Hello Everyone,
I’ve got good news and bad news to start off this week. The bad news is that Shadow Catcher is still in the shop in Missoula, waiting on parts. My new axle housing has made its way all the way from Florida to Indiana where it is currently being rebuilt. They should be putting it on the road to Montana by Friday with it arriving early next week. Once it’s here, it should only take a day or so to get it on and to put everything back together again. I will likely be writing this post from Missoula again next week, making it three weeks since we pulled into town, but I will hopefully be on my way soon thereafter. The good news is that the shop has loaned me a truck in the interim, so I have packed up my camping gear and hit the road in it. I’m very grateful to them for the loaner as it has allowed me to get out and do some exploring this week. It’s not the easiest way to travel, but it sure beats sitting around on my hands in Missoula. I think if I had three weeks to sit there and stew, it would be hard to bounce back from. This week has taken me south through the Bitterroot Valley, across the Big Hole and the Bozeman Trail and is winding up here in Butte, where I am writing to you from today. The weather has been great and I’ve definitely been enjoying myself despite the difficulties of being out here without my van and the stresses involved with that.
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After finishing up this post last week, I went out and enjoyed a wonderful night of music with a songwriters’ round at the Zootown Arts Community Center there in Missoula. This event brought together four unique songwriters from around Montana who took turns sharing their songs and the stories behind them. It was the first event of the newly formed Montana Songwriters Collective and it was really enjoyable. After the show, I went down and had a burger at the Missoula Club and then headed back across the river for the night.
Every once in a while I drive into a town which is just too nice to leave. I pulled into MacKay, Idaho in the early afternoon with the plan to hop out and stretch my legs. , maybe take a few photos and then keep going. I found MacKay to be a cute town with some great historic buildings, all surrounded by the majestic peaks of the Lost River Range. With snow-covered mountains in every direction, I decided to stay for a while. I’m really glad I did, especially since it was a near-perfect, cool, sunny spring day.
MacKay was founded as a company town for the White Knob Mining Company in 1801 and named for the company’s owner John William Mackay. While the mines above Mackay closed down many years ago, MacKay has held on, bolstered by the agricultural businesses that have grown up in the surrounding area. I loved some of their historic buildings in town, especially the Clock Cigar Company which has been restored to show some of the businesses which have come and gone in the building over the years. While the original post clock out front has long since disappeared, the town had a replica made to the exact specifications and it looks great. I also enjoyed the L7 Bar and Grill which was the friendliest place I’ve stopped in a long time. I hope you enjoy these photos from tiny MacKay, Idaho, small town charm in the Lost River Valley.
Hello Everyone!
I’m back in the mountains and it is wonderful to be here. I know I was in the mountains in northern Utah, but the Idaho mountains feel different somehow. Or maybe Idaho towns feel more like mountain towns and that’s what’s different. I don’t know, but it’s nice to be here and to be enjoying cool, sunny days and incredible views. My first full week in Idaho has been a good one. I really enjoyed my time in Pocatello and have made my way north and then west from there and I am writing to you today from the little town of Challis, the largest town in Custer County with a population of just over a thousand people. The Salmon River is nearby and the town is surrounded by mountains. I’ll bet it’s cold and very isolated here in the winter, but it sure is nice to be here in the spring.
It was late when I finished up this post last week and I am always grateful for the libraries that stay open until 9pm. It was cold and raining out so I grabbed a quick beer up the road and then tucked into my van for the night. The rain wasn’t too bad, but the wind really picked up overnight and blew through all of the next day with gusts up over 50mph on a regular basis. According to the locals, the wind is quite common around here and we were lucky the rain kept the dust down.
Grand Teton National Park is one of my favorite parks in the west. It’s often overshadowed by its more famous and more popular brother just to the north, Yellowstone, but it is definitely deserving of more than just a photo stop on the way to or from. I often tell my tour passengers that when I drew mountains as a child, I was drawing the Tetons whether I knew it at the time or not (in reality, we had a large painting of the Tetons in our house, so maybe that had some influence). The Tetons are one of the youngest mountain ranges in the country, giving them their jagged contours. If you get there early in the morning, you may be able to catch a breathtaking reflection in one of the many lakes that lie at their base. There are, of course, dozens of trails throughout the park, ranging from simple 20 minute jaunts to multi-day treks into the wilderness. I’ve definitely seen more moose in the Tetons than I’ve ever seen in Yellowstone and I’ve also seen bear, bison and elk along with a multitude of birds and small mammals as well. The historic buildings along Mormon Row and in a few other spots in the park are favorites of photographers. It’s also the only National Park with its own airport, although flying into it isn’t cheap. If you ever get the opportunity to visit, Grand Teton will definitely dazzle your senses. I hope you enjoy these photos from another of our magical National Parks.
