October is the time my kids and I turn our attention to ghosts, ghouls, and goblins.

Especially ghosts.

In a few weeks various haunted houses set up by local community groups will begin to open up, with the promise that they’ll scare the bejeebers out of us in return for a charitable donation.

And they do a good job, too.  But their ghosts leave something to be desired.

A Ghostly Town

Because I know where the real ghosts are.

Ghost towns.

Some of the best are in Western Montana, where the discovery of gold in the 1800’s led to mining camps popping up all over the place.  Many of these camps turned into thriving towns over time, but once the gold ran out, few of them could survive as the residents picked up and moved on to the next lucky strike.

Over the past century, these ghost towns were left to fall apart and fade away.  You could drive all over the western part of the state looking for the remains of hundreds of old settlements, but you’d need a lot of time, a very sturdy vehicle, and an extremely patient family.

Luckily, several locations have been well preserved by the State of Montana, so you don’t have to go hunting high and low.

Masonic Lodge at Bannack

You’ll have the best experience at Bannack, the sight of one of the first major gold discoveries in the area.  During its 1860’s heyday, Bannack had a population of  over 3,000, and it soon became the first territorial capital of Montana.  The town didn’t thrive for long, and by the 1880’s the population had dwindled to just a few hundred.  By the 1940’s the last resident had died or moved on, and Bannack became a ghost town.

By 1954, the state turned the town into a State Park in order to preserve it.  And that’s one of the keys to the place.  They preserve the buildings, rather than restore them. This isn’t some glorified amusement park recreation of history.  This is the real thing.

As you and your kids stroll the walkways, it’s easy to imagine what the rough and rowdy town might have looked like filled with prospectors, settlers, and thieves.  Special guided tours allow you inside some of the buildings, and even into otherwise restricted sites.

There’s really no better way to experience a little bit of the Old West.

Oh, and ghosts?  Yeah, they have them.  According to some people, Bannack has ghosts a plenty.

And at the end of this month, the ghosts will be walking the streets with you during the Bannack Ghost Walks.  These special performances are based on actual historical events, including gunfights, hangings, and other ghastly misdeeds.  Call (406) 834-3413 for more information about the Ghost Walks.

Bannack State Park is open all the rest of the year, with other special events during the summer that are fun for the entire family.  Entry fee is only $5 for your entire vehicle.  The park is easy to access, located just 24 miles southwest of Dillon, Montana, about 20 miles off I-15.

Visit the Bannack State Park website for more details.

If you’re a camping family, they have two different campgrounds in the park.  But if you like something a little nicer, I highly recommend Fairmont Hot Springs Resort.   It’s about an hour north of Bannack, just outside of Butte.  We’ve used it as a base of operations for exploring Western Montana, and it’s always a joy to end a tiring day by taking a dip in the hot pools.  While you’re there, you can also take a side trip to the Lewis and Clark Caverns, Montana’s first state park, and one of the largest limestone caverns in the Northwest.

Bannack State Park is also not too far off the regular routes to Yellowstone National Park.

Carriage rides at Bannack State Park

Photos courtesy of VisitMT, the official Montana Travel Website.

Who can argue that autumn is one of the most colorful times of year?

That was a rhetorical question.

Fall is pretty, mostly because of the glorious displays put on by the fall leaves changing color.  This phenomenon occurs all over the United States, but some spots offer better views than others.  Grab your camera and a road atlas and take a day trip to one of the 11 best fall foliage sites in America.

11 Places To See Fall Leaves

Fall Leaves on Carriage Road at Acadia National Park

1.  Acadia National Park – Maine

Of course anywhere in the North East is going to boast spectacular fall foliage.  The Acadia National Park offers gorgeous views and extensive Ranger-led educational programs so that you can learn more about what you’re staring at.  Make sure to head to Bar Harbor Maine before the end of October to take full advantage of the sights and services available.

Fall Leaves at Oak Mountain State Park

2.  Oak Mountain State Park – Alabama

Oak Mountain State Park is Alabama’s largest state park.  This nearly 10,000 acre forest is featured on several sight seeing lists.  Admission is only $3 for adults on weekends and holidays.  You can visit the park for fall foliage viewing from 7am to sundown.

