BW and I start the day off with an hour of Tai Chi in the loft. It’s cooler today, and Kat and Jason set off for their ATV adventure. We’re about an hour behind them, in the car. It’s a beautiful ride through thick pine forests on a bumpy, windy gravel road taking us to Garnet ghost town. Steep, steep rises of land, forests deep on either side so the road’s a rough ribbon–intersected with cattle grates–winding through. I don’t think we saw another car until we came to the little parking lot above Garnet.

There’s the line of ATVs so the kids are already there. Some trucks, a couple of cars. We set off down and down the little track, come to an overlook where you can look out at the remains of a once thriving mining town. Little log cabins spread over the flat or situated on the rough hills, and the forest pushing close all resting under a big, blue sky.

Down, down we go, and I see BW fooling with his phone. Text from Jason. We wander a bit, head toward a cabin marked as Visitor’s Center. There they are! Dusty from the ride–a cool one, Kat tells us. Into the cabin, which is also a little gift shop, we spend some time here and LookWhatsCool don’t I find another Christmas present!

We walk up with Jason and Kat and their guide Tanner to The Newlywed Cabin. The town’s prosperous merchant built this and offered it rent free to newlyweds. They could live there until another set of newlyweds needed it. It demonstrates what I sensed here after going through. This was more than a town, it was a real community. A good place to build a life, raise a family.

The cabin is tiny, just one room with an old stove, the naked springs of an iron bed. But those just starting out had a roof over their heads, a place to call home while they built that life.

Turns out we’re to have a boxed lunch with J&K and Tanner so it’s up, up, up again to the little picnic area near the parking lot, looking out through the forest. A more than generous lunch, and we learn Tanner grew up in Eastern Montana, moved himself to the Missoula area at eighteen, and pitched a tent until he got work. He fights fires in the summer, but last year was offered a job in Maui, moved there. Discovered his view of Paradise was Montana, and came back again.

Soon they’re off on their ATVs, bandanas over faces, and BW and I head back down. It’s cool enough I’m glad for the vest I wore under my light jacket. Zip that baby up and all’s well.

One of my favorite buildings is the General Store. Bigger than the home cabins, a place where once you’d have gone for most everything. Dry goods, canned goods, meat, shoes, clothes, fabric. You’d have your gold weighed there. There are bits of the old stores on display on shelves and tables. I love the table of old shoes!

There’s the remains of a once grand three-story hotel, with its fancy wallpaper in tattered ribbons ragged on the walls. For a couple bucks a night, you could have a private room, four for the one large room, and for fifty cents, a miner could claim floor space in the attic for his bedroll. Musical entertainment a couple nights a week included!  It boasts a kitchen with the remains of old cans, old pots and roasters. I expect dinner at the hotel was quite a treat.

In its heyday Garnet had 13 bars. I like to imagine the music tinkling out of doorways at night, from the saloons and the hotel. Cool, starry nights with the scent of wood fires and pine trees and that tinkling piano. And the absolute hush in the winter when the snow rose higher than a man.

We really enjoy our visit here, to the blacksmith, to one and two room cabins, to a life so removed from our own, and that real sense of community. I like how well this slice of life has been preserved, tended and valued.

So it’s up, up, up again to the car, and the drive. Along the way we stop as cattle are grazing on the side of the road. I always wonder why animals insist on grazing on the side of the road. And why a couple of them don’t just decide to keep going. Hey, let’s go to town, whattaya say?

We leave the cows behind, stop at an overlook where you can see the whole valley below, the higher mountains and wilderness in the distance.

It’s its own world, and magnificent. And I wonder how anyone found the courage and grit to cross it on foot, on horse, in a wagon.

Before long we’re home again for a little put the feet up time and have an adult beverage break. Jason’s already in the shower and a very dusty Kat is out on the back porch. They had a terrific time, and Kat’s enamored enough of the ATV riding she says she’ll seek out similar adventures in the future.

Tonight’s dinner is at a camp by the river.

There’s a beach formed by rocks rounded by the water, and the water’s gorgeous. A little grassy island close enough to wade to if the whim strikes. The tumble of river over rocks adds music. I’m sure it’s wonderful to wake each morning and look out over the water and trees.

Kat washes off tumbled stones in the river, reveals color like jewels.

The food’s terrific, the view beyond beautiful, and as always the service friendly and personable. While we eat I spot a couple of deer picking their way across the rocky beach toward the island. I have to go down for a closer look. They watch me watch them, and though I try, I can’t get a good picture of them in that high grass. Step back, glance down.

Oh hello, little snake. And goodbye!

Back up for an amazing fruit cobbler with huckleberry ice cream and fresh whipped cream. Oh yeah.

We’re all tired, in that really good way, so again it’s early to bed for me.

Supposed to be really cool today, so we’ll see how outdoor yoga goes this morning. This afternoon we have our first trail ride, and I have enough layers it should be comfortable even if it only reaches the 62 degrees forecasted.

Right now the light’s soft over the hills, the sky a little gloomy with some hopeful patches.

We’ve had a most excellent week in Montana.

Nora