Red Lodge, Montana is a nice little town

We woke up on the ridge above the town and the forecast was for mostly sunny skies with a high around 70F (21C). So we decided to stay one more day in the area around Red Lodge, Montana.

We were doing some internet work first thing, and I got a text message from Telcel (we still have a Mexico SIM card in our phone) saying that our data had run out, and so had our balance. I'm usually pretty good at keeping an eye on it and recharging it the day before it runs out... but I missed it this time. And normally a screen comes up asking how you want to recharge, but this time I couldn't get it to do that.

So we drove down into the town and parked beside the visitors center. They usually have a free WiFi signal, but this time it was secured. I checked for other signals and sure enough there was a good strong signal coming from the Subway restaurant next door. No need to go inside the visitors center to ask for theirs.

Now on the internet again, I could go to the Telcel website and renew for another package. It worked fine and we are now connected again!

Then we went for a walk around town.

Ruth, beside a Peter Toth wood carving. 

We have seen work by Peter Toth in other cities in the U.S.. Apparently he has made 74 different statues like this over the years.

Downtown Red Lodge.

The Pollard Hotel, built in 1893.

The 35 room Pollard Hotel was the first brick building in the area and cost $20,000 to build! It has hosted many famous people, and back in the old days was a watering hole for Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane.

The original train station is now an art gallery.

We liked the town. It seems to have maintained it's character.

We had some lunch and then drove up to Custer National Forest to do some hiking. We picked a fairly easy trail, but then decided to branch off onto something more difficult. We got about 20 minutes into that section when it started to spit with rain and a big heavy looking cloud was quickly moving our way. We were in an open area and didn't have any rain gear with us. 

We quickly turned back and at least made it in to the shelter of the trees. And then the big cloud dispersed and it never did rain hard! We were honestly thinking we were going to get soaked.

But by that point we just decided to head back.

Every river and stream is running hard.

Hike in the forest. 

We came across this very old log cabin.

I always think it would be interesting to know the history of an old building like this.

Ruth, crossing a stream.

We decided that we were fine parked up at the trailhead so we just stayed there for the night.

I posted our June expenses last night, you might have missed them...

June expenses

Today, we are moving on to the town of Lovell, Wyoming!

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