Corps of Discovery Trip - Day 15 - June 4, 2026

 INTO THE FOREST; INDOOR MINING; UPTOWN BUTTE

The most important meal of the day is breakfast. That’s why we’ve been loading up every morning with lots of food to fuel our daily activities. Today, we started out at the Blacksmith Grill in old town Anaconda. We had, appropriately enough, the Smelterman’s Breakfast. If you’re ever in town, try their stuffed huckleberry pancakes.

By the way, there are some things that just let you know you’re not in your hometown eatery.

Later, we drove up Highway 1, which is known as the Pintler Veterans Memorial Scenic Highway. It enters the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and follows Silver Lake Springs Creek up into a valley between the Pintler Mountains and the Flint Creek Mountains. It climbs quickly up to Georgetown Lake, which is formed by the Flint Creek Dam.

From there, the road descends steeply through a very narrow and twisty canyon along Flint Creek. Sorry, no opportunity for photos with each of us using both hands to hang on through here.

It’s really a very beautiful drive all the way down and into the cattle and sheep ranches in the Flint Creek Valley.

This led us to the historic town of Philipsburg, where Karen became a miner-for-day.

We visited a shop that specializes in sapphire jewelry. But, they also offered us greenhorn city folks a chance to do some mining - indoor style.

They have an active mining operation about 25 miles west of town. They bring in dozens of small bags of soil from their mine and sell them in their store. Naturally, we bought one.

Karen, and her personal mining assistant, Charlie, opened the bag and used a sifter to start the process.

Once this is done, the heavier sapphires go to the bottom of the sifter. You invert the sifter and slam it down on your sorting table. Then, you start picking out the gems. They look kind of like pieces of sea glass.

After you think you’ve picked them all out, you go back and sift again. And, you find some more.

Once your claim has ‘played out’, it’s time to go to the assayer to see what you’ve got. In this case, Shirley (co-owner of the business and a former mine manager) sat down with Karen to evaluate her treasure.

Shirley separated the rocks into three groups: plain gravel, sapphires that have cracks, and sapphires that can be processed/cut into gems.

Of the 10 carats of sapphires Karen found, about 4 carats (equal to five of the little stones) were suitable for further processing.

Needless to say, Karen will be receiving some processed and cut gems in the mail in several weeks - just in time for her birthday. By the way, sapphires are her birth stone.

As if that isn’t enough, right next door to the sapphire shop is one of the biggest candy stores I’ve ever seen.

This afternoon’s activity went a long way toward making Karen forget about her aching feet and legs from yesterday’s hike.

Back on the road again, we made a quick stop at the historic Montana State Prison.

Then, it was into historic Uptown Butte for dinner at Sean O’Donnell’s Irish Pub. They apparently started their business in Everett, WA, so we thought it would be fitting to eat here since we began our trip in Everett.

NEXT: Travel to Bozeman, MT

Corps of Discovery Trip - Day 14 - June 3, 2026

 REST DAY & SOME MORE HIKING, TOO

After breakfast in nearby Anaconda, we visited the Anaconda Stack State Park. Back in February of 2025, we saw the stack towering over the frozen landscape of Montana as we drove west on I-90.

When I learned there was a state park dedicated to the stack, I put it on our to-do list for this trip. For such a large structure (it is taller than the Washington Monument), it has the world’s smallest state park. There is a parking lot with room for maybe 10 cars and a viewing platform area of a quarter acre. To be fair, the site of the stack is so polluted with the residue of chemicals related to many years of copper smelting, that the park is more than a mile from the stack. For anyone interested in learning more about this roadside curiosity, the internet can help expand your horizons. For now, here are some photos.

After being in the car all day yesterday, Karen said that a little walk would be a good way to stretch our legs. She did some research and found a trailhead to a small waterfall nearby. Still giddy from all we’d just learned about the copper smelting process, we jumped into the car.

We drove on some county roads up into the surrounding hills past cattle ranches and small herds of horses. 

Soon, the road narrowed and eventually became unpaved as we gained elevation into a canyon lined with very tall rocky cliffs rising nearly 3000’ on either side. Cottonwood trees, aspen trees, and pine trees provided a canopy as we made our way. The last part of the road followed Lost Creek.

We spoke to a state park ranger, who said it was a short walk of about one mile to the falls from the parking area. He did say there was some uphill walking, but nothing serious.

For us flat landers, the 6000’ elevation of the trailhead was something we noticed as soon as we walked uphill. The trail was well marked and it, too, followed the cool waters of Lost Creek through the forest.

It was about 1.7 miles to the waterfall, and most of the way it was uphill. 

Note the way this rock seems to have a map of a mythical ancient world printed on it (I hope you’re ‘lichen’ it as much as I did!).

Nevertheless, we both made it up and back.

We took a quick drive through Anaconda (because we heard there was another courthouse there?) to see the Deer Lodge County Seat and other sights.

NEXT: More exploring 

Corps of Discovery Trip - Day 13 - June 2, 2026

RIVERS, ROADS and…MORE ROADS -LONG DAY, SHORT BLOG 

Highway 12, between Lewiston, Idaho and Missoula, MT, has to be one of the most scenic roads I’ve driven. Within the first 20 miles east of Lewiston, you’re already beginning a gentle climb into the mountains and forests of north central Idaho.

The road features several spots where the Corps of Discovery came through. It also has a river running along it the entire distance from Lewiston to where we turned off of I-90 near Anaconda, MT. This makes for stunning scenery, especially in the narrow canyon sections leading up to the Lolo Pass.

From Lewiston to Orofino, Highway 12 runs along the Clearwater River. Orofino is the site of the so-called Canoe Camp.  This is where the exhausted and sick corps came down from the Weippe Prairie after surviving a grueling trek over the Bitterroot Mountains. Members of the Nez Perce tribe showed them how to use fire to help quickly hollow out logs to make five dugout canoes. This allowed them to continue westward on the Clearwater River.

East of here, the highway begins to follow the Lochsa River for several miles. It appears to be a popular whitewater rafting location, based on our sighting of several kayakers descending the river.

We made a quick rest stop at the rustic Lochsa Lodge in Powell, ID.

Our next stop was at Lolo Pass, where there is a monument to the Nez Perce commemorating the sad ‘clash of cultures’ that led to the forcible removal of the tribe from their homeland in the late 1870’s. There is also a plaque honoring author and historian, Stephen Ambrose, whose book “Undaunted Courage” helped popularize the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The visitor center was closed, but a local resident was there to greet us.

Lolo Pass is the border between Idaho and Montana.

Going down Highway 12 from Lolo Pass, the road follows Lolo Creek. The topography changes from mountain forest to rolling ranch land. At this time of year everything is green. 

Our last stop was at Traveler’s Rest State Park, where Lolo Creek joins the Bitterroot River and where Highway 12 meets Highway 93. Lewis and Clark camped here on both their westbound and eastbound trips.

We followed the Bitterroot River north up Highway 93 into Missoula, where we caught I-90 east and followed the Clark Fork River through green rolling hills to our hotel. We lost an hour by crossing into Mountain time, so it was a late dinner tonight. Luckily (?), it stays light until well after 9:00pm, so the bleary-eyed blogger can meet his deadline.

NEXT: Some sightseeing