Day 12 - Livingston, MT to Helena, MT

The Route

Today was a 190 mile drive. We took I-90W from Livingston to Butte and I-15N from Butte to Helena. The GPS kept wanting to take a shorter route. We persisted and saw the scenery Carol had planned.

About the Day

It was sunny and cold this morning ... partly due to temperature in the 50's and partly due to a stiff breeze. The temperature got all the way to 64° this afternoon.

There were pop-up sprinkles and showers through most of the day.

Along the Way

We had lots of "whee" moments as we climbed and descended mountain passes.

I-90 between Livingston and Bozeman ... we crossed Bozeman Pass (5,712 ft.).

Bozeman Pass

There was lots of road construction between Bozeman and Belgrade and almost no places to stop for lunch until we got to Butte.

We crossed Homestake Pass (6,968 ft.) and the Continental Divide (6,393 ft.)as we approached Butte.

Homestake Pass

Approaching Butte

The Berkeley Pit is a former Anaconda and ARCO open pit copper mine and is now one of the largest Superfund sites.

Butte - The richest hill on earth

The pit from an I-15 scenic viewpoint.

I-15 to Helena

Elk Park Pass

Travel Trivia

Butte is the largest National Historic Landmark in the West.

The Campground

The Helena North KOA is quite nice and very popular. The manager says they are sold out nearly every night. They are sold out tonight and we got the last available.

They have the fastest internet we've seen on this trip. They don't offer cable TV (many campgrounds don't). They encourage streaming (most campgrounds discourage streaming).

They've installed some of the first metal yurts offered by KOA. Yes, they do look like short grain silos.

View from our front door.

Site 36

These are new yurts, not silos.

They offer many amenities

Tomorrow

We have a relatively short, scenic drive to Missoula.