Day 4- Mountain Pass Insanity & A Sweet Little Camp Spot

9/18/2010 8:47pm Day 4

Tyler and Hanz panting on a boulder

Yesterday when we got back to the Como campground Tyler and I biked over to the lake while Hanz ran alongside us. It is a gorgeous area but it’s funny because there is a lot of contrast in the scenery. On one side, the direction from which we came, there’s a huge concrete dam and then another huge concrete put-in area. If you look across the lake, however, you see incredible mountains rising up into the sky. The actual color of the water is beautiful as well. I think that is just something about Montana lakes in general, because so many of them are so high up and pristine, they are absolutely beautiful. We went back to the travel trailer for some dinner after a little hike and then ended the night by watching the second half of North by Northest, further proving you can almost never go wrong with Cary Grant.

This morning I woke up and took Hanz for a long walk down an old road off to the side of the campground. It leads to a narrow trail in a beautiful coniferous forest and ends up at a creek. It was such a wonderful way to start the day. The air is already delicious in a quiet forest but in the morning it seems to be even more so. Hanz chased the ball, which I threw from a Chuck-It (he’s obsessed!), a good hundred times. When I got back we packed up our stuff and got on the road at around 10:30am. We were going to work at Homestead Organics in Hamilton, but giving that it was a Saturday and they did not do much work on the weekends we decided to just stop by the farmers market and then head on our way towards Butte. We ran into an old friend of ours, Paul Madeen and his girlfriend Terri at the market, which is always nice. Terri said she has a farm in Stevensville that she is working on and that she has goats and chickens and grows produce. Since Tyler and I are trying to find a place to stay where we can work in exchange for rent we are possibly going to help her out starting this spring with the produce and since the goats will be having kids there will be more to manage. We’ll see how it works out!

The Creek near Lake Como where Hanz and I took our morning walk

I had taken the Skalkaho Pass only once in my life and that was two years ago with 4 girlfriends in a small car heading to Butte for the National Folk Festival. I remembered the road as being beautiful and having gorgeous falls, maybe it is a bit windy as well. Well, obviously I was not the one driving and it is funny how your experience can change the way you remember something but as soon as Tyler and I started the ascent we started to get nervous. The road immediately narrowed and a sign warned of imminent “narrow mountainous winding gravel roadway.” All those descriptors on one sign… wow! Tyler glanced over at me with his brow furrowed and asked, “Are you sure this is going to be alright for my truck with this trailer?”

What followed was a who-knows-how-long period of extremely tense driving and the occasional wince as the trailer’s shocks worked overtime. We did momentarily stop at the Skalkaho Falls so catch our breath and take in some of the scenery. While we were stopped Tyler talked to another young couple who assured us that the road widened as you started to descend and that people took rigs this big up here all the time. Yeah, well it turns out the road widens alright but it also becomes a series of unending potholes that forced us to literally travel about 5 miles an hour. On the bright side we were surrounded by beautiful conifers the whole time so if you had the window down it smelled like Christmas!

At the base of the descent we turned our heads to look at a sign meant for those just beginning to take the pass from the east. It read something to the extent of: trailer attachments of no more than 20 feet advisable. Ours was 22 feet. Thanks for the warning.

We drove on a little while longer and eventually turned onto the Pintler Scenic Loop towards Anaconda. At this point we just wanted to find a place large enough to park the travel trailer for the night that would also afford us some nice scenery. We soon happened upon the entrance to the Flint Creek Campground also home to the Flint Creek Hydroelectric Project. Let me preface my initial hesitation towards stopping here by saying that I had only heard one thing about Flint Creek and it was not very great. A couple months ago I went to the Montana Audubon Society’s Annual Bird Festival where we went on birdwatching field trips and listened to all different kinds of people talk about birds and conservation and current research. One of the presenters was from the University of Montana and he had been studying mercury levels in osprey chicks. He found that Flint Creek, which passes by a gold mine, picks up mercury (a by-product of the mining process?) and is the largest contributor of mercury into the Clark Fork River when it flows into it. Since osprey eat lots of fish mercury, a heavy metal, can bio-accumulate in their blood, causing them to get sick. This is exactly what happened with DDT. So, knowing this I was not too thrilled about the prospect of camping right next to the water but I realized that it’s not the whole creek that has mercury, it’s really only after it meets up with the source, the gold mine, that it possibly gets hairy. Plus, once we drove down to the camp I saw a site that was located right on the creek with the water rushing by in the most beautiful way. So we set up camp. The water is so loud but relaxing, the perfect thing to lull you to sleep. Needless to say we did not go fishing.

