In Hot Water

 Having already  been to 2 of the 17 developed Hots Springs in our area we decided that touring all them might just be a fulfilling experience and we ended up this week at White Sulphur Spring where we had been in 2013 driving the back roads to visit Max in Minnesota. Being kinda social and having nobody to talk with except the MPeasy we adopted some Russian Old Believers that had been to Oregon for a wedding...they were quite impressed that MP recognized the womens hats as not being Amish, Hutterite  or Mennonite . Now this Hot Springs has all it takes to comfort the weary soul. The water is 102 Fahrenheit and is full of minerals, Chloride, Sulfate, Biocarbonate, Nitrate, Lithium, Sodium and Potassium, Magnesiam Iron and Alumina as well as silica...Man oh man.

 

We had been up to Cascade to help a my buddy paint another buddies cabin on....The Missouri River. Now, after being on the Kenai for a lifetime it's hard to be to impressed. The Bitteroot here in Hamilton just ain't working for me, if you can't power up a boat in it I'm not it's guy. But this stretch of the Missouri is impressive and I finally found my interest perked.  And let me tell you there's some revenue going on here...and I like that of course. In a 5 hour morning I watched at least 30 or 40 driftboats float by, spaced out and fishing well. There was a really good seem just off shore from me that I wondered why nobody was on when finally this boat took up station and was rewarded with a double hook up. The trout looked to be about 20 inches.

Looking up the river and across. We actually went east to get away from the smoke and you can certainly see it in the color values of my pics. Finally over the weekend a front came in and changed the air flow from California and our smoke is better...Kinda makes ya wonder just what else 2020 might have in store for us...or are we running out of disasters. ? 

After I fished at sun up that morning I walked back along the river and came across this pond refection. Now it ain't a smoking volcano at sunset or a foggy Kenai morning but I think it's pretty darn nice...And, we're about to experience something that is very rare in Alaska...a thing call Fall, you know Autumn. MP used to say that in Alaska there are two seasons, this winter and next winter. But here we have the month of October with 60's and 70's forecast.

We were up in that neck of the woods to be with my friend Curt. He's had one of those convergence's that this ol world will throw every so often and I've been concerned for him. My friend Chris a few years ago while working through a similar string of gut wrenching sadness told me that the lord never gives you more than you can handle...I hope that's true and all I can do is be here for you buddy .💚 Here's a pic of MP and Curt, a couple of the best people I've ever known.

Shortly after we arrived here at the Mile 14 USA Bureau we went searching for some close by big water. Lake Como is only 10 miles away and it is gorgeous....but...that day in July that we were there it was just boat goofy. I mean there were some fishing boats and if they were ALL fishing boats I'd like that and we could make magic. But there were water ski boats, pontoon boats and I just don't get it but big ocean going glass touring boats with people just riding around....I mean once around the lake and walla, you've seen it all . Is it going to change the next time around at 40 MPH ? I don't think so, slow down go fishing is my advice.

That's how the lake looked from the overlook. Now in July there wasn't so much bank that you notice below tree line in that pic. Turns out the lake is an impoundment and levels fluctuate with demand. So, this September day the only boats were kyaks...Now I'm known as a pretty good low water guy, I know my boats and am in tune with my environment but this launch is waaaaaay to long for retired guide #003...it just plane ol won't work...

So in Jethronian style I was thinking about my other hobby and the possibilities of Marine Salvage with the low water. After all those speed boat guys must lose stuff out of their boats, in fact I bet things get blown out of the boats so I was kinda doing a preliminary grid search when I came across these alien submerged  circles or ???? Could it really be ? There's a lot of unknowns here in Moooontana, hay circles and cattle mutilations, BigFoot and now... 

There was just one guy fishing so I watched for a bit and as has happened many times in my life just as I was questioning his fishing skills based on his body language and the fact that his casts looked like he was throwing a shot put...he caught a fish . So I had to ask, a nice rainbow after an hour of throwing. I can do that although lately MP has been saying that I very well could have completely emptied my inventory of fishing ju-ju and may never catch another fish ...we'll see about that MPeasy.

