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May 25, 2024

Roadtripping and Camping In The West W/Kids: Billings To Bozeman-Our Visit to Mystery Ranch & Camping At Spire Rock Campground-(11)

Son of a Sailor

Billings to Bozeman, a visit to Mystery Ranch, camping outside of Bozeman.

Billings to Bozeman was a short, fast 2-hour drive. We were really looking forward to visiting Bozeman and knew it was a mix of cowboy meets outdoor enthusiast….right up our alley. But before exploring the city, provisioning for another spate of tent camping and finding Spire Rock Campground, we had somewhere to go first.

A goal realized: Visiting Mystery Ranch

After college and between corporate jobs, I worked at a specialized outdoor store (smaller version of REI) that carried high-end mountaineering and climbing gear. The store was impressive in that it prided itself on employees with real knowledge about what they sold and had employees sit in on clinics given by the manufacturing companies and their reps, so we learned in-depth about each specialized product. That’s how I was introduced to Dana Designs in the mid-90’s. I sold the very, very high end Dana Design Packs to folks who were going to Nepal, Alaska or various other places to climb big mountains, but I was never able to afford one myself and didn’t have the need after I accepted my last corporate job. Since those days, I have always had enough wanderlust to still want to visit Bozeman and see where these fantastic backpacks were/are made. Since then, Dana Designs shut down, but reemerged as Mystery Ranch. So knowing we were actually going to visit Bozeman on our own timeline, I insisted on dragging the family with me to visit Mystery Ranch Corporate Office and Factory. Needless to say, I’m not sure the folks inside the building understood my enthusiasm but they very, very graciously gave us a really great tour of the sewing floor and answered all of my dumb questions. THANK YOU, Mystery Ranch.

After our short visit to Mystery Ranch, it was off to provision, find some lunch and do a bit of driving around town to check it out. But since we also wanted to get our camp established at Spire Rock before dark, we couldn’t spend as much time in Bozeman as we wanted, so we decided we needed to come back again tomorrow.

Lunch was awesome, as Bozeman has great restaurants and a younger crowd at times, due to the college located just past the downtown. The vibe kind of reminds me of a western SLO (San Luis Obispo). We grabbed some lunch and micro-brews at the SHINE Beer Sanctuary & Bottle Shop, and of course grabbed the beers you’ll see below..as we toasted all our friends who are kicking some Cancer Ass!

**The bathroom male/female sinks at SHINE.**

Spire Rock Campground

After lunch and some window shopping, we headed out to get to Spire Rock Campground before dark. It rained on the way out there but cleared up nicely as we entered the foothills. This campground is approx 23 miles south of Bozeman on Hwy 191. It’s located in the Custer Gallatin National Forest so you can get reservations on Recreation.gov. So we headed south on Hwy 191, not sure what to expect. We found Storm Castle Turnoff fairly easily, soon coming to the river crossing and figuring out the campground is nowhere near Hwy 191.

**Driving south from Bozeman, into rain, into the foothills to find our campsite.**

Bridge off Storm Castle Turnoff from Hwy 191. The campground would be another 6 miles of dirt road.

Getting to the campground right after you crossed the bridge above is an off-roaders dream. It’s about 6 miles of unimproved dirt fire road that had taken alot of rain over the summer. But the payoff was Spire Rock Campground…which is secluded, quiet and right off a small stream that flows straight through the campground. Spire Rock Campground is in the Recreation.gov system and can be reserved ahead of time. The camp hosts were awesome and quick getting us checked in and had dry fire wood for purchase. All of the sites are really private and set along a one way road, between the road and the running creek. We loved making camp again and getting set in for a great dinner and good sleep.

**From the truck to the campsite, right before we started setup.**

**Camp set up and dinner cooking, time for a cocktail. Yes, even though it’s June, it was cold.**

**Just across the stream from our campsite, heading back to Bozeman for the day.**

The next day, we decided to do another day in Bozeman checking things out and window shopping. It was a great day that ended with a bit more provisioning then back to the campground for another night of really nice sleeping. We would take off the next day for a LONG drive day through Yellowstone….to camp right between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. But that’s a story for another day.