Day 31 - June 29 (153 miles to Lolo National Park, MT)
Blueberry pancakes for breakfast at Spring Hill Campground
From Spring Hill we continued on Route 1 to Phillipsburg. Forest Service stations remind everyone of how dry it is. The whole northwest is dry and we hear of new forest fires every day.
Missoula, Montana is a sister city to Palmerston North, New Zealand. Like Palmerston North, it's a provincial city with a university and a river. Microbreweries, public art and walking paths are an outward sign of attempts to create a vibrant city.
A reconstructed carousel in the riverside park.
Our version of a selfie in a mirror near the carousel.
We took Route 12 south to Lolo and then west to Lolo Creek Campground.
This evening we drove from Lolo Creek Campground to Lolo Pass on the Montana - Idaho border, entering Idaho and the Pacific Time Zone
Before returning to Montana for the night.
Day 32 - June 30 (274 miles to Riverside Campground, Stanley, Idaho)
At Hamilton, Montana we toured the former summer home of Marcus Daly, owner of the Anaconda Copper Mine.
Marcus brought his family here and also raised race horses on the property. This is the view west from the back of the house toward the mountains that define the watershed divide that forms the border between Montana and Idaho.
A reconstructed arbor in the Daly Mansion gardens
Our guide at the Daly Mansion recommended Nap's Grill for lunch.
We ordered the nine dollar NAPS DEAL, 3/4 lb. Burger, Regular Fries, and a Soda plus a side order of bacon, mushrooms and onion. It came with a salad bar, ie. all the tomato, lettuce, pickle and fixings we wanted. They were happy to cut the burger in half and serve it up in two baskets. Grills don't get much better than this.
We camped five miles east of Stanley, Idaho at the Riverside Forest Service Campground. It was basic, but with the Salmon River only feet from our campsite the bathing facilities were excellent.
Day 33 - July 1 (36 miles)
We went to the Stanley Baking Company for breakfast. Midge ordered their famous oatmeal pancakes and found them a bit soggy, as did a lady at the table next to us. The rest was great, especially the cinnamon roll which was bready, yeasty, chewy, sweet, spicy and mouth watering all at once.
The queue stretching out the door attests to the general satisfaction with their fare.
At 10am we got a campsite at Sunny Gulch Campground. As we were leaving the campground for Redfish Lake, we turned on the air conditioning in the car. There was a soft thump and the air conditioning stopped. [Update: When the car was serviced a week later, the Toyota agent said it was a "rodent and nest material." An unusual event? Not at all, they said. Happens all the time. Perhaps we'd like to put some peppermint oil in the air conditioning unit to discourage rodents, they suggested.]
Sawtooth mountains from Sawtooth NRA Ranger Station.
Trail to Bench Lakes from Redfish Trailhead.
Mount Heyburn, 10229 ft (?)
Redfish Lake
Orange paintbrush
Grand Mogul at the end of Redfish Lake.
Redfish Lake
Chilling out in the shade now that our air conditioning is gone.
We had a good dinner at The Redd Restaurant in Stanley.
Midge had shrimp on quinoa salad, Ed had lamb stew with potato bread, and we drank Mama's Little Yella Pils.
Sunset at the Sunny Gulch Campground, Sawtooth National Recreation Area
Day 34 - July 2 (252 miles to White Bird, Idaho)
Breakfast at the Sunny Gulch Campground, Sawtooth National Recreation Area
A last look at Redfish Lake
Some final views of the Sawtooth Range
including from Stanley Lake.
Kirkham Hot Springs, Boise National Forest, Idaho
A few hours later on Route 95 the temperature reached 106°F (41°C). We really wished we had the air conditioning working again. As soon as we got to White Bird we went swimming in the Salmon River to cool down.
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