Before continuing our trek east, the Nefzgers wanted to bring us to Crystal Lake- a national forest campground with trails not too far from their house. They had been here prior to moving, but it was their first time returning. It's absolutely gorgeous- tucked away from the state highway, which in itself doesn't get a lot of traffic, and its still a 30 min gravel road drive from there. We had wanted to get a run in, so Tim pointed us towards the trail head of the Ice Caves. I knew this would be a good amount of up hill, but went for it anyway. It was 11 miles round trip, with 2000 ft elevation gain up to 8700. I broke down and walked for a couple of the middle miles once it got really steep- but it was actually pretty easy running once you hit the mountain tops. The view was outstanding; you could see for 100 miles both north and south. Kate didn't quite make the top- but really enjoyed the run/hike as well. Still made it high enough up to get some good views. At the top, there is a series of caves still with snow and ice in them. Evidently it is there year-round. The last hike we did this trip was probably the best.
We lingered around for a late lunch, then hit the road, bound for however far we could get. There aren't a lot of towns between Lewistown and the interstate, it's sparsely populated rolling hills. We were surrounded by massive thunderheads with lightning on most sides and fairly heavy winds, but experienced very little rain. Nothing quite like watching Thunderstorms whip up on the plains.
Glendive had a good pizza place for a late dinner, and we decided to push on a little further to shorten the drive for tomorrow. We were able to make Dickinson and settled for a nice, but cheap hotel off the interstate.
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