Road Trips.

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

Just just a few pictures from my 300 mile round trip road trip today. It was a bright sunshiny day, and best of all no snow or ice. There had been some slick roads earlier in the week as testament, there were several guard rails that were mangled badly (more than I have ever seen on a single trip before). There were many tracks through the barrow pits too where people left the roadway at speed. I don’t know how many ended very very badly though, hopefully none🙏🏻

This one is heading west just east of Big Timber, MT. I’m surprised how well the pics came out while roll’in coal at 80+ mph.

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

These are heading west, just east of Livingston, MT.

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

This is heading west at the top of the Bozeman Pass.

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

These next ones are heading east (back towards home), the first pic is looking East dropping down the “hill” into Columbus, MT. The other two are looking south near Columbus, MT looking over the River Valley

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

Almost home..heading East about 30 miles west of Billings.

KA9FFJ · February 2020

@RockyMountainBriar PERFECT scenery to light up a bowl and enjoy the views...

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

@KA9FFJ
Yea, kinda sucked for me....being in a company truck....no pipe for me on IPSD.....until I got home that is 🙂

The drive was great though, I’m just glad it was not icy and nasty....I REALLY would have needed some wind down time then.

thebadgerpiper · February 2020

@RockyMountainBriar Thanks for sharing those pics! I've never been to Montana, though I do have family out there. It's a beautiful place, and I'd love to see it one day.

Londy3 · February 2020

@RockyMountainBriar wow those are great pictures especially while driving. I love Colorado so beautiful I just hate cold snowy weather. I've been to the Springs, Denver, Vail but not your house yet 😉

motie2 · February 2020

The road from Estes Park to Grand Lake (Rocky Mountain National Park), is our second favorite vacation spot, after Bar Harbor, Maine (Acadia National Park).

Kmhartle · February 2020

@RockyMountainBriar ~ Those pictures make me long for fly fishing!

@motie2 ~ My wife and I got married in Rocky Mountain National Park. It's our second favorite vacation spot too, after Alaska.

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

@Londy3.....or anyone here for that matter👌🏻
Drop on by sometime 🙂
Glad you liked the views. Maybe I can remember to get some more pics when there is green everywhere. Maybe from the turnout/lookout of Beartooth Pass next summer.

KA9FFJ · February 2020

@RockyMountainBriar The only thing that will make those views even more beautiful, is to include some of your great looking pipes in them...
I don't want you to get lost in the mountains, but lunting also comes to mind... 😉

buflosab · February 2020

Great pictures, @RockyMountainBriar.

RockyMountainBriar · February 2020

@KA9FFJ
It would be kind of interesting if I took a picture or two of/with a pipe overlooking the scenery on top of Beartooth Pass next summer. I’d wonder if I would have to watch my pipe closely to keep the myriad of chipmunks from heisting it?

KA9FFJ · February 2020

@RockyMountainBriar That's TOO funny! 😁

RockyMountainBriar · December 2023

Went on another company road trip to the state capital, Helena, yesterday. I snapped a few pics of some of the same areas as previously posted in Feb. 2020.
December 13th and hardly any snow yet. If we don’t get some precipitation before summer, Montana might be on fire….and not in a good way😳.

The first pic is actually my return trip from Helena headed south to the junction of I-90 looking South/Southwest. The Tobacco Root Range. It is looking across some of the wheat fields for the Wheat Montana Bread Company.

Trivia: Wheat Montana made the Guiness World Record for Field-to-Loaf of bread back on September 19, 1995. 13 loaves of bread in 8 minutes 13.6 seconds. That’s from wheat standing in the field to 13 loaves of baked, edible, bread. I believe the record still stands.

The second picture was taken on my way to Helena, from the east headed west near Big Timber on I-90, it is the Crazy Mountain Range.

The third is the return trip again, taken from west headed east on I-90 just west of Bozeman. The Bozeman Pass I’m headed for cuts between the south end of the Bridger Range (the pic) and the north end of the Gallatin Range. The pass is to the right of my picture at about my 2 o’clock and about 20-30 more miles down the road.

opipeman · December 2023

@RockyMountainBriar;
I now see why they call it "Big Sky Country". Awesome pictures, Brother. Glad it was a safe trip.
@Kmhartle;
Fly fishing there would be a great adventure. Never fly fished anywhere but Iowa and once in Florida. Montana has to be fly fishing heaven.

