OFF LINE ENTRY

King’s Hill Campground
Lewis and Clark National Forest
King’s Hill Pass, Montana
Sunday, August 10, 2008, 4:30 pm Mountain Time

Altitude: 7,450 feet
Mostly Sunny with Large Puffy White Clouds
Temperature: 64F (It was 84F in Bozeman)

We left West Yellowstone this morning about 8:30 am and headed up US191, through the valley of the Gallatin River (a mountain stream at this point), partly in Yellowstone National Park and mostly in Gallatin National Forest. Beautiful scenery: a twisty, narrow mountain valley road with good pavement, mostly forested mountainous terrain on either side, and the occasional high meadow, the kind that elk and bison like (we saw neither, despite the warning signs). Toward Big Sky, Montana, (a major resort area) we began to see ski chalets, vacation homes, and some commercial establishments. Coming down out of the mountains on to dry, rolling prairie, we did a little grocery shopping for fresh fruits and veggies on the outskirts of Bozeman and picked up a small all-weather patio rug to lay outside the camper (a probably feeble attempt to keep dirty shoes--and paws--from tracking pine needles, dirt, and general grime into the camper).

North and east of Bozeman, we followed Montana 86 and US89 across another range of mountains and then broke out on to the high prairie again--cattle country, with semi-arid range, irrigated hay and grain fields, and snow-splotched mountains in the distance. And it’s true what the Montanans say: this is “Big Sky Country.” To save gas, and just to take it easy, we set the cruise control at 55 mph (the speed limit is 75) and crossing these great, gently rolling rangelands, we seemed to be suspended, nearly motionless, as the land and the sky go on endlessly.

After a gas stop and a stretch in White Sulphur Springs, we began a slow climb into the Little Belt Mountains, where there are numerous dry U.S. Forest service campgrounds (no hook-ups--pit toilets and a hand-pump water tap constitute the amenities, if you don’t count the scenery, which is considerable). We reached King’s Hill Pass Campground in time for a late lunch. Lunch turned into a long Charley walk, then a nap, then “Let’s stay here for the night.”