McLeod Montana – our new home for 5 months

We arrived early afternoon, from Cody WY, in the pouring rain. Our first views were magnificent despite the clouds hanging low over unseen mountains. The road was paved most of the way from Big Timber except for the last 2 miles when the pavement changed to mud and gravel. In dry weather, no problem. In the pouring rain, pulling a fifth wheel trailer, not so much fun but with 4 wheel drive engaged, really no problem at all. We were just covered with mud!! That is….the truck, trailer, running boards and our feet.

The road the next day – still muddy but not nearly as bad as when we arrived.
First glimpse of our new home. This is the entrance to the Historic Main Boulder Ranger Station. The road climbs up and turns – important when towing a fairly large rig.
The Historic Main Boulder Ranger Station. (The road you see in front? We backed up on the little dirt road!!)

The next set of pictures show how we had to get into our spot – backing up the whole way! We are still not quite sure how we managed to do it so easily – without killing each other.

   

Here are a few of our first glimpses into the wonder of where are:

There are so many sandhill cranes in this area. Wherever we go, we see them, in the meadows, flying, or we hear them…they have a very unusual call. I think there is a mating couple or maybe even a few couples close by because we hear them constantly.

 

The day after we arrived, we just had to go exploring our territory so we decided to take a drive up the Main Boulder Road (which is the road we drove in on) to check out some of the campgrounds we will be responsible for. The first thing we were impressed with is how many deer there are – everywhere, including jumping out in front of us on several occasions – thankfully the road was rough so our speed was very slow.

 

We also took a drive into McLeod, 12 miles back along Main Boulder Road, to see if we could get a mailbox at the Post Office there. Sure enough, we can.

Also found these cute little cabins for rent in McLeod, right beside the raging Boulder River – high and still rising apparently.

The next day, we went exploring again into Livingston which is where the Forest Service office is and where we will be on a weekly basis. We took the “back road” there. Again, spectacular views.

The “Crazies” as the locals call the mountains you can see in the distance. One of our campgrounds is in the Crazies.
Zoomed in view of the Crazies.
On the way to Livingston.
So many beautiful ranches too.
The Beartooth-Absaroka Ranges.
The town of Livingston.

We consider ourselves so very lucky to be here…lots of wildlife, spectacular scenery, great colleagues in the Forest Service, and lots more places to explore!