Wednesday, July 8 - Deer Lodge to Choteau

I left Deer Lodge around 10 after trying in vain to get wifi access at a restaurant.  I headed up the freeway and then turned off to make my way north to a road that would take me back east via Lincoln Pass. I purposely went out of my way again, wanting to see some new country.  It was very pretty.  I love these haystacks that look like loaves of bread.



I also love old, abandoned cabins.





This little tree was standing all by itself on the prairie and had been decorated with tinsel and other things.



I saw several flocks of pelicans flying near a lake.



I followed Hwy 200 through Lincoln.  It crosses the Blackfoot River several times.  This is supposed to be a great river for fly-fishing, at least parts of it.



East of Lincoln I took a less-traveled road that goes S/SE back to Helena.  There was a flock of sheep with the cowboy shepherd taking  a lunch break.  I stopped, snapped a photo and left. I didn't notice until looking at the photo on the computer that he had a guardian dog with him. It looks like a Kuvasz or Maremma, not a Great Pyrenees (which I used to have).



The view looking east from near Flesher Pass, elev. 6131, on the continental divide.



I found a lot of trails I want to hike!  That's the problem with exploring Montana.  The more places I go, the more places I want to go back and spend more time!  I guess I just need to move here!

The highlight of my day was Helena.  I stopped at the Montana Historical Society first, to see my favorite painting...Charlie Russell's "When the Land Belonged to God".  I've always liked Russell, as my grandpa did (he also loved Montana which I didn't know until he died so I never got to talk to him about it and I really regret that).  But after spending time in Montana and hearing Jack Gladstone (a Blackfeet singer/songwriter/historian, known as "Montana's Troubador", who is now a friend) interpret this painting and sing some songs about Russell, I gained a new appreciation for this painting.  The kids and I stopped here last summer to see it in person and it is just very powerful and moving to me.  Russell really gave us a gift because he captured the way of life in the west before it changed and as it was starting to change. He also (unlike Remington) portrayed Indians as humans and in good light.  He was good friends with many Indians.  This particular painting shows a buffalo herd crossing a river (presumably the Missouri, probably near Great Falls) and coming up from it.  I won't get into all the analysis here but I love how the bison in front really draws you into the picture and it just makes me think about life on the plains for thousands of years before the coming of the white man.  This doesn't begin to really explain it.  I couldn't use a flash so the light isn't great.



You can't see here all the very subtle details and you can't appreciate the colors of the painting.  I wish I could use a flash!

Here's a quote from Russell:



I then went across the street to the capitol building.  They have a Russell painting that I really wanted to see but they won't always allow you to see. I was lucky, a nice lady named Jane from the historical society was giving tours and offered to show it to me.  It is in one of the legislature chambers.  Russell was commissioned to paint this to the dimensions of the room.  He completed it in 5 1/2 months! It is so large that they had to add 4 layers of logs to the top of his log cabin studio to accommodate the canvas.  Having been to the studio, I still don't know how it fit...the studio was quite small.  When he completed it, they had to ship it by boxcar to Helena.

The painting is of Lewis and Clark meeting the Salish Indians at Ross's Hole in SW Montana.  You can see the Bitteroot Mountains in the distance. It was early September and the mountains already had snow.  The L and C expedition was low on food and very discouraged and was asking for help.  Historians have established that the Salish Indians were the last tribe to see white men, and that the L and C group was their first.  They were ready to leave on a buffalo hunt when the L and C group showed up.  It took 1 1/2 days for the translation of what they wanted to be completed.



Here is a detail showing Lewis and Clark standing behind the interpreter, with York (Clark's slave) behind them.  Sacagawea is sitting in the grass.



It was so nice to see this in person!  I think the dimensions are something like 12 feet by 11 feet.  It was completed in 1912.

I then drove on to Choteau. I saw this fawn on the way.  I've seen more fawns this year than the rest of my life...the deer population is thriving.



I watched this storm as I drove north along the front on back roads.



