Like I mentioned before, we only went about 7 miles to our next campground, The Silos. We drove through the campground the day before and found it almost empty! The spot we wanted next to the water was still available.
Canyon Ferry Reservoir is nestled between the Big Belt Mountain Range to the east and....
....the Elkhorn Range to the west. Yes, that is snow on the mountain tops to the east and bad weather coming from the west!
Since the weather was once again not cooperating with our outdoor plans, we headed in to Helena to do some shopping. It rained on us there and back.
The next day dawned bright and sunny, but once again, it was cooler due to the rain that moved through the day before. This day we would explore the Canyon Ferry Wildlife Management Area and grab a few geocaches. The area was located at the southern end of the reservoir. There were man-made islands for nesting migratory birds. We were told to watch for moose as they come down from the mountains in the winter and my still be in the area. Well, we didn't see any moose, but we did see evidence that they had been in the area--moose poop of course. We couldn't find the first cache we searched for, but then neither had any of the cachers before us. So we took off through the cotton grass area to find the next cache.
The next cache, of course, was located near this road---we found the cache after we approached the area from an animal path, not the road!
Since we were having trouble with the weather and yes, more rainy weather was forecast, it was time to move again after 2 nights. When we started this trip our plan was to stay 5-7 days in each area, but weather has definitely put a halt to that plan. We would have stayed and visited museums and such, but they didn't open until mid-May! When we left The Silos, we drove through Helena on US 12 and headed back to the interstate to get closer to the Montana/Idaho border. Our plan was to stop at Quartz Flat, a National Forest campground located just off a rest area on I-90. As we pulled in to the rest area to get to the campground entrance, we saw 'closed' on the campground sign! The campground was supposed to be open year round. We got out of the RV to check on the status and found the gate locked, but the campground looked inviting. Oh, well, it seems our plans are definitely made in jello this trip. Back into the RV we went and got out our camping materials to find a new stop. The next campground was a place we stopped in 2008 near the Montana/Idaho border: 50,000 Silver $ Casino. They offer free camping with water and electric hook-ups! One night was all we stayed and then it was on to Spokane, Washington, to Fairchild AFB--another stop from our 2008 trip. Weather, good or bad, we think we will find enough to keep us busy for at least a week.
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