September 25-27, 2023 Bozeman to Lolo Hot Springs, Montana to Lochsa River, Idaho

 77 degrees and sunny. 

Cheapest fuel this trip so far. In Cody, $4.32. Heart Mountain heading out of Cody.

We are parked at the Gallatin County Fair grounds in Bozeman, MT. Beautiful evening for dinner in the grass.  Sunset.  

Beautiful downtown Butte, Montana. We have been trying to get across to the coast before it starts to snow. So drove across most of western Montana today. Topped off the tank twice. Saw this big silver slipper statue on a pedestal in Missoula. Looked it up and it is at the Silver Slipper sports bar and casino. 

Worked on this basket today. The needles color is pretty blah. There are three different dye colors - green, blue and dark blue. All came out green. Still working on the top. It is 8 1/2 x 4 inches. The center is a piece of glass I fused.  We are at Lolo Hot Springs, Montana. On the border of Montana and Idaho. The hot springs are lovely. Even tho they charged us $65 to camp here we still had to pay $10 each to soak. 

The lodge at Lolo Hot Springs. We are at the Lolo Hot Springs RV park. 

Sunset. We stopped at an old growth Cedar Grove just under the west side of  Lolo Pass in Idaho. 

Really big trees. Very pretty place. 

It rained pretty hard on our drive. The clouds were hanging low over the mountains. The Lochsa River. John has boated it many times in the spring at high water. It is very low now. 

Moss in the trees, many different kinds of berries. The sway back fence along the horse trail and a yellow flower.  Boulder creek that runs through the campground. 

Boulder creek. The sun came out for a little while here on the Lochsa River. 

Fall colors and John in his cagoule. Perfect for this kind of weather and hiking in wet foliage. The view from our campsite. Fall colors. 

Knapp weed, wild bug, snowberry flowers, moss, yellow flower, aster and moss on two different roof tops. Green foliage, pink and yellow flowers. A white tailed deer that I scared up. He stopped and posed beautifully behind a bunch of branches. And a seed head.

Ways to store your food in bear country, lichen, fall colors, a water logged bug, berries and a wooly bear. John trying the spigot on the horse trough. They turned the water off for fall already. 

We are camped at Wilderness Gateway campground on the Lochsa river. The only loop open is reserved for people with horses. But since it is the only one open I guess you don't need horses, no one else had any. The place was deserted, quiet and dark. Very lovely. John opening wine to have with our homemade tomato soup.

Welcome to Idaho and the Pacific time zone- we lost an hour. We crossed paths with Lewis and Clark on our drive. Maiden hair fern, sword fern, tansy, white seed heads, bracken fern and fall colors. 

Sunset.