West Fork of the Bitterroot River: the hiking and everything else

While much of our stay in Montana was rightfully devoted to Sava's fishing, we did manage to do a few more things. My biggest worry, setting out, was that Raya would get bored with nothing to do but read, read, and read some more. Far from the dance studio and from familiar social interactions, she could have lapsed into whiny restlessness.

the Tailwater house: our first home on the West Fork

the house sits at the confluence of Boulder Creek and the West Fork of the Bitterroot: this is the view from the deck, as well as from the master bedroom

Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened, mainly because we had not considered just how much she loves to read. By my last count, she got through fourteen books while we were on the road, including a few from the bountiful shelf in the first cabin we rented and then two that she read while sprawled on a bean bag in the Darby library. She read while we drove, and she read while her brother fished. She read by the sides of lakes and rivers. She read alongside her brother, and she even read while sitting in my lap.

Sava gets carsick when reading, but she can read for hours in a moving car

Tailwater cabin

he's reading a fishing magazine, of course

they both found and reread several Judy Blumes in the cabin's library

shockingly, she, who reads books well above her age, recently discovered a comics author that she loves as well: Raina Telgemeier

Darby library: an unexpected place to spend hours during our vacation away

outdoor patio at the Whimsical Cottage

can you see Sava fishing in the background? 

early morning: sharing a book about whittling; yes, whittling

like mother, like daughter

Sava read, too, of course, although his reading happened in the interstices between bouts of fishing and, nine out of ten times, it had to do with fishing.

this photo sums up everything about Sava at the moment: especially the "danger issue" of Outside magazine

Besides reading, Raya also found reasons and occasions to write in one of her half a dozen journals. She gave particular attention to describing the second cabin--cleverly named Whimsical Cottage on the River--which I may or may not have time to describe myself. Suffice it to say that it was the strangest, quirkiest place we had ever stayed--well-worth anyone's efforts to describe it.

There was a good deal of silliness during this vacation, especially in the long evenings when the kids felt tired from the long day, but it was still too light outside to go to sleep.

Whimsical Cottage in the background

may they always be able to laugh like this together

Rado took it all mostly in stride.

favorite photo of all summer vacation

at the Blue Joint in Darby: a surprisingly good restaurant for a tiny town

Somehow, they both seemed to grow into bigger versions of themselves over the course of just three weeks of travel, or maybe I finally had enough time to slow down to notice how much they had grown over the past year. Their expressions, their attitudes.

Our favorite discovery during the two-week stay on the West Fork was the adorable little public library in Darby. For a town that features only one grocery outlet, two restaurants, and one guns & archery store, that library presents a most unexpected surprise. Sava's favorite thing about? The fly-tying station. I wonder if it's the only library fly-tying station in the US?

So in between fishing, reading, and library visits, we also managed to sneak in a couple of longer hikes. Both ended at lakes, which provided a necessary incentive for the young alpinists, and both involved impressive changes in elevation. The first, to Baker Lake, also featured the most mind-blowing display of bear grass that we had ever seen.

the edge of the Bitterroot Valley below

lupine

the other favorite photo of the summer

I could have stayed, taking photographs, all day long

the kids' favorite part: a little stream meandering every which way as it exited the lake

watching a rescue helicopter circling above us; we didn't know that we were just a few feet away from a hiker who had fallen, twisted his ankle and passed out; we then met three crews walking up the trail to help him

after Yosemite, the kids didn't fully appreciate this majestic view; we had to remind that, unlike Yosemite, where we shared the view with crowds, here we were the only people watching this

the Bitterroot Valley below

The second hike, to Camas Lake, offered views of the Bitterroot Valley, just as the first one had, and felt even steeper, probably because of the increasing number of forest fires all around. The kids did impressively well, going three miles up and three miles down.

can't recall what made them run uphill; it's not the norm

crossing a little creek

this trail, for which we had to walk along a small creek, and which climbed 1,200 feet in under 3 miles, was rated "easy" by our guidebook: Montana easy? 

almost at the lake: the suspense at the end of these hikes is always the best part, as we hike through brush before a lake opens up in front of us

he carried his rod the entire way and was excited to see *many* small fish here; none bit his bait, though

During our stay at the first cabin, I followed the owners' instructions to a trail just a couple of miles away from our house. I ran there twice in the early mornings, carrying bells to warn bears of my arrival, and twice we all went together on the trail in order to pick huckleberries. We had never seen so many huckleberries in our life. In two trips, we picked enough to eat every day of our two-week stay.

Boulder Creek trail: much of that trail was not as running-friendly as this looks

huckleberries to die for

not an easy path to run on; I am amazed that I did not break a leg or twist an ankle

a challenge to run on, but oh so pretty

we ate lots of huckleberry muffins

A visit to Montana would not have been the same without a visit to Missoula. We went to town twice, once to hang out with the Howells (and Bob, of course--the kids still think his house is some sort of magic palace), and once in order to spend time with the beautiful Daniel girls.

Sava and Salome play cards; those two would make a perfect match

Splash Missoula with three of the four Daniel girls and two of their friends

On our way back to California, we made the longish detour to visit our erstwhile Belmont neighbors who now live in a beautiful spot outside of Bozeman. This is a part of Montana we hardly know, so we'd like to return there for a longer stay next year.

dinner with our lovely erstwhile neighbors

goofballs

hotel shenanigans

And then on the very final two-day stretch home, we spent most of the hours in the car listening to an audiobook. I took the picture below, selfie mode, while driving at 80 mph through the Nevada desert; they had just asked me to stop the audiobook so they could have a long laugh at a funny episode. I think they might have been delirious from the long ride.

Long family vacations are never perfect: there were moments when the kids squabbled, other moments when Rado and I felt bone-weary from loading and unloading and shopping and making food; the second cabin we stayed in disappointed; and Sava would have loved to catch forty rather than twenty fish. But as a whole, it was far better to have spent this time together than not to have, and I'm pretty sure we all want to go back to the West Fork of the Bitterroot next year. Sava is hooked, and so are we.