Friday, July 10th - Choteau

July 10, 2009

I was up bright and early, packed up and then watched “Tour” coverage with Ralph while I tried to work on my blog.  Then I left and drove out to Cave Mountain campground to set up my camp for the night.

Cave Mountain Campground - Rocky Mountain Front


West fork of the Teton River

Pond Near the Campground

The campground is way back into the hills/mountains along the front,  remote and pretty.

The "Old North Trail" ran along these mountains.  I'm very intrigued by it and would love to see evidence. Unfortunately, most of the places they have physical signs of it are on private land.



North of Choteau is the site of an old Indian Agency that Ralph's wife has studied very intensely.



Here is the site:



I reorganized the car (again) and hung out and read for a while (I haven’t had much time to do that).  Then I came into town, Choteau, and it took a good 40 min. to drive in.

Here's where we hiked yesterday, the ridge on the right (Ear Mountain is on the left):



Closer view of Metis Ridge:



 I couldn’t get a cell phone signal anywhere (this is the only town I ever have trouble in) and finally gave up and started asking around for a pay phone, after driving around looking in vain.  The lady at the info. building (nice dinosaur and local history display) sent me to the Exxon station.  The gas station owner said they no longer have one and offered to let me use his cell phone but I didn’t want to do that since it wasn’t going to be a quick call (the kids) so he told me to go to the pavilion in the county park.  I went to the pavilion and was told there no longer is one there and no one knew of any in town but one lady insisted I use her cell phone when her husband got back.  They were getting ready for a family reunion. We chatted and they told me a little of the family history and then the phone arrived so I called home briefly.   I thanked her profusely and we chatted some more and as I was going to leave they invited me to stay and “reune” (reunion) with them and they were serious.  I thought about it…it could be really interesting!  But I really needed to get this updated and want to get back to camp for a fire.  Another thing I love about small towns…inviting a stranger to a family reunion!  I also would like to know why so many people over 60 call me “honey”.  Do I look really young for my age?  I didn’t think so but this has been happening a lot.  It makes me feel like a kid. I should be happy about that I guess!

I’m now at the Elk Country Grill in Choteau because they have WIFI (but no pay phone) after using the library’s WIFI for a while.  Every 10 minutes they have a bugling elk playing.  You can also bring the giant, stuffed moose to your table with you if you’d like (I didn’t).
© 2009 Tara Morrison