Tuesday, June 30 - Miles City, Montana to Bozeman

I spent the night at a KOA in Miles City, MT (after changing my Ekalaka plans).  There are not many campground options in SE Montana...they are few and far between but I wanted a "hotel night" in Bozeman so I camped there - without realizing there is a train track that runs a few blocks away.  Now, I have nothing against trains...but, I do NOT like them going by every half hour (or so it seemed) all night long, repeatedly blowing their whistles EVERY TIME.  I didn't sleep well obviously!  I had a lazy morning since I didn't really have any plans.  I finally hit the road about 9 and stopped to get my Montana State Parks sticker.  Then I decided I may as well stop at a little museum we've driven by and read about...the Range Riders Museum. 

What a quaint little place!  I walked in and a nice older lady took my money and gave me directions (this is not a professional museum, it's more of a hometown one where people have donated a lot of the items) to the various rooms and buildings.  This place has everything from old stoves and cookware to rattles cut off rattlesnakes to guns and swords....a little of anything and everything.  It was started to pay tribute to and honor the "range riders" (cowboys) and maintain their legacy.  There are a lot of Indian items too...many, many arrowheads/tools with stories about who found them and where. 




I know many people think history and museums like this are dusty and boring but they fascinate me and this one was exceptional.  On one wall where they had those big poster holders that you can turn, only this one had each side covered with old black and white photographs and newspaper clippings.  Some were very, very old.  There were rodeo pictures, old ranch pictures, lots of roundup pictures, and pictures of various Indians and their settlements.  While I was looking at them a nice old man started talking to me and asking if I had family in the area, etc.  We talked for quite a while about his background...living in a car during the depression as a child, his tenure as a writer for the navy during WWII - what an incredibly interesting man. I could have listened to his stories all day.  He's written two books and I got the information to order them (from his wife, they're self published).  Through much of my time in the main building, another older man who seemed "in charge" was playing some kind of old record over and over and accompanying it with his violin...the same song, which now I have in my head constantly:  "You are the rose of my heart". It was very sweet.  Only in a small town...

They had stories of various Indian chiefs and pictures of many, some that I'm familiar with and others that I had never heard of. 

For Crazy Horse, they had a blank frame, since he was never photographed.  They must have had 100 of


these pictures prominently displayed around the top of an entire room (my photo of this is quite bad!).  I liked the balance and respect for both the cowboy things and the Indian things.

In a large pole barn they had all manner of old cars, buggies, wagons and up above, things you never really thought about the existence of (such as Ed Love's Portable Bar...looks handy!). 

A potato sorter, a lard press,  an ancient bread slicer, things like that.

I saw lots of mouse evidence and then noticed cat food, milk and water put out and sure enough...a little black face peering out at me.  I couldn't get the kitten to come closer.  Later I was meowed at by another one and could not find where she was - finally saw her curled up on a wagon seat. 

Again, only in  a small town would the museum have kittens in one of the buildings and a fiddle-playing "manager".   I want to go back and spend more time there...I'm afraid of what may happen if it closes, there is so much history in those photos and news clippings alone.  I finally tore myself away though.

I stopped at Pompey's Pillar...a landmark on the Yellowstone River East of Bozeman. 

I've been there before but it made a nice break and since I have my annual National Parks Pass I get into all the national monuments free!  Boy do we get far more than our money's worth out of those passes.    Anyway, Pomepey's Pillar (named after Sacagawea's son, Clark's nickname for him was "pomp")  is a landmark that was an important place to Indians (there used to be many pictographs but all that really remains is a faint red color in places)

and it is the only place where there is physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Clark mentions it in his journals of his return journey in 1806

and he climbed up and signed his name near the pictographs.  They have it under glass now to preserve it ,

and had a ranger stationed there too. You can see a long ways from the top.  I walked down to the river's edge...it is beautiful and I just sat a while and thought about the people who have come through there.  The river is VERY high, just like the Missouri was.

Then I had my first real sight of mountains, the Beartooths west of Billings...that brought a huge smile to my face!  I have yet to explore those rugged, high mountains...but I will someday, you can be sure of that!  That's where Granite Peak, Montana's high point is...a pretty remote one that isn't very easy.  Then I watched storms across the mountains and hit it coming through Bozeman Pass.  It's interesting to see vertical AND horizontal lightning!  I love storms, when I'm not out hiking in them.

Tomorrow:  Hyalite Canyon!  I will be posting sporadically from now on, when I have time to upload photos (it's a slow process) and have internet access.   The next update will probably be on Sunday.
©Tara Morrison 2009