Our Campsite on Flint Creek

The Traveling Trio

The hydroelectric project we read, was initiated in 1891 and generated about 1,100 kw of energy. The old carved wooden sign also informed us that it was “open to the public without discrimination.” Man, do I love some of the signs you can find out here!

Tyler grilled some delicious Italian sausages that we got from Jen at Lifeline in exchange for our work (a very tasty gift!) and put a can of beans on the embers of our campfire to cook. Baked beans have to be one of my favorite all time camp foods. That and s’mores, which we also had! We actually got the stuff in Philipsburg where we stopped to find a bar in which to watch the University of Montana Grizzlies dominate Eastern Washington University. We found a really nice bar, called the Club Bar, “the friendliest corner bar in town.” We did not actually see any other corner bars in town but they did seem to be a friendly crowd that was luckily Griz fan dominated. We weren’t sure if they would be Griz or Cat fans out here but we lucked out. 

Hanz being a Waffle

Day 3- Lake Como & Sheep on the Open Range

9/17/2010 9:28am Day 3

Today I woke up at the RV park at Lake Como. Unfortunately when we left Lifeline Dairy yesterday afternoon, about 200 flies came with us. The truck and RV were both full of them, buzzing around and making Hanz snarl at the air and then snap his jaw, trying to catch them. As we headed deeper into the Bitterroot we stopped in Hamilton to get ice cream. Our favorite ice cream place is a small local joint called Out West. Well, it was called Out West a couple years ago when Tyler and I worked at Homestead Organics, a family-run produce farm also in Hamilton, MT, now it’s called something less endearing and is attached to a greasy food joint. It was formerly attached to a really cute shop that sold home goods and western wear, including cute cowgirl aprons. Luckily, the ice cream is the same so they still had my favorite flavor, Montana Moose Moss; it’s mint ice cream with fudge swirls and mini peppermint patties. Yummmm.

We took our ice cream to go and then headed towards Lake Como to set up camp in the RV section. Tyler spent the rest of the evening fixing the various things that did not work in our Springdale 179 travel trailer. He had called someone at Bretz, where we had bought it to ask about using the hot water heater and they gave him wrong instructions. It is seriously absurd how much they charge for these things, when they are made with such cheap parts. But that’s another issue. So anyways, Tyler finally figured out the hot water heater so omg we had hot water! I could take a shower! That was the worst thing about working at Lifeline, the inability to really clean up at the end of the day, so now I was super excited to be able to take a shower. Oh the wonders of modern living!

12:39pm

I’m at River Rising, a café in Hamilton, sipping on a mocha and waiting for my sandwich to arrive. We came into town to do our laundry. Evidently when you use the shower water leaks onto the floor in the travel trailer so we used all our towels to mop it up. Lake Como is a really beautiful place to camp. When I woke up this morning, around 8:30am, I took Hanz for a little hike and he loved it. He loves hikes and areas where he can run around and act like a wild dog. He especially loves new places where there are foreign smells for him to investigate vigorously with his nose. After our walk I went back to the trailer, fed Hanz and put some water on for oatmeal, the breakfast of champions!

We took a small road from Lake Como to Hamilton, bypassing Hwy 93 and opting for the beauty of the back roads. What a gorgeous road! There were signs warning that this is “Open Range” so be careful of the roaming animals, they may very well be in the road! We passed by a farm with a couple sheep just walking around, right next to the road. Instead of having fences to keep animals in the people in this area had fences around their gardens to keep animals out of them.

