SUMMER 2011
July 6th we drove from Ennis, north to McAllister, to the west, into the Beaverhead National Forest. This area is 40 miles from where Yellowstone Nat. Park. The park service transplants their trouble bears in this area, so we bought Bear Spray in town. It's a wonderful weapon of pepper spray to have; it can work on bears, coyotes, cows, dogs and humans. The terrain was forest, trails and old logging roads. We did come across fresh bear and cub tracks, even though they were black bear tracks, we turned around.
Then we went 3 miles, up to Spring Meadow Creek Lake. Even in July there was snow toward the higher elevations, and cold, clear, mountain streams running. Along the way you will find an abandoned gold mine. We walked the last 50 ft of the trail, because of the snow. The lake is in a crater, which still had some ice on it, and there were 15ft snowdrifts on the slope. Even though we were out in the "boonies", we met a group of North Carolina folks, fishing for trout. You could even see the trout at the outlet. On the way down, we found bear tracks and scat, and on the tree there were claw marks
that were 6ft high. We rode on Gravely Mt. Range, 9200ft, oh what views from here! The Gravely Mt. Range is south of Ennis. Most of the riding was gravels roads, with a few trails cutting thru the aspen or spruce forest. You will find cattle roaming on the flat top pastures, range line cabin, mt. snow. We couldn’t see the deer's body, just the velvet antlers sticking above sagebrush which was 2-3ft tall. We came across a cowboy living in a line shack, heading out on his horse to check the cattle.
LOCATION: Nearest city-Ennis, Mt Directions-Beaverhead Nat. For
Gravely Range-
AREA; Type of Land:- forest, mountain, Owner: Nat Forest
TERRAIN; Sq miles, Miles of trails, ?hills/forest/, mud, water crossings,elevation-9,200ft Trail maintence-yes
KEY SERVICES;Camping / Gasoline / Diesel / First Aid, / Water/ Dump / Food - Ennis
CONTACTS; Nationa Forest Service Office Ennis
Nice job Geri.......
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