Storming the Castles

Not long after we moved to Montana, we drove over the Castle Mountains in a Dodge Omni. Yeah... Not our smartest move ever, but we were new to Montana and new to mountains. Obviously, we lived to tell the tale ~ probably because God sometimes chooses to protect us from our own stupidity. ANYWAY, Friday afternoon, we returned to the Castles for the first time since that trip, but this time we took the atv's. We were too late in the season to go over the mountains, but we had a blast playing in well over a foot of snow! The views of the surrounding mountains were breathtaking.

The Crazy Mountains from the Castles

It was a tight squeeze!

 Saturday morning, we headed to "the range next door" ~ the Little Belts. It turned out to be a beautiful day to ride, and the trail recommended to us  was gorgeous! It wound its way through open aspen-filled meadows and shady, thick pine forests. The best part of the whole ride, though, was a stretch called Haymaker Narrows. The trail and the creek bottom braided their way through towering rock spires. Not a ride I would attempt during the spring run-off!



I saw something on Saturday that I have never seen in the wild before. I am fairly certain that I saw the back half of a wolverine! I gave half a second's thought to jumping off the machine to give chase, but then I remembered that a)wolverines have a notorious reputation for a very nasty disposition, and b)Dan had the camera anyway. Since he hadn't seen it and hadn't stopped, I continued on my merry way.


We ate our lunch on an outcropping overlooking the whole valley. We could see the Crazies, the Beartooth-Absoroka Range, and even the Pryors. The wind was a bit chilly, but the view more than made up for it. But, unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, so we made our way back to the truck and called it a day.

P.S. We learned something on this trip: Perhaps there IS a time to stay on the paved road! My poor baby! :(