Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Yellowstone
Some things I forgot to mention in yesterday‘s post about the smoke- jumpers. To be even considered for the smokejumper program, the firefighter has to have 5 to 6 years of experience in different kinds of fires. She said they don’t teach him/her to fight fires -- they teach him/her to jump. Joe asked what makes them pick one over another and she said, experience with different types of fires and physical condition. I think this last class they had open slots for 15 and they had 300 applicants. She added that it’s really a career choice because of the commitment. They are paid as government employees on the GS scale. The veterans usually have year-round jobs as a smokejumper. The rookies coming in are usually seasonal. Also, they have spotters on the plane who do not jump. They’re the ones responsible for finding a place for the smokejumpers to land. The pilot makes three passes over the spot and they drop down streamers to determine the wind speed and direction. There are round parachutes and square parachutes. The square chutes are more maneuverable than the round chutes and don’t have to be as precise when they drop.
Second item from yesterday: Decker High School. They were able to save the gym, and what was left standing of the old part of the school was demolished today. It only took 3 hours and 15 minutes. Now the clean-up begins. They saved the front entry mantel. I don't know what they plan to do with it but I'm glad they were able to save it.
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Today is our last day in Missoula and we really weren’t quite sure what to do with it. It’s pretty hot. Joe decided we probably should drive down to the Chief Joseph Ranch, where the Yellowstone show is filmed. It’s 73 miles south on 93 right outside of the town of Darby, so that’s what we did. We got started just after 12:00. It’s already 90° going to 99. We’re hoping our next stop is a little higher elevation and lower temperature but I don't think that is what is going to happen. We’re headed to Helena tomorrow for 4 nights, camping at a fairgrounds.
We had almost decided not to make this drive but then Joe thought that it would let us see more country because we won’t be leaving in this direction, so off we went. We drove through the west side of Missoula. Part of this we had been on yesterday. Right after we left town, we crossed the Bitterroot River. These are the Bitterroot Mountains ahead of us. There’s still a little snow on the very top of some of them.
This one little town we drove through, Florence, had flags attached to the lamp posts all the way through town.
This drive took us between the Bitterroot Mountains and the Sapphire Mountains. We got to Darby about 3:00. Darby is a pretty little town, very rustic, very touristy.
They turn-off to the ranch was less than a mile out of town. We followed a water truck into the turn-off. The gate opened for him. He went through and stopped to make sure that we were not able to follow him in the gate. It started to open again, but we turned around and went down the road to the next driveway.
Apparently, they’re filming today because they had people posted out there with all kinds of signs saying Do not stop. Do not enter. No photography. If you even slowed down, they were waving you on. We could see trailers, and assumed those belong to the film crew or the actors.
But I did get a better picture of the gate at the other entrance.
A creek was across the road from the ranch and as we turned around, we spotted a deer down by the water. We tried to find a road to get down to the creek, but there was no access. The trip to the ranch was just a drive-by, a turnaround, another drive-by and that was it. But I did get a picture off the internet, so this is what we would have seen.
Heading back, right at the very edge of town was a road to Tin Cup Trail so we drove back that, which took us into the Bitterroot National Forest. There were some nice residences along this road. We drove back this trail 2 or 3 miles until it started getting really rough and then we turned around. We drove along a creek, then crossed it. We love all these little creeks, they are almost always running pretty hard, tumbling over rocks. We think this trail may have taken us behind the Yellowstone property, but we really couldn’t see anything to know that for sure. We spent an hour messing around down in there, then we headed back.
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Joe remembered a road a few miles further on that went to Lake Como. Joe had spotted this on the way down and wanted to drive back to it.
Lake Como was very pretty and very busy. The parking lot was full and so was the beach. A lot of people in the water, a lot of sunbathers up on the beach, people out with a variety of water toys. The water looks very inviting. We drove back through the campground. One of the campgrounds looked like it was all dry camping. There were some truck campers, some tents, not full but plenty of people there. I was afraid Joe would keep circling through looking at the girls in their bikinis, but fortunately we just made one loop. He said they were not his type (I said, "too young"). Obviously he prefers old chicks like me.
There was a big old smokestack in Hamilton. Joe had read about it. It was for a sugarbeet plant that never happened. Some of the buildings had been started when the company pulled out. The smokestack is 100 years old. Although they had sold bonds in the town to build a plant, they eventually changed their mind and built it in Missoula.
The drive today was 170 miles. We got back to the campground about 6:30. It was 96°. We were concerned that the camper might be too hot inside, and I had suggested we just drive on past to the casino for a little while, but Joe was too tired, and so was I. And actually, the camper was comfortable. And that was the end of our day. Tomorrow is a travel day.
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