I would pull my chair next to the creek and read my book. I loved having the sound of a babbling stream next to camp. I was reading Dune by Frank Herbert and I remember it being a slow start. Later I ended up really loving that book.
I hiked around and explored the area. There was a beaver pond upstream. I did not fish it but I saw other campers catching little brokkies. This was turning out to be a fantastic little place!
After a day of chilaxing around the campsite I set out for a mountain bike ride. The Windy Mountain Loop was featured in my MTB Project app and wanted to give it a go.
There was some steep climbing and I made my way to the ridge and worked my way around the mountains. This route ended being tough and there was some poor quality trail on the south side of the loop that I was pretty disappointed about. There was lots of treefall, and the crappiest trail reroute I have ever seen by the forest service. Instead of cutting new trail to reroute a very rutted piece of trail they just laid down sticks and branches to indicate where to go around the old trail. It was a mess!
The next day did a quick 8 mile loop and instead of riding the crappy trail on the south side of the mountain I came down Briggs Creek Trail and that was frigging amazing. This loop was a little short but the climbs were challenging and the decent down Briggs Creek was ripping!
After the ride I was chilling at my van. It was a Monday, Labor Day so the campground at this point was completely full and busy. The sun was shining and it was a picture perfect day. I had just finished lunch and a guy in a high viz vest and a very large beard asked how my ride was and I wanted to join them for another spin. His name was Tim and he had two friends with him, Pat, and Ian. We all remembered each others name since they each had 3 letters. However I kept calling Pat, Matt and he seemed ok with it until I got kindly corrected later. They gave me some Montana craft beers to sample and I recall this strawberry cream craft beer that was pretty amazing. To bad I cant drink beer like I used to.
This is Tim. He is a welder, lives in Great Falls and is a super cool dude.
Pat and Tim hiking the steep final climb up to the windy ridge.
I was super stoked to ride with some other guys and I told them that they reminded me of my mountain biking friends back in Colorado Springs since we were smoking weed, drinking beers and riding bikes. After the ride Tim invited me to his home in Great Falls to see a show and hang out but I was tired and did not feel like packing up. We parted ways and even though we may never cross path again they are my friends.
After labor day weekend. The campground cleared out and I had the whole place to myself again. A cold front crept in and overnight fall came. It was almost like the trees changed color right before my very eyes.
I really enjoyed my stay at this campground. It was special. This is Thain Creek that snakes through.
After leaving the campground I made a fast pace across eastern Montana. Much of it looks just like this. It took me two days to make it across the large state of Montana. I stayed a night in one of the Montana rest stops. Montana has the best rest stops!
I would see more farming equipment than cars in eastern Montana.
Before reaching North Dakota I stopped at a crappy restaurant in the town of Jordan Montana. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries without the bun and it was horrible. I could tell both the fries and burger were previously frozen. This set of mounted deer heads was the best part.