I finally reached my friend Ralph's house around 8. I was delighted to learn that his wife Nancy is a history enthusiast like I am!  It was great meeting and talking with her.
© 2009 Tara Morrison

Tuesday, July 7th - Yellowstone to Deer Lodge

First of all I want to say that I am writing these quickly to try and get them "out there" so the writing is by no means my best...I could do a better job if I took more time but for now this will have to do!  I also am not a photographer...I have no idea how to really use my camera or photo software so things like the light and brightness often don't look right.  I also only have a 35 mm lens which isn't good enough for a lot of wildlife photos.  I'd like to be better at it but right now just having the photos for the memories and to show my kids what I've been doing and that will have to do.  It's also taking far more time than I thought to upload photos, etc. so I'm not taking much time on layout, etc.

I slept in today...but was still the first one up and about in the campground at 7:15.  I was wiped out from not getting much sleep the night before due to whatever animal was under my cabin, and then being up since 4 a.m.  I had a leisurely camp breakfast while taking down my tent.  Is there any better breakfast than one cooked at a beautiful campsite on the banks of a river on a beautiful blue sky morning in the wilderness somewhere? 
I don't think so!  The view from my site at Slough Creek.

This family of ground squirrels was very entertaining...the babies were constantly playing, wrestling, doing somersaults down the hill and digging practice holes.  I  had no idea they could be so funny!




I had decided not to go back to the Druid den site because I knew I'd be too tempted to stay and wait for something to happen, but I did drive back out to Lamar to see if anything was on the carcass from last night.  Nothing was there so I turned around and stopped at the Buffalo Ranch to take a picture of Druid Peak.  I glanced down to the river as I got out of the car and it looked like a bear down there.  Sure enough, big griz!  I got my scope out and watched him as people began to stop and look too.  He was tearing up a carcass, you could see the skin stretching when he pulled it up.  I love seeing how powerful they are!  A small, radio-collared coyote came into view nad made a half-hearted attempt to grab some meat but the bear swatted him away.   I watched him for a good half hour or 40 minutes and finally decided I needed to hit the road.  There was a black bear with two cubs of the year across from the Yellowstone

 River Picnic Area (I know that these locale names mean nothing to people who don't go to Yellowstone regularly but I'm putting them in for those of you who do).  Of course people were getting way too close. I was ready to say something to some of them but a ranger showed up so I left.  I took this from the road.  I will never understand why people think it is ok to stalk/pursue wild animals, especially bears/wolves/bison.  There's the danger factor but there's also the fact that it's often a hungry mom trying to get enough food for herself and to feed her babies...any additional stress on them is harmful, such as making them change their course because you're approaching too close.  Ok...off my soapbox for now :)   )  There was also one lone bull elk.  Again, people 20 feet away.  You can see in the picture how close someone was.  It was like in Mammoth when people try to pose their kids next to the elk.  I also met someone who watched a man trying to feed grass to a bull bison!

I headed back toward Mammoth, stopping by the pullout where you can sometimes see the Blacktail Wolf Pack's den area...but none of them were there today.  I took the route through Mammoth and then back down through Madison and West Yellowstone.   For those of you who haven't seen it, this gives you an idea of the fire damage and regrowth 21 years after the huge fires in 1998.

There was one bull elk out at Gibbon and then a few more along the banks of the Madison. I only saw one bison after leaving Little America.  The number of bison in the park is very low right now.

I drove Hwy. 191 north from West Yellowstone.  It's sometimes good for wildlife sightings, but not today. The Gallatin River is very pretty...it eventually feeds into the Missouri.



It's a pretty drive alongside the river some of the way and a road I hadn't been on before.  I saw lots of fishermen along the way and saw both an osprey and an eagle trying to catch fish.

 I'm now camped in Deer Lodge, headed up to Choteau tomorrow, not sure of my route yet.  I'll probably explore some other new roads and drive Lincoln Pass and maybe will backtrack to Helena for a short stop at the Historical Society.
© 2009 Tara Morrison