LONE MOUNTAIN RANCH - WRAP UP - Feb 8 through 12, 2025

 OUT OF THE MOUNTAINS, INTO THE FROZEN BANANA BELT

Friday night Karen got a text message from the ranch staff asking us to leave the bathroom sink and shower faucets open slightly for the entire night. This was due to expected single digit temperatures overnight.

As predicted, it was cold that night. In the morning, after Karen had her coffee, we bundled up for the walk to breakfast and then checked out of our cabin. The snow vehicle picked up Karen and our luggage and headed down to the Outpost to wait for our shuttle bus.

It was clear and cold as we rode along the Gallatin River down out of the mountains and north toward the Bozeman Airport. At one point, we passed a hardy group of people standing in the river in waders doing some fly fishing. This was an activity Karen had been interested in doing when we were first planning the trip. After seeing those folks through the bus window, she said she was glad she decided not to go fishing this week.

It was 8 degrees when we got to the airport. It was even colder inside the parking structure when we went to get into our rental car. They had washed the car shortly before we got it and the doors had already frozen shut. Our glasses had fogged/frozen and it was nearly impossible to see anything in the dim light of the parking garage. We finally got the doors open and loaded our luggage. Then, we sat in the car for about 15 or 20 minutes hoping the engine would warm up enough to get the heater going. We never had these issues come up on our trips to Maui!

Out on the road, we headed west on I-90 for the 200 mile trip to Missoula Airport. For as far as we could see, there was a blanket of snow covering everything. The landscape remained this way for the remainder of our trip.

The interstate takes you up into the Deerlodge National Forest near the city of Butte. Beautiful snowy cliffs lined the highway as we gained elevation. 

Later, the road drops down toward Anaconda, where you can see an enormous towering structure off in the distance to the west. This is the site of the old Anaconda Copper Company smelting smokestack. It was operational for most of the early part of the 20th century and is now a State Park. This thing is taller than the Washington Monument. We didn’t get a snapshot, but there are good pictures on the internet.

It was getting near dusk when we pulled into Missoula Airport. The place looked deserted. The car rental office is, basically, a beefed up tent out in the parking lot. When we walked over to the terminal building, we were the only persons in it. I guess there aren’t many flights scheduled on Saturday nights around here. We’ve never had this happen before at LAX.

My brother and sister-in-law (Jeff and Joanna) met us at the airport to take us to their house for the next few days. They moved from Grass Valley, CA to Victor, MT a couple years ago and this was our first trip to see their new home.

Victor is in the Bitterroot Valley. The Bitterroot River flows north through the valley, which is bordered on the west by the Bitterroot Mountains and to the east by the Sapphire Mountains. This region is often called the ‘banana belt’ of Montana because of its relatively warmer climate, when compared to the rest of the state. For this week, at least, the only bananas around here were going to be of the frozen variety. The forecast was for steadily declining temperatures all week.

The drive south down Highway 93 was beautiful. Everything was covered in cold and dry powdery snow. When we got to the house, Joanna fed us some great homemade stew along with Jeff’s home baked sourdough bread - we were still living the resort lifestyle!

We stayed indoors on Sunday to rest and to watch the Superbowl game. On Monday we took a drive up to Stevensville and through the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge. During the warmer months, this flood plain along the Bitterroot River is teeming with migrating birds and other wildlife. On this day, with single digit temperatures and a cool breeze, there were just a few deer out for a stroll.

Back at the house we had outstanding views of the snow covered mountains from the warm comfort of the living room. We got in some good competitive card games in the evening.

On Tuesday we drove south to Darby for brunch at the historic 406 Saloon/Big Cat Cafe. Then we checked out a local sporting goods shop.

From there, we continued south on Highway 93 past the Chief Joseph Ranch - better known as the Dutton Ranch in the popular T.V. show, ‘Yellowstone’.

We drove as far south as Sula, where Jeff and Joanna have camped in their R.V. It is quite scenic at this time of year, but it’s definitely not camping weather.

On the way back north we passed through the town of Hamilton. There we saw another, but much smaller smokestack along the road. At about 150 feet tall (as opposed to the more than 500 feet of the Anaconda stack), it was built in the early 20th century to service a sugar beet factory that went bankrupt before it could open. As a local newspaper put it: “What was once meant to stand as a beacon to progress now stands as an icon to unrealized dreams.”  Hey, I’m not just blowing smoke - now, no more talk about smokestacks!

Jeff and I took a little hike from his house over to the Bitterroot River about a quarter mile through the deep snow. It was so cold and dry that the snow had the consistency of sugar. My toes had the consistency of little kernels of frozen corn.

The temperature continued to drop and by Tuesday night it was going to be minus 12 degrees. We had a nice fire, a great dinner and more fun playing cards that night. The next day, we flew back home to the first temperatures above freezing we had experienced in more than a week. The next morning, Jeff sent us a screenshot of his home weather station showing the morning temperature in his yard: minus 20 degrees!

Our stay in Victor was a great way to finish off a wonderful winter trip. Many thanks to Jeff and Joanna for their hospitality. We look forward to returning when the  grass turns green and the Montana flowers bloom.