We have spent the past few days nestled between ridges in
the valley carved by Belt Creek in the exceptionally beautiful Lewis and Clark
National Forest. We’re in a highway-side campground that is not an especially
nice campground, with the sparse traffic adjacent and visible, but we’ve had it
to ourselves most of the time, and there is water and a toilet and some
interesting hikes within easy driving distance. We’re at about 5200 feet of
elevation here, and the nights get very cold. But in the mornings we can watch
the sun come up over the eastern ridge and know it will have us toast warm very
soon. The days have been SO beautiful, with skies so blue they are nearly
purple.
Yesterday, we did two short hikes. The first was at Memorial
Falls, which is a short rocky trail uphill along a creek. The creek cuts
through Neihart quartzite, which is orange and sparkly, and leads to not one
but two waterfalls. Gorgeous!
After that, we walked along the north fork of
Hoover Creek. It’s a primitive but level trail that goes on a lot farther than
we were interested in. Amusingly, the trail cuts across the creek about a dozen
times just in the short stretch of it we walked, with no bridges provided, not
even stepping stones. We picked our way across the available naturally placed
rocks, with some laughter and some wet feet as a result.
Right now, we have left our new campsite up in the Bridgers
mountains to make a quick run down to Bozeman to take care of some errands. Early next week, we’ll
try to get a campsite in Yellowstone or down in Grand Teton National Park.
