South to Butte and back into Idaho

Still not very much available in Glacier National Park at this time of the year unless you have skis or snow shoes.  We have neither so quite limited to what we can do.  What we did have was a beautiful clear day with blue sky and warm-ish weather.  Views of the mountains were spectacular.  We 

Glacier National Park. 
Again we struck it lucky with
the weather and got a beautiful day

Ahh, feel the serenity

were able to drive along the Going to the Sun road as far as the north end of McDonald Lake.  From there the road was accessible only to hikers and bikers.  As we are hikers we decided on the McDonald Creek trail which took us to the McDonald Falls.  Had a lot of fun on this trail.  In amongst the trees the sun don’t shine so our path was, for the most part, snow and ice.  The snow – no problem; the ice – yeah, a little treacherous underfoot but we had fun negotiating our way along.  The song “Slip, Sliding Away” came to mind more than once. 

Jean not having quite the same difficulty
 - what's the hold up Sue?

Sue using all available tools to stay upright - at one stage
clutching a thin branch.  Don't know what that was meant to do.

The Falls were pretty as well. 

McDonald Falls

A leisurely stroll back to the car and we decided to drive on the other road that was accessible to us – north to the Camas exit.

The road north looked clear so we thought, why not try for the Canadian border.  Two reasons why not really.  Firstly, the border was closed at this crossing.  That didn’t bother us unduly as we weren’t planning to do more than get to this remote crossing, step into Canada and head back to Columbia Falls.  Secondly though, the road deteriorated into little more

than a dirt track – boggy with lots of potholes.  Worse than Sue had encountered in the mines – at least there she could call on a grader to fix things.  We gave up just shy of the border when we got to a steep decline. 

We would've got down this decline
just fine but as for coming
back up ???

Without a four wheel drive and being in the middle of nowhere we just weren’t prepared to take the chance.  Our once lovely pristine white pickup is now a beautiful two-tone white and brown.

Leaving Glacier National Park behind us we headed south and overnighted just outside Butte (not pronounced butt as I’m sure you all want to but beaut).  We spent the next day taking in a few of the sites around Butte.  Firstly a radon mine.  This mine is still open for people wishing to have radon therapy. 

Wish all mines had this level of comfort

There are 3 levels that are filled with comfy chairs, books, cards and puzzles for people taking the treatment.  Sue thought that Nifty could take a leaf out of their book for comfort underground although crib breaks likely to be twice as long if that was the case.

Next we found some ringing rocks at a place called Pipestone.  The guide we were following recommended bear spray.  Hmmm.  Does deodorant work as well I wonder? 

Despite our best efforts we couldn't get a recognisable tune happening

These rocks are quite intriguing in that when hit with a hammer (in our case a wheel brace and a small rock) they ring like a bell.  This phenomenon has only been discovered in 4 other places in the world – one being Western Australia.  Anyone know where it is?  Interesting also, if the rocks are removed from the site they no longer resonate.

We then headed north to Deer Lodge and visited the Old Montana Prison.  Shades of Fremantle in Western Australia where the convicts built the prison.  Lovely old buildings but would never want to be a local.

Cell House 1912 - there is still damage
on the LHS tower from a bazooka
fired in 1959 trying to quell a riot

On the way back to Rocker where we were staying we passed the Anaconda Stack.  A huge smokestack, higher than the Washington Monument, it has been preserved as a state park after being saved from demolition.  

This is as close as Joe Public can
get to the stack

You can’t get closer than the viewing park a mile away because of the toxicity of the land around it.

Butte itself is home to the Berkeley Pit, a 1700 foot hole in the ground that has been slowly filling up with toxic water from the abandoned copper mines beneath.  This water is eventually going to be cleaned up so in the meantime the pit has been turned into a tourist attraction.  Still wouldn’t want that in my back yard.

Finished off the day on a sombre note, visiting the Granite Mountain Fire Memorial, where 168 men died in a copper mine fire in 1917.  Sue found it particularly poignant.

Granite Mountain Fire Memorial

All that culture and sightseeing, it was nice to get back in the pickup and have another travel day.  We’re back in Idaho, travelling through some pretty amazing scenery to reach a small town called Sunbeam.  Town may be a misnomer, there’s not much here.  More just a place called Sunbeam.  We had rain for most of the day which changed to snow when we crossed the Chief Joseph pass.  Very beautiful.

 

Yep, it's snowing

Welcome to snowy Idaho - just beautiful