Blackdawg
Dr. Frankenstein
Chapter 1: Well...********...
Welcome to The DeTour Trip report. This year for this story going to be doing something a little different. As some of you many be aware, and if you aren’t you will be now, our good friend @turbodb does very nice write ups of..well everything! And this trip, he took his own notes and did his own write up. We collectively decided to each do our own write up and post them simultaneously. This way we won’t influence each others memory and take on the story. Each chapter from his write up will be linked with mine so you can read a different perspective of The DeTour. I highly recommend check it out.
The De-Tour
Read the whole story from Monte's (the veteran) point of view:
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13]
Read the story from Dan (the rookie) perspective.
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13]
Read the whole story from Monte's (the veteran) point of view:
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13]
Read the story from Dan (the rookie) perspective.
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13]
But onwards to the story!
This trip started as most trips do. With my dear friend Mike and I brainstorming and putting ideas together online in late winter. Before long it became apparent that Mike wanted to see some of the local sites around me he had seen so many photos of and heard me talk about. So the research began.
Naturally I chalked up many places I had grown up with. But I also found new places to go as there are 5 mountain ranges near me to explore. Before long a long plan was drawn up of trails, good food, amazing sights, high peaks, ghost towns, petroglyphs and more. All the many dots were connected to make…
The Tour.
Some of it was me just guessing on roads though that I wasn’t sure existed. Devin my girlfriend and I spent all summer checking the route and prerunning sections I had never been too. It made for a great summer, and I got to see some of the places that well...you’ll see…
I was working out of state and headed down on Sunday to where Frankenstein was waiting on September 17. Devin was working over an hour away but showed up late afternoon. Of course….the truck wasn’t as packed as I would have liked. We had spent the weekend before prepping for the trip..but wasn’t enough.
So, in good tradition, I left….
Late.
As usual.
The meeting point was Big Timber, about 2.5 hours away where I was to meet Mike, Dan, Dan and his father Jonathan, and Zane at Iron Star Pizza for dinner.
Original plan was to meet at 5pm.
Which I think they go there around then.
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I…
Did not.
It was 7pm by the time I got there. Closing time for Iron Star. But there were kind enough to serve us a delicious pizza while we all got to know each other in the small restaurant.
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Our faces stuffed with delicious pizza we now had the big problem of...where to sleep.
Originally, I’d planned to find a place after dinner…..when it was still light out. Which it now was not. Something Mike made a very good point to point out :luvya:
So we headed south and after about an hour of searching and going down a road none of had ever been to, we finally hit USFS land and were away from all the private land. A camp ground would have to do.
We wasted no time in taking over the largest spot, with the whole place to ourselves this wasn’t a problem anyways.
Montana was having one of the worst fire seasons to date(1,032,801 acres from 1,687 fires!) so there was fire ban. But its not camping without bullshiting around a fire. Mike came prepared and had the propane fire out in no time.
We laughed loudly(Devin was keen to point this out that I was exceptionally loud that night :anonymous
They just….weren’t the memories we’d expected….
The morning broke to reveal our camp, usually a fun thing to see if you roll into somewhere cool in the dark. But this was just a campground.
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As we got moving, people started the morning routines and a little exploring.
Dan cooking up some great smelling breakfast for him and his Dad.
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And Turbo Dan
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I just went and took photos of everyones trucks for breakfast
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Dan took special note of being in Grizzly country.
[URL='https://flic.kr/p/K8o5Xz'][IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4694/28306865639_ce4903e3fb_h.jpg01044 - The De-Tour - Day 02 - Off to a rough start by Dan Battagin, on Flickr
Before long we packed up our truck and back tracked from East Boulder to get back on the highway south following the Boulder River valley.
It wasn’t long before we were at our first stop along the way and the end of the pavement. We pulled over into Natural Bridge parking lot to air down and check out the natural well..bridge
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