Day 8 – Idaho to Montana June 9, 2025

June 9, 2025

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Today it was a Sunny 68 degrees as we bid farewell to our new RV friends and left the WagonHammer RV Park. We continued on highway 93 N into the mountains and the Bitterroot National Forest. We followed this highway along the Lewis and Clark Trail toward Missoula, MT.

We drove up through the Lost Trail Pass at 7,014 ft and then made the long descent into the Bitteroot Valley. We passed through the small towns of Darby, Hamilton and Lolo. The nearby mountains were green but some of the distant mountains still had snow.

We hadn’t been traveling long, when we came upon the Big Animal Bridge, a wildlife crossing that allows animals to cross over the highway. US 93 has 39 wildlife crossing structures withing 56 miles on the Flathead Indian Reservation. In addition to the Big Animal Bridge, there are small, medium and large culverts tunneling underneath the road, too. It is estimated that 22,000 animals use the crossing every year.

Passing through the Flathead Indian Reservation, we noticed that the roadway signage was written in a peculiar language. There seemed to be lots of “q’s” in the words. The historic language was used by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

We ran into our first Road construction which slowed us down considerably. We had to wait for the green light and then traveled behind a lead truck to the other end of the construction area. The roadway was small gravel…always good for some degree of damage!

We arrived in Ronan, MT and the Diamond S RV Park around 3:30 PM. I must admit that the RV Park was not what I expected. Let’s just say that it doesn’t look like the photos that I saw online. However, we have a nice long, level, pull-through and the park is clean. I think we are the only travelers in the park…all others seem to be seasonal or permanent.

Bison Range

After dinner, we drove to the Bison Range a few miles south of our RV park. The range was established in 1908 to provide refuge for American bison. The range is 18,000 acres and supposedly has a herd of 350-500 bison.

It was a beautiful, sunny evening. Upon arrival, we discovered that the Park gatehouse was closed as well as the Visitor Center. There was no way for us to pay the $20 entry fee(they no longer accept the National Park Pass). That didn’t keep us out!

On the trail, we saw a herd of Bison with a few babies, two deer sprinting across the road, and three deer walking along the creek. We were stopped by the security guard and told that the park was closed(closes at 8PM) and would have to turn around. On our way towards the entrance, we spotted three deer(probably the ones we saw earlier). The Buffalo herd was walking in the road, so it was slow going as we followed them. It was fun watching the mama with her newborn (she kept licking it, so we assumed it was fairly new). We came upon a car stopped in the road and could see that they were watching something nearby. I kept looking and saw what looked like a Moose standing in the creek. After futher inspection of my photos, I think it was an Elk. Just before exiting, a Pronghorn appeared on the hillside. Our trip inside the Bison Range was short, but, we were happy with our wildlife sightings!

Day 9 – Polson, MT

Today we were looking forward to eating at one of our favorite BBQ places…Cherries Pit BBQ in Polson, MT. We were disappointed when we found out it closed last October. Now it is “Pork Chop Sammy’s”…same location, same owner, different food. We decided to give it a try. They serve only pork chop meals…sandwiches, strips, wraps, and salad. Ken had the Pork Chop Sandwich Deluxe with Habenero sauce. I had the Pork Chop Sandwich. All meals come with frys and a drink for $15. Our sandwiches were just like the Pork Tenderloin sandwiches of the midwest…we think they were even better! Yummy!!!!