Nye, Montana

If you like your privacy, this is the vacation spot for you! In the middle of Custer Gallatin National Forest and along the Stillwater River you will find this peaceful campground called Woodbine Campground. This was our first time boondocking for more than one night. With no electric or on site water hookup, we were in for an off-the-grid adventure! We were pretty nervous to give this a try! We were 1,265 miles away from home, no cell service, and the only ounce of civilization near us was Nye Trading Post. Nye Trading Post serves as the town's grocery store, post office, bait shop, liquor store, and souvenir shop. This was the only place that we could get Wi-Fi for 10 minutes so we could check our messages and google nearby trails or information. This was definitely out of our comfort zone, but we would go back in a heartbeat. It was such a beautiful spot and definitely other trails we'd like to explore nearby.

Camping
As you can see from the pictures Woodbine Campground is very remote. This campground was around $20 per night, and came with a million dollar view! The campsites are huge and secluded. We were not sure what to expect, but our site was paved and flat. We had 3 tiers to our site; space for our camper, space for a campfire with a nice fire ring, and space for picnic tables. Our site was on an outside loop, which gave us a lot of room to explore and climb big boulders. Bear spray is a must, the camp host informed us that bear sightings in the campground were common so always carry spray with you. We never did come across any bear here and that was ok with me! 

Hiking
During our hikes, we always carried bear spray and put bear bells on Mia's shoes. We were fortunate to not come across a bear on a trail, but we knew that was always a possibility. Travis usually likes to hike ahead of us, so that was an adjustment on his part to stick as a group. We didn't want him to turn a corner and encounter a bear without us. The two hikes we completed were gorgeous. There definitely wasn't a problem with sharing the trails with others or waiting to take a picture at an overlook, we were alone! It was so nice and peaceful, but also a little scary at the same time. The weather seemed to change by the minute. It seemed like every 10 minutes we had to stop to either take our jacket off or put it back on. Not sure if this is normal for hiking in the mountains, but we were happy to have layers of clothing for these hikes.

• Sioux Charley Lake via Stillwater Trail No. 24

This is a 6.5 mile hike or if you miss the Sioux Charley Lake lookout, you can extend it to 8 miles like we did! Very beautiful hike, with a lot of different scenery. There is a rushing river for the first couple miles, then the trail takes you deep into a forest, there are areas with open meadows, mountain views, and finally the Sioux Charley Lake (which was more like a very wide opening in the river). We hopped over steams multiple times, this is where waterproof hiking shoes were really beneficial! This was Mia's longest hike so far and she did great! There were a few times she needed Willow to pull her up the hill, but she enjoyed that! 

• Woodbine Falls

Woodbine Falls is a short 1.4 mile, in and out, hike with a great lookout area to view the waterfall. It was a hike with a steady climb, but fairly easy. We had the trail to ourselves, but I have read that it can get busy and the lookout area can get crowded.  


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