Here are some pictures from the first couple of days of our bike ride. The first day we rode about 60 miles to Lewis and Clark State Park. The next day we went through Whitehall and then south towards Dillon through the Big Hole Valley.
Right about about mile marker 210 on I-90 between Missoula and Bozeman you pass the exit for Warm Springs and the Montana State Hospital. I have looked at this place countless times and until a few weeks ago had never actually stopped. It is a psychiatric hospital.
The whole place definitely has a bit of an odd feel to it. From the interstate you can see that most of the trees in the area were drastically trimmed a number of years ago, and the result is row of big trees lining the road with giant trunks and little wispy branches coming out of them. We were stopped by a couple of security guards making sure we didn’t take pictures of any of the patients.
I don’t mean to disparage people who work in the mental health industry. The whole place just looked like it needed some more money to steer it off the path of being the location for the next Friday the 13th movie.
They publicize their admissions data, which tells where they receive patients from, both geographically and from what type of care facility.
One last set of pictures from the Indian Council Pow-Wow.
Hold on to yer butts because school is coming down to the wire. Less than a week and I will be done. If you are reading this and you think about it, send some good test vibes my way.
I was lucky enough to be able to go over to the American Indian Council Pow Wow at the Fieldhouse at Montana State University on Sunday. I took a lot of pictures and here are a few.
Last week was Spring Break. I took a trip down to Moab, Utah. Jeff took me from Bozeman to Idaho Falls and Hilary picked me up on her way from Missoula. It was a sneaky maneuver that sped things up a bit.
We brought our bikes down there and enjoyed the bright blue sky and red desert sandstone.
Before we headed down the road for Norris Hot Springs I grabbed a few more shots of Virginia City, (including the sign).
Right down the road from Nevada City is Virginia City. It was a tad larger and looked like a few people might actually live in houses off of main street.
I had heard about Nevada City but didn’t know quite what to expect. The town was definitely deserted. Even the highway didn’t hardly have any cars on it. Walking around looking at the false front wooden buildings and old trains was a bit like stepping back into 19th century Montana. I want to go back and get a better sense of what this place is all about.
Saturday Hilary and I drove from Missoula to Bozeman, by way of Dillon, Twin Bridges, Sheridan, Nevada City, Virginia City, Ennis, and Norris. Calling these places “cities” is a little generous. Dillon is the biggest by far, with less than 4000 people. Virginia City and Nevada City are literally ghost towns. Ghosts literally live there. They are haunted. Scary business. I need to go turn some lights on.
These pictures were all taken between Missoula and Dillon.
We were almost to Drummond and drove out of the sunlight into the fog of the inversion. Everything was coated in ice and we drove by some giant animal sculptures. I made Hilary turn around so we could check it out.
It turns out the place is the residence and museum of an almost 90 year old retired rancher, Bill Ohrmann, who just paints and sculpts now. (I got this information from this article in the Missoulian) The man makes some amazing things. If I was an artist I would like to made an 8 foot tall steel grizzly bear. The ice covered stillness of it all made the experience a little surreal.
Instead of taking 50 miles of I-90 between Bozeman and Missoula you can take a detour on the Pintler Scenic Loop. I have driven past the sign for it countless times, but until last Monday never scoped it out.
The route leaves the interstate at Anaconda and comes back at Drummond. Calling it a loop is a bit of a misnomer, more like a “Scenic C”.
There were some interesting sights along the way, Anaconda is a classic small town. The town of Philipsburg is located on the route, and we stopped briefly to walk around its vibrant (for a town of 900 at least) downtown.
