CLASSIC TRIP - Montana and Yellowstone 2002, Part 1

A Montana Collage - Gallatin National Forest

Be careful what you wish for, right?  My wife wanted to really get away (we were having our kitchen remodeled and we were stressed) so I found what, so far, has been the most out-of-the-way and as-far-away-from-civilization accessible lodging in the country - 14 miles from the nearest town and 7 miles from the nearest paved road...the last mile was the driveway into the lodge.  She also had never been to Yellowstone so we put together this trip.  So let's go back to 2002, shall we?

Right up front, let's just say that you need a little extra determination to get here and then get around...especially if you use a wheelchair for mobility.

The state's major airports at Bozeman, Billings, and Helena just don't show up on major airlines radar screens so direct flights from most of the country is not an option. What flights you do find are not going to be cheap. Once you arrive, accessible public transportation will be a challenge to find as will accessible van rentals.

We decided to drive. From L.A., this is not a quick and easy road trip especially if you have trouble sitting in the car for long spells. After 3 nights on the road, we were finally at our destination....Big Timber, Montana, about 50 miles east of Bozeman. We needed some time to just not drive any more.

Researching for a place to stay yielded the Burnt Out Lodge, a bed and breakfast run by Ruth Drange on her family's cattle and sheep ranch. The lodge is accessible with three ramps leading into the building. The area around it is not, so you will need your own private van or car to get there.

The reason you need your own ride is because it is remote. In fact, for a wheeler, I cannot think of a more remote accessible accommodation that I have ever come across. The lodge is located at the farthest reach of the three thousand acre ranch abutting the Gallatin National Forest.

Only 7 Miles to go to the Burnt Out Lodge

To get there, you first drive seven miles beyond Big Timber. Then, it is up six miles of dirt road to the first gate. Someone must get out of the car to open the gate (an attendant here is really necessary for all but the most hardy wheelers), drive through, return to close the gate lest any cows escape the ranch. One more mile of bumpy road is necessary to navigate before you reach the lodge building where one more gate must be opened and closed.

It takes a pretty major effort just to get here.

Once here, it is pretty easy to go up a ramp into the building and into your room. The lodge has a vast open public area with a two story fireplace to warm up at. Five rooms are all on the first floor and each will allow access for a wheelchair easily. One room in particular has been built with bars for the toilet and bathtub for access. There is no roll-in shower, however. Plastic chairs are available for use as bathing chairs.

The View from the Room

We stayed in the accessible room, although as the only guests at the inn Ruth offered us our choice of any room. The room is huge and very open and airy. A twenty foot ceiling reinforces that feeling. It is furnished sparsely with just a bed, two night stands, a small table and two chairs. It was sparkling clean and comfortable, but it does take a bit of getting used to.

Our first day had started in West Yellowstone, Montana after we had stopped there for the night. Along the way to Big Timber, we stopped at Nevada City, a recreated Ghost Town where authentic buildings had been moved to from other areas. It was a quiet and not unpleasant stop but not exactly enthralling either.

In Big Timber, we had dinner at Prospector Pizza in a pretty little downtown area before bedding down for the night at the Burnt Out Lodge. We saw dozens of deer along that 7 mile access road up to the lodge.

After sleeping pleasantly in our large room with all the windows and the front door open (great things to do when you're several miles from the nearest road), we had our breakfast and decided to do a little sight seeing.

This morning, that would entail heading up the Boulder River valley from Big Timber. We stopped when we got to Natural Bridge.

A short hike lead us to a bridge and several viewing platforms built into the rock. The paths are accessible but be careful of the hundred foot drop off of the sides when heading to the platforms. The bridge path is not as scary.

From the bridge and the platforms, you can see the natural bridge when the water level is low, as it was when we visited in July. In a spectacular display, the river drops down a hole and travels about one hundred yard before emerging from a shear cliff face.

When the water level is higher, the hole is underwater and the river flows over the natural bridge but you can still see the other waterfall emerging from the hole in the cliff.

After our tour up the valley, we headed back to Big Timber. It was over one hundred degrees when we hit town so we decided to spend the afternoon in the community pool. A buck fifty was all it took to get all three of us in where we lounged around for an hour and a half...until the lifeguard's shrill whistle told everyone to immediate evacuate the pool. A thunderstorm was approaching fast.
 