RockyMountainBriar · December 2023

@opipeman, @Kmhartle
I don’t fly fish, at least not the traditional way, I would end up with a hook in my ass😳. I have fished with flies with a bobber and leader in some of our high mountain lakes. I have hiked/camped above Red Lodge in the Beartooths, and fished Emerald Lake, Mystic Lake, Glacier Lake….
I usually fish for Pike, Catfish, and Trout in the lower rivers and lakes from shore or from my jetboat. Spoons, lures, and live bait are my preferred methods. Hooking a big fish on a live-ish minnow (the size of a two person meal on “Naked and Afraid”😬) is great fun.
Once on the Yellowstone River, 30 years ago, near Rosebud Creek while fishing for catfish, I had a big 00 hook loaded with a couple of big nightcrawlers and 2 or 3 minnows dropped under in under the train tressle. I had 50lb. Stren Monofilament spooled on the spinning reel…well my pole was getting old and whatever hit that line, be it Cat, Carp, Sucker, or Pike, bent my pole over (I had the pole/reel wedged in/under some big rocks…just chilling) in a complete arc and snapped about 1/3 of the pole off. I didn’t even have time to touch the pole. I reeled in and luckily the line broke at the hook so the big “5” sinker kept me from losing the top of my fishing pole. I still have that pole, but it now has a metal rod in it so the action isn’t great. I haven’t used it in the last 25 years…..I have a hard time throwing useable stuff away.

opipeman · December 2023

@RockyMountainBriar;
I too have used fly with a bobber on an ultra light spinning rig. Great fun.

Londy3 · December 2023

Amazing mountains @RockyMountainBriar
I remember when I was in CO, you just never get tired of seeing them.

KA9FFJ · January 10

@RockyMountainBriar That's TOO funny! 😁

RockyMountainBriar · February 21

I’m not looking forward to another company road trip. This time it’s to Missoula, that’s a round trip of over 700 miles. The road report for the last 50 miles to Missoula or so didn’t look good today🥶. Luckily, it’s supposed to be a lot warmer and no more snow predicted🤞🏼. Bozeman Pass should be ok, Homestake Pass is supposed to be pretty clear too, but, dang those curves make me dizzy. “Thumper” will be riding shotgun. I’m not a fan of Missoula and I wish I never had to go there again…..sucks to be me.

“THUMPER”😬

KA9FFJ · February 21

@RockyMountainBriar
Stay safe, stay healthy brother...

RockyMountainBriar · February 22

Here are a few road trip pics.
This is the top of Homestake Pass just east of Butte, Montana, headed west. You might need to stretch it to read the sign.

Just in case though, it reads “Continental Divide Elevation 6393”. There should be many feet of snow up here this time of year. It’s going to be a dry summer, unless we get some substantial precipitation.

RockyMountainBriar · February 22

These are just east of Missoula, Montana about 30-40? miles, headed west.

RockyMountainBriar · February 22

This is headed south, headed back towards Butte, Montana facing west around Anaconda, Montana. The stack in the background is (I think) the last standing smelter stack in the area. It is the tallest surviving masonry structure in the world. It stands 585 feet tall, and was built in 1918 as part of the Washoe Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company (Stats and history per Wiki).

RockyMountainBriar · February 22

I’m not sure how many have seen these structures before? This is coming down Homestake pass headed East. The road has a 6% grade, semi’s 12K lbs. and over are speed limited to 25mph. This is a runaway truck ramp, it is very deep loose gravel and has a pretty steep incline🙂, used to stop trucks that lose the brakes/transmission/clutch, whatever. Again, not sure if you can see it, but there is a couple set of tracks in/under the snow…..somebody had to use it fairly recently😳. When I went through in the summer awhile back, there were two sets of tracks in the gravel😳. One set went nearly to the top. I wonder how much seat upholstery the drivers had to remove from their butt after those rides. It is probably 4-5 semi tractor trailers long. I’d say the gravel is at least 2ft. deep, maybe more….it’s tough to tell ripping by at 70mph😬

P.S. the pics are in reverse order…the 1/2 mile warning/information? sign did come first🙂

RockyMountainBriar · February 22

I must have taken a shortcut somewhere?

RockyMountainBriar · February 22

Oops…I just realized that the trip number IS low, because the new-ish set of tires are larger than the originals on the pickup. So probably 5%-10% off……just like the speedometer. So when I have cruise set to 80-ish mph, I’m probably going closer to 85-ish mph.
As for the round trip, I’ll do the math….699.7 miles would be somewhere between?
5% ~735 miles
10% ~770 miles
I’ve been meaning to get out the GPS and actually see how far off the speedometer is.

opipeman · February 22

@RockyMountainBriar;
It sure is prettier than corn and soybean fields.

Road Trips.

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