Garnet Ghost Town

This morning we packed up our camper, the Pedersen's packed up their truck, and we headed down to West Glacier Raft Company. We were all glad to leave the campsite. There were train tracks right behind our camper. I stopped counting trains at eight million (I'm only sort of kidding). My mom and I stopped at the visitors center to get wifi (there are no Sprint towers in Montana) and directions for later while everyone else checked in at rafting. As we walked over to join the rest of our group, Mom and I saw a bunch of prairie dogs in a field. They were adorable! In the mean time my dad had set up our camper in the parking lot so the Pedersen's dogs could stay in there while we rafted. Then we loaded the bus and drove about ten minutes to the entrance point. Our guide, Doc, briefed us on the class of the rapids we were going on, how to paddle, what to do when we fall (or more likely get pushed) out of the boat, blah blah blah etc. We got splashed, and tossed around, swam, soaked each other, and froze to death in the 51° water. The trip took about two-and-a-half hours and let out at the parking lot to the rafting place. After changing into dry clothes we drove into town and had lunch together at Chick-Fil-A. After lunch we separated. The Pedersen's were going north, while we were going south to Yellowstone. On our way down, we stopped at Garnet Ghost Town. It is an old mining town, complete with saloons, houses, stables, Sam Adam's house, a mine, a grocery store, a candy shop, and a school. Most of the buildings were from the late 1800's. We hiked around the town for about an hour and a half. While we were there we saw a mother and baby deer. We wanted to stay longer, but we left because it was getting dark and the town was on top of a mountain. After driving down the beautiful (and totally, completely, without a shadow of a doubt, terrifying) road, we drove into Bearmouth, Montana to get onto the interstate. Oh! On the way, we saw a HUGE herd of elk or caribou. It was too dark to tell which exactly. We didn't make it to Yellowstone last night. We stayed in a Walmart parking lot. Most Walmarts let people camp in their parking lot at night. We'll finish driving to Yellowstone this afternoon. Stay tuned to experience our adventure!