We took quick shelter in the small pool house where I took the opportunity to give Tim a shower in the only roll-in shower we would see in Montana. Now that's what I call thinking on my feet!

We changed back into our street clothes and headed out of town. The rain had let up enough so that we could visit Prairie Dog Town State Park. This is a small area set aside for these large, barking rodents where you can see them in a wild setting to your heart's content. Outside the park's perimeter, the critters are fair game for the farmers and ranchers who shoot these animals as pests when they see them.

A shower and a nap back at the lodge refreshed us and we headed back into town for dinner at the City Club, a combination steakhouse, bowling alley (six lanes!), bar, and casino. We had some delicious Montana steaks...better than the steaks we payed three times as much for on the way home in Las Vegas.

The town turns in pretty early and try as we might, we couldn't find too much to do after 7:30pm. We missed the only showing (7:00) at the local theater but we'd already seen Lilo 'n Stitch back home. A trip back to the lodge where we could reach out and pat a cow's behind as we drove by was in order.

Another night with the fresh Montana air wafting through the room and we were ready to tackle another day. After breakfast, we drove fifty miles to Bozeman to visit the Gallatin County Fair's opening day.

This is a very small fair where everybody was giving out freebies or samples. Everybody had candy bowls out for quick little nibbles. A local political group opposed to an upcoming ballot measure gave us a huge sports cup (with their logo on it, natch) filled with ice cold water with a local chiropractor matching that with a big bottle of spring water out of an ice bucket...perfect for the 105 degree day.

A few local sportmen's groups filled our bag with free fishing tackle...lures and bobbers. A candy maker threw in some free samples of fudge. A local mine even gave us some raw rocks that they grind into talc...along with ruler, pens, pencils. Another local politician running for office gave out free American flags.

We were in hog heaven with all the goodies and we got to see all kinds of livestock and eat that great, greasy fair food while watching some country and western concerts. It was a great day and we met a lot of friendly local folks.

After the fair we ate dinner at McKenzie River Pizza in the beautifully restored downtown area of Bozeman, where some workers recognized us from the fair earlier. It was good pizza and even better beer.

Tonight would be our last night at the lodge. We had one more open-air night before our last breakfast with Ruth.

A deer walked by one foot outside the dining room window while we at our morning meal and a marmot rooted around outside. Before it got too cute, Ruth whispered to us that the marmot was a pest and she would have to shoot it if it returned. Ah, the ways of the Montana cattle ranch life.

Stay tuned for part 2...Yellowstone!

-Darryl
Copyright 2002 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - Campo, California 1998

Back in 1998, we took this train excursion along the border in San Diego County.  A bit has changed since then, but you can still go down there and ride the rails.

A Trip Back in Time
...an accessible & affordable adventure to the borderlands of California.

Where is it?

Campo, California and Tecate, Baja California, Mexico

Campo is a tiny speck of a town along the U.S. - Mexico border located halfway between Tijuana and Mexicali (or San Diego and El Centro on the U.S. side) across the border from Tecate, Mexico. The challenge here was to make a nice weekend in Campo instead of it being a side trip from San Diego.

Campo is located 9 miles northeast of Tecate, Mexico on the U.S. side of the border. From L.A. we took the 10 (San Bernadino) Freeway east to Interstate 15, then south to Interstate 8 in San Diego, then east on the 8 to Buckman Springs Road (about 35 miles). Then south on Buckman Springs Road to Highway 94 in Campo. Right (west) on 94 to Forest Gate Road. The entire drive took just over 3 hours. From San Diego, count on about an hour.

Preparing for this trip was difficult. There are no accomodations in Campo - period! There is some camping nearby, but roughing it was not what we had in mind with our son Tim & his 200 pound power wheelchair. We were also taking along some guests and needed to have room for them too.

Calling ahead to Campo produced no good information on where to stay nearby. We had considered staying in Tecate but could not get reliable information on accomodations there outside of a very pricey spa. A bed & breakfast in nearby Dulzura offered some intriguing possibilities but, alas, they were booked for the weekend.

Two others within a 20 mile radius looked interesting, Jacumba Hot Springs and Stallion Oaks Ranch. Both had hot tubs to soak off the desert dust, and both were reasonably priced. A call to Jacumba Hot Springs revealed that although they were only about 20 miles away, the drive to Campo would take about an hour on the narrow, winding roads in the area. Stallion Oaks also offered a 2 bedroom cabin we could stay in for a little less than 2 motel rooms at the hot springs. Stallion Oaks got the nod.

