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Colorado road trip.
Leave Ronan, MT, 9:16 AM.
Arrive Free Enterprise Health Mine RV Park, Boulder, Montana, 9:15 PM. Continued my trip that would eventually take me to Colorado and to visit my parents. Wanted to get an early start, since I was off my intended route, so I could get through Glacier National Park, and get back on the main route without losing too much time. However, I was tired, so I got up late. Continued north on Highway 93 around Flathead Lake, toward Kalispell. Before I got there, however, I noticed a sign pointing west, to Blacktail Mountain Ski Area, 14 miles away. I couldn't resist. It turned out to be 14 miles of pure gravelly mountain roads, so it was pretty slow going, and all in all I took up about another hour or hour and a half. I got up to the top, and the ski area road was blocked. However, the main road continued to the top of the ridge, and I got to see some FAA traffic routing equipment. Continued past Kalispell, and into Glacier Park. I had originally intended to be there around 9 or 10 am, and finished with it by noon or so. I ended up getting there around 1:30 or 2, and finishing around 4 or 5. Needless to say, that changed my plans for where I expected to get to by the end of the day. Drove through the park, saw the lake I had seen when I was visiting Big Mountain, in Whitefish (near Kalispell) this winter, and where the road was closed for the season at that time. Continued up, and was flattened by the sheer physical beauty of the place. After leaving the park, due to the time, I ditched plans to return to the point I had left I-90 (which I was originally planning because I was interested to see what I-90 looked like), and instead decided to drive south on Highway 89, meeting up with southbound I-15 about 30 miles north of Helena. Continued south on I-15 until it was getting fairly dark, and stopped at the "Free Enterprise Radon Health Mine" in Boulder. I set up my tent in their gravelly RV park lot, and tried to sleep. However, the wind was picking up, and getting pretty ferocious, which made a lot of noise by flapping the sides of my tent. Plus, I was a bit nervous because the ground was so hard, and I was unable to stake down the tent very well. So after about an hour of ever-increasing gusts, I decided to get up, throw the tent with everything in it into the back seat of the car, recline my drivers seat, and sleep inside. Click on the part you wish to see below, or click "Part 1" where the "Next" link usually is, to see the photos. |
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