Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

Signs along U.S. Highway 93 through part of Hamilton are a blight.  There, I said it.  Paradise is not perfect.  Pure and simple, Hwy. 93's winter-gray roads meet equally gray storefronts lit with one-story neon or other garish man-made color.  Somewhere along the way, local zoning authorities let fast-food, mini-casino and car-wash joints have their way with the first glimpse of town. Four large grocery stores along the highway are a godsend to home cooks. But they, and their asphalt parking lots, are nearly as unattractive as the neon.  This is the way of the world in many parts of the country, I guess. But here, I think to myself, it should be better. A group of citizens recently protested (successfully) billboard-sized signs in the valley.  So that is something.  And there are a few  93-fronted businesses, such as the Higherground Brewery, that have lovely native plantings curbside. There should be more (Hamilton Garden Club, where are you??).

The mountains always do manage to shine. They fill in the background everywhere you look. And once you get onto the thriving Main Street or into residential areas, the town is quite lovely -- mature trees, beautiful gardens, century-old storefronts and bungalows with mountain views.  The valley is especially pretty as seen from what's called the Eastside Highway. That road parallels Hwy. 93 for the most part and is unblemished by signs, lined instead with farms and ranchettes -- from hardscrabble to wealthy -- and pristine mountains always in view.

Having said all of this, I do appreciate many of the little signs that are around. They're the ones that say to me, "Only in Montana"... 

There's the small laundromat sign near Main Street.

And a computer-generated sign in the door of the handsome U.S. Forest Service building.

There's the street sign that directs people to use orange flags when crossing 93 to get to the locally-owned Hamilton's Marketplace; traffic doing the 25 mph speed limit is supposed to stop for pedestrians in any event. The sign and flags make it safer.

The message on a bumper sticker at Murdoch's Ranch & Farm Supply says a lot about the Bitterroot.

Also at Murdoch's are products signed intriguingly.

Signs in the Sapphire Mountains speak of old narrow logging roads carved out of hillsides.

Even in fire season (last year), the background smoke doesn't spoil Doris Milner's memorial sign (she was a family friend and dogged environmentalist who helped protect thousands of acres of wilderness).

A beautiful sign tells you that you're entering a special place.

A small sign shows the labyrinth of cross-country skiing trails at the top of Chief Joseph Pass.

An important message is tacked onto an old Forest Service cabin in the Bitterroots.

Corrugated cardboard gets compacted in truck bearing this sign. I spent my first Saturday (last week) volunteering at this local recycling center. It was a blast!

Our own homemade sign, on a dusty trip road along Lost Horse Creek. We went there last summer to fish. Alex caught-and-released a few small ones.  I ate dust and took pictures. Bliss! We had to express it in a temporary sign.