Day 11 - Theodore Roosevelt NP to Aspen Grove CG, Helena NF, MT

Long, windy drive to Montana

Since we had an appointment at Creston RV in Kalispell on Friday to get Speedy's macerator pump replaced, we couldn't stay more than overnight at Theodore Roosevelt NP. We had been here once before and loved the park, a true under-visited gem. It would have been nice to explore a bit more but maybe nicer to have a working macerator pump in Alaska!

We rose early though ... about 4 am. We had another early appointment, this time with Sharp-tailed Grouse. There is a lek several miles from the campground, right next to the road. The male grouse come out onto the lek, an open area, to puff themselves up, bellow and dance around trying to attract mates. This only happens just before sunrise. Sunrise was at 5:02 am this morning. We brought Sally along in Speedy; Harry wasn't interested in seeing "Dancing Chickens".

We found the lek, saw the grouse, about a dozen males. They did their performance and when the sun rose, they disappeared into the grass. We headed back to the campground, stopping at a stunning scenic overlook which looked down onto a river and the light was illuminating the hills across valleys filled with fog. There were also quite a selection of birds in the trees, giving Ellen and Sally nice morning lists.

After breakfast, we broke camp and took the most direct route to Kalispell, Montana. We basically drove to the relatively close Montana border and took Montana Route 200 as far as we could. We stopped in the very small town of Sand Springs for lunch. There are no springs at Sand Springs but there is a store with a post office and the store makes quite good milk shakes (actually almost all ice cream).

We continued on as far as Lincoln, MT. We were hoping to stop at the town campground, because it had showers, which we had not had in a few days. The showers and restrooms at Hooper Park in Lincoln MT were not there. The facilities were being rebuilt and not only were the showers gone, but the restrooms had been replaced by porta-potties and there was no electricity at the sites either. We decided not to stay.

With a bit of backtracking, we came to a nice riverside campground, Aspen Grove, in Helena National Forest. It was a US Forest Service campground and had large, level sites surrounded by trees with the river in the background. It also had very good clean-tasting water. We had added water to Speedy's tanks at Theodore Roosevelt and found that it didn't taste very good. Considering that we had only added a few gallons, it was a surprise at how metallic the taste had become. H&S had done the same. Since now had a really good water supply, we both drained our fresh water tanks and refilled them. It was a marked improvement.

It was a long drive and, after a quick dinner and a short stroll around the campground, we were in bed long before the sun set.

Travel Details
541 miles
12:42 hrs:min.