We passed over the Bitterroot River on a little one lane bridge and saw a fly fisherman casting in the waters below. We passed over the bridge and continued along the dirt road, rising above the valley with incredible views both of the land below as well as the mixed jagged and rounded peaks above. I learned from my visit to Wilson, WY this summer, which is just outside of Jackson Hole and almost at the very base of the Tetons, that jagged peaks are present on younger mountain ranges that haven’t been around for long enough to be very weathered. So geologically speaking, the Tetons are one of the youngest ranges in this country. There are sections of the Bitterroot Mountains that are jagged like that but not nearly to the extent of the Tetons, which are famous for it.

Passing over the Bitterroot River 

We soon realized that the canoe, which was strapped to the top of Tyler’s Tundra, was not attached tightly enough to the roof so we pulled over. It is things like that, little seemingly random events, that can lead you to see or experience little pleasures that you would have otherwise missed. When I stepped out of the truck I heard Tyler remark, “Oh wow, look at the sheep!” I hurriedly scrambled around the back of the truck and looked down into the valley: hundreds of sheep were grazing not too far below. I could hear them going “bahh” back and forth and couldn’t help but smile.

Sheep Grazing Below

Tyler and I have decided to stay another night at Lake Como. We bought the “America the Beautiful” pass that allows you free access to all national parks and monuments and federal lands in general. We have yet to actually go down to the lake but I think when we are done with laundry we will explore that area with Hanz. We left him in the travel trailer to guard everything. It’s been beautiful fall weather this past week, cool and a bit damp but really nice for being outside. 

The First and Second Day- Lifeline Dairy

9/16/10 8:34pm Day 2

Yesterday and today have been kind of rough. Unfortunately I have a cold so when I woke up my throat really hurt. It's very difficult to get into the habit of living in a travel trailer. You would not believe the amount of stuff we are carrying with us. It's just all very compact and efficiently packed. The only problem is that I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ANYTHING IS!!!!!!! So ideally we would have spent our first night at a campground so we could have gone through things a bit to organize them better and not be working but it is alright. We are going to go to a campground after our stay at Lifeline so we'll do it then.

I was going to meet Jen to start work at Lifeline Dairy at 8am today but we didn’t really get started until around 9am. Tyler took the travel trailer to a Les Schwab to get our flat fixed and to buy a new tire for the other flat. Oh my goodness, 2 flat tires in one day?! Seriously, what are the chances?? The first one happened when we were literally about a mile from our house. We turned a corner on a really narrow road and the tire hit the curb and popped!! So then we had to pull over and luckily we had the equipment to change the tire. We then drove to Victor but when we got to Lifeline we realized we had run over a screw, which was still stuck in the tire, and we were losing air. It was at this time 6:01pm. Literally. On the dot. Every auto store in the area was closed for the day. %#@! We went to a gas station down the road and I ran inside to get something. It just so happened that at that very same time an automotive mechanic from the shop across the street was also in the gas station and saw Tyler outside checking out our rig. He was incredibly nice and ended up helping us out. We determined the air wasn’t leaking fast enough to require immediate action so we were able to go back to Lifeline for the night as long as we fixed it the next morning. So that’s where we were before, with Tyler leaving that next morning to fix the tire and I working at the dairy.

Our first night on the farm we were able to help Jen out with some work on the dairy but spent most of our time just chatting with her in the milking parlor as she milked the cows with an automated milking machine. I have such respect for her and her family’s hard work. She was out there until 11pm milking the cows and makes just enough to get by with her family. Thankfully she was going on her annual vacation with her family on Friday so she had that to look forward to. I can imagine that it couldn’t come soon enough!

