Missoula, MT

While in Missoula, I visited another Ghost town.  The town of Garnet was started in 1895 due to gold being discovered in the area.   The area was abandoned in 1948.

When visiting Garnet, you drive a long dirt road up the mountain.  Then a short walk down a hill to the town itself. The picture below was taken from the overlook while walking down to the town.

You may notice a propane tank behind the house in the front.  I believe this home has been renovated and is being used by some of the staff.

Unlike Bannack, they did bring items in from other areas to “furnish” some of the buildings with items from the appropriate time period.  Unfortunately you can’t tell what is original and what was brought in.  Below is one of the rooms (maybe a lobby?) in the hotel.

Above is inside on of the businesses on the main street.

Some of the miner’s cabins--

Inside one of the cabins --

North of Missoula is the National Bison Range.  I visited it twice in one day to see the wildlife.  In the morning I saw Bison and Pronghorns, in the afternoon I saw Bison, Pronghorns, Elk and Big Horn Sheep.

A bison rolling around in the dirt --

Mom and child --

Like many of the times when I am looking at wildlife, they are looking they other way --

One of the Bighorn Sheep finally turned around -

I watched the above deer for several minutes.  The fawn would run from it’s mom (I’m guessing) and the mom would chase after it.  Then the fawn would stop and wait on the mom, then run again.  It acted just like a young kid, it was fun to watch. 

I have posted pictures of Cedar Waxwings before, but I like this bird so here is another picture.

Another bird that is common in the west is the Magpie.  They aren’t in Georgia so I find them interesting.  I have been seeing them regularly for the last several months. 

I watched the following bluebird play with his lunch before he flew away with it.

I visited Blue Mountain Recreation area a couple of times for some nice easy hikes.  One of the trails I hiked is below--

From Missoula, I headed up to Columbia Falls which is about 20 minutes from Glacier National Park.  I was there for 2 weeks and have a lot of photos.  I am currently going through all of those and hope to post the Columbia Falls blog(s) in a few days. 

Dillion, MT–part 2

After visiting Bannack State Park, I was excited to visit Virginia City and Nevada City.  I was not as happy when I got there.  They are much too touristy for me.  So much so, that I didn’t even stop in Carson City and only stopped in Virginia City for a few minutes.  I wanted to find the 2-story Outhouse that I had seen pictures of.

It is at the hotel in town and as you can see the outhouse is open, but I don’t think for business!!

I also visited  the Coolidge Ghost town, which is off the Pioneer Scenic Byway.  While on the Byway, I was delayed while cowboys (and in one case, a cowgirl) were moving cows from one place to another.

The silver mining town of Coolidge was built in the early 1900’s.  Unlike Bannack, it has nobody preserving it and most of the buildings are no longer standing.  The building below doesn’t look like it will last much longer.

I don’t know how this building (or part of a building) ended up in the river, but it made for an interesting sight.

A marmot watched me for a while as I was exploring --

From Dillion, I headed up to Missioula, MT where I visited another Ghost town and other neat places!    I’ll blog about that in a few days.

Dillion, MT

I stopped in Dillion, Montana for a few day at the end of June and stayed at the Southside RV Park.  While there I saw this driving thru the RV park --

I also saw this one --

Humm, should I be a bit nervous that an Army jeep with gun and a small tank like vehicle were driving around the RV park.!! Actually in this park there is a military museum and the owner of the RV park had pulled out a few of the vehicles he had. 

One of the first things I did was visit Bannack State Park.  Bannack is one of several ghost towns that I visited.  This particular one is a state park, where they have been preserving the buildings.  They say they don’t restore, but to me it look like some of the preserving was more like restoring.  A few weeks after I was there they had a major flood which damaged 80% of the 60+ structures in the park.  At this time the park is still closed  (a month after the flood) while they clean up and fix the damage caused by the flood.

Below are 2 pictures that I took from the Bannack Association Facebook page that were taken during and after the flood.

I got to the park very early and when I walked in I heard a strange noise.  I looked around and finally saw that there was a Red-Naped Sapsucker pecking on a metal sign.  As I walked by, he flew to the fence and I got the picture below. 

I’ve noticed this before, but I always think it funny that while in one area this may be a rare bird and bird watchers go a bit crazy(such as in Mission, TX when I first saw a Red-naped Sapsucker) while in others it is fairly common (such as here in Montana).

Above is the Assay Office.   I have read that this building was destroyed in the flood.  The gold that was found in this area was unique.  Most gold is 80 to 95% pure, while the gold found here was 99.5% pure. 