Stallion Oaks Ranch is in Descanso. From Campo, backtrack to Interstate 8, head west back toward San Diego and exit on Highway 79. Go north one mile to Riverside Dr. and turn left. Turn left again at Viejas Grade and make an immediate right on Oak Grove. Turn right again on Boulder Creek Road. Stallion Oaks is at 10950 Boulder Creek Road. (619) 445-0271.

(UPDATE 2010: Much of Stallion Oaks burned in a 2003 fire, it is now the Unity Center Retreat Center and a subsequent stay at Jacumba Hot Springs was horrible...can't recommend)

To Tecate, the easiest way we found is to go back to Campo and head west on Highway 94. Turn left (south) on Highway 188. The International Border will be 2 miles straight ahead.

The trip:

Bright and early on a beautiful May Saturday, we set out on our adventure. We had picked this particular weekend to go because the San Diego Railroad Museum was scheduled to be using their restored steam engine on their excursions out of their historic Campo depot. Most weekends they use a diesel engine (you can check the schedule out at their web page at www.sdrm.org or by calling toll-free at 888-228-9246).

First stop was for some breakfast. Today, we were going to the great Homestyle Cafe in Guasti (exit Archibald Ave. off of the 10 freeway in Ontario. Turn right (south) and turn left into Guasti...follow the signs).

If you're hungry for breakfast...really hungry...this is the place for you. Mammoth portions of great homestyle cooking are in store for you here. One meal is plenty for two people. We had eggs & ham, eggs & sausage, and Tim had a pancake. All except Tim's meal came with biscuits & gravy and potatoes. Tim's pancake was 12" across and an inch thick.

We saw plenty of people here ordering short stacks only to be amazed at the 3 square feet of pancake they had ordered. Plenty of take out boxes were in use here.

This drive is particulary scenic...once you get on Interstate 15. First, you drive past all the dairy farms of Chino & Norco (scenic but also aromatic), then through the rolling hills of Temescal Canyon, into Lake Elsinore. From there, you come upon Southern California's premiere wine country, Temecula.

We stopped at Temecula to pick up some sandwiches at the local Togo's Eatery to take with us for later. Togo's makes great sandwiches and are very reasonably priced. Togo's in Temecula is located at 28150 Front St. at the Rancho California exit off of Interstate 15.

The plan was to eat a picnic at the depot in Campo, but we were all still so full from that huge breakfast that we skipped lunch and saved our sandwiches for dinner.

For being on the edge of one of the hottest deserts in the nation, Campo is amazingly green. This is due to the extremely high water table in the area. The Campo depot itself sits on the south side of the lush, green meadow that is visible throughout the town.

We arrived at the Campo depot of the San Diego Railroad Museum at 1:00pm, 90 minutes before the next train was scheduled to depart. One of the museum's docents was just about to start a walking tour, so we grabbed some cold sodas out of the ice chest & tagged along.

On the walking tour we saw some great old railroad equipment & rolling stock all in various stages of restoration. Pullman cars, old San Francisco streetcars, cabooses, diesel & steam locomotives and more.

We learned that this particular railroad was built around 1915. In fact, you can see that date stamped into the rails and many of the bridges nearby.

Next door was Fort Leggett, the last mounted cavalry post in the U.S. At the start of World War II, this base housed 5,000 men and 10,000 horses. As the cavalry was motorized, the base became a hospital unit and a POW camp for Italian and German prisoners. Many of the POW's contributed to the construction of nearby buildings and roads.

After the tour, we headed back to the depot area to await the train. The train consisted of the antique steam locomotive, 3 restored passenger cars, and one restored baggage car that served as an on-board snack bar as well as housing the restroom facilities. The doors on the baggage car are left open to provide a scenic spot to stand and get some fresh air as you travel.

The star attractions here, of course, are the trains. The museum has plenty of rolling stock on display and in use for their excursions. We came today to take to regular weekend excursion offered by the museum to nearby Miller Creek. Today though, we would be pulled by vintage steam power as opposed to the old diesel that usually runs. (Note: The museum also runs special occasional trips the other way into Tecate, Mexico combined with wine or brewery tour and also sponsors special one-of-a-kind trips such as to the Copper Canyon or recently held Comet Trains at night to watch the Hale-Bopp Comet. Visit their web site or call them for more information on these special trips.)

