~September 10, 2020~
Day 88
Woke up a little alarmed that it was already 9:00 a.m. and launched right into breaking down camp and heading out for West Yellowstone. We got on the road in record time (just under 2 hours). The sites are all tucked into little nooks with very little room for parking which means if you’re the guy that has to leave, everyone has to move their truck out of the way to clear an exit path for you. We said our goodbyes to the colonel and a neighbor from Texas who stays about 2 months every summer. Our final destination…...Baker Hole Campground which is first come, first serve. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be as not a single sight was to be had. We thought for sure we’d get in with it being late summer. Plan B...well, we didn’t really have a plan B, so we found the perfect pullover spot on Hwy. 191 to come up with one. After 30 minutes on the phone, waiting to check availability of some other campgrounds, we found a site at an even better place….Madison Arm Resort on Hebgen Lake in the Gallatin National Forest. They advertise themselves more as an RV park and you would think that is strictly what they are based on their pricing. Full hookup site $55.00/night, tent site $45.00/night and cabin rentals are $245.00/night. But it is Yellowstone after all. After 5 miles of driving on a fairly well maintained gravel road, we finally arrived and saw quite a few “dry camping” sites, so wanted to hop on those since that is what we intended all along at Baker. The funny thing is, about 50% of the time on this trip, we have actually liked the Plan B sites better than the Plan A sites we intended to stay at in the first place and today is a perfect example of that. This place is way nicer than Baker, and it’s on the lake. Isn’t it funny how things just work themselves out like that?
After set up we made a few phone calls (one to Ford) and took a walk around the resort.
There are about 70 sites here, with wi-fi, a general store, dump station, showers, laundry facilities, a boardwalk and boat launch areas. Since their beach is off limits to dogs we went just a little ways down to another beach to let Sadie get some water time….again, until something caught her eye to exit the water pretty quickly. It was dusk and thought, well, maybe we should head back since we are in grizzly bear country and didn’t have our bear spray with us. When we got back, we met a nice neighbor who is tent camping (normally he has his RV), taking a 2 week vacation through Montana, with ultimate plans to retire in 10 years to Ireland. He’s not even Irish, but loves what the western coast has to offer there. We invited him over tomorrow evening for O Be Joyful time after his fishing day.
Jeff made us a nice fire while I put dinner together and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. All delicious!