Flathead Reservation

So, we had to cancel our trip to South Dakota and it took twelve days to get Clementine road ready. We just couldn't let the Fall pass without some kind of adventure. We decided to make the Flathead Reservation and the Mission Valley our destination. We are very glad we did!

The Flathead Indian Reservation is home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. The tribes are a combination of the Salish, the Pend d'Oreille and the Kootenai. Of the approximately 7,753 enrolled tribal members, about 5,000 live on or near the reservation. It covers over one million acres.

The Flathead Reservation is somewhat unusual, least wise in our experience, in that more white people live on the reservation than Native Americans. If you are interested in how this came to be check out this check out this article in the Missoulian.

Highway 93 runs through the reservation, down to 90 and Missoula and is really the only way to get anywhere if you hail from our part northwest Montana. Kinsey has been traveling down that stretch of road for 15 years and really never thought of the area as anything but a place to drive through. We found out on this adventure we were very wrong about that.

Much of the reservation is in the Mission Valley. The Mission Mountain Range is one of our favorites. You will also find the National Bison Range and Ninepipes Wild life Refuge. If you are a nature and wildlife lover you will love them both.

Mission Mountain Range as viewed from Ninepipes

We also visited the towns of Polson, Ronan and St. Ignacius.

The next few posts I will be going into more detail of each of the places we visited.

Ciao for now,
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard

A Major Disappointment

We were all set to meet our little sponsoree Lakna's Liberty at the Black hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

Lakna's Liberty

 
Rather than re-invent the wheel Kinsey has written all about it on her blog The Liberated Photographer.

Some things are meant to be and some are not.

Ciao for now,
Molly Montana

Hiking Red Canyon-Gallatin National Forest Montana

So, Kinsey unfurled her monster map, (see my previous post by clicking here) of the Gallatin NF and plotted a plan to hike the Red Canyon trail. Seriously, there was no room for me in the RV when she had that map open.

Gearing up to travel

Each year Kinsey tries to take at least two trips in our RV which she calls Clementine. Here in Montana there are only six months to get the trips in, if you are lucky. Kinsey prefers to get the trips in before the tourists arrive and after they thin out. Our spring trip this year was to St. Mary on the Blackfeet Reservation and in July we took a quick trip to the Blackfeet Pow Wow in Browning. This is the first in a series of posts recounting our experiences on the trip we just finished to Yellowstone and the Tetons.

The Eagle Has Landed

Well, Kinsey and I have landed. Which means we made it home from our latest adventure.

We had a super duper time of it. I think Kinsey is a little pooped out. I'm not a lot of help accept for supervision and getting under foot. This was my longest road trip ever and I'm beginning to appreciate that solo RV'ing is a lot of work. Thank goodness Kinsey really loves it despite the work and responsibility. The old girl is pretty handy I'll grant her that.

Our trip took us down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We mostly just drove through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. US national parks don't allow dogs on the trail so we explored the surrounding national forests. What adventures we did have. We even met a movie star fly fishing on the Madison River in Montana.

So, stay tuned. I kept notes on all our travel experiences and as soon as Kinsey recovers I'll be after her to process the photos of our trip so I can show you as well as tell you about all the cool stuff we saw and experieinced.

The below photo is just one I got her to do for me. It's a picture of our rig at the Yellowstone Holiday RV park on Hebgen Lake in Montana. It was a very cool place to end our trip. We were right on the water!

Clementine (Winnebego View) & Shadow (Ford Focus) on Hebgen Lake, Montana

The photo was taken at sunrise. I don't seem to be in it so I musta still been snoozing.

Ciao for now.
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard