Abbey's Road

About 8 or 9 years ago I did a backpacking trip with Outward Bound in the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness near Red Lodge. I had contemplated going to Bozeman, but Red Lodge was a lot closer to Billings and with gas prices being so high I decided to check Red Lodge out again on Monday. It's not a bad little town but outdoor activities are definitely the prime attraction here. I found out that there were only a few campgrounds that hadn't closed for the season. Abbey and I headed south out of town to do a moderate hike before finding a campsite for the night. It was a gorgeous day '? blue sky and nice crisp air '? so the hike was great.

Abbey seemed to be her old self again running all over and pulling on the leash. She had been real hesitant the last several days so I was glad to see that she was better, at least for the time being. The trail was mostly in a valley along a creek, but every now and then I got nice views of the surrounding jagged peaks and pockets of trees that had turned their fall colors. The campground was practically deserted which was a switch from Yellowstone and Billings. There also weren't any services except for a pit toilet. I guess I was getting soft from all those nights of hookups, but I realized that I could get by without them just like had before. If you can find campgrounds that are still open this is a great time of the year to camp. It is getting colder, and there is already snow in the higher elevations but the heat, bugs and crowds are gone.

Tuesday Abbey and I did another hike in the national forest. She was raring to go again most of the hike. We climbed up to a couple of small lakes.

It was overcast all day, but it didn't rain and we had the trail to ourselves so we couldn't complain. There was supposed to be another open campground right near the trailhead, but I guess the woman at the ranger station was wrong. When I got there the gates were closed. I was going to head back to our campsite from the previous night, but I saw a dirt road across from the trailhead parking lot and decided to check it out. I didn't go too far before I found a nice spot off the road and next to a creek. Boondocking again. It's been a while so I had to remind myself that I've done this before and it's no big deal. I've got all I need in the RV and I can use the toilet at the trailhead in the morning!

Wednesday turned out to be another gorgeous day. It was pretty chilly in the morning, but the sun was up and it eventually warmed up. Another five miles down the road from where we camped was the beginning of the West Fork Trail.

This trail hooks up with the Lake Fork Trail which we did on Monday. We followed it up for about 4 miles before we turned off to go to Lake Mary another mile or so up a steep climb.

The rain we got at the campsite last night was snow up here. There wasn't a lot of it, but there was still some on the ground where the sun hadn't hit yet and the ground was still frozen. The view from the lake was beautiful and it felt great to sit in the sun while we ate lunch. All told we hiked about 10 miles and it was pretty much the perfect hike on a perfect day. We only saw 1 couple with 2 dogs the whole trip. Tonight I'm staying back at the first campground, and this time we have it all to ourselves. Tomorrow we leave Montana for my new home state of South Dakota. Can't wait to see what my new hometown '?Rapid City - looks like.