Today working at the dairy I definitely learned a lot. It was also nice to do some physical work and to feel like I was really able to help out with things. The family who runs Lifeline: Ernie, Jen and their children Liam and Belle, are incredibly sweet people. They are very willing to explain how everything in their operation works. I worked with Jen for the most part and it was really nice to learn from someone who loved their work so much. Passion is really contagious and in any learning situation I feel a passionate teacher has a much greater probability of being effective in their teaching.

Jen in the Milking Parlor

Today, Tyler and I got to help hold down calves as Jen tagged their ears with a fairly unpleasant looking device, and “castrated” the male calves, using a device that stretched a rubber band around their testicles so that in time, since the rubber band cuts off circulation to the testes, they would just eventually fall off. They also got 3 shots, one to protect against scour diseases, another that was Vitamin A and D, and I believe the third was a B vitamin. It was really interesting and great to witness this process, not because I feel that the cows really enjoyed it but because this was the reality of the everyday process that eventually brings milk and steak to your table. It is these little chores that just have to be done consistently to ensure a steady milk flow for customers and to keep the operation up and running.

One of the many interesting things that I learned was that calves are actually born without any immune system. They are supplied with something special in their mother’s milk that develops their immunity and ability to cope with germs and disease. It is critical that a calf get a good amount of it within the first 2 hours of being born. That’s why it’s a big problem if a calf doesn’t nurse or is rejected by its mother because if it doesn’t get those vital nutrients it will have immune system problems for the rest of its, probably not very long, life.

A cow who does not get pregnant (and therefore does not produce milk) is called an “open” cow. You “dry off” a cow who is pregnant (as in you do not milk them) starting around 7 months into the pregnancy. 5 months after a pregnancy is when the heifer’s milk production reaches its peak.

I think one of the not so great things about the whole process is when the mother has its calf taken away for the first time. The calf refuses to eat at first, choosing to wait for its mother to return, but eventually it gives in to being hungry. The mother will carry on for a couple days, mooing up a storm and searching all over the place for their baby. There was one mother in particular, a small black and white heifer, which seemed especially ornery. She kept looking like she was going to go after Liam, Jen’s young son, and Jen said it was because she thought he was a dog or some kind of predator and she wanted to keep him away. She even threatened me by lowering her head with its horns and kind of stomping towards me. I got out of there FAST.

One of the exciting things Tyler and I got to do was to bottle feed the baby calves. They were SO cute. I like them a lot because their noses are dry and they don’t slobber as much as adult cows!

A calf being bottle-fed warm milk... So cute!

Cow tongues are so strangely fascinating. I put my hand up to one of their noses so it could see I wasn’t a threat and it thought my finger was a nipple so it started trying to suck on it. Its tongue was super coarse and had a strangely powerful tip that probed around trying to figure out if it could get any milk from my hand. It quickly realized it couldn’t and looked at me like I was a very mean person, but then I made it all better by producing a bottle with a rubber nipple for it to suck from. It’s funny because some of the calves get it immediately and latch on, sucking for dear life to get some of that warm milk (it’s bad for them to get cold milk) but some of them just don’t get that this is what they are supposed to drink from… obviously this bottle is not their mother. Maybe cows are not as dumb as we think they are! It’s like they are saying, okay I’ll take the milk from this weird device because I’m really hungry but I don’t get how I’m going to get the milk because this is not my mother!

We helped to clean up one of the stockyards that had tons of equipment and metal slabs in it. Tyler put lug bolts in all the posts but unfortunately there was an electric wire running right over his head so every once in a while, while he was putting the bolt in place he would shock himself. This is not an electric fence meant to keep chickens in place, this is electric fence meant to keep thousand pound animals in check, so you can imagine what it felt like to a person. Around the fourth time that he got shocked, he happened to be holding onto something metal and he actually blacked out! He said he felt like he was having a dream that lasted for a split second and then when he came back he was disoriented and had no idea where he was. I felt so terrible! I hate it when he gets hurt. I guess that is something that you learn to be super aware of when it’s your full time job raising livestock. Jen said her young son had even gotten shocked when he was less than a year old! I guess it builds character.

