Way Up North To Alaska: 38th day

Delicious food, good company, a nice cabin on a roaring mountain river and a beautiful rainbow to top all that… life is great.
The day started out with a tire change performed by my pit crew at Big Sky Motorsports in Missoula. Once they got me on the way I headed west towards Garnet, a mining ghost town high up in the Montana Mountains. Garnet got its name from the semi-precious stones they mined there first. But soon after gold was found and the town took off. At its high time Garnet had 1,000 inhabitants and was known for its 13 saloons. The town was abandoned in 1918 after half the town burned down and the gold ran out as well.
Next stop was supposed to be Yellowstone National Park. But the weather didn’t play nice once again. And this time I got hit hard - by hail. Before I could dive into a road maintenance building in time I got nailed by a silver dollar size ice clump in my chest and got a nice bruise to show for.

After that little incident I turned into Cinnamon Lodge for a Mexican Fiesta and bed to sleep. That turned out to be one great decision. The meal was incredible, the company was great and the cabin is charming. And then the rainbow…

Hey that sounds like a great idea.

The view on the way up to Garnet.

Bear grass in bloom. (Locals told me..).

Locals had no name for the next two...and i don't have a caption...

But this one we identified as Witches Hair.

The ghost town of garnet.

One of the three saloons still standing.

The General Store...

...heated.

One of the hotel rooms. The first story in this hotel held the kitchen, the dinning room and a foyer with a staircase leading to the 2nd & 3rd floor. 8 hotel rooms on the second floor. For the miners that did not have the 1-3$ for a private room there was the third floor where they could stay on a 2 by 6 feet area to roll out their mattresses for free.