What's in White Sulphur Springs, Montana?

Charlie Russell sketch in the Bair Family Museum

Finding reasonably priced campgrounds in the Midwest, near a freeway -- and by "reasonable," I mean as close to free as possible -- is a challenge. And we face this dilemma primarily due to our commitment not to race across the country, but to take our time: go slower, spend more days camping and less days driving. And we had to go a little out of our way to find one.

Our first stop out of Cody was Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, where we camped two nights. This campground was not too far off I-90 and a very short drive to a fascinating cavern that we toured the following day. It was about a half mile hike up to the cave opening, and a very hot day, but worth the trouble. These caves were not, in fact, discovered by Lewis or Clark, but got the name because of the proximity to the Lewis and Clark trail. The stalactites and stalagmites in the cave were amazing, especially when you realize it has taken thousands of years for them to form. We were shown several stalactites that had been inadvertently damaged when early explorers attempted to measure the cavern. The damage was done more than forty years ago, and the new growth shows up like a pimple on the end of the broken formation. The man who discovered the cave entrance was investigating a "cloud" coming from the side of the mountain...it was steam forming from the 48 degree cave air flowing into the cold winter outside air. It's also 48 degrees in the summer, making for a very nice cool diversion in our ninety degree day.

Hard to see, but these are damaged stalactites reforming

It was a pretty short drive to Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs and we arrived a little after noon. The reason we decided on Conestoga was because it is part of the RPI system, of which we are a member, and we were able to get a reasonable site fee for the week. The town is situated on t US12/US89, about fifty miles east of Helena. Our route took us up US287 to 12 and over a narrow two lane road through some hill country. As we were driving, we passed a lead pickup truck for a "wide load," which made Mark a little nervous on that narrow road, and we kept expecting to see a wide-load truck coming down the road. After several miles and nothing, we relaxed and thought no more about it until we came down into the valley and saw this...

Poor Mark was beside himself. He stopped where he was in the road, with no idea at all how this little problem was going to resolve itself. The guy in the white pickup truck you see drove up and told Mark to keep coming. They would make way for him. So on we came.

As we neared the house in the road, we saw the solution. We were directed into a field where we waited for the house to go by.

I have to say, I've never seen anything like this before. When we arrived at Conestoga, Mark mentioned our experience to the lady behind the desk, and she said they'd been moving this thing for something like four weeks, but it was supposed to arrive at it's destination today. We were thanking God that we didn't end up stuck in an impasse. What an ordeal THAT would have been.

So...what's in White Sulphur Springs? The Red Ants Pants Music Festival, that's what! We learned about this event, which happens every summer in this little hole-in-the-wall town, shortly after we arrived-- and we arrived just in time to miss it. The three-day music festival starts tomorrow evening and runs through Sunday, and features a whole bunch of musical groups I've never heard of. But it seems to be pretty popular. People come from all over the state and other parts of the country too.

Sheep wagon

Besides the music festival, the area has a couple house museums that we toured. This area of Montana used to the home of the largest sheep ranch in the world, owned by the Bair family. At the height of its operation, there were somewhere around 300,000 head of sheep. Nobody eats mutton in America, and synthetic fabrics clobbered the wool industry, so sheep ranching eventually went by the wayside. But you can probably credit the sheep ranchers for coming up with the idea of an RV, even though it wasn't actually used for recreation, per se. It's called a "sheep wagon," and it was the rancher's home away from home when they were tending the sheep.

Cozy, don't you think?

The Bairs were very rich and had tons of very expensive furniture, clocks, silver, art work, and other collectibles that are now very expensive antiques. Their house was originally build in the late 1800s, and then modernized through the years. The family lived in it until the oldest daughter died in the 1960s and donated the home and everything in it to the state of Montana for a museum. It's worth $3 if you enjoy looking at antiques.

In all, it was a pleasant visit in White Sulpher Springs. Perhaps one year we might come back for the music festival and see what that's like.

Tomorrow we hit the road again. One more dry-camp, and we'll be pulling into Spokane on Sunday.

In the words of Charlie Russell,

"Here's hoping the worst end of your trail is behind you,

That Dad Time be your friend 

From here to the end,

And sickness nor sorrow don't find you."