A reflection of the Masonic Lodge and School House--

Bannack is an interesting place.  While some ghost towns are too touristy for me (such as Virginia City and Nevada City), this one is not.  Some of the buildings are open, but many are closed and you can look through the windows at the stuff.  Everything in these buildings was found in Bannack, nothing has been brought in except for a few things in the visitor’s center.   It was fun looking in the windows and seeing everything. By the late 1940’s most people had left this town. A few people did live here off and on up until the the 50’s or 60’s (including some bootleggers) so there are a few “newer” items. 

The picture above was taken through the window in Chrisman’s General Store.  The item in the middle appears to be a coffin, I guess the stores sold everything!

Below is the Methodist Church--

The picture of the town below was taken from the Cemetery Hill just behind town.  The larger building on the right is the old hotel.

Below is the Bannack Prison.  The prisoners had to be chained to the floor because of the sod roof. 

There were lots of old tools (mining and farming) scattered around town. 

A lot of the houses had linoleum floors and wallpaper on the walls.  I always think of these as being more modern than these houses (most were built in the mid to late 1800’s, but may have been remodeled in the early 1900’s), but I found out Linoleum was first made and used in the 1860’s and wallpaper was first used in 1785. 

Below is the inside of Skinner’s Saloon --

On the other wall were some signs that said “Skinner’s Saloon was built in 1862 by Cyrus Skinner down at Yankee Flats.  In 1863 the saloon was moved to it’s present location.  Nice people did not wander into Skinner’s.  This was where the most dangerous, meanest and ruthless men in the territory congregated.  It was not safe to walk down the streets of Bannack and Virginia City after dark, and even sometimes in the daylight.  Shooting and killing was a normal standard here.  The demise of Road Agent George Carhart happened in this very building.  One evening when gambler George Banfield and miner Dick Sapp were playing poker, Banfield’s love of winning got the best of him and he was discovered cheating.  Both men emptied pistols at each other…..” (I won’t give away the ending)  It continues “So much shooting and violence occurred daily in this saloon that the barber in the corner wouldn’t miss a stroke with a straight edge razor when the bullets started flying”. 

The buildings are very interesting, inside and out, but the stories really bring the town to life.  By the way, the barber’s chair is still in the saloon.

Other buildings and an old wagon--

I took several pictures of the truck that I posted earlier in the blog.  Below is the inside of that truck. 

There are many ghost stories about this town, which of course makes it even more interesting!!

I went to a couple more ghost towns, but since I posted too many pictures of Bannack, I’ll post another blog to finish up my Dillion, Montana visit.

Vernal, UT– part 3

As most of you know, I am typically 3 – 4 weeks behind in my blogging.  For the first time (I think), I am 2 months behind!  I am currently in Colorado for a month, so one of my plans is to get caught up with this blog.

Another interesting thing I did while in Vernal was visit Fantasy Canyon.  It is in out of the way location, but worth it for someone who enjoys rock formations.

These rocks are between 38 and 50 million years old.  They were formed in a big lake that was in the area during that time.  The sediments of the lake formed shale and sandstone.  Since those 2 rocks erode at different speeds you get some very interesting formations.  The rocks above are probably 15 – 20 feet high.  Many of these formations have been given names, I believe the one in the middle is “Flying Witch”.

The one above is called “Witch Head”.  I didn’t always see why many of the formations were named what they were, but the one above was one of the easier ones for me.  See the big nose, and pointed chin!! 

Many of the formations looked liked parts of a skeleton, like the one above on the left side of the photo. In this photo you can see the differences in the sandstone and the shale and how they erode differently. 

For the most part, the trail stayed off the rocks as they are very fragile.  But in a few places you had to work your way around some rocks and formations. 

I enjoyed this area so much that I went twice during my stay.  It was in an interesting area, as you had to travel through oil and gas fields. 

One day, I drove up to the Flaming Gorge area.  I ended up doing the same hike I did a few years ago, which was a hike from one of the visitor centers.  The picture below was taken from one of the overlooks at the visitor center.

Above was taken from the Sheep Creek Overlook.

Another hike I did while in Vernal was the Red Fleet Dinosaur Trackway trail.  This was in the Red Fleet State Park and ended at an area where quite a few dinosaur tracks have been found.  I actually enjoyed the hike more than the dino tracks.

I saw the above rock formation several times from the trail and every time I thought it looked like something really big had taken a bit out of it!

Some trails are marked with spray paint on trees, well this trail had dinosaur tracks occasionally stenciled on the rocks so you stay on the correct path.  See the black footprint above on the lower left corner marking this part of the trail. 

They are hard to see in the photo, but above is a picture of a few footprints.  Below is another footprint.  I think this is one that was vandalized several years ago.  A ranger caught some kids throwing several of the footprints in the lake. 

I kept busy while in Vernal and can see going back again.  From Vernal, I worked my way up to Glacier National Park stopping a couple of places to tour the area.  My next stop was Dillon, Montana.  I’ll blog about that as soon as I go through a bunch of pictures of several ghost towns that I visited while in Dillon.