The Way Home: Bozeman and Butte

With no open camping in Yellowstone, we loaded Kye up in his carseat after watching Old Faithful and drove to Bozeman, crossing our fingers that our favorite dispersed camping site would be open (on a Friday night, chances were slim). Pulling in around midnight, we were pleased to see our site was completely open!

Kye plays in the creek near our camp

We each got to ride to Emerald Lake, a trail we had to turn-around on a few years back due to snow and incoming lightning. This time, a storm threatened but never really came. It was a fun ride with a pretty lake and beautiful wildflowers.

 Emerald Lake

 I know, it's wrong to pick wildflowers, but I couldn't resist 

and they made a lovely camp arrangement.

 Monster truck & bus take a bath...

 ...and drive some heinous terrain.

We made the short drive from Bozeman to an area called 'White Hall', near Butte, for an overnight and a couple mountain bike rides. 

I rode a loop from Beaver Pond to the Continental Divide trail; it was pretty fun but, for some reason, I was creeped out about bears and cougars and didn't enjoy myself that much as a result. One thing about riding in Montana is that you often go without seeing a soul on the trail. It's pretty great to ride without having to dismount all the time, however, it does give you a sense of vulnerability and wildness, which is both good and scary. 

B left camp early to ride the next day. The second he left the camper, it started to downpour and didn't stop for quite some time. He was hating the ride, but then the rain let up and he got on some awesome single-track and thoroughly enjoyed himself.