Those Mountains in Montana!

Hi Friends and Family! 

We enjoyed our first trip to Montana so much that we promised ourselves we'd return as soon as possible. Last July, when we came to Glacier National Park, the Going-To-The-Sun Road, one of the park's main features—was still closed because of unmelted snow on the roads. This year, the road was fully open, and to make the trip even better, we had family come and enjoy the park with us! The scenery and hikes were spectacular, and we had a lot of fun and laughs exploring this lovely place together. The hikes we took at Glacier, and especially the last one at Many Glacier was a hike of a lifetime! We tried to capture some of the breathtaking beauty in our pictures, but it isn't easy to do Montana justice— even with photos. 😱

Since we began putting the Montana blog together, we've had an unexpected change of plans. While making our way back home, our 5th wheel camper experienced some significant mechanical problems, and we left it at a repair shop in Iowa. Since it may be several weeks before it's ready for the road again, we packed most of our things into our truck and drove home 14 hours last Thursday. This was an abrupt ending to an almost finished trip, but it's great to be home again! 🥰 We're thankful we got to do all the major things we planned, and we may finish up a few minor stops on the way home when we return to Iowa later to pick up the repaired camper. 

Before our camper issues and after seeing Montana, we traveled through Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. There are many fun things to share, and I hope to do so soon in an upcoming post. Until then, we will continue to settle into our home, get back on a more traditional schedule, and catch up on some missed time with family! 🧡 We hope you are all doing well, and as always, we love hearing from you anytime! 🧡🧡

Love, 

Craig and Glenda (and Clay) 🤸🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♂️🐕

In Billings, Montana, we stayed at the First KOA Campsite. In the 1960s, Kampgrounds of America (KOA) founder, David Drum, noticed station wagons and RVs overnighting on the side of the road or in church parking lots. Drum said, "America was camping, but they had no place to stay." He soon opened his first campground on this incredible piece of property, in 1962, next to the Yellowstone River. Today there are over 485 KOA locations worldwide. 🌎 Right past our campsite, a row of hedges led to this unexpected wide open space. 😱

The day we arrived in Butte, Montana, we saw something in the distance, miles away. A statue?...Jesus?…Mary? Then we learned about Our Lady of the Rockies. This statue was first imagined by Bob O'Bill in 1979 when his wife was seriously ill with cancer. O'Bill asked God to allow his wife to recover, and if He did, Bob would build a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. His wife did recover, and Bob began the project. The land for the site was donated, a retired engineer designed it, a large portion of the money, materials, and labor from the local community were donated, and in December 1985, a helicopter from the Army National Guard airlifted the statue in four sections, into place 3,500 feet above town. Later, after the statue received criticism for being such an overwhelmingly large religious display, the figure was additionally dedicated to "All women, especially virgin mothers." 😇 (Photo credit: AllAroundTheWest.com)

Our Lady of the Rockies is the 4th largest statue in the US. We don’t know how far you can see the statue at night, but we were amazed that nearly anywhere you went in the area, the brightly lit virgin mother could be seen. For reference, this statue is three times taller than the 30-foot Presidential carvings on Mt. Rushmore!

Butte, Montana is a mining town once called "The Richest Hill on Earth." In the 1890s, Butte supplied over 25% of the world's copper and over 50% of the United States' copper. Gold and silver were also mined here before copper. The locals say there are still untold treasures underground in this region. That may be true: even after 100+ years of mining in this area, two men found a nearly two-pound gold nugget (around $70,000 value) not far from here, in 1989, less than 2 feet underground.

Butte is extremely proud of its mining heritage and honorably memorializes copper miners that died during the tragic Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine disaster of June 8, 1917. A fire started when a worker's lantern ignited a cable that led deep into the mine, resulting in the most deadly underground hard rock mining event in United States history. The memorial is quite elaborate, and includes personal details of many of the miners’ last hours in the mine.

Butte's population and the economy tanked in the 1970s, and in 2000, mining stopped altogether. In 2002, mining started again due to significantly rising copper prices. Today 370 people still work in this ragged little town, pulling copper out of the only remaining active mine, The Continental Pit. In memory of their history, 14 headframes (pictured here) still stand around town at the mining sites. Seven are decorated with American Flags and red lights that shine at night, in memory of Butte’s history and those that died in the mines.