More Bair Family museum pictures...

The Bair Family Museum, near Martinsdale, MT

The "log room" - where much of the entertaining was done

Wedding dress and size 4 1/2 shoes

The guest room

Can I pull off the wearing of red hats, do you think?

Our Cody Adventure

Did you know that Cody, Wyoming, is the "Rodeo Capital of the World?" Mark and I weren't thinking much about rodeos when we drove through town on the way to Yellowstone. But when we passed under a banner that read, "Rodeo Tonight - 8:00," I suggested to Mark that we go. I've always wanted to go to a real live rodeo and I don't remember ever having been to one, which is as good as never having been to one. But by the time we got set up in our campground and settled in, we were tired and decided not to go that day.

Whenever we arrive at a new location, we look for brochures and tourist information, and we happened upon a brochure for Cody with an advertisement for "Dinner, Show, and Rodeo" for a very reasonable price. I called and made our reservation for Sunday. Sunday would be our day in Cody.

The first place we stopped was the Buffalo Bill Dam. Built on the Shoshone River, this was the tallest dam structure in the world at the time. It's SO tall, that I could not get up the courage to walk out onto the walkway and look over the edge. Mark, however, who claims to suffer from acrophobia, not only went out onto the bridge, but leaned over to take a picture. I no longer believe he really has acrophobia. My stomach was doing somersaults just thinking about walking out onto the bridge.

Then we were on our way into Cody. Our next stop was the Buffalo Bill Center, a museum honoring the famous Buffalo Bill Cody, the Plains Indians, native wildlife and such.The Center houses a gigantic firearms collection which Mark enjoyed browsing through. All I saw was a bunch of guns: some were new, some were old, otherwise they all looked the same. It was like a gun show where nothing was for sale. Anyway, the rest of the museum was very interesting. We spent a couple hours there and still didn't see everything.

After that we stopped at Walmart to do some shopping.

Finally we headed over to the Cody Cattle Company for our "Trifecta" meal and entertainment. Dinner was buffet style, but the food was delicious. Long picnic-style tables were set up in the dining hall and everyone was seated together "family style." The gentleman who seated us found us a place at the front table (he turned out to be the fiddle player in the show), which was fortuitous because we were the first to go through the food line. All the people around us were campers like ourselves - visiting Yellowstone. The MC, who gave us the low-down on the evening turned out to be the leader of the band.

The show was a lot of fun. Those guys are extremely talented entertainers, which surprised the heck out of me. What are they doing buried in the little out-of-the-way town of Cody? Turns out they have a winter gig in Apache Junction, Arizona, that we'll have to check out sometime.

The show was over at about 7:30 and the rodeo was a five minute walk from the restaurant.

The rodeo was a blast. There was bucking bronco riding.

There was calf roping.

There was bull riding.

There was barrel racing, and junior events, and clowns, and screeching popcorn vendors. About halfway through, they called all the children, aged six to twelve, into the arena and told them that the first two to capture the ribbon off the tail of the calf would win a prize. Then they let go two calves into the arena with a hundred crazy children chasing them around. It was hilarious.

For those of you who don't know, my dad's father was a rodeo performer back in the 1920s. He got his start in Roundup, Montana, breaking wild horses, and rode in some famous rodeos, including Cheyenne, Denver, and even Madison Square Garden in New York City. I don't know if Cody was on his circuit, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

It was a wonderful day in Cody. If you ever find yourself there, make sure you include the Cody Cattle Company and the rodeo in your activities. You'll be glad you did.




Pics from the museum...

Yellowstone! Finally.

I don't have too many sight-seeing spots on my bucket list, but Yellowstone was one of them, and last week we got to check it off. What a wonderful place that is! And, we're most grateful it didn't explode before we got to see it...or while we were there, for that matter.

The distance from Rapid City to Cody was too long to make in a day, so we stopped along the way at a little town called Ten Sleep, WY. I asked the lady at their little one-room museum how the town got its name. She told me the area used to be one of two summer hunting grounds for the Plains Indians, and it took ten days (ten sleeps) to get from one to the other. And so the white settlers adopted this unusual but sensible name for the town. We were there two nights, just long enough for a short rest.

Ten Sleep, WY

It was a bit of a struggle finding a campsite around Yellowstone without spending the proverbial arm and leg, but after the second or third day of searching, we came across a little national park campground situated right on the road about fifteen minutes from Yellowstone's east gate, called Rex Hale Campground. It has nothing to recommend it except the price, a beautiful view, and 50 amp service, but it was just fine for a short stay (four days). The regular price at this park is $20 a night; we got it for half price with our National Park Senior Pass. We arrived Friday and spent the afternoon setting up and working out what we were going to do. With only three days to work with, we decided to drive the north loop to Mammoth Hot Springs on Saturday, the south loop and Old Faithful on Monday, and visit Cody on Sunday.

Our spot at Rex Hale Campground

Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed out the door about 7:30. It was a slow drive, hampered by the urge to stop and take pictures of bison wandering around on and by the road, not to mention the slow winding mountainous two lane road filled with drivers stopped to look at bison, geese, and sometimes nothing at all. Mammoth Hot Springs was only one of many thermal areas in the park. We passed dozens of hot pools and steaming vents smelling of sulfur. Mammoth was the only place we saw elk, most of which were lounging around in the grass in front of one of their municipal buildings, not looking very wild. And for all the driving we did, we managed over ten thousand steps besides. Ten hours later, at 5:30, we pulled back into our campground, tired, hot, and dusty. It was an amazing day. Long, but amazing.

Old Faithful

On Monday, I drove to give Mark a break and an opportunity to do some serious sight-seeing and picture-taking of his own. This day we were headed south to see the famous Old Faithful geyser. We arrived with about forty-five minutes to spare before the next expected eruption (give or take ten minutes), and just in time for scattered showers. So we hit the restrooms and then found a couple empty rocking chairs on the covered porch in front of the art center where we could wait out of the rain. About fifteen minutes before the scheduled time, we moseyed over to the viewing area and found a seat at the edge of the boardwalk where I could take pictures without other people's heads in them.

The spectacle was not at all what I expected. It's impressive--don't get me wrong-- it's just a little less impressive than it looks in photographs. For one thing, it started out in spits and starts, with water shooting a few feet in the air and then reverting to steam for a while. For another, I expected it to shoot much higher into the air than it actually did. Anyway, the whole thing took almost ten minutes from the first "spit," with the major eruption lasting a little over two minutes. Still, very impressive given that this activity is happening right under our feet, and we go about our business feeling "safe." Ha! Lucky-- that's what we are. The only thing stopping that whole place from blowing up is the Hand of God. They should make a t-shirt that says, "I survived Yellowstone!" (Maybe they do.)

Grand Prismatic Pool

 After Old Faithful, we stopped at the Prismatic Pool. This stop is, hands down, my favorite site in all of Yellowstone. It is absolutely breathtaking, and the photos (at least the ones from my camera) don't do it justice. It is nothing less than a work of art. Even the steam coming off this pool is multicolored. We actually happened on it accidentally. I saw the rainbow steam rising up and decided to stop and see what it was. What a treat! This was the one site I really wanted to see, but didn't do my homework ahead of time to find out where it was. (I actually thought it was at Mammoth Hot Springs and was disappointed when I didn't see it. Newbie mistake.) Right next to this pool is the Excelsior Geyser. Its last significant eruption was 1985, with a further bubbling fit over the years of 2004-2005. But since then it's been mostly quiet. Currently it's considered dormant and there's not much of a "safety" margin built around it. Considering the geothermal nature of the park, I suppose it should be assumed that one enters Yellowstone Park "at his own risk."

Excelsior Geyser

Excelsior Geyser

I'll cover our Cody adventure in my next post. 

Here are more pictures of Yellowstone...

"Landslide Pass" High Pass coming into the park

Sylvan Pool (this was like a mirror)

Additional note:  We saw a lot of fire damage that looks dreadful at first...until you see the areas where new forest growth takes over. Then you see the beauty of God's self-healing creation.

New growth forest

Mom & baby

More bison

Bear siting. Binoculars required.

Elk wandering around at Mammoth

Probably the same elk, wandering in a
different spot

Elk herd

Lake Yellowstone

Lily pad pond

The no longer "dangerously unstable" Golden Gate 

Road construction... yes, even in Yellowstone