Tag: Montana

Road trips don’t always go as planned. Sometimes the driving days work perfectly and we make good time, drive on roads and through towns that don’t have a lot of traffic, and never get off track. This driving day was not one of those days. The GPS tracked us differently than was planned and added a ton of time to our drive to the next campground. By the time we realized it, it was too late. So we ended up driving past Glacier National Park entrances instead of the less touristy route that Jeff planned. Then we tried to stop at a quilt shop and got there 10 minutes after they closed. Sigh. We did drive through Marias Pass, which was stunning though so all was not lost.

We stopped to stretch our legs at a historical marker and took a photo of the view. Egg Mountain is the spot where scientists have found the largest amount of dinosaur eggs and baby dinosaur fossils. We’re were walking along the fence taking photos and an old guy in a pickup drives by and tells out “Watch out for snakes!” Yikes! We quickly got back to the safety of the truck (we were only a couple feet away from the parking area) and went on our way.

When we finally got to Rexford Bench Campground, we were very happy to finally relax. The campsite is in the middle of tall Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pines so it was mesmerizing to sit under them and watch them wave in the breeze. There were barely any mosquitoes, the campsite was huge, and the bathrooms had flush toilets. We were at 48.8 degrees North, so the sun didn’t set until 10 pm and even then didn’t get super dark for a long time.

We didn’t have anything planned for our full day at this spot, which was nice. We all read books for hours. Carson and I walked to the nearby “saloon” because he had a craving for hot chocolate (it was 90 degrees out). The locals definitely gave us some funny looks, but they made him some hot chocolate and he enjoyed it immensely.

Near sunset, Spencer, Jeff and I walked on the trail near the campground to the lake overlook. Jeff had gone by himself earlier in the day and said it was breathtaking. He was definitely right about that! Wow! I loved the color of the water. I had to take photos of the local flowers of course, plus we saw deer on our walk.

We woke up and Jeff made a tasty breakfast of spam and eggs. Then we headed out for the day’s activity, a 2 hour boat tour up the Missouri in an area called “Gates of the Mountain”.

We were on an open air boat that held about 50 people. The amazing tour guide told us so many stories related to the history of their boat company (which pre-dates Montana as a state), and then the geography and history along the way.

The rock in this part of the Rockies rose up almost vertically and folded in on itself. you can see the layers in the photos. Some layers of the rock is older than most life on the planet and other layers have tons of fossils in them from ancient sea beds and dinosaurs.

She also told us about Mann Gulch. In 1949, there was a wildfire in the gulch and smokejumpers were fighting it while waiting for the airplanes to bring support. Their radio broke on the rough landing, and they were deep in the gulch and had to fight the fire to the river. The wind turned and trapped them. They all started to run, but the leader of the group set a small back fire and then laid down under his firefighting jacket. The fire burned right over him, but he didn’t get burned at all, though anyone who didn’t follow his lead perished. This incident changed how smoke-jumping and firefighting was done-requiring more redundancies, an escape plan, and more methods of communication.

We also saw an eagle’s nest, a rock troll, a petroglyph/pictograph and stopped at a picnic spot where Clark stayed overnight when they paddled through. We saw the infamous “gates” of the mountain that was mentioned in Lewis and Clark’s journals and it reminded us of scenes in Lord of the Rings where they paddle past huge guardian statues on each side of the river.

Afterwards we stopped at the gift shop where I saw some gorgeous lupine flowers blooming in a pot and may have grabbed a couple seed pods for a future flower pot. Then we went back to the campsite and relaxed, took naps, and read books for a few hours. Later Spencer, Jeff and I went to the Hauser Dam nearby which failed a year after it was initially built (one of the stories the guide told us on the boat). It had gotten rebuilt soon after and is what created the reservoir that our campground is near. You can still see the wreckage of the old dam and the powerhouse is still in use. There were people fishing under the dam and lots of birds, probably swallows, were flying around.

Today was our longest driving day-about 9 hours. We left on time and made good time all day, stopping occasionally to stretch our legs, and get more gas and food.

North Dakota is a beautiful state. The scenery changed a lot as we drove through it. From the east, there are huge farm fields and trees and kind of looks like a flatter Wisconsin, then the trees go away except by rivers and instead of farm fields, there is just grasses-the prairie. Next there are still grasses, but there are lakes everywhere and even the train tracks run through the middle. We stopped at a rest stop in the middle of this and there were signs that said it was a large wildlife preserve (which explained why there weren’t cottages ringing all the lakes). We didn’t see huge numbers of birds but I imagine the spring and fall migrations have huge numbers of them flying through. We then drove through some oil fields with the pumps working away.

Then suddenly, there are badlands. Just like in South Dakota but without all the people and traffic. It was beautiful and a completely different landscape from the flat grasslands just a couple miles earlier! We again passed the southern part of Teddy Roosevelt National Park-(last year we planned on camping there but cut our road trip short because everyone but Jeff had gotten sick over the course of the trip and he was the only one who hadn’t yet. He did get sick the day after we got home so it was a smart choice). Someday, we will make that park a destination instead of a pass through stop!

We entered Montana and drove a long, long, time. Montana is big! It really is big sky country, and a beautiful day for a drive. We saw a lot of cattle, bales of hay, and range land. One ranch had barn quilt signs at all the gates and we saw those signs for at least 10 minutes.

Near the end of the drive, we finally got to some mountains. Not quite the big ones with snow still on it, though we finally could see those in the distance. But big enough where there are signs to put chains on the tires and the road weaved through a pass in the mountain range. There was evidence of a recent forest fire, the tree trunks were all black, and there was new plan growth underneath. We talked to some other campers from around the area and they said the fire was about a month ago.

Then we passed that area and about 20 minutes later we got to our campsite at White Sandy Campground in Helena Lewis and Clark National Forest. It is on the Missouri River so there is a beautiful lake on one side and lot of big hills on the other. Lewis and Clark actually paddled right past the campground where now there are jet skis and boats floating around. The campsite is big, but not private as the trees around it are young and there isn’t any underbrush. It is a pretty dry area so beyond the young trees planted, there is just grasses and small shrubs. And there is a prairie dog village with a hole right at the edge of our campsite.

When we got there, it was extremely windy-about 20 mph, with gusts to 40. It got chilly once the sun set so we went to bed early. I woke up at midnight and the wind was completely gone and it was completely silent and peaceful.