Where’s Kman

Bannack, Mt to Wisdom, Mt
48 miles
15.1 average mph
Hwy 278
1862: Bannack was established as a gold minning town.
1864-1865: was the territorial capital of Montana
1900: had over 3000 inhabitants.
1938: with the decline of minning the post office closed.
1950: the school closed
1954: the town was sold to a private individual who donated it to the state of Montana under the condition that it remain undeveloped.
2009: ghost town
Bannack was very cool because the buildings have been left untouched for over 50 years and you can walk around and go into all the houses and stores, the hotel and the school and see what an old gold minning town would have been like. Most of the floors are uneven and the plaster on the walls and ceilings are starting to fall apart.

Ennis, Mt to Bannack, Mt
97 miles
14.1 average mph
Hwy 287
Hwy 41
Hwy 278

Sorry, no service the past 2 days. I did not have phone or data signals. Don’t even bother taking a cell phone to the mountainous parts of southwest Montana. Back into civilization today (sort of) in a small town in Idaho – but more about Idaho later. I rode through Virginia City and Nevada City, 2.old gold minning towns. Virginia city is the larger of the two and the buildings hav e been fixed up and are now restaurants, gift shops, and B and B’s. The town was originally settled in the 1860′s during the gold rush in Montana and the town was named Varina (Jefferson Davis’s wife’s name) because most of the miners were southern sympathizers. The judge who incorporated the town was a Union supporter and changed the name to the similar; V irginia City.

West Yellowstone, Mt to Ennis, Mt
73 miles
17.6 average mph
Hwy 287
I rode through some beautiful mountains and descended about 2000 total so it is warmer today (73 degrees). The little town of Ennis is surrounded by mountains and a number of creeks. There is some irrigation for farming in the area and it is fairly green. Otherwise the area is mainly used for cattle ranching.