We had a beautiful pass from south to north in Montana. Good people, good times, good campsites and great scenery! Here is the route we traveled as we passed through Montana.
After a great hike in Green Canyon, Idaho we crossed into Montana. Our posting on the MTWesty Facebook page for van owners in Montana had produced some great leads for places to stay and people to meet. But first we wanted to check out the only wooden hot pool in Idaho.
Norris Hot Springs is nestled in a beautiful canyon with a warm, brushy green creek running though it. The new campground offered a bargain for van campers with no hook-ups ($22) and included hot showers and a mosquito-free evening.
As we headed towards our first Montana host in Bozeman we encountered a VW Vanagon on a small pull out area near a river.
Camp Haggerty-Fitterer was on farmland just outside Bozeman with the most wonderful people we could have asked for!
After Bozeman we drove north towards some tourist tips that we received from the amazing and adored sister, Jessica. Do you remember her? We posted about her approx. a year ago when she and Mom (insert angel) flew to Minnesota as a surprise.
Her first tourist suggestion was located in Great Falls, Montana. This is a “working city” with an industrial edge to it including refineries, casinos and pawnshops. But this stop was a bit quirky, because there in the heart of town is a motel with a tiki-bar inside. And in that tiki-bar are mermaids! Yep, the mermaids of Montana.
The next suggestion was the fascinating town of Havre, Montana. This train town has an interesting history. The original inhabitants (Native peoples) used the nearby cliffs as “buffalo jumps”. This bloody history was a way for a tribe to slaughter a large number of animals in a short amount of time by driving the herd off the edge of a ledge. The bones and artifacts are on display in a small museum. Havre also supports a significant population of Hutterites who populated the little farmers market we stumbled upon. These folks wore traditional farm wear and spoke an interesting dialect of German-American. We had to buy some Hutterite banana bread and radishes.
What really drew us to Havre was the Underground Tour. It was a fascinating hour-long stroll through the passageways and businesses that once operated under the streets of Havre. The tour included a stop at the post office, mercantile, bordello, dentist office, barber, and many more displays.
One of our Arizona Vanagon Owner friends was in the area of Glacier National Park so we headed over to meet up. We camped on the banks of a stream, but the weather was cold the next morning. Mango secured a warm spot inside Anna’s jacket.
On the other side of Glacier NP we stopped in Whitefish for a meeting with another van owner. This pretty, little air-cooled van looked great posing next to Alta in the street.
After Montana we would be crossing into Canada, but we weren’t quite ready to do that yet. So we found a campsite up a winding road in the National Forest of Eureka, Montana.
As it turned out, our campsite was about 150 yards from the Canadian border.
The next morning we met our hiker-friend for breakfast in town and then crossed the border into Canada. Within 15 miles of the border we watched a dog dodge traffic on the highway and we pulled over to help her. Once she was safely off the road and calmed down, Geneva clipped on a leash. As she led the black dog to a dirt road to check tags and make phone calls, another dog stepped out of the trees!
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