Salmon Lake

I camped last night in Salmon Lake Start Park, about 40 miles north of Missoula, which is marked on my map with camping. There are two parts to the park, the first for boats, fishing and picknicking, the second for camping. The camping part had a big "closed for the season" sign. But it was already dark, I had just gone 40 miles and I didn't want to pay for a motel back in Missoula. So I pitched a tent in the picknicking area, where the ranger station was unmanned, and hoped I wouldn't get kicked out. (The plan if a ranger showed up was to say it was dark and I couldn't find the campground marked on my map.) I guess the ranger never showed up, because after a night of fitful sleep I woke up and was still in the park. By the time the first visitors showed up - two fishermen with their boat - I had my tent packed up and could plausibly claim I was just going through. But there was a big sign saying out of state people had to pay $25 just to use the park, so I got out of there early (after a quick breakfast) in case a ranger showed up for the day shift and decided to charge me. It was 30 degrees when I woke up and warmed to a balmy 40 on the road, which is basically freezing when riding. It was 80 degrees yesterday afternoon, though, so I'm hoping it'll warm up again soon. In the meantime my phone battery is almost dead so I'm keeping it off, and there's no reception anywhere around here so I don't know when I'll get to post this.