big nelson

evidently, the big nelson campground on cooper lake is a satellite site for the montana association of inbreds.

the lake is nestled in a beautiful bowl, surrounded by rugged and heavily forested mountains. it’s description as a “gem of a usfs campground” sold both scott and me, and scott even quoted a passage by michael mccoy (riding the great divide) whereupon “early morning was great for dawdling along the shoreline.”

sign me up.

after our 3,000 calorie meal in ovando, we both really felt lethargic and the idea of another 40 miles to lincoln (home of the unabomber) was met with nonviolent displeasure.by both of us.

plus the heat, and the heat in ovando does not include perks like shade trees or cool, cedar-choked drainages. instead, the ovando valley is stark, with sage brush as it’s primary biomass. it smells good and is pretty with rolling hills and browns and yellows of every hur.

rebooting our ride and with the temperature in the mid-90’s we decided to call it a day at the big nelson campground, despite reading about a steep climb before one may begin his or her dawdling on the cooper lake shoreline.

there are only 5 sites at the big nelson campground, but it was a sunday and logic said one of the sites would be open because people have real lives, right?

our first view of the azure colored water was disappointing. a big inboard boat was pulling a skier in circles; a geometric necessity, because the lake is so small.

the usfs sign recommended no trailers to the landing, and that made sense because it included a dogleg and a steep descent but that didn’t stop two recreational savants from backing their 20’ trailers to the landing and completely choking the access. and all that to cruise on a lake like a plane in a holding pattern.

we ventured to the campsites, hoping for a shoreline site so we could dawdle, and were greeted by four hard charging dogs. a haggard male, obviously the dogs’ owner, came and said “they’re harmless.”

scott offered his hand to one of the dogs and it sneered, thereby demonstrating that a harmless dog still knows how to bite.

the “guy” told us there were no open sites and that moment of terror for two tired bikepackers arrived: no sites and miles to the next one.

the usfs allows camping anywhere, but two items we need are water and a picnic table; not because we are spoiled and demanding but because every night you stop, you have to unpack and a picnic table is the perfect setting for two guys doing that activity at the same time

we hiked back up the hill, crushed and exhausted.

at that moment, a woman approached and told us “there’s an open site up above”. it was a site with a picnic table and fire grate, and it was open, so we took it.

it was a relief, but i’ll give the accommodations a half-star rating because this is a usfs campground and they should be embarrassed they even allow people to degrade the shoreline like it is.

the kicker though, is that one of the sites has a phantom camper, meaning a set up, without occupancy.

that is illegal and that could have been our site. instead, we had to climb up a steep to our site, which makes dawdling on the shoreline optional.