Kids of all ages just seem to love trains. Especially old ones (trains and kids). The ride lasts about 90 minutes and goes through some absolutely gorgeous scenery. Throughout the ride you see exactly one road and only sporadically at that.

You end up in a area that has seen absolutely no development in the last 100 years and looks exactly as it did when bandits, cowboys, & Indians freely roamed the area. In fact, not much has changed...this area is still heavily used by smugglers to bring undocumented aliens and contraband into the states. The U.S. Border Patrol is a much seen presence in the area trying to combat this. Today we see no criminal elements at play but do not have to try very hard to imagine why such a land has attracted outlaws throughout history.

Museum docents provide an excellent commentary on the area, it's history, and the train's history as the journey commences. Noticing the frequent whistling of the train, they remind you that you too would be pulling that whistle every chance you got if you were doing it for fun.

That's because the engineers, the conductors, the brakemen...in fact everybody working here...are unpaid volunteers doing this just for fun. You can even sign up to ride in the cab and take a few minutes at the controls yourself.

With the trip over we headed back the way we came to find our cabin at Stallion Oaks in nearby Descanso. Fortunately, the folks at Stallion Oaks had faxed us the directions before we left or we would have really been lost.

Stallion Oaks is located in the foothills that lead up to Julian. It's way off the main highway set on 200 private acres of oak forest and meadows. We rented a 2 bedroom cabin that also had a living room, dining room, kitchen and fireplace. Very clean and nicely decorated. The price for all this? $99 per night, split between us and our guests that came to $49.50 for each party.

There are also motel rooms here that start at around $50 per night and luxury "romance" cabins that have their own spa for around $130 per night. There is also a campground with everything from tent spaces to full-hookup RV spaces.

Facilities here include a pool, a spa, a fishing lake, covered bridge, carriage rides, general store, and more. We settled in for a nice long soak in the spa that really cut the day's road dust off of us. Afterwards, when Tim found that the TV would not get any stations here, we went for a moonlight walk in the nearby meadow. We only got a couple of mosquito bites, but they are out there.

In the morning we hiked to the lake which is about a mile from our cabin. It was then that we noticed all the poison oak lining the road. Luckily, we must have missed touching any the night before because no one got a rash. We got to the lake, which was a little low at the time. It was still a nice walk, including a covered bridge, although it was a bit buggy with flies & gnats.

After the hike, we packed up and headed down to Tecate where we planned to eat breakfast.

Even though we had a map, we made a wrong turn and ended up going about 40 miles out of our way. The backroads down here are very easy to get lost on! It's a very scenic area though so it was still a nice drive.

We crossed the border at 11:30am and, after a quick inspection by the Mexican border officials, we were on our way. It's a grand total of 2 blocks from the border to downtown Tecate where we parked at the town plaza and set out to find some food. You might even want to park on the U.S. side of the border and walk in (U.S. auto insurance is void in Mexico) but beware it’s all uphill coming back.

We quickly found Cafe Los Pinos on the east edge of the plaza and ate there. The meal for the 3 of us consisted of quesadillas, 2 bowls of menudo, and four tacos accompanied by refried beans and soda. Great food and only $11.00 for everything.

After that, it was off for an afternoon of shopping where my wife picked up some pottery at great prices (watch out though, because there are some reasonable pottery stores and some very unreasonable ones...shop around and bargain).

Tecate is unlike any other Mexican border town I've seen in that it is more like a small Mexican town and unlike the anything goes atmosphere you find in other border towns like Tijuana. It's quiet, pretty, and peaceful. Be aware here that the border closes at 8:00pm...if you're in Tecate after that, you either spend the night or drive to Tijuana or Mexicali to get home.

Tecate is also the home of Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, makers of town's namesake beer. Brewery tours are available, along with free samples in their beer garden, if you call in advance....

After our afternoon in Tecate, we headed back to the U.S. There was a total of 4 cars in line at the border crossing making for a very quick crossing. As you might know, this compares with a few hours that a Tijuana border crossing can take on a Sunday afternoon.

After getting lost in the morning, we decided our best course of action was to head back toward Campo and travel back out through there. From here it was a nice, uneventful ride back to L.A. and the reality of our jobs. All-in-all, this was a very pleasant overnighter that didn't even come close to breaking the budget.

-Darryl
Copyright 1998 - Darryl Musick