After a few misread directions, we arrived at Crandall Creek Cabin in the Crazy Mountains of Montana.
24 miles from the nearest small, western town, my sister, her 3 kids and I (and Cali the St. Bernard of course) were ready for some wilderness vacation. Our Spring outings usually involve backpacking into the depths of the forests, jumping across flowing creeks and climbing steep mountains with a twinge of regret.
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| Carrying all the essentials |
This time, we drove up to our sweet little forest service cabin with a suburban and 2 horse trailer containing all the essentials we could not live without for four days – bicycles, motor bikes, chairs, games and floating tubes.
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| Happy Campers |
We arrived in the early afternoon and just after unpacking our vehicle, the rains set in.
The weather altered into hail occasionally, but wet skies either way kept us inside for the evening.
This was a perfect excuse to begin our marathon of board and card games, learning new ones and slightly altering a few old time favorites.
The next morning was beautiful and we headed out on a trail for a few hours before wandering down to nearby Crandall Creek for fishing, floating and dosing.
The squeaky door was about as ambitious of a task as I was willing to take on and a few squirts of Pam cooking spray and I had my one and only accomplishment of the day.
The next day we found another trail and headed up an old logging road towards Target Rock. I have never had a knack for flowers’ names and apparently that was the day everything was to change.
We identified 30 different mountain flowers and again, I felt like I had nothing more I wanted to do or offer myself once we got back to the cabin except S'mores, games of Sorry and cribbage.
An occasional bike ride or walk down to the creek for more water were all the breaks I needed between the kids’ laughter, the mountain’s silence and songs in my head.
Such a beautiful, quiet, amazing place. We’ll be back to explore more next year.
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| Breakfast of champions! |
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| Headed to the creek to keep the cooler in the cold mountain water |
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| The girls doing a happy dance as they explore the cabin |
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| Just a little fishing |
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| All three headed down to the creek with the floating raft for shade |
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| Our campfire ring looking North to Target Rock |
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| Serious cribbage games first thing in the morning |
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| Sunrise on the last morning |
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| Heading Home. Cali is wiped out... |
After a few misread directions, we arrived at Crandall Creek Cabin in the Crazy Mountains of Montana. 24 miles from the nearest small, western town, my sister, her 3 kids and I (and Cali the St. Bernard of course) were ready for some wilderness vacation. Our Spring outings usually involve backpacking into the depths of the forests, jumping across flowing creeks and climbing steep mountains with a twinge of regret.
The next morning was beautiful and we headed out on a trail for a few hours before wandering down to nearby Crandall Creek for fishing, floating and dosing. The squeaky door was about as ambitious of a task as I was willing to take on and a few squirts of Pam cooking spray and I had my one and only accomplishment of the day.
We identified 30 different mountain flowers and again, I felt like I had nothing more I wanted to do or offer myself once we got back to the cabin except S'mores, games of Sorry and cribbage. 
