Visiting Friends in Ravalli County

On Thursday morning Thomas and I left West Yellowstone to head up to Stevensville to visit our friends (A.J. and Linda). Of course we wanted to letterbox along the way. Our first stop was just outside West Yellowstone at Fir Ridge Cemetery. We were searching for Batty Girl’s Blue Spruce letterbox. It was a quick and easy find! Thomas and I thought that the cemetery was a bit odd. It wasn’t the usually manicured cemetery. It was kind of overgrown and wild. It actually seemed more fitting than those overly trimmed ones. Now Thomas says I have to come and bury him here – I’m not sure, it is a very long way from Santa Fe. Instead of heading up Hwy 191 to I-90 we decided to take a more scenic route and headed northwest on Hwy 287. We followed the Madison River for most of the way – it was an absolutely beautiful drive. Although I was a little skeptical about our choice at first – we passed an area with signs for Avalanche Area and also passed Earthquake Lake. This didn’t seem like the place we wanted to be. Just joking – we really enjoyed the drive. Along the way we stopped in Cameron for the 45th Parallel Series – McAtee Bridge letterbox. Another quick and easy find. Eventually we made it to I-90 and found our way to Butte. We stopped again in Homestake – just a quick little detour off the interstate. We found the Homestake letterbox and then headed to Butte. We stopped at the Visitors Center to look for a box but we were unsuccessful. I wrote to the planter to see if it was missing or if we just missed it. But no word back as of yet. We continued on I-90 and made two more stops – one in Warm Springs (where we got three boxes – one was missing) and then in Drummond at a rest area (found one more box). Finally we arrived in Missoula and stopped for lunch. After lunch we called our friends to let them know we were about an hour away. We had found seven letterboxes so far and decided that we didn’t want to stop for anymore, so we headed down to Stevensville. We had a nice dinner and just sat out on the porch and talked – a nice evening and visit with A.J. and Linda.

Our goal for Friday was to see the Bitterroot Valley. A.J. wanted us to drive from Stevensville to Hamilton and stop along the way to try some letterboxes. We were also planning to meet his mother in Hamilton and then go to the Ravalli County Fair and Rodeo. We had an early lunch in Stevensville and then drove to Corvallis. This was to be our first stop for a letterbox. We needed to find some businesses in Corvallis to get the names and use certain letters from the names and find the location of the letterbox. Once we had the information we headed to the spot – unfortunately we didn’t find the box – I think it was missing because the area was totally clean – no rocks and no box. I wrote to the placer asking if it was missing but haven’t heard anything back yet. So since we didn’t find the letterbox we went for ice cream. I had a great Huckleberry Milkshake. So next we headed out to Soft Rock Road to find Heart of the Bitterroot letterbox. It was right where it should be but exposed. I saw it from the trail about 100 yards away. This was A.J.’s first letterbox. He seems interested but we will see. He and his Mom may get involved – they bought store stamps to start with and they have a copy of The Letterboxer’s Companion. We wanted to try for one more letterbox before heading to the Fair. We arrived at River Park in Hamilton and went on the hunt for Chocolate Moose. There are moose in this park at times but we didn’t see any while hunting for this box. We found the box, stamped in and then A.J. took us to a great little candy store. Not that we needed candy after the ice cream but we went anyway. After each getting a couple of pieces of chocolate we headed to the fair. We walked around for a little while and then stopped and watched a hypnotist. It was interesting – not sure if I really saw any of the participants go under fully – but it was entertaining. A.J.’s mom arrived and we made our way to the rodeo grounds. I haven’t been to a rodeo in a long time – it was enjoyable and I think that some of these guys that ride the bulls are truly insane. After the rodeo we went for a very late dinner and didn’t get back to the house until around midnight.
This morning we slept in and took our time getting ready. We had a quick and simple breakfast and watched a little of the U.S. Open. Around 11:30am we (A.J., Linda, Maggie, Thomas and myself) all jumped into the car and off we went. We decided that we were going to head to Lolo and go to the Lolo Hot Springs. And of course look for letterboxes along the way. So I had A.J. and his mom (Maggie) look at the clues and put them in order of our travel direction. So we stopped at the Florence Bridge Fishing Access. We found one letterbox by Storm Crow but we were unable to find a second one. We tried two spots and never found that box. So we moved on to our next area. We arrived at Fort Fizzle Historic Area and followed the clues. We got to the area and lifted the rock and no box. There was a hole that was imprinted with the shape of Tupperware but no box. I am pretty sure that we were in the right place. Now we were one for three. Our next stop was Elk Meadow. Again we found the spot and an impression where the box had been – we even found a broken off piece of the box but no box. We also found the skeleton of a deer about two feet from the hiding spot and then the fur and one leg about four feet from the spot. Not a very pleasant search. I had two new boxers with me and they were getting a little discouraged. But we kept plugging along. We arrived at Lee Creek Campground and searched for the next box – WooHoo! – we found another box. After stamping in we decided to do an exchange. We arrived at Lolo Hot Springs at 4:00pm. One more box before some relaxation. Just a short little walk up the road and we found out third box of the day. So we were only 50% for finds today. But I think the new boxers were happy with this. We all changed into our swimming suits and hit the hot springs. (*We spent about an hour and a half going back and forth between the hot bath and the pool. After changing we decided to stop for dinner and then head home. It was a little after 8:00pm and Thomas and I got our things packed and arranged since we leave early in the morning to make our way through Idaho and into Utah. Here it is after midnight and I am just finishing this entry. A.J. and Maggie seemed to be just as enthused about letterboxing as I am. Notice I said enthused and not obsessed – although I think the latter is probably more true) They asked so many questions and wanted to see how Atlas Quest and LbNA worked. It was all quite energizing and it was extremely nice to spend time with other people that were just as excited as I am about this hobby. Well I need some sleep so I can be alert on the drive tomorrow. Talk to you all soon!