Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A couple day trips

It's vacation week for Ann and me. We decided to have a bit of fun before tackling any projects. Yesterday, we headed down to Boulder and poked around town a bit. Then we took the old Whitetail Road south to Whitehall. (The kids will remember kamikaze sledding on the Whitetail Road.)

After lunch in Whitehall, we headed west to Pipestone. We found the old V Club building, where my Whistlin' Dixie band played a few New Year parties. After that, we headed into the hills to find the Ringing Rocks. What a cool place -- it's a BIG pile of BIG rocks. Okay, not that unusual for Montana, but when you hit any one of most of these rocks (we brought hammers), they ring! They have various tones and pitches, and some sound like a big bell. Here's Ann at the top of the heap.



We took another trip today, with the first leg being Helena to Canyon Ferry on the Missouri. We took a jog up Hellgate Gulch to look at the Indian pictographs. Then we went up Confederate Gulch. (Ann wasn't at the family reunion last year, and it has been a few years since she and I visited the area.)

We spent a bit of time at the Diamond City townsite, then continued up the gulch. Two new mining sites are underway, both within a couple miles of the old town site -- more activity than I've ever seen in Confederate Gulch. Unfortunately, we didn't bring a camera with us.

We proceeded on, over the top into Benton Gulch, down past Fort Logan and into White Sulphur Springs, where we paid a visit to the cemetery. We also paid a visit to the new homestead of Mike and Laura Kakuk, friends from Helena. They "bought the farm" this summer -- an old, rambling house just southwest of town. It started as the county poor farm, became the Castle Mountain Rest Home, then Foxwood B&B. At least, those are the phases I know about. We had the tour and a visit, then headed back to Helena. Nice day, although chilly and windy.

1 comment:

Jan said...

It sounds like you guys crammed alot into just two days. I thought you were going to camp!! You will have to take Marc and me to the Singing Rocks - that looks cool! We owe you dinner so when we are finally settled in town, we will call!!