MONTANA WATER

Sunday

We started today by returning to the Co-op to purchase all the fixings for yummy farm fresh eggs on everything begals stuffed with greens, onions, cream cheese, tomatoes, and well you get the point. It was delicious! The rest of the morning was spend collecting supplies and loading Matt's truck for our day out on the water. Around 2 we drove out to the Madison River. Floating on top of its surface were hundreds of tubes filled with sun baked bodies. But we weren't there to join in the tube action, we had a canoe. We loaded up our boat with snacks and fishing rods then pushed off into the strong current. Fortunately we managed to depart alone and avoided traveling down the river with any of the many islands of tubers tied together. The river snaked us around astonishing canyons, providing us with a relaxing & picturesque experience. Jeremy tried fishing a few times but the current was too strong. So much so that many tubers were falling out to their floatation devices. We could hear distant cries to "Save the beer" as floaters struggled to collect their water logged belongings. We couldn't help but laugh just a little. About 3 hours later we arrived at the ramp and Matt hitched back to his truck then drove back to load up the boat.

Next we went to the Norris Hot Springs. Many years ago someone built a wooden pool that gets continually filled with the hot water from the spring. In recent years a new owner constructed a restaurant style atmosphere around the pool. Its called Water of the Gods. When we arrived our hunger was raging. We ordered from an awesome menu that included local bison burgers & fresh organic salads from their personal garden next door. A bluegrass band played from a partially open geodesic dome that sat at the pools edge. After dinner we got into the warm water and soaked while watching the band rock out.

The sky started to get dark and we opted to leave and set up camp before it was too late. We drove up to South Meadow National Forest outside of Ennis. Matt had gone camping at this spot up the road before so we didn't have to search for a site. We began to unload when some folks approached us. They were our camping neighbors coming to see if we were rowdy campers. The family explained how over the previous week the people who had occupied our site had been so loud and messy that their camping experience was almost ruined. Fortunately they seemed to like us alot. Before we even got our tent bags out they had brought over fire wood and started a fire in our pit. We stayed up for a few hours with the husband, wife and his father playing music and chatting by the fire. Soon their 4 girls had awoken and also came over to join us. It was a very pleasant way to end our long day. Positioned under the stars with the sound of a raging creek nearby we slept like babies.