Friday, August 22, 2014
Plan A- Get up early on Tuesday, travel to Many Glaciers in
Glacier National Park and luck into a campsite for two nights. I want
to hike to Iceberg Lake, even if it kills me!
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Driving along the Sawtooth Range to the turnoff for Many Glaciers |
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Heading into Many Glaciers along Sherburne Lake |
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Looking at a perfect glacial valley |
Plan B- Start driving east...
After a detour to Many Glaciers, St. Mary's, and Rising Sun
campgrounds, by 11 am, we were skunked. No room at the inn, so Plan B
went into effect. We drove east out of Glacier Park. We quickly left
the mountains of the Front Range of the Rockies and found ourselves
on rolling prairie. The only plan we had was to see more of Montana
and wind up at Yellowstone National Park after Labor Day when the
crowds would be gone.
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Leaving the Rockies behind us, the high plains lie ahead. |
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Espresso stand in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation |
We rolled along southeast toward Great Falls, keeping the
mountains on our right. At Great Falls we would meet the might
Missouri River. We had the idea that we could find some boondocking
along it. Once we looked at the map we realized that no road follows
it for long, and only a few bridges cross it. Without a way to float
the river, there wasn't much to see. We drove northeast from Great
Falls, after rejecting a night at the Walmart across from a refinery!
A half hour later we drove into the small town of Fort Benton along
the river, and pulled into the Benton RV Park for the night.
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Grain elevators for all the wheat fields we drove past |
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Benton RV, no view but full hookups and great showers! |
Fort Benton is considered the birthplace of Montana. When river
travel was the norm, the rapids further west would keep boats from
traveling past. The town became the point of commerce for western
travel. There is also Lewis and Clark Trail history everywhere. We
mostly wanted to stay in Fort Benton to get some internet and phone
connections, regroup and plan, and get a shower. It was hot! We had
gone from the cool mountain elevations, to the hot plains.
Wednesday we hatched a plan to travel south from Fort Benton, over
the river, drive southeast then north back up to the river on Highway
191. It looked like we would be able to boondock along the Missouri
in a remote area. We were tired of crowds after Glacier, and wanted
some solitude. The drive was interesting as we traveled through a few
small towns and passed remote ranches, Hutterite colonies, and
decommissioned missile silos.
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Crossing the Missouri at Fort Benton |
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Crossing a Coulee, or abandoned glacial river valley, along MT 80 |
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The Chalk Cliffs east of MT 80 near Square Butte |
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Major rebuild of MT 80 through the Arrow Creek Hills. Thought we were done with this after the Alaska Highway! |
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The metropolis of Coffee Creek, or Denton, or Deerfield, or Brooks...More grain silos |
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Abandoned Missile Silo |
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Hutterite colony |
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Heading into the eastern Missouri Breaks |
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The muddy Missouri adjoining our BLM campground |
Finally we descended down to the river, and... what's this? A
campground in the wildlife refuge along the river? We pulled in and
discovered a BLM campground with gravel sites, picnic tables and fire
rings. There was even potable water, but no dump. There are times
when we are really happy to see a campsite. This was not one of them.
The upside was that it was almost empty. One other trailer was there,
and two hosts. We finally found a mostly shaded site, since it was
hot, and soon discovered it was buggy as well. The signs warning us
of rattlesnakes weren't encouraging either. We walked through the
brush towards the river. After the crystal clear mountain streams,
the Missouri looked like chocolate milk. Greg said the early settlers
complained that it was, “Too thick to drink, and too thin to plow!”
For $3 a night with my discount, we thought we might stay two nights,
since Greg wanted to get his bike off and explore. I figured I would
be a bit bored, with no internet, phone, or view of the river. No one
to people watch either, but the solitude would be good for writing.
Still trying to get to my Alaska reflections.
It rained during the night, but stopped in time for Greg to take
off on his bike. We had decided that he would ride in the morning and
then we would head for a remote campsite in the Little Rocky
Mountains nearby. I was just settling in to write when Greg returned
looking annoyed. He had ridden down the dirt road across the highway
that parallels the river. One of the original Lewis and Clark
encampments was marked on our map, and he wanted to look for it. The
geologist discovered that the level area along the river consisted of
soggy, clay, mud, when his front tire abruptly stopped turning. It
was so full of mud that he had to take it off to try to clean it up,
and then carry his bike back to dry road.
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This soil meets the definition of cohesive clay! This soil must have been miserable for horse-drawn wagons. |
That was also when we realized that we were not going to be able
to take a chance driving on any dirt back roads to boondock. And,
it's all back roads in central Montana! Next problem? The weather
forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms the next several
days. Change of plans. Time to head for an established RV campground
to avoid getting stuck someplace. Even the properly crowned roads in
the BLM campground were not paved and starting to get sticky.
We drove over the river and north past the Little Rocky Mountains
(sigh...), and made our way to Malta on Highway 2, the Highline
across the northern part of the state. Turning east we set our sights
for Fort Peck Lake and Dam, an Army Corps of Engineers recreation
area. We drove straight into the rain squalls that we had seen
popping up around us all day. On the stretch from Glasgow to Fort
Peck, we got pelted with rain, and a big chunk of flying gravel. It
hit the center top of the windshield and looks like a bullet hit us.
Small fragments of glass shot at us. I always thought that tempered,
shatterproof glass would not shoot shards, but I was wrong! Luckily
neither of us was cut. The windshield is now sporting a silver duct
tape patch inside and out. Considering we have put over 50,000 miles
on the rig since November 2012, and traveled some nasty stretches of
highway, including our recent trip to Alaska, and through British
Columbia and the Yukon, we have been fortunate to only have two
dings. We had the first one patched in Durango, Colorado last Fall,
and the windshield replaced last Spring. Looks like there will be
another replacement this Fall.
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Hayfields along US 191 |
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Hay bales stacked for the winter |
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Lunch stop near Malta |
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Heading east into the weather along US 2 |
We drove into the Downstream Campground at Fort Peck Lake just
after the gravel incident, and the rain stopped. Signing up for two
nights with electricity, we have the option to stay longer. It rained
last night and this morning. During a break in the rain we took a
walk around the campground and along the Missouri River. We haven't
seen the lake. It is on the other side of the third largest earth dam
in the world. If it wasn't raining, we would be boondocking along the
lake, but we don't want to risk the long drives in on the dirt and
gravel roads. The rain is supposed to be worse the next few days, but
if we can get farther southwest, we can get out of it sooner. Guess
we'll look at the forecast and decide in the morning. We want to head
to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area before going to
Yellowstone. And, I want to swing through the Crow Indian Reservation
where I spent a week in 1979.
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Pond and constructed wetland at the Fort Peck campground |
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The Missouri downstream of the dam is no longer muddy. |
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Milkweed |
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Wetland willow |
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Pelicans deciding not to head for Florida yet. |
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Powerhouse and outlet at Fort Peck Dam |
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Looking down the Missouri |
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Network of wetland pools near the campground. |
Saturday morning- It is pouring, the wind is gusting and there is a flood watch, so we will stay at least until tomorrow. Hope to slip south then.