Cascade Trail

Siegel Creek Road spilled onto Montana Highway 135 a bit East of the campground where we planned to eat. The trailhead to the waterfall was at the campground also.

Our planned grill out was a complete bust. Melissa did her best to get the last of our ancient briquets-purchased in the Summer of '04-to light, but even after the administration of copious lighter fluid it still wouldn't really get going.

It got worse. The ground beef I'd brought was some ways past its prime, so I had to settle for eating grilled (well, warmed) buns dipped in hummus. We also tried grilling a few ears of corn but the puny fire mocked this effort as well. Melissa's "burger" turned out okay, but I forgot to pack the mustard. The baby however was well-sated with whole milk.

The hike was an occasionally steep upward stomp through a very pretty rocky wood.

Like I said, I ran the camera so there were plenty of pictures of the rocks. Why do I like rocks? My Dad, a retired high school Earth Sciences teacher and inveterate rock aficionado, probably has something to do with it. I also like it when trees grow really close to rocks, like this one.

I'm not trying to make out this trip as a total letdown, but I have to say that the view of the waterfall afforded by the trail was less than spectacular. And our fatally malfunctioning camera only let Melissa take an unexpectedly abbreviated video of the falls. From behind the fence, it's clear that the falls takes quite a dive just beyond view.

On the way back we revisited a huckleberry patch Melissa had spotted on the way up and gathered some decent late-season berries. Given the time of day (early evening), food availability (berries, baby), and territory (bear country), in hindsight I questioned the wisdom of our activities. Melissa froze the berries when we got home. They're pretty good; juicy and super tart.

Esmé slept some of the distance back. Melissa didn't surrender her to me once, in defiance to those who might call this new mother a weakling.

The sign tells the story.

Back at Ludwig, we got ready for the drive home. Don't worry: we found Esmé's right hand ("Stephanie") and reattached it later.

(miles 219,289-219,379)

GoWesty Calendar Contest

GoWesty, a supplier of Westfalia (and Winnebago) parts (and rebuilder of some mind-numblingly expensive Vanagons) is having a calendar contest, and they've invited all of their customers to submit shots.

I've long thought that, of this pair, Melissa takes by far the better pics, but I have to admit that my all-time favorite picture of Ludwig was one I snapped of Melissa driving him on the Racetrack Valley Road back in April '06 (the unblurred, uncropped version of the banner picture above, actually). We entered it and two more recent pictures, which can be seen on the ninth row here.

You other Bus bloggers should get in there and give us some competition.

Ninemile Road, Siegel Pass

We took a drive last week up Ninemile Road to get to a hike that leads to a waterfall. It was just a day trip, but we've split it into two posts. This one is for the drive there, the next one will be the hike.
Just when it looked like the last couple small pockets of snow left on Lolo Peak would melt away, a storm blew in and left some dust to remind us that Winter is not far in coming. This snow is mostly gone now, though.

What is this thing? Seen headed East on I-90.

Ninemile Road (I-90 exit 82) lazily winds up the Northwestern arm of Missoula County and gave Ludwig an easy grade to climb up into the mountains.
I've often thought it might be cool to pan for gold recreationally. Some people (of course) do it for profit though and I'm told that you'd better be careful around here about where you go prospecting. That is, legend has it that some of these guys won't hesitate to fire if they catch you nosing on their claim (surprisingly, you can make private prospecting claims on public land). I've never heard of anyone actually getting shot at, though. If I try it I promise I'll be careful, or at least well-armed.
Once we turned off Ninemile Road to get over the mountains, the road narrowed as it took on several sharpish switchbacks. Melissa tried to make a video of Ludwig rounding a bend, but our camera wasn't having it, as its battery door has been half-busted for years and sometimes it needs to be repeatedly turned off and on in order to work. It finally gave up the ghost on this trip. The vegetation was very thick through here.

The top: Siegel Pass (5120'). That pointy mountain in the far background is Squaw Peak (7996').

We took a break for nursing and stretching. The NF sign behind the gals has seen its share of gunfire. Maybe it had been claim-jumping.

Esmé looks wary of the road down the other side, but I assured her Ludwig was up for it.

The West side was a lot less twisty, but the road was rougher. You can tell I was in charge of the camera a lot of the time because there're lots of pictures of rocks. Above is a decent example of creep, probably my favorite type of mass wasting. The underlying bedrock (probably slate or shale in this case) is bending over to the left because of tiny cracks in the joints of the rock, and the weight of the overlying soil which kind of pulls it downhill.
GoWesty is going to have to pony up for the gas for one of our trips sometime, given how often I (accidentally) showcase their logo.

(miles 219,230-219,289)