Fall Foliage in New Hampshire

3.  Mt. Washington – New Hampshire

While it’s typical to see fall foliage while you’re driving, the Mount offers guided cruises on the M/S Mount Washington.  Starting Sunday, September 27, the Mount will offer Fall Foliage Dinner Cruises from 4:30 to 7 p.m. each Sunday through mid-October. The cruise departs from Weirs Beach, boarding at 4 p.m. Cost for adults is$43. Visit Cruise Mount Washington for more information.

Fall Color in Colorado

4.  Aspen – Colorado

It’s no surprise that Aspen, Colorado is the perfect place to watch the Aspen trees change colors with the seasons.  San Isabel National Forest offers extensive trails for viewing of some of the most fabulous aspen trees in Colorado.

New York Fall Foliage

5.  The Catskills – New York

The Catskills and Hudson Valley region is about a two hour drive from New York City.  One of the unique features of this area is that the color changing season lasts about six weeks, with colors rivaling those of its North Eastern neighbors, Vermont and Massachusetts.

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I happen to be a huge fan of Canada. HUGE. I have never had a Canadian experience that was less than completely positive. I love Canada so much that next summer I’m planning on hitting at least one of several points along the northern border of the U.S. that are great jumping-off points to get to Canada by car.

#1 Canadian Jumping Off Point – Boston, MA. Boston is one of my favorite places, and it’s right handy to Montreal (5 hours 20 minutes) and Quebec City (6 hours 30 minutes). My vision of a really great vacation is to start in Boston, stay a couple of nights and hit some of the sights (like Beacon Hill, or the Freedom Trail, or nearby Cape Cod), then drive up to Montreal for a couple of days, making sure to see the Pôle des Rapides. From Montreal the drive to Quebec City is two hours and 45 minutes, where I would recommend staying at the Hôtel Manoir de l’Esplanade and checking out the various boat tours along the St. Lawrence River.

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Geothermal paradise of Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is the crown jewel of our National Park System.  It was the first of its kind, and remains the most unique and diverse wilderness experience that you will find in this country.

It’s also an extremely cool place for kids.

But with almost 3500 square miles of lakes, geysers, canyons, and hot springs, there’s too much to see in one short stay.  So, after three visits to Yellowstone, and consultation with my own children, I have compiled the following list of park sights and activities that will make your family trip an especially memorable one.

Ten Cool Things For Kids (and Grown-Ups) in Yellowstone National Park

1.  Dragon’s Mouth Spring

Dragon's Mouth Spring

How can you resist telling your kids that a dragon lives in a cave near a mud volcano?  It doesn’t take much imagination to think that this cavern, with its growls and thumps, and spitting steam, might just hold a real dragon.

2.  Fishing Cone

Fishing Cone Geyser at Yellowstone Lake

It’s probably just a tall tale, but the story goes that the early trappers and explorers would catch fish in Yellowstone Lake, swing them directly into the Fishing Cone geyser just off shore, and have a meal of boiled fish in just minutes.  “Hook and cook,” they called it.  Like the dragon cave, another cool sight that will fire up the imagination.

3.  Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful Inn

What kid won’t love the largest log hotel in the world?  Just walk inside the 100-year-old Inn’s lobby, with its four stories of lodgepole pine balconies and 500-ton stone fireplace, and your kids might just want to sit for awhile.  Preferably in one of the many handmade wood rocking chairs.  Better yet, stay in one of the Inn’s rooms.  Prices are reasonable, and the food in the dining room is first-class.

4.  Fountain Paint Pots

Fountain Paint Pots

This is what I remember best from my own childhood memories of Yellowstone.  The short half-mile trail is the perfect primer for the various thermal features you’ll see throughout the park.  It’s a little bit of everything, with numerous geysers, bubbling mud pots, hot springs, and steaming fumaroles.  With all that activity in a small space, it’s kind of watching a three-ring circus.

