Road Trip! Leg Two: Riggins to Missoula

The leg from Riggins to Missoula was another short hop- just a little over 4 hours. I have to say that of all the driving on the trip, this section was probably the most beautiful and enjoyable. I left Riggins with plenty of snacks in hand and recommendations about where to stop along the way. Following those pointers, I pulled over and checked out Wild Goose Campground along the highway and explored a bit at the top of Lolo Pass. 

Lolo pass is notable not just because of the scenic mountains, but because it was on the path of the Lewis and Clark expedition. There is a pretty big welcome center that is full of books and displays that detail the trip and the local area. Since I had the dogs in the car, I didn't spend too much time inside- I just wanted to inquire about the trails. Jim had mentioned that I could get on a trail at Lolo, so I asked the woman at the information desk about the trail. She told me that the loop was just about two miles but that there may still be snow. 

"Oh yeah," piped in some guy that was standing nearby. "There is still really deep snow. You wouldn't be able to get through the whole trail unless you had boots. It is up to your knees." He went on about this for a few minutes. I had my doubts about his description, but I figured that it wouldn't be worth changing into my running shoes. I headed out to the loop, and found that he was, in fact, being very dramatic. I find sort of discouragement is something that I encounter every so often from strangers. It wasn't that this man was trying to be discouraging, but perhaps that he was looking out for me, assuming that I am more delicate than I like to think that I am. I think women encounter this a lot. I know that I have on other occasions- checking my oil, etc. 

Wetland Trail on Lolo Pass

We did encounter snow on the trail, but because of the time of year, the spots that were covered on the trail had pretty dense snow, and I could easily walk across the top of it- in my Chacos. In fact, I decided to run the trail after all, and I give the Chacos an A+ for wearability for a 2 mile trail run. The trail was cool, but nothing crazy special since it was so short. The sky spit on my just slightly while I was out there, but it was great to see the big dark clouds going through the old burn on the hillside. The trail I ran is also used for snowshoeing in the winter, and I was thoroughly amused by how high the yellow trail markers were that lined the trail for that time of year. I would recommend this stop for anyone making the drive, if nothing else than for a little chance to stretch the legs. I would have checked out the welcome center a bit more if I didn't have the pups with me.

Cloudy skies, old burn. Beautiful.
Please note the little yellow sign that marks this as a snowshoe trail in the winter. 

Onward to Missoula! As I mentioned in an earlier post, Missoula was not quite on the route. However, I had heard great things about the city, and since it didn't add that much time, I thought it would be a worthwhile detour. I was planning on camping, and as my departure date got closer, I seriously considered rerouting because thunderstorms were predicted for the night that I would be in town. I was very fortunate, though, to have been offered another place to stay with a new friend from the NEW Leadership Idaho conference, Ellie. We made plans to meet for dinner downtown, so I got myself to the first trailhead I could to take my puppies out for a run. Especially at the beginning of my trip, I was very worried about their manners in strange places, so I wanted them to get some more exercise to be a bit more tired. 

I wouldn't mind living on that hillside. 

One of the reasons that it is nice to have a smartphone on a road trip (in addition to navigation, pandora, podcasts...) is that I was able to easily pull up a website that showed me local trails, so there was no time wasted in trying to figure that out. The Missoulian has a great site that allowed me to figure out where to go. I hopped onto the Mo Z trail and the Pengelly Trail on Mount Sentinel. We were all happy to be out of the car, and it was also a great place for me to scope out the city. At least from what I saw, something unique about Missoula is that it is a thriving city that is relatively isolated. Boise is a small city, but it sits in the valley with many other towns and cities nearby. Looking down on Missoula, it was just Missoula surrounded by mountains. My kinda place!

Stormy skies.

The clouds caught up with me again and it started to rain, but just for moments at a time. It was very enjoyable since I stay off our trails in Boise for trail preservation if there is any kind of moisture looming. It was very refreshing, and I could use some freshness after sitting in the car all afternoon.

Wildflowers.

After our run, I headed downtown to Tamarack Brewing Company where I met up with Ellie and her family. The place was bustling, but the beer, the food, and the company were lovely. We continued the talk from NEW Leadership about women and politics for a bit, which was also wonderful and refreshing for me in a different way. As a Women's Studies major living in Idaho, well, it gets a bit isolating sometimes. Ellie knows what that is like since she is a state representative in Montana. (She is also kind of a big deal, deemed as such by both myself and Time Magazine.) 

By the time we got back to Ellie's house by the University, it was already getting late. (By my old lady standards, it "gets late" at about 8:30 or 9.) I was pretty tuckered out, so I just shuttled the dogs into the guest room and hit the hay. Since Ellie's family has a cat, the dogs didn't really explore the house or really see much more than the guest room since I wanted to make sure that they didn't cause a ruckus. Jake and Gracie have not really had any experiences with cats, so they are very intrigued and get pretty excitable. However, they did see the cat on the way into the house and I am sure could smell it, so Gracie sat at the door and woke me up several times because she was whining. This is a pretty uncommon thing for her, and it prevented me from getting much sleep, despite my luxurious accommodations.

Missoula below the clouds. 

I love a dog-friendly city!

I got up in the morning feeling verrrrrrrrry sleepy, but I knew it was time to get moving. I took the dogs for a walk around downtown for about an hour and a half, giving me a little more time to see what this Missoula place had to offer. On Ellie's recommendation, we checked out the farmer's market. It was excellent, although, like the Boise market, it does not allow dogs. I was scolded by one of the vendors for having my dogs with me and hopped out to see it along the perimeter. (Later on my walk I did see a sign that no dogs are allowed due to the health code.) I will give it to Missoula, they do the farmer's market right.

Most of downtown still wasn't open, but I was able to get a good feel for the shops and restaurants. It is a neat little downtown, and other than the market, very dog-friendly. I did find myself getting a bit exasperated by my dogs that morning from being so sleepy. I was not at all looking forward to the long day of driving to my next destination. However, I had no choice! I got myself back to Ellie's and packed up my car to hit the road. I left around 9am with a seven hour drive ahead of me.

An interesting quote to ponder on my great American road trip.

Missoula was great, and I wish I had more time to explore and experience it. I will have to head back there sometime in the near future. For the second night in the row, I had wonderfully gracious hosts and didn't yet have to sleep in my tent on the ground, though that would come in time.


Next leg: Missoula to Custer National Forest!