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Bev's Journal We Proceeded On... Part II: The Journey West |
| 6 October 2002 Swan Creek Campground Gallatin National Forest Near Big Sky MT Swan Creek is a tributary to the Gallatin River, and we are only off US191 about a mile, but it is infinitely more quiet. Our campsite is right by the creek, so when the weather cooperates, we are enjoying the sound of the rushing water through open windows. It has been raining (& snowing) off and on for the last week, so most of the time, it feels more like winter in Georgia than autumn anywhere else. Nevertheless, we are taking hikes every day; the fall color here is astonishing. I guess it never occurred to me that in the evergreen forest that there would be so much color. Only the color is in the underbrush, not in the trees, for the most part. All shades of red, orange, pink, gold combine to make the forest truly beautiful. And I’d forgotten how much I love the sight and sound of running water. The creek is full of rocks and even boulders from previous rockslides in the canyon, and that makes for interesting rapids and shallows. You can see right to the bottom, it’s so clear. |
| 30 September 2002 Moose Flat Campground Gallatin National Forest Near Big Sky MT We drove through Bozeman yesterday, and it is a very scenic town – mountain ranges on all sides. Kind of a college town/resort atmosphere – the downtown is full of funky shops and restaurants. It’s rather consciously COOL. But it IS beautiful. Supposedly the fastest-growing town in MT – I sure hope they can control their growth; it would be a shame to ruin what they’ve got. There are national forests and state parks galore in MT – and we decided to take the drive down Gallatin Canyon road (US 191) to find a nice place to park ourselves for a while. Unfortunately, though, all the campgrounds we have so far found are right off the very busy highway. So, last night we camped next to the Gallatin River, which parallels the highway for much of the way, and situated ourselves so that we could see mountain ranges in every direction. The view is lovely, but doesn’t really make up for the noisy truck traffic that travels on this road 24/7. Trout fishing on the Gallatin, Madison and Yellowstone is supposed to be some of the best in the US, and I believe that Redford filmed A River Runs Through It somewhere on one of these rivers. The weather is beautiful, and we saw lots of folks out wading in the river yesterday, plying their reels to entice the trout. It looked like more fun like regular fishing to me; just pull off the road, and catch your dinner. |
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