The Last Summer on the Road Part 2

 

Leaving Missoula, we traveled South down the Bitterroot Valley and made the seven mile climb over Lost Trail Pass into Idaho.  After a brief rest stop, we began the descent into the Salmon River Valley.  Slowly…..descending a six degree slope with hairpin turns and being pushed by over 34,000 pounds of metal can be harrowing.  At 30 MPH with the exhaust brake roaring we reached level ground and checked into Waters Edge RV Park, a nice park with sites backing up to the North Fork of the Salmon River.  This is a narrow and beautiful Valley, with mountains both east and west, and only small towns along the river.  The next day we backtracked to the tiny town of Gibbonsville and picked up a dirt road to the East.  We spent an hour or so climbing back out of the valley on multiple switchbacks through the forest until crossing back into Montana and the Big Hole Valley.  This is a beautiful place; a sparsely populated high valley (6000’) 20 miles wide and 75 miles long, home of some of the oldest cattle ranches in Montana. 

 

At the north end of the valley is the Big Hole Battlefield National Park.

In 1877 the Nez Perce, led by Chief Joseph, were attacked in the early morning in an attempt to stop their escape to Canada.  After many women and children were killed, the Nez Perce regrouped, captured the army’s howitzers, killed 29 and seriously wounded over 40, and held the soldiers in the forest while the women and children escaped.  The Nez Perce story is told in an informative visitor center and there are paths to the location of the Nez Perce village. 
In the lower parking lot next to the paths are shaded picnic tables – a good place to have lunch.

 

Back at our RV site, it was tempting to just stay there,
relax in a chair under the trees, and nap with the sound of the river right at your feet.  But there were places to explore, so:

 Sometimes we run across things we didn’t expect – like an Amish store we discovered on our travel to the Lewis & Clark Historic Trail. 

They had sandwiches on their home-made bread and local meats and cheese.  It was amusing to see that most of their merchandise came from the Walnut Creek Marketplace, a store we visited twice while in Sugarcreek, Ohio.  Stocked up with lunch, we headed up another dirt road into the Beaverhead range of the Bitterroot Mountains to intersect the route that Lewis and Clark took to cross the Continental Divide and enter what is now Idaho.  

 

Climbing from the valley into the forest, the dirt road
(which was in good condition) to led us to the summit 2500’ above our starting point.  A horseshoe turn started us back down and to the Lemhi Pass marker, where there were information panels and picnic tables. 

After a windy lunch, we headed back down and after a little over an hour of travel, were back on the highway.  We never tire of visiting Lewis and Clark historic sites; their journey is simply beyond our ability to comprehend.  Imagine the struggle to reach the pass, only to look into the distance and see that there was an even higher mountain range in the distance.

Lewis and Clark Monument

Looking West from Lemhi Pass

Back on the valley floor, we stopped in Salmon for a visit to the Sacajawea Interpretive, Cutlural, and Education Center, a 71-acre park dedicated to the life of the Shoshone woman who was born in the area.  The centerpiece of the park is the beautiful bronze statue of Sacajawea holding her baby.

 

Next stop - Challis, the home of the Yankee fork.

 

The Last Summer on the Road, Part 1

 

After 20 years of travel in our motor home, we've realized our ability to continue this lifestyle is becoming more difficult as we get older.  We've settled in beautiful Oro Valley, just north of Tucson - so here's the story of our final summer of travel:

Our summer travels of 2025 began on the Oregon Coast, where we spent the previous summer volunteering for US Fish & Wildlife at Harris Beach State Park.  After finishing our annual medical appointments we left to spend a few days in Spokane where we celebrated Brenda’s birthday with good friends Ed and Dianna.  They are two of the many friends we made while volunteering at Farragut State Park across the border in Idaho. 
On our first summer their RV was parked across from ours, and each day I noticed a beautiful blond staring lovingly at me through their bedroom window.  My blond admirer turned out to be one of two beautiful standard poodles that Ed and Dianne owned, a slight blow to my ego.  During our three summers at Farragut, we were the park’s “program hosts”.  We led school hikes, put on evening programs, and conducted Junior Ranger classes on the weekends.  Three nights a week we entertained campers at the park amphitheater with nature films, interactive programs, and everyone’s favorite, “Bill Nye the Science Guy” videos.  We left Farragut with many fond memories of the staff, fellow volunteers, and the children that participated in our programs.

Farragut Volunteers

Learn About the Moose....Be the Moose!

From Spokane, we made the short trip along I-90 to the Silver Dollar Saloon and it’s free RV spots to meet and have dinner with Rob and Syd, who were volunteering for the Forest Service.  We met them while volunteering in Oregon at Humbug Mountain State Park.  There, we were Junior Ranger instructors and also taught campers about Seals and Sea Lions.  Teaching the kids was a true joy and we made many friends and explored the beautiful coast while in the area.

 

Learning About and Making Their Own Salamander

Then it was on to Missoula to celebrate Brenda’s 80^th birthday with our daughter Kim, our friends that we met at Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge 20 years ago, and friends Don and Betty who traveled from their summer home in Wyoming.  Kim had obtained a nice VRBO in the University District of Missoula, one of our favorite towns. 
We were joined at a local steakhouse by friends Deb and Bill, and Jim and Heidi, who we first met volunteering here, and had a memorable night celebrating both Brenda and Kim’s birthdays.  Kim put together a poster showing Brenda through the years, a great memento that hangs on our wall today.

It was a great celebration – we laughed, we told stories of our times together and once again made lifelong memories.

Had we not been lucky enough to have Lee Metcalf as our first volunteer location, it’s doubtful we would have continued to volunteer for the next 19 years.  The staff was welcoming, patient, and taught us to be “birders” and wildlife enthusiasts. 

We staffed the visitor center, led tours into the closed portion of the refuge, helped maintain the grounds, and I built displays and furniture.  Our time here gave us the inspiration to learn, explore, and share our knowledge of wildlife.

Lee Metcalf NWR in the Spring

Over the years, no trip through the area was complete without a stop in Missoula.  Our favorite event was “out to lunch” Wednesday, when venders and bands were set up along the river walk.  It was after one that we while walking back to our car we managed to make the front page of the Missoula Newspaper:

Saying goodbye, we traveled south down the Bitteroot Valley and into the Salmon River Valley.  Stay tuned for part 2 of our last summer on the road!