After taking a day to relax in Florence, it was time to head on down the road as I make my way towards the Grand Teton National Park.
Boy was I in for a treat today. The drive was just incredible!
I got used to the dense forests and trees, but Montana is much more open and spacious, which provides for some really amazing views.
I know I always say this, but I guess I’ll say it again. This video I took just doesn’t do the area justice. I had to pull off in this little spot just to try and capture some video though. The vast openness with mountains in every direction just felt like another planet.
One treat on my drive today was a 20 mile journey down this very rural gravel road. During the entire 20 mile journey, I only passed one other vehicle, and it was a FedEx truck!
Plenty of wildlife along the way. Can you spot the deer in this picture?
Arriving at my campsite was an immediate “oh yeah, this will work!” moment, which I’ve had a lot of on this trip. This is a free camping area called the West Cameahwait Campground in Dillon, MT run by the Department of Reclamation. I’ve stayed at two spots now run by the Department of Reclamation and they have both been among my favorite places to stay, and the price can’t be beat! There are nearly a dozen of these free camping areas all around the lake, which is super awesome.
Here’s some video I took just as I arrived.
Some pictures of my spot.
Little selfie video of me enjoying the views…
Bonus – I got very good internet here! Another great office to work from. The temperature was in the 70’s and the mosquitoes and biting flies still aren’t out, so it was basically perfect.
Before the sun went down, I decided to trek up one of the hills near me to get a better view of the area.
You can see people camped out on the beach down there. I considered going to that area instead, but I didn’t want to deal with tracking all the sand into the van.
Managed to get a decent picture of Cooper up there.
Selfie time!
And check it out! A selfie with Cooper that actually turned out well!
Beautiful clear water here.
Rock formations are pretty cool too.
At night as I write this, it is extremely dark and extremely quiet. There is no moon tonight, so it’s just a blanket of stars.
I’m also not sure I’ve ever heard it so quiet outdoors before. There’s no noise at all. No cars, no planes, no animals, no wind noise – it’s just completely dead silent. It’s sort of a weird feeling being outside with absolutely no sound.
Needless to say, I’m once again a literal happy camper.
Here’s the route we took.
Some highlights of the drive.
And a full time lapse of my drive.