And on the Kevin-o-meter here's pic of the Yellowstone guys building a set on @nd Street here in Hamilton Montana. They've  transformed a Law office into The Montana Cattle Association and today will be shooting street scenes. We're going to check on the progress when we walk in a couple hours and then my strategy for fame...It has to be real looking so they are going to shoot scenes with local traffic so all I have to do is drive around town for a while....So keep an eye out in sthe series for that old White Chevy with Alaska plates...

" Dry land is not a myth ! "

 Next time I bump into Kevin that's what I'm going to tell him....The Rocking Y here is huge, and I mean huge. Unlike the reality TV that was filmed in Alaska with two camera's, a fake Alaskan and a guy with a deep voice this is the real deal. Alaska paid expenses for these guys and of course that's a long gone benefit, Montana just helps, security , logistics etc...Everywhere we go we see the Rocking Y people.

You can tell they're paying their own way . In Alaska it was the Captain Cook Hotel at the States expense. When we first saw the rented building in Hamilton as me and MPeasy walked and analyzed we thought maybe 50 to a hundred people were at work on Yellowstone, well after bumping into them shooting film at 4 different locations as we drove to the Big Hole area to spend a retreat at Jackson Hot Springs I now would expect the number is three to four hundred people working on the series.

Here's a few pics. The base camp in Darby I clicked at 60 mph. Then you can see the boom equipment set up at a rest area. I didn't want to act like the paparazzi that I'm turning into so we passed up many good shots. We came across one highway pull out where they were filming on dirt that had been hauled in to cover the asphalt but the coolest was down by Wisdom where they had the fanciest stock trucks you could find lined up with cowboys and a super cool blacked out Helicopter....which flew over the hot springs for us about cocktail hour. We all waved at Kevin and he waved back.

MP is a smart girl. She knew I could use a diversion as I was once again thinking too much....way too much. So, she knew just the right place for a retreat. We drive up Lost Trail pass and hang a louie then into the Big Hole Valley and through Wisdom and check into a suite at Jackson Hot Springs which is really the only thing in Jackson....and it's super cool. The rumor is that Lewis and Clark cooked Elk steaks in the hot waters which bubble to the surface everywhere to this day. As we hiked in the morning you could see the steam everywhere and when I felt the ground water it was surprisingly hot....this cow is living good, the creek is 90 degrees .

Here's a couple shots , the building that has it all, hot pool, bar,  restaurant and shuffle board table.. Then you can see how small the town is, no stop signs , no nothing....the hot springs a few houses and a farm equipment repair shop.

The water is 102 degrees year around. The pool is kinda rustic, you can see it had a roof over at one time that rusted out and then  removed with a hot wrench and a crane.  Like most of these places we've found through the years the place had a lot of corrosion that just goes with warm mineral water...it felt great, especially in the morning when we woke up to 38 degrees, Jackson is at an incredible 6400 feet of elevation.

So with hot water , a huge hamburger while we watched the Kansas city football game along with a couple Pacifico's I slept the best in months. The next morning we tried to get our walk in but it was a struggle to get our three miles....the problem was kinda weird, you don't realize how long three miles is until you get somewhere there's no place to go. So we had breakfast at the Hot Springs because if you want breakfast it's the only place and then decided we'd drive through the scenic by way at Polaris and up to Wise River....The place is great and we'll be back to play more Pac-Man...this machine had actual scores on it form 1980 and 1981. Wow, they told me I'd have flashbacks someday and they were finally right ! It was sooooo cool.

As life works out in Jeff's world just 30 miles from our new favorite place we find another Hot Springs tucked away in the woods. I thought the last one was rustic but the Elkhorn Hot Springs wins in that category... I told the folks we'll be back in a couple weeks and bring the guitar.

And a couple pics of the scenery on the By Way....hardly any traffic and the people we met were like us, I like that. The Big Hole River would be a creek in Alaska but it's gorgeous and wild right here in Montana and the winding road through high country Parks , beautiful.

So...feeling a bit better about the Big Sky I searched deep into my song book and found a good Montana story for you....See ya later.