DAY SIX: Back on the road, but not ending up where we thought...
After getting everything packed up, we headed out for another day's adventures. And it turned out to be an adventurous day indeed. Our route would be first south to Dillon, the northeast to Twin Bridges, then southeast to Sheridan, and finally up a gravel USFS road to Branham Lakes where we planned to spend a couple nights disbursed camping. So that was the plan.
The road to Dillon was originally a bit windy up and over a low pass after which it turned into another smooth, scenic Montana hidden gem. Shortly after cresting the pass we started to run into some young Montana beauties strolling, or just standing still, on the road.
We also started picking up more smoke down in the valleys we passed through. This was a bit of a concern for now. We stopped in Dillon for a great lunch and groceries, then headed toward Twin Bridges. This area is mostly flat and agricultural. The roads are smooth and traffic was minimal. The same is true between Twin Bridges and Sheridan.
At Sheridan we turned east on a gravel road and started gaining elevation. Initially the road was in good shape, but the further along we went, the rougher the road surface became. Nanc has a neat 45 second video of her total appreciation of the road conditions, but unfortunately I can't upload it here. It sorta sounds like she is gargling with gravel in her mouth.
A ways further we passed a USFS hotshot crew campsite. Um, not a good sign, but we continued to press forward. Off on either side of the road we passed side roads and areas that could possibly make good disbursed campsites. We passed these and continued up the road toward our destination, Branham Lakes.
Within 10 miles of our destination a small forest fire became visible on the west side of the valley. This was right above the lakes we wanted to get to. Decision time once more. Gary and Ace again volunteered to scout out the site and get back to us on the radio. They soon let us know that the area was beautiful, but there definitely was an issue with smoke and the potential for the fire to move toward the camp sites. Also, a group of local folks was already up there having a pretty good party.
After a bit of a discussion, David & Terri, Ben, and Nanc and I decided to go back down the road and locate an alternate campsite away from the fire. Gary and Ace decided to camp out up by the lakes for the night.
One the way down we had several locals drive by us on their apparent way to the festivities at the lakes. One vehicle was an older two wheel drive Dodge pickup with the bed filled with coolers. The second was an older Subaru Forrester with a young couple and their youngsters bouncing madly around us. That was a nice eye opener. Here we were in expensively upgraded overlanding vehicles watching a couple of dilapidated vehicles successfully getting to where we had wanted to go. I still want to overland in my 4Runner and not beat it to death like they were doing. To each his own.
