Day 57 - Rattlesnakes, Bison and Flatheads

Trip Start May 19, 2008
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Trip End Nov 08, 2008


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Where I stayed
Lost Johnny Point Campground, Flathead National Forest
(Hungry Horse hotels)

Flag of United States  , Montana,
Monday, July 14, 2008

No bear sightings to report and thankfully nothing else much to report from last night, so a good nights sleep was had by all and we were up and off early with Mel still at the wheel. The road this morning was an easy one, roughly following the line of the river, interrupted only by road works, miles of them. Unlike the UK where they cone off huge sections where nothing appears to be happening, here they had coned off and dug up sections several miles long, so poor Chip had to traverse dirt roads at 25 mph getting covered in huge clouds of dust (again!). Just when we thought that we were through it, a few miles on another huge section would appear. And so it continued pretty much all the way until we reached the city of Missoula around lunchtime.

After a brief stop at a haberdashery superstore for elastic, to try to make the shoddily-made cab curtain work a little better, and another stop at Wal-Mart for groceries, we continued north on Highway 93. This route took us past the Rattlesnake Wilderness Area and the National Bison Range, however neither were spotted Miles Of Road Works
Miles Of Road Works
 . At the town of Ronan, we had a very worrying few minutes, as there was what seemed to be an air-raid warning siren going off as we passed through. As no-one was dashing for shelter we continued on our way, and looking back as we left the town behind, we spotted what looked to be a rather large chemical works. Maybe they had just accidentally released some noxious substance?! It was also as we left Ronan that we had our first sighting of the Rocky Mountains. We also came across our first signs written in an American Indian language as we're in the Flathead Indian Reservation, it's quite unlike anything we've ever seen. At Polson we reached the Flathead Lake, which is huge, and took the road which skirts the western edge of the lake for around 45 miles.

As we left the shores of the lake behind we hit dual -carriageway which after around another 35 miles brought us to the town of Hungry Horse. Our camp-site was supposedly 8 miles out of the town, although it seemed much longer, on the shores of the Hungry Horse Reservoir, in the Flathead National Forest. It's an absolutely beautiful setting (sadly all the lake-view pitches were taken) in the heart of the forest and so very peaceful. We had quite a large deer walk right through our pitch this evening and we're in Grizzly country now, so you never know......

Miles travelled: 236

Total miles travelled: 4028

Days on road: 37

States visited: 8

National Parks visited: 6
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