Friday, July 21st – Thursday, July 27th
Lincoln Road RV Park, Helena, Montana
On our drive out of Glacier National Park we drove back
mountain roads so that we could see the beautiful scenery. We passed by several lakes,
among them Seeley Lake, which was beautiful. We could see the Mission Mountains
in the background. We also passed through Lincoln Montana where there were fires
in the mountains of that area. Lincoln is also the location of the 5.8
earthquake that struck on July 6th.
We finally arrived in Helena Montana and checked in at the
Lincoln Road RV Park, which is north of the city. The next morning we headed
into the city to the visitor center. This was located in a very historic area
of Helena called Reeders Alley. This was the location where the original gold
miners discovered gold in the gulch in Helena at the base of the mountain.
These four miners had had found no gold throughout the Northwest, but on their
way heading back East they said they would take one “ last chance”. They
stopped at a creek at the base of Helena Mountain and found their gold. This
was the beginning of the gold rush for this city and the founding of the city
of Helena. Many other gold miners headed to Helena for their fortunes. At one
time there were over 100 millionaires in the growing city, thus the city has a
whole neighborhood of historic mansions. Remaining up in the gulch, which is
now named “Last Chance Gulch”, are the remnants of the miners original stone
cabins, which they abandoned once they made their millions. This city is filled
with so much history and eventually became the state capital.
We also found major mountain biking trails on Mount Helena
which we enjoyed on three different days. The trails were well designed and a
lot of fun, and provided fantastic views down into the Helena Valley.
Just seven miles north of the city the Missouri River flows
through the mountains. When Lewis and Clark came this way along the Missouri,
they named this the "Gates of the Mountains" as the canyon walls were very high
and as they approached the canyon it looked like the rock walls were gates opening
to the river. There was a beautiful lake there with a very nice marina and a
lot of boating activities.
One day we decided to take the tourist trolley around Helena
to see all the sights and learn a little bit more about the history of this
city. It was very enjoyable to see the mansions and all the major buildings,
and listen to the guide tell us more about how the city developed over the
decades. After the trolley tour Kurt and I went into the State Capitol
building and walked around on a self-tour. It is actually quite a beautiful
building inside and out, again there was more historic information in the
capitol.
Kurt took the dogs on a hiking excursion one afternoon along
the Missouri River, the poor boys had been stuck in the camper and didn’t have
any place to really run. They all three had fun on the hike.
We got lucky again, the Last Chance Stampede Rodeo and Fair was
that weekend. We were able to attend the rodeo on the first night of events. It
was so exciting to see great PRCA cowboys, the patriotism and excitement of a
true Western rodeo.
We really enjoyed the city of Helena and hope that we can
come back here someday. We have so much fallen in love with Montana. We will
consider coming back here to spend some of our summers, maybe rotating summers with
the mountains in North Carolina and Virginia.
Looking forward to our next stop in Billings Montana. We
hear that it is a big city, with some great mountain biking. We will see!
