Cross Country Skiing near Butte Montana

24.March.2006

... Interesting bunch of characters on the road above the parking lot this morning. One nice vehicle was in the parking lot, with foot tracks and tire tracks going up the road from there. In all, there were four big old 4WD pickups stuck when I skied up past. The "old man" -- the 40-something year old Dad of one of the mid-20s boys -- told me his son and a buddy had gotten stuck late yesterday. When they got back to town and drove the buddy's truck up, it got stuck too. When the Dad and another buddy returned to help out this morning, they got their two trucks stuck as well. [this reminds me of how we used to shoot turkeys in Appalachia, so long as you kept shooting the one in the rear, the others were oblivious...]
When I went past at 10 a.m., the Dad was carrying beers from his truck up to the boys who were using a Handiman jack to lift one truck, then kick it sideways off the jack. Three little kids (ages c. 5, 7, and 9) were playing nearby, along with some mean dogs. The boys all seemed pretty drunk at 10 a.m., and had obviously been there about 2 hours. When I came down the road at noon or so, they had two trucks free and were working on the other two. Dad was carrying beers up to the boys who were again working with the Handiman jack. No winch or come-along.
They looked a rough and dangerous bunch. Real Butte good old boys. Probably live on Colorado St off of 2nd St and drink at Klapans or the Mint (they make the gang I see at Pissers look like an upscale private club). When I asked the two who had originally gotten stuck if they knew the road, they said they did. But the road doesn't go anywhere. Only to the camps/summer homes around the meadow. I suspect they had set out to rob the camps. That happens every few years.