South Tongue River

John was tired of me dragging him up mountains and down steep trails only to have to come back up the steep trail so he planned a day trip where we hiked some easy paths and drove on some easy and some difficult trails.

Near the Dead Swede Campground we found a wonderful path along the South Tongue River that led us through quiet forest, along soft pine covered trails and past interesting boulder strewn hills.  I imagined that my grandchildren would have had a great time climbing over all the rocks and wading in the river.

As we traveled the gravel road we enjoyed the scenery and kept an eye out for moose or mule deep, neither of which were spotted.  We did stop at an historic Splash Dam where tie hacks would build a temporary dam to hold back the spring snow melt to be released when conditions were right in order to ease the movement of  railroad ties from the forest to the sawmills in the valley.

We then found a rugged four wheel drive road that led to Groundhog Gap.  It was so slow going that we turned around after just 3 miles and headed back to the gravel road.  There was a short road that we took up a hill so we could hike up to Calvin Lake, a small mountain lake that was a refreshing change from the ruff roads and mountains.

To cap off this lovely day, John took me out to dinner for a great hamburger and fries.