Hyalite Canyon, Montana

June 20, 2022

We said goodbye to the Black Hills on Monday and set our course for the mountains near Bozeman, Montana. The drive to Hood Creek was a marathon day for us (7.5 hours of driving), but it allowed us to move directly into the mountains and get us right outside of Bozeman where our kids (Andrew, Audrey, and Alan) were flying into for a short visit.

The view from our campsite on one of the nice days (not the day we arrived).

We drove through a little corner of Wyoming along our way.

In springtime, Wyoming is actually green. Other times we have driven through the state later in the summer it had been brown and barren.

In no time we were in Montana--at least the eastern end of it.

I guess they tell it like it is out here! (The sign says "Cheap Drinks  Lousy Food")

Definitely big sky country

Some pretty yellow wildflowers

Starting to get more hilly

We get our first glimpse of snow-capped mountains just after Billings.

When we got close to the campground, there was a light dusting of snow (!) on the ground and a mixture of  drizzle and sleet which provided some puckering driving as we wound our way to the campground.  

Even with the less than ideal weather, our new backyard was quite scenic:

On Tuesday, the rain stopped, and we went and collected some firewood in the forest to have a campfire for when the kids arrived. We also made the short side trip to Palisade Falls. It was a quick mile-long, mostly paved trail.

A very well-fed (and tame) chipmunk

Not sure the dog is loving this mode of transportation

Wednesday was the day that we picked up the kids at the Bozeman airport, and the weather started to get nice (just for them 😊). After lunch, we took them back to Palisade Falls which provided a good acclimation to the elevation.

Afterward, we sat around the campsite, enjoyed the lake views, and then we did a traditional camping dinner (for old time sake) with brats cooked over the fire, followed by smores.

This photo is courtesy of Audrey. She likes to do more artistic photos.

This one is hers as well.

The great part of the kids showing up was that they brought great weather with them! Thursday and Friday were in the 70's and 80's with gorgeous blue skies. These two days with everyone were spent taking nice hikes close to the campground in the Hyalite Canyon area. 

Thursday was the Hood Creek Trail which had spectacular views of the surrounding mountains as well as a scenic meadow.  The trail was made more exciting by the amount of snow covering portions of the trail.  Unfortunately, Audrey was feeling under the weather and didn't join us on this hike. Instead, she had a relaxing time hanging out by the lake (Hyalite Reservoir).

We hiked from our campsite. Ignore the straight line on the left (and add an extra 1/2 mile for it) - Rick messed up the GPS and it wasn't recording . . 

A view of Hyalite Reservoir from the campground on the way to the trailhead

Hyalite Reservoir from the trail

A pretty meadow

Wow, didn't expect to see this much snow!

Back at the campground, it was a picture perfect evening.

The next day the boys wanted to take a longer hike - so we took a trail that has a bunch of waterfalls along it and continues up to Hyalite Lake.  The boys made it all the way up to the lake while the rest of us stopped off at Arch Falls and just enjoyed the beauty while the boys continued on.

Start is at the top - The boys did the whole trail. 

Grotto Falls

Twin Falls

Arch Falls

Andrew and Alan left us at Arch Falls, while they headed up the trail toward the lake...

...encountering a bit of snow along the way.

Pictures courtesy of Alan.  Great job, Alan!

The boys found recent snowshoe prints which made following the trail easier than it would have been otherwise.  Interestingly, their GPS track didn't follow the trail at all - so perhaps the snowshoe person was just doing their own thing?

Andrew said going back down was way more fun than the trudge up in the snow.

Hyalite Lake --a bit disappointing with it being all frozen over and all.

But the scenery was breathtaking nonetheless--at least Julie thought so after seeing the pictures!

After dropping the kids off at the airport on Saturday, we were pretty tired.  However, we wanted to take advantage of the last day of really nice weather before the cold and rain returned. We opted for a short hike to History Rock. We didn't know what History Rock was. We thought that maybe there were some ancient Native American carvings or something. Turns out, it is just a rock that random people sign, date, and/or add whatever remarks come to mind. We could have done the same, but didn't feel the urge. We didn't even get a picture of the rock, as it wasn't very impressive. But, as is everything in the Hyalite Canyon, the hike was still scenic, even if it was a bit underwhelming.

For some reason, we didn't get a photo of our campsite, but here are some random pictures of the campground and its views of Hyalite Reservoir. The campsites were quite spread out, providing a good deal of privacy. It was a very beautiful setting.

Unfortunately, this campground brought us a minor calamity -- Rick backed the truck into the camper when trying to fit the truck into the campsite.  Fortunately, there was only minor damage to the truck with just the plastic of the tail light getting broken.  Andrew came to the rescue and found most of the large pieces that scattered down the hill.  For now, some waterproof gorilla tape will have to do!  Unfortunately these lights also have the backup alert radar in them so we suspect replacement is not going to be cheap. But, the good thing is that the camper wasn't damaged!

Oops!

Our final day here was forecast to be cold and rainy so we decided to head into Bozeman to get some laundry and other chores done (and get us some cell service and internet!). When we left the campsite, it was both raining and sleeting, so it was nice to head into town where it was a bit warmer and where we would be inside most of the time.

All and all, our adventure continues to be going really well.  The camper is performing admirably, as is the truck - all of which provide for a really comfortable home base.  (Home is where we park it!)  We hope everyone out there reading this is having a nice beginning of summer and enjoying what you are doing!

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