Monday, Oct 4th, 2010 - But first...!

But first…

On Monday morning we left our campsite with bathing suits and towels to hop into Elkhorn Hot Springs, but first we wanted to go into Polaris to see if cell service was available (none), and as we passed Maverick Mtn ski resort, we drove up to check it out, and from there we wanted to go to Bannack Ghost Town to see what it was like, but we got sidelined by a dozen +/- horses crossing the road from a high meadow to a lower one, and we stopped to talk to Chad and Verna about “why,” and ended up talking to them about their 21,000 acre cattle/horse/bison spread and patting horses for an hour, and then we drove to Bannack and discovered a wonderful little state park with a small and empty campground right on famed (think gold) Grasshopper Creek ... So, because a cool front was approaching, we decided to move Tergel from 7800’ Price Creek C/G to 5780’ Bannack St Pk C/G (about 25 miles), but first we were hungry so we stopped at Grasshopper Inn on the way back to Price Creek to pick up Tergel, found out Wifi was available so we spent a few minutes looking online, and meanwhile a nice shower struck the valley, and while we were eating lunch, the cook announced that cowboys were moving cattle down from Forest Service land (by Price Creek!) to their home pastures, and by gum, we had to drive right thru the cattle drive to get Tergel and move it to Bannack (what a yucky mess on our vehicles!!), which we did. And, that’s why our bathing suits were dry at the end of the day – we didn’t make it to Elkhorn Hot Springs.

But we sure had an exciting, fun day!

Chad & Verna's horses.

The other five pictures are of the cattle drive, and the last one shows the cattle happily grazing in a new pasture!

 

Below is our beautiful campground on Grasshopper Creek in Bannack State Pk.

 

So glad we moved our Tergel.  This wonderful campground on the Grasshopper River is right close to Bannack ghost town, which we'll explore tomorrow.  Oh boy!