set up (well most everything), not the hammock or the lawn chairs, but we did get the camper set up. The water is down about 8 feet but it is expected to be back to summer fill in 2 or 3 weeks. It sure was nice to finally get here. We were only 15 miles away but we knew we still had one more move to make, so it now feels we are finally here. I even had some time to pull out the fly rod and try some fishing this evening, no luck but still it was nice. You know my motto, “a bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work”. We have excellent cell phone service here, 6 bars on the phone, so feel free to call us anytime.. Friday the plans are to finish getting the campground ready and trying to catch some nice size trout.
Well I got my first catch in Montana, a nice 18 inch rainbow trout. Not to be out done Cindy got up Saturday and went to the lake and pulled out a 20 inch, 2lb rainbow trout. She now is the “fishing queen” until I get one bigger. This was our 27th anniversary gift to one another, I catch a nice one, she catches a bigger one. The war is on !!!!!!
The past week we have just been hanging around Bakers Hole and cleaning up the sites, cutting wood, and just plain getting tired. We used muscles we haven’t used for a while, but even so it felt good to be doing something productive. We drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs and over to Lamar Valley and enjoyed the day and all of the beautiful country that is out here.
Wednesday the 13th we decided to do a little adventure seeking. Vickie’s husband told us of a drive which is around 60 miles round trip. We went to the north side of Hebgen Lake and headed west. He told us of a couple of “hidden lakes”, one being Wade Lake and the other Cliff Lake. Well if you look at the slide show you will see the county road we took to get there. The entrance off the highway to the lake was around 3 miles and I can tell you we should appreciate the county roads we have in Indiana. The first 3 miles was pretty much rocks, not the kind you find on our roads but we’re talking large ones that are coming up through the ground. I’m sure Randy can relate to the kind of roads I’m talking about. Unfortunately my Ram does not quite ride as smooth as a Jeep with nice balloon tires, but it does get us where we want to go. The two lakes were nothing short of being some of the clearest water I have ever seen. The pictures I have here can not begin to tell what it really looked like. We headed out again and had to decide to take the 3 miles back or the 6 miles the other way. Well you can guess which way I chose. The 6 miles out was just a little better than the 3miles in, due to the fact it was nothing but dirt and there hardly any rocks. We did get to see 3 Eagles flying over the meadows and stopped and watched them for a while. Finally we saw actual homes and realized we were getting close to an actual highway. The total drive took considerable time but it sure was worth the bouncing and shaking around we received, I do think we lost a few pounds on the entire trip.
Well we finally made it “home” today, the 14th of May. We headed out to Lonesomehurst before noon and got everything set up (well most everything), not the hammock or the lawn chairs, but we did get the camper set up. The water is down about 8 feet but it is expected to be back to summer fill in 2 or 3 weeks. It sure was nice to finally get here. We were only 15 miles away but we knew we still had one more move to make, so it now feels we are finally here. I even had some time to pull out the fly rod and try some fishing this evening, no luck but still it was nice. You know my motto, “a bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work”. We have excellent cell phone service here, 6 bars on the phone, so feel free to call us anytime.. Friday the plans are to finish getting the campground ready and trying to catch some nice size trout.
Well I got my first catch in Montana, a nice 18 inch rainbow trout. Not to be out done Cindy got up Saturday and went to the lake and pulled out a 20 inch, 2lb rainbow trout. She now is the “fishing queen” until I get one bigger. This was our 27th anniversary gift to one another, I catch a nice one, she catches a bigger one. The war is on !!!!!!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The weekend of 2nd & 3rd we pretty much just stayed around the campground and started getting it ready to open. We’re still here at Bakers Hole and probably will be until the second week of May. The host for this site came in Friday and we introduced ourselves to them. This is the first time for them to host a campground as well as us. Sunday was spent cutting down dead trees and hauling it to the site where we will split it later. When we had finished cutting wood and were standing around talking, a herd of Buffalo cows came right in front of us (as in no more than 10 or 15 feet). A new calf is called a “red dog” and we were again fortunate to see one. Vickie told us it was no more than a day or two old. She was trying to keep up with the other “cows” and her legs were wobbling everywhere. When the red dog and cows were past us and headed away, we then decided to take some pictures ( not smart to take them when they are approaching).
Monday we went into town and did some errands. We thought we would drive out to Lonesomehurst and see if the road was opened. Well not to our surprise it was still covered in deep snow. The road back to the campground is 4 miles and we were able to go about ½ mile before the road ended in snow. It was obvious we were not going to get into the campground for several more days. Because the land is National forest, and is recreational sites, there is no plowing of the roads by state or county. The only way to get the road opened is for hunters to drive 4x4’s through it and hope the sun will start melting it away.
Tuesday we finished some cleaning up in the campground and Vickie decided to open it for use. The first campers to come in were a couple that have been “full timing” for the past 17 years. They told us they bought their motor home 17 years ago, sold their house, and have been living on the road since. We also experienced a first today, “Buffalo hazing”. There are a lot of controversies out here between the ranchers and the forest service. Vickie explained to us that every spring the ranchers will take helicopters and drive the Buffalo back into the park. This is called Buffalo hazing. The ranchers say the Buffalo carry a disease that infects the calves being born, so it is an on-going battle between them and the forest service. Well one of the main areas for “hazing” is right through the campground. We were alerted and we all took a nice safe place to watch from. Sometimes the Buffalo will run right through the middle of the campground. Thankfully today they headed into the north end of the cg. We were able to see several herds being pushed across the river and back into the park.
NEWSFLASH !!!! Well it’s about 8:30 pm and we get a knock on the door. The new host just told us a game warden came to their camper and told them a Grizzly had just entered the campground and for all of us to stay inside. What a way to finish the day!
Monday we went into town and did some errands. We thought we would drive out to Lonesomehurst and see if the road was opened. Well not to our surprise it was still covered in deep snow. The road back to the campground is 4 miles and we were able to go about ½ mile before the road ended in snow. It was obvious we were not going to get into the campground for several more days. Because the land is National forest, and is recreational sites, there is no plowing of the roads by state or county. The only way to get the road opened is for hunters to drive 4x4’s through it and hope the sun will start melting it away.
Tuesday we finished some cleaning up in the campground and Vickie decided to open it for use. The first campers to come in were a couple that have been “full timing” for the past 17 years. They told us they bought their motor home 17 years ago, sold their house, and have been living on the road since. We also experienced a first today, “Buffalo hazing”. There are a lot of controversies out here between the ranchers and the forest service. Vickie explained to us that every spring the ranchers will take helicopters and drive the Buffalo back into the park. This is called Buffalo hazing. The ranchers say the Buffalo carry a disease that infects the calves being born, so it is an on-going battle between them and the forest service. Well one of the main areas for “hazing” is right through the campground. We were alerted and we all took a nice safe place to watch from. Sometimes the Buffalo will run right through the middle of the campground. Thankfully today they headed into the north end of the cg. We were able to see several herds being pushed across the river and back into the park.
NEWSFLASH !!!! Well it’s about 8:30 pm and we get a knock on the door. The new host just told us a game warden came to their camper and told them a Grizzly had just entered the campground and for all of us to stay inside. What a way to finish the day!
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