Oink Oink

The morning light on fields near Lifeline

Lifeline Dairy

A Description of the Premise of the Epic Adventure

Okay so let me explain what Tyler and I are doing. We left September 15th with our dog Hanz planning on travelling for three months in our Springdale 179 travel trailer. We first headed down to the Bitterroot valley to work at Lifeline Dairy in Victor, MT. We are planning on travelling all the way down to the US/ Mexico border, stopping to work on farms for food and experience, visiting all the national parks, and visiting family and friends along the way. I am aiming to write every single day on my computer but I won't have internet most of the time so I will update the blog every chance I get. Tyler and I both wanted to take this chance to explore the American southwest and meet as many different kinds of people and experience as many different types of lifestyles as possible. In every place that we stop I want to learn something about the area and hopefully get some recipes to add to my collection. We are going to stop at farmers markets and roadside stands to sample the local goods and see if a carrot tastes different in Idaho than it tastes in Montana. We also want plenty of time for reflection so we can figure out which of the many directions we want our lives to take. I have so many interests that it has been hard for me to decide what it is exactly that I want to do with my life. I am considering veterinary school, even though it would be a huge time commitment (7 years to be exact) so I will be shadowing different types of veterinarians along the way. In Montana I shadowed an equine vet several times, and I've worked at a small animal veterinary clinic in Halesite, NY for a long time and I am looking forward to adding a marine mammal vet to my list. This trip is not being embarked upon for any particular reason but rather for a huge collective number of reasons. Each of the blogs that I post will follow our trip along the road.

Let the Journey Begin!

A Long Overdue Update

Much has happened since I last blogged. This has been a crazy year of travel for me and my boyfriend. We went to Hawaii in April:

Shortly after we got back from Oahu we flew to Wyoming to visit with Tyler's family at his Grandfather's ranch:

The ranch is in Wilson, WY just outside of Jackson Hole. We were so busy the whole time! I could have spent a year there trying to get in all the hiking and canoeing and biking I wanted to do. At least we got to go on one hike that was an absolute treat. I have never seen such diversity and beauty in wildflowers as I did on this hike just past Wilson. See how happy I am?! :)

We also got the opportunity to go white water rafting!! I was a bit worried because I heard it would be pretty intense but not long into the rafting trip I realized it was a LOT of fun and I had a blast. We went on the Snake River which was gorgeous and wild as heck! Your life vest is supposed to be tight enough that if you fall out of the boat somebody can pick you up by it, without it slipping over your head. The picture below is of Tyler being a nice boyfriend and making sure my vest was tight enough (hahahahaha):

After about a week in Wyoming we drove back to Montana with Tyler's brother Alex and his wife Katrina.
A couple days later my parents came to visit for a week in Missoula and Western Montana in general. The below pic was taken at the National Bison Range in Charlo, MT:

Then my parents, Tyler (my bf), Hanz (my dog), and I all drove to California to visit my family!

Tyler, Hanz and I then drove back to Montana in a day and a half!!!

After a day of rest, just enough time to unpack and then re-pack, I was off to Butte to be a counselor at a fly fishing camp!!

It was such a great experience to be at the camp! I learned how to fly fish, which I had never done before and I got to see some really remote parts of Montana that I probably won't ever get to see again. I don't even think I could find some of them without help... so many dirt roads that wind around mountains and deposit you in these beautifully remote locations. We fished on the Big Hole River and the Clark Fork River. I realized that I don't believe you should kill (or hurt) any living thing unless you plan on eating it, and then you should take pains to treat it respectfully so I didn't really want to catch anything if I was going to be releasing it. Even with this belief I still had a great time. It is incredibly relaxing and meditative to stand in the water in waders (or without if it's nice out!) practicing your cast and just being still and aware. I now understand the appeal of fly fishing and now it makes sense why you will see people casting on a river when the conditions are very unfavorable (blue skies, strong sun, middle of the day, etc). I am hoping to find an inexpensive fly rod and reel for my next adventure, which I have yet to inform you of!