The Montana "Man Trip", part I: Bozeman to Butte
The "Man Trip" tradition had been dormant for too long. Uncle John suggested that we resurrect the tradition and handed me a page that my late father had torn out of a magazine. The article was about fire lookout towers perched atop mountains that could be rented out. It was decided; we'd go on a trip out west to stay in fire towers. Which towers though? That was a bigger question.
I started looking into fire lookout towers and found the Forest Fire Lookout Association's rental page. I clicked away and was dizzied trying to compare the details among each of the many towers. So, I contacted them and worked with Kyle Stetler to compile an interactive map of lookout tower rentals. It helped me plan our trip and hopefully it helps others.
After making a list of towers and dates, the next step was to book the towers. They open for booking six calendar months in advance, at 10am eastern (I think, but check with Recreation.gov to be sure). Also, note that anyone who starts an open booking can book for several nights (# differs per tower), so if you are trying to book the 24th, someone who is booking for the 23rd for 2 nights can get it before you have a chance. After lots of practice the week before, we tried three times for our preferred towers and got two of them. We got a backup tower for the one that was booked up.
After doing lots of research over the next few months, we had plenty of ideas for things to do along the way. We'd be flying into Bozeman, Montana, and out of Spokane, Washington about a week later. Our tower bookings would take us on serpentine route along the continental divide, crossing it multiple times.
We all met at our connection in Dallas and flew together to Bozeman. Picked up the rental car, got some groceries, supplies, and sporting goods in town, and had a great meal at Montana Ale Works. Headed out to take some pictures of the clouds moving through the hills nearby, as if we wouldn't see plenty of that in the coming days. The clouds lifted by the time I got set up, but I did capture these roses growing through a fence as a massive bush.
After stopping to smell the roses and enjoying our hotel breakfast, we saddled up and headed down to Gallatin Gateway for some adventure with Montana Whitewater. Temps were in the 50s, expected to climb into the 60s, and it was cloudy. We weren't stoked about the cold, but the outfitter provided wetsuits, fleeces, and splash guards, which kept us comfortable for the whole trip. The river was just under the maximum flow that they allow for rafting, so the whitewater was extra exciting. I think we've been on scarier individual rapids, but the relentlessness of the "Mad Mile" stretch was impressive on the Gallatin. It seemed that as soon as you got out of a rapid, you were heading into another. Our guide, Rolly, did a great job of putting us right in the thick of it too. Johnny was glad he didn't back out because of the cold and Laura laughed so much!
I don't have many pictures because I sat at the front, so the lens was covered in water drops after the first rapid, but it was a fun and scenic ride. Rolly told us that the 1992 Brad Pitt film, "A River Runs Through It" had been filmed along its shores. We had watched this fishing movie on the foof together as one of our first dates....aww!
Side note to travelers: if you're nervous about the rapids, know that the river parallels a road, so there are countless opportunities to chicken out if you aren't having fun. But I bet you will want to finish!
After rafting, we headed back to Bozeman to pick up a used tripod from the helpful folks at Bozeman Camera and Repair. Turns out ours fell behind the bed when we were packing and we missed it on the checklist. Then, we headed through Norris and Pony to Upper Potosi Hot Springs. Here are some pictures from the drive (may include a few from rafting too).
I was excited to get to Upper Potosi Hot Springs. I had read about it months ago and was intrigued by the chance to go to an undeveloped hot spring. We had passed Norris Hot Spring, and there were countless other developed hot springs along the week's route, but I wanted to sit in a hole in the ground, not a swimming pool. I also learned about another after the fact here. To get to the springs, drive to Potosi Campground. You will actually pass the springs on your way in (look for a small, fenced area on the left about 1 mile before the campground), but a small wetland and private property make it necessary to go to the campground.
Eventually, the GPS said to "Leave the road" as we turned left into the campground. We parked in the field there instead of taking the optional ford crossing to the second lot. We crossed a small footbridge that some generous souls crafted in honor of a loved one, and then hiked back parallel to the road. The trail is a narrow 0.5-1 mile footpath that has a very small grade that you'll hardly notice until maybe the very last bit.
I had been a little worried because Rolly, our rafting guide, had described the springs as being a dried-up mudpit when he went once. We were relieved to find out that it was now full of water. The water was clear and the bottom was mostly sand, not silt or mud. No one else was there on a weekday afternoon. The water temperature was ~110 F, but decreased on the downhill side of the pool. The air temperature was ~70s. We got in, we got out, we got in, we never wanted to leave. It's crazy how such a small, free attraction was among my favorite parts of the whole trip (and one of Laura's favorites, too). It was just so peaceful and surreal.
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| If you look closely, you can see how close the road is. We saw two cars the whole time we were in the area, and one was a NFS employee. |
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| Colombian Ground Squirrels had been chirping at us all along the trail, but were far more flighty that those we had seen on more trafficked trails. Then we stumbled across this little young one that refused to move more than a step or two. I don't know what was wrong with it, but we took a few pictures and left it be. |
It took several false starts, but we eventually convinced ourselves that we had to head back. We still had a drive ahead of us and other sights to see. The next stop was Ringing Rocks, a geological formation made of igneous gabbro, where some of the rocks ring like bells when struck. I got lazy with navigation and obeyed my Garmin master, which led us astray. We ended up on the wrong dirt road and then turned onto an off-road trail. That trail went from bad to worse. I seriously thought we were going to get stuck in a rut or high-center the Nissan "Armageddon", but Uncle John deftly, albeit with trepidation, piloted us along. Note to travelers: look east when you get off the highway exit for a small post that marks the way to Ringing Rocks (pictured below). You will head east about a mile or a few and then north to the rocks. Don't try to go around the west and north and back down unless you are driving a true ORV.
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| Laura had "John Henry", her trusty rock hammer with her, but the rest of us were grateful to find these loaner hammers when we got there. |
Wear glasses kids! I edited out the part with Johnny reacting to a chip hitting him in the face.
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| Laura and "John Henry" making music |
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| This is the sign we missed. It's not very obvious and is almost behind you if you are exiting from the westbound highway off-ramp. |
It was late, so we made sandwiches when we made it safely back to the highway. I spotted this decor reminiscent of Miami when we went into Butte to restock on food before heading to our first tower.
- John
Laura's Wildlife Log:
Bozeman:
5 Magpies
10 Common Ravens
1 Bald Eagle
1 Osprey
11 Mourning Doves
To and at Gallatin River:
2 Western Tanagers
1 Drake Harlequin Duck!!! (John and Laura's first!)
7 Mergensers (red-breasted?)
4 Mountain Bluebird
20 Swallows
4 Peeps
2 small yellow Warblers
To and at Potosi Hot Springs:
1 Great Blue Heron
4 really reddish Sandhill Cranes
6 White Pelicans
20 Magpies
lots of Robins
12 Red-Winged Blackbirds
4 Kestrel
4 Killdeer
1 Eastern Kingbird
lots of Mule and White-Tailed Deer
Prairie Dogs
Ground Squirrels
6 small yellow Warblers
4 Redtail Hawk
4 Bluebill (Scaup)
1 Shoveler hen
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