This is Chuck, the owner of Quarry Brewery. With great pride he told us more about the town of Butte and explained his Mug Club to us. On the wall are the mugs of 200 of his best patrons. Each cup hangs on a numbered peg, and he knows every customer and their assigned number by heart. There is a 2-year waiting list to get your own mug, but Chuck can bump you up the waitlist if you are an active citizen that helps others or volunteers in the community. One customer stepped up to us and recommended a good restaurant in town. At first, we wondered if he was trying to earn his mug, but then decided he must already have one when he also informed us that Butte didn't want outsiders moving in and trying to change their town. He politely said we could spend our money and then “move on". We thanked him for the food recommendation and said we'd be on our way very shortly. 😂

Charming scenes like this can be seen all over the US, but this particular one is at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge. This 1,600+ acre ranch, in operation since the 1850s, is still fully active and maintained by the National Park Service. The ranch was developed by Grant, who seized a prime business opportunity during the gold-rushing days. After discovering his property was along the route of the Oregon Trail, he began to trade westward travelers one healthy cow for two starving and exhausted ones. He fed and rested the trail-weary animals, and the following season would trade them again—two for one, of course. He began a thriving cattle ranch this way and later sold the farm to another successful businessman (Kohrs).

One day we enjoyed a day of driving the Beartooth Highway. The Beartooth traces a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks for 68 miles along the Montana-Wyoming border. The Beartooth Highway has been called the most beautiful road in America, but Car and Driver magazine also dubbed it One of the Most Dangerous Roads in America. 

The Beartooths comprise some of the highest elevations and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks over 12,000 feet in elevation. Snowstorms occur even in the middle of summer at this altitude, and the pass is known for strong winds and severe thunderstorms.

The US DOT has designated Beartooth Highway as an All-American Road. This means it has features that do not exist anywhere else in the United States and are unique and important enough to stand alone as a tourist destination. All-American Roads must possess two of the following “intrinsic qualities:” archeological, cultural, historical, natural, recreational, and scenic. If a road only has one of the six features, it’s called a National Scenic Byway. Congress established this program in 1991 to preserve America’s scenic, but less-traveled roads and to promote tourism—which in our case worked, and we’re glad we didn’t miss it. 😊

Chipmunks on the Beartooth are cashing in on tourism as well. They know every visitor at this prime overlook is a potential provider of some type of snack. Even with his jaws packed with sunflower seeds, he reaches for more treats.

On another day, a big friendly mountain goat was on a hiking trail in the very charming town of Big Fork.

It was great to have our son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Rachel, join us for over a week. Here, they’re hiking on the Highline Trail in Glacier National Park.

Also on the Highline Trail, was this sweet, baby mountain goat!

Our dog, Clay, and I saw big-horn sheep on our walk. The sheep were infatuated with Clay, who mostly ignored them. One sheep attempted to get a better look at Clay through the trees, but then started to walk directly to us. This is when I stopped filming. 😳

Craig’s brother, and our sister-in-law, Keith and Tiffany, also came to enjoy Glacier National Park with us. Two days of their visit overlapped with Kevin and Rachel’s. It was truly a special time together. We had so much fun. 🧡🧡

At the top of Hidden Lake Trail, there were also professional peddlers. After helping Keith and Tiffany get a priceless photo with wildlife, this ground squirrel asked for a dollar for his service.

More beauty on Hidden Lake Trail.

This photo was taken along the Going-To-The-Sun Road, the 50-mile road that connects the east and west entrances of Glacier Park.

Lots of hiking and good vibes in Montana!

The 12-mile (round trip) Grinnel Glacier Trail was breathtaking and amazing every step of the way.

We haven’t seen quite as many mamots as last year. They’re always fun to watch. This three-toned marmot was a little different than many we see.

The six-mile and 1800+ foot elevation climb was more than worth the effort to see the Grinnell Glacier up close.

Lots of smiles on this hike. 😃

A double rainbow! 😀🌈🌈😃 We learned the lower rainbow is the primary rainbow and the second, higher rainbow is a reflection of the primary. On the first rainbow, red is the outermost color of the arc, and violet is always the innermost color. As a reflection, the second rainbow is higher, fainter, and the colors are in reverse order. We also learned they’re actually pretty common. Oh well, we were thrilled and amazed, anyway!

Montana in Pictures! (video)

That’s the end of the road for Montana! We hope you enjoyed the ride! 😃❤😃