Buffalo Warning

5.  Dangerous Animals

Your kids might not be impressed by the thousands of bison that roam all over the park until they see the signs warning that these animals weigh up to 2000 pounds, run over 30mph, and think nothing of skewering a camera-toting tourist on the end of its horns.  They can be extremely dangerous.  Same goes for the grizzly bears, wolves, moose, elk, and badgers.  But worry mostly about the bison (sometimes called buffalo), because they will be all around you.

6.  Junior Ranger Program

The Junior Ranger program at Yellowstone is one of the coolest of all the National Parks.  It gets the kids involved in all sorts of activities involving wildlife, ecology, geology, hiking, and education.  If they complete the program, kids get an official Junior Ranger patch.  Best of all, they learn something while having fun.

7.  Stagecoach Rides

From Roosevelt Lodge in the northern part of Yellowstone, you can take a trip to the past with a rattling, bumpy ride on an old west stagecoach, just as visitors did back at the turn of the century.  The ride lasts an hour and is quite reasonably priced at $8 for kids, $10 for adults.  A nice way to soak up the scenery.

8.  Upper Geyser Basin

Geyser watching

You want geysers?  This is where you’ll have your fill of them, as the basin contains over 150 geysers.  That’s the highest concentration of geysers in the world.  Walking through this alien landscape makes you feel like the Earth’s crust could burst open in a cataclysmic hydrothermal explosion at any moment, totally ruining your dinner reservations at the nearby Old Faithful Inn Dining Room later that night.  But seriously, this is the best place for you and your kids to see geysers going off right and left.  Many of them, such as Castle Geyser, Grand Geyser, and Riverside Geyser are highly predictable, so you can figure when and where you need to be for the show.

9.  Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring

Not everything in Yellowstone bubbles, growls, and erupts.  Grand Prismatic Spring is simply a gigantic pool of steaming water.  In fact, it’s the largest hot springs in the United States.  You have to see it for the beautiful colors, from deep blue to orange to green to red, produced by different species of bacteria living in the water.  It makes for an interesting biology lesson for everyone.

10.  Old Faithful

Old Faithful Geyser

You know this would be on the list.  How could it not be?  It’s the most popular feature in Yellowstone, and is the park’s defining symbol.  The area around Old Faithful is crowded, commercial, and noisy, but it’s still very cool.  The geyser usually erupts on a predictable schedule, roughly every 90 minutes.  Up to 8,000 gallons of scalding hot water shoots upwards of 185 feet while busloads of tourists “ooh” and “ahh.”  On our last visit to the park, my kids and I made a game of running to watch Old Faithful go off.  Staying in the nearby Inn made that easy for us, and we ended up viewing eight eruptions during our weekend at Yellowstone.

Photos courtesy of the National Park Service

Hiking Mineral Ridge

Spring is about to be sprung on us here in the Pacific Northwest. The one thing I look forward to most with the passing of winter is packing my kids into the car and finding a mountain trail somewhere nearby so I can stretch out my legs and shake off the cabin fever.

I’m familiar with most of the easy trails in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, and Western Montana. By “easy” I mean, simple day hikes that won’t end with one or another child having a meltdown, pleading with me to “never do this again.” No, we’ve been on those hikes and I learned my lesson.

Today I’m going to highlight eight fun family hiking trails in North Idaho, close to the towns of Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, Idaho, and not too far from the metropolis of Spokane, Washington. If you’re in the area for a vacation, or just passing through on I-90, any of these treks will make for a fun, and relatively short, way to experience the wonder and wilderness of Idaho’s great outdoors.

Tubbs Hill Picnic Spot

Tubbs Hill in Coeur d’Alene – It’s the crown jewel of Coeur d’Alene, situated right next to downtown. We’ve made this into two separate hikes; one from the 3rd Street parking lot out to the halfway point and back, and a second hike from the east side parking lot on 10th St. to the halfway point and back. Either one, or all the way around, is mostly level, with awesome views of the lake and hundreds of perfect picnic spots.  You can walk to Tubbs Hill from any downtown hotel or bed and breakfast.

