Wednesday July 27, Near Ashton ID

After two days and one night in Montana we are back in Idaho, quite sorry to leave Montana though. We saw many huge ranches and farmland with views that went on forever, only stopped by huge snow topped mountain ranges. Crossing the border into Idaho this afternoon the change was immediate, we were in forested country and the farmlands had vanished. It has been a really great day, have seen a number a small extremely interesting towns and tonight are staying in a wonderful Forestry Camp on Warm Creek, a side road not far from Ashton. The gently flowing stream is right beside our big mown camp area and it has a concrete pad….all for $13! There are lots of family groups camping here and children are playing in the stream….a real happy place.

Had thought we would have a look around Dillon before we left this morning, but sadly not much to see, this really is a service centre for the ranches, with quite a number of farm supply stores and machinery suppliers and not much else.

Came through some old gold mining areas with piles of untidy tailings and then we arrived at Nevada City, an unexpected surprise. What a fascinating little place, a true authentic old gold mining village, everything was preserved and not restored. The museum gave us a chance to walk through the old streets and check out the homes and businesses that were operating in the late 1800’s during the gold rush. Inside the museum they had a collection of more than 20 Wurlitzer style organs…not quite your style Dr Deano!! Probably one of the better museums we have been in, it is run by the state. Interestingly about a mile up the road was the town of Virginia City, another gold mining town but it has been over commercialised with lots of tourist shops and entertainment. Thankfully we stopped at the previous one.

Just before leaving Montana we arrived at the town of Ennis….wondering what it was with a strange name like that. Highly surprised to find that it was a thriving little town in the centre of a huge fly fishing area on the world famous Madison River. There were lots of sports stores as well as plenty of shops for those not interested in fishing! Even some really good galleries which I enjoyed browsing through. In fact this whole area right up to the border and through to Idaho has many rivers full of fishermen. We were on the edge of West Yellowstone but as we had been through there in 2009 decided not to revisit. As we came south we could see the Grand Tetons in the distance, we have been on the east side and tomorrow looking forward to seeing them from this side. The road was pretty busy so we detoured around a loop side road, great scenery and finding this wonderful campspot.