August 14--Glacier National Park to Great Falls, Montana

---

Sunday, August 14th, 2011 At Glacier National Park, MT. Blue skies and 53 degrees at 7:15 in the morning. Starting mileage at 14867.

One of the animals we hadn't been able to see up close on this trip was mountain goats. We had seen them on various mountains in BC and at Denali National Park, but they were way up on the mountain sides. Glacier Park's "mascot" is the mountain goat in their winter shaggy long coats---they are on t-shirts, mugs, brochures, patches, etc. So when we asked the gift store people about them, we were told they hang out along highway 2 about 40 miles from where we were at the entrance to the Park. To see them was why we were up and out early this morning. We drove out of the park area and then back into the park as highway 2 follows the lower edge of the park lands. We found the area we had been told to drive to---Goat Lick Mountain---and no goats.

The signs said that the goats come down this cut in the mountain side to lick the minerals exposed in the gully. We walked along the walkway and then climbed over the fence and hiked a short bit up the hill thinking they were around a corner---nope, no goats. As we were getting into Rosie a Park guy came into the parking lot to clean out the garbage cans. Just in case he knew where they were hiding, we asked him where to find the goats. He said to drive out of the parking lot and look for them up above the cut. That they were there a few minutes ago when he came by.

So, back up and out of the parking lot we went and there they were---about 14 males and females with 2 kids. They were really fun to watch as they dug in the dirt to even it out to rest upon, butted each other, and climbed here and there. We started an "animal sighted traffic jam" but it was just a little one and there was plenty of room to pull our cars off the road. A fence had been built by the park service some years ago to keep the goats off of the road and allow them to safely go down the cut under the road.

Having watched them for nearly a n hour, we drove along Highway 2 until we came to Highway 89 at Browning, and turned south toward Great Falls. We abruptly left the mountains and found ourselves in the grassy plains. A large Blackfeet Indian reservation is here and we stopped to read the historical markers posted here and there along the road. Cattle, horses, ranches, and wheat fields being harvested was what we saw out the window now. The Rockies were still there but, we are driving along the back side of them and they look more imposing since you see them completely from the bottom up to their raggedy sharp peaks. Like teeth of a saw on end.

We had lunch in Rosie parked in the local museum area in the small town of Chateau. Everything was closed as it was Sunday. Visitors’ Center did have some material about bird refuges/sanctuaries in the area so when we got to Freeze-out Lake we drove around and tried to get close to the 100's of pelicans, 100's of shore birds, and 100's of ducks we could see through my binoculars. Frustrating! My binoculars were bought light and small so I could take them with me on an airplane, way before Rosie was purchased. Now size isn't important but, long range clarity is, and the ones I have just don't do it.

We could see a raft of the pelicans that floated along together and then the last one would fly to the front --like leap frog--and settle there and then in a few minutes another one in back would fly to the front. We watched them do this over and over and have no idea why??? Seeing buzzards for the first time in a long time. Their range is just to the northern US border. Ravens and crows perform their scavenger duties north of the line.

Just before we got to Great Falls we turned off and cut across on a dirt/gravel road to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. This was one of hundreds of cliffs in the area that the Plains Indians used to force a herd of buffalo off of. This line of cliffs may be one of the largest jump sites in the US.

We first drove/