Lost Creek State Park

We left our beautiful site on the Yellowstone and headed west.  The road through the mountains had many elevation changes and lots of curves. Janet was doing a lot of the driving so we didn’t go very fast, and David had time to look on AllStays for a place to dump and a place to spend the night.

We stopped in Butte at the Pump and Dump (an Exxon station).  We were pleased that there was no change to dump and take on water. Very clean and functional dump.

David had found this campground which was about fourteen miles off I-90. It didn’t take reservations so we thought we might be able to find a site on a Saturday night.  He found a couple of other options if this one didn’t work out. On our drive into the canyon we were puzzled by the tall, brick smokestack we passed. We later read that it is the chimney, built in 1919, for the Anaconda copper works, closed in 1981. The chimney at 586 feet is the tallest brick chimney in the world — 76 feet in diameter at its base and 60 feet at the top. It is now part of the Anaconda State Park.

It turned out that Lost Creek SP has nice sites for small RVs.  We are in the middle of a canyon through which the Lost Creek runs.  The price was a bit high for non-Montana residents ($28) but we are happy to support the State Park system so that we can stay in this lovely place.  No other campers in sight and high canyon walls on each side of the campground.

After parking we hiked to the creek falls and then took a 2.5 mile hike up the canyon.  400 feet of elevation change over 1.1 miles.  The rush of the creek rapids kept us company the whole way. Along our walk we encountered 4 other hikers, 7 dogs, and 3 bikers. It would be a fun trail to bike except for a muddy place with a fallen tree across the trail — that was the spot where we chose to turn back.

We sat outside for a while before dinner but decided to eat inside as the biting flies, really big ones, were a bit annoying. Surprisingly good ATT service in this canyon.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)