Q’emiln Park in Post Falls – The hiking trails start right at the parking lot near the west entrance to the park. There are spectacular views of the Spokane River, and the rock climbing walls provide a chance for the kids to watch people scaling the vertical rocks. On a hot summer day the city beach with lifeguards is right there at the park for a swim or a picnic.

Higgins Point in Coeur d’Alene – At the east end of Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive, it’s a leisurely walk along a paved trail next to the lake. Perfect if you don’t want to get your feet dirty. We go past the photographer statue and up the hill into the park, then down one of the rugged trails to the water’s edge.

English Point National Recreation Trail in Hayden – This one’s kind of hidden away off Highway 95. We love looping through the woods, catching glimpses of Hayden Lake, and generally feeling like we’re in the middle of nowhere. If you’re on your way to Silverwood Theme Park, make a quick stop at English Point.

Mineral Ridge in Coeur d’Alene – The longest of the hikes, at 3.3 miles. We only do it once or twice a year, and make it an all-day trip, with a picnic at the very top where the lake view is well worth the climb. There’s a little cave to explore on the way up, and the whole area is rich with mining history.

Beauty Bay Trail in Coeur d’Alene – At the east end of Lake Coeur d’Alene on Hwy. 97, the Beauty Bay Trail is the shortest and easiest hike, at just a half-mile to a viewing deck and then another half-mile through the forest. The kids might want to walk it twice.

Ancient Cedars

Cougar Bay Preserve in Coeur d’Alene – A few miles south of the Blackwell Island Bridge on Hwy. 95, Cougar Bay is one big wildlife nursery with miles of rugged trails. If you want to pretend to be lost in the woods, this is a good place to do it.

Settlers Grove of Ancient Cedars in Murray – Further away than the other hikes, but worth the drive to the Silver Valley. It’s a quiet place, with few visitors. The level dirt trail winds through huge towering cedar trees that make you feel like you’re in another world. In Murray, the historic Sprag Pole Museum is a must-see while you’re in the area. It’s also a good place to get a huckleberry shake.

All photos by Phil Corless

During a recent family getaway at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort, near Butte, Montana, we discovered an unexpected surprise about an hour east of the resort on I-90.

Lewis & Clark Caverns, Montana’s first state park, and one of the largest limestone caverns in the Northwest, is a fun and memorable family-friendly trip through some truly spectacular caves.

The facilities are first-rate, with easy access to the trailhead, a large visitor’s center, restrooms, cafeteria, and gift shop. Guided tours, at $5 per person, begin about every twenty minutes. We were lucky to get an awesome guide named Jacob, who would’ve been right at home on Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise with his quick wit and confident manner. My son still laughs uncontrollably at the joke about Romeo, Juliet, and a wheelchair. Don’t ask, you’ll have to take the tour.

I have to confess that the 3/4-mile uphill hike to the entrance of the caverns nearly did us all in. Even the kids were huffing and puffing up that trail. But at least we beat the middle-aged smoking couple from Arizona! Jacob waited patiently for everyone to arrive before going over a few rules. Once inside, the 90-minute walk/climb/stoop was relatively easy for everyone. The constant 50-degree temperature definitely helped.

You might not want to tour these caverns if you’re claustrophobic. There were three or four extremely tight spots where I had to twist myself into odd shapes to pass through. At one point you have to sit down and slide about ten feet to get to the next chamber. The kids loved watching me awkwardly squat and shuffle on my bottom (good thing I had the camera). The caverns are well lit, and they are in the process of switching to a new LED light system that will improve the visual impact of the limestone formations. The trail is extremely safe, with concrete platforms and steps, and steel handrails, all courtesy of the CCC.

I think I may finally know the difference between stalactites, which hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites, which are built up from the floor. There are thousands of them, in every kind of strange configuration, spread throughout the caverns.

It was more than a pleasant surprise to discover the Lewis & Clark Caverns. The kids loved twisting and turning through the caverns, not knowing what was coming next.  Next time you’re in Butte, or just passing through Montana, watch for the turn-off to the Caverns on Hwy 2, just off I-90.  It’s on the way to the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and the Caverns are a popular side trip.