Car Camping - Thompson River Road

Before I even get into my past weekends adventure's w/ Bryce, I'd like to share my friend Anne's blog w/ you all. She is currently in Nepal for a few weeks documenting an all female trekking company. You can check it out HERE or by clicking her name in my links down below.

Despite having a few temp jobs this past week, I've been getting frustrated in my search for a job in Missoula. The weather had been amazing all week & my need to be out in the woods again has been growing. Since actual backpacking won't become a reality until after the 4th of July in the mountains, Bryce & I decided car camping would be the next best thing. Plus it's always nice to have a little luxury we're not used to out in the woods when we backpack in somewhere.

So we packed up the car w/ all the essentials as well as a few non essential items (like an air mattress) &; took off for the mountains.

We saw some knarly looking sheep along the side of the road near our camp. I called them zombie sheep b/c of how weathered they look from this past winter as they prepare for summer.

After picking out our site we set-up the tent & quickly headed down some forest service roads to collect some firewood & enjoy the views w/ any remaining sunlight. Bryce had been to this particular area once before & knew all the scenic places to show me.

As the sun was starting to set & our bellies were starting to grumble, we headed back to camp to finish setting up & cook a dinner over the fire. We ate an awesome campfire cooked meal of turkey & cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, & mashed potatoes & broccoli. Yum! One of my favorite parts of car camping is the awesome foods you get to cook over the fire you wouldn't normally get to enjoy when backpacking into the back country.

Both of us collapsing into a food coma we cuddled up in the tent w/ the dogs & did some reading before our eyes got to heavy. We both slept soundly w/ the rushing sounds of the river & the cool mountain night air drifting into the tent.

The next morning we were up bright & early. As the dogs stretched their legs from a night of being crammed into a tent (my dogs take after me and prefer to have really comfortable things) Bryce & I packed up the car & headed off towards our next adventure.

We arrived at the forest service road that would take us to Hud Lake early in the afternoon. We made it just a few miles from the trail head before the snow consumed the road & Bryce's Subaru wouldn't go any further. We then took off on foot the last few miles to the trail head, walked in about a hundred feet, then returned to the car.

When we got back to the car we discovered these butterflies sunning themselves on my Vibrams.