Night 20 and 21 and 22
July 4 – July 6
We left Yellowstone the morning of the 4th through the west entrance. West Yellowstone is in Montana, but we passed quickly through a piece of Idaho and back into Montana.
Montana is our final state on the Continental Divide Trail! We’re making good progress even with our side trips.
This is the beginning of what we call the no trees zone……
Mountains as far as you can see in all directions have absolutely no trees! What did the early settlers use for firewood? Shrubs? Where did all of these fence posts come from?🤔
The roads were rutted in some spots. This could be a problem area if it’s rainy.
It’s still the 4th of July! We’re going to need some fireworks. (Be careful what you wish for.)
Night #20
Dillon, Montana seemed like a patriotic little community. They must have something going on.
Night #20
4th of July in Dillon, Montana
We could see the fireworks from our little campsite. Nice! Nice until they went on for about 7 hours straight. No kidding. They started going off long before dusk, and really ramped up after dark and didn’t let up AT ALL till after 1 o’clock in the morning.
The nonstop noise really put our puppies to the test. Other than being annoyed, they didn’t seem to have any fear or anxiety. Whew. The humans were getting a little testy.
Beware of gps track 04
Just past Wise River, gps.Kevin tracks turn left up toward Mt. Fleecer. This at first was a nice easy trail past some private ranches.
Several miles up the trail we encountered a sign “No Jeeps”. This prevented us from continuing on the 04 loop. The trail did look narrow, but it seems like a jeep could make it.
We’re not sure if jeepers will find the same “no Jeeps” sign if running the tracks from north to south.
We tried an alternate trail to go up and over Mt. Fleecer. It seemed like the road was well traveled. Our maps were saying it was a dead end. It was getting more difficult to find places to turn around so we gave up and back tracked.
We just gave up, back tracked and took the EZ 04 tracks.
On to Butte.
Night #21. The Motel 6 in downtown Butte
More trouble on track 04
Right out of Butte, the tracks were a bit confusing as to how to access the I-15 frontage road. Once on the correct track, it was a cool ride on the old shelf road near the freeway.
There was a sign….. something about no through traffic…. We ignored it
Yep, road is definitely closed. It’s an old tunnel built in 1911 that has been condemned. It was pretty cool, but gated off for a reason. We had to turn around and go back to what we thought would be a difficult track. It was actually easy and beautiful.
When we got around to the north end of the track there was also a sign that road was closed ahead. If coming from the north be aware.
So much history in Montana. And so many mines!
Still on the 04 tracks…..
Night #22
July 6th. Park Lake Campground
finallyfree2roam 
Looks like a great adventure, wish I was there with you. Excellent information on the closed areas! Your documentation is SPOT ON, as always. Thanks for taking the time to share that in detail.
You’ve has some rain, if you were to do the Continental Divide again, would you go at the same time of year again?
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