After that trip, I had a bit of momentum going. So, a few days later, we decided to go do some exploring for a few hours just outside of the town of Red Lodge. Red Lodge is one of my favorite haunts, and it boasts easy access to some truly amazing places.
I tried gaining access to the Glacier Lake hiking trail, which is on the end of the very scenic Rock Creek Road, but the road looked like this.
With the rising temperatures, the snow was getting crusty and sticky, so we decided to abandon our pursuit. Making our way back towards Red Lodge, we decided to make a shorter hike towards Greenough Lake and beyond to see what there was to see. The trail to Greenough itself is very short, only a quarter mile. But beyond, the scenery gets better and it's a nice hike through the woods.
We decided to stop at this viewpoint, which overlooks the rising Beartooth Plateau. we hung around for a little while, but soon had to turn back so we could make it home in time for people to scurry off to work.
About a week later, I was itching to get out again. I had read about a scenic dirt route between Big Timber and Livingston, MT that doubled the time it took to get there. Sounded right up my alley! While I was in the area, I had to check out the Main Boulder Road, the start of my favorite off road trail going up to Independence Mine. The valley is a very special place to me and to my soon-to-be wife, who tagged along for this run.
The Absaroka-Beartooth mountains rise up around you as you move into the valley. It feels like they're beckoning you back to a life of adventure and simplicity. I love it. After driving a ways into the valley, we happened upon a landmark that always had us curious. There's this bridge that goes over the Boulder River with no markings, no trail map, nothing. So we figured we needed to go see where it went.
Once across the bridge, we were immediately swallowed by the forest. It was a wonderful feeling. Unfortunately, we never found a trail marker or a sign of any kind, and had to head back to the truck.
Now for the fun part - the West Boulder/Swingley Road backcountry route to Livingston. I kind of knew about the existence of this road for a while, but never went looking for it until now. Now we had an afternoon to kill, an unexplored route, and plenty of gas. A perfect recipe for a great day trip! I turned off onto the West Boulder road and aired down.
The route itself is nothing difficult. Most cars will have no problem here. It's just a fun way to get into the backcountry and see some real Montana backroads. Airing down helps with the washboards but it isn't really necessary. The road really is a gem though.
It winds it's way through some great scenery. This particular offshoot takes you to a campground and the start of a hiking trail. It would be an awesome place to go fishing, as the river runs right by the campsites. The day was a bit damp though, so I saw a lot of this.
And, because we were in ranch country, a lot of these.
After enjoying the offshoot, we joined back up with the main road as the rain kept falling. We just sat back and took in the scenery.
Soon though, the dirt came to an end and we rejoined polite society before rolling into Livingston. This is a town that has taken me completely by surprise. I used to think Livingston was a boring, uninteresting, windy place that you passed through when you were on your way to Bozeman. Turns out, it's actually awesome. It sports a charming downtown district, lots of cool old homes, two (yes, two) breweries, and tons of great places to eat. Add in the cool little shops, a short drive to the Chico Hot Springs resort, and a slightly longer but even prettier drive to Yellowstone, and you've got the makings of one great place. To add to our list of Livingston visits, we pulled in to one of the coolest little places I've ever eaten.
This awesome little spot is Mark's In-And-Out Burger, a drive-up joint that has been in constant operation since the 1950's. Serving tasty 50's Americana wrapped in cheap paper, it's a must stop place in Livingston. We loved how tasty it was. And for two full meals, it was only $10.50! You can't even get that at most fast food joints anymore. This little burger shack will receive quite a few more visits to me before too long! While we were sitting out eating our burgers, a nicely-equipped UZJ100 rolled up for some dinner. Noticing my truck, he came over and we started to chat. We talked about places to go in the state, some of my mods, and various other things. Really nice guy.
To round out this visit, we popped in at one of the local breweries for a tasty pint. We sat and chatted for a little while to catch up to each other while enjoying one of Livingston's fine flavors. As we were sitting there, we hatched a plan to escape to Chico for a late afternoon dip in the naturally-fed pool. Trouble was, we didn't have any swimsuits. Lucky for us, Livingston has a perfect little cheap gift shop where we could pick up some low-brow swimwear and be on our way.
Chico is one of Montana's little secrets. This naturally-fed hot spring resort is in the heart of the aptly-named Paradise Valley, which forms the northern entrance (via Gardiner) to Yellowstone National Park. Chico has been used for countelss centuries as a place for people to relax in some naturally warm water. Eventually, it was bought from the local indigenous people and used as a resort. Then, during the early 1900's, Chico was purchased for the enormous sum of one cent. The buyer turned it into what it is today, and the rest is history. It's now one of our favorite haunts, and a great place to unwind while grabbing a beer from the poolside window.
We spent a few precious hours at Chico, enjoying the cool mountain air, fresh beer, and warm water before hitting the road and heading home. But not before talking about our next day trip.
