– Montana Re-visited – 3 –

If you haven’t read themt, go back to the entries of 10/1/10 and 10/2/10, Montana Re-visited – 1 & 2.

Saturday, Sept. 25, and Sunday, Sept. 26, we stayed at Chico Hot Springs Resort.

Depending on who you talk to it’s either in Pray or Emigrant, Montana. It is closer to Emigrant. The “Main Building and the “Saloon” are five years older than the “Old Saloon”.

Supposedly, the main building, the oldest section of the hotel, is haunted. The ghost of the wife of the founder of the original hotel and saloon has reportedly been seen in the hallway of the third floor and a rocking in what was her room is often times found turned towards a window through which Emigrant Mountain can be viewed. The supposed ghost of David Samuel “Sam” Peckinpah, the movie director has also been reported to have been encountered on the third floor.

Guess where our rooms were located?

Nope, none of the three of us was disturbed in our sleep and we saw no ghostly apparitions.

At least two movies, that I know of, were filmed in Paradise Valley.

“A River Runs Through It” and “The Horse Whisperer”.

The saloon/bar/lounge has four entrances and we checked out two of them soon after arrival.

The lounge/saloon/bar is connected to the main building by a covered walkway and ann enclosed stairway.

On the walkway and the covered porch of the main/old/original portion of the hotel/spa are numerous chairs/benches and rockers. I sure wouldn’t want to be the person sitting in the middle on one of the benches.

Then we have the lower lodge.

And no, this wasn’t our rented vehicle; in a way I wish it was.

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Then we have the backside of the lower lodge.

Many of the hanging flower baskets/pots had a watering system connected to the water supply of the buildings. I don’t know if this one did or not.

One of the rental cabins at Chico.

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And then I met Dave The Dog.

No, not the diarist here on OD but an actual dog. This Dave appeared to be a mixed breed Dachshund.

This Dave went out with every “Trail Ride” and then tried to sneak into the lobby and dining room when the “Trail Riders” returned.

I think it was something of a game; the “Wranglers”, trying to keep Dave The Dog out and Dave the Dog trying to get into the lobby and dining room.

Chico did have a few rules to live by,

There is a problem in the mountains. What do you do with your garbage. Around here we have problems with raccoons. In Montana, they have a problem with bears. This is one way they cope with the problem.

You keep your garbage inside and every few days you take it down to a “crossroads’ where the county provides dumpsters.

The dumpsters are the size of a roll-off. They have a hinged cover made of heavy gauge steel diamond grate. The cover is raised by turning a crank and winding a steel cable on a drum. At night the cover is lowered and the gate to the dumpster area is closed.

The fence of the dumpster area is at least five feet high.

You definitely don’t try to dispose of garbage after dark

I was told that the outdoor fireplace at Arrow Hill was used only a couple of times for cooking. The Hill Family learned rather quickly about bears and their sense of smell.

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