Itch-Kep-Pe Park, Columbus, Montana

Like I said, we didn't travel far from Billings. Bob found a city park in Columbus, Montana where you can park for up to 10 days. That was our next destination. The park was not crowded and we found a good spot to call home for the next few days.

That afternoon we drove north of town to a small village named Rapelje. It was a long drive through rolling grasslands. When we got to the town, it looked deserted. Not much going on, so we drove back to the RV and walked the campground loops. The campground has 40+ sites and only about 1/4 of them were filled.

Sunday morning we decided to drive to Red Lodge and visit the ski area as well as the town. From Columbus we took Montana 78 south to Red Lodge. It was a winding road with excellent views of the mountains. Of course, we found a few geocaches along the way.

 Once we arrived in Red Lodge it was up the mountain to visit the ski area. This is a view back down the mountain from about 1/3 of the way up.

 The road went from being paved, to dirt, to mud, to snow! We were almost to the top....

 The ski area was closed, but there was still enough snow for some people to ski. We watched as several people prepared their skis for cross-country/downhill skiing. Bob and I stopped for a photo op overlooking a small, frozen stream.

 Just behind us was a drop of about 20 feet with the frozen stream below.

 Here I am in the parking lot of the ski area. It was a beautiful day, but a little chilly.

 On the way down the mountain, we decided to stop for lunch in Red Lodge. After walking the main street and reading menus, we picked Bogart's. It was an interesting restaurant with a photos and movie memorabilia relating to Humphrey Bogart.

To get back to Columbus, we took US212 which was a more direct route to the Montana 431 cutoff to Columbus. We found a few caches along the way and enjoyed our outing. Once back to the campground, we took a  walk around the loops and found that most people had left. I guess they had to go to work on Monday. Ahhh, it is nice to be retired and not have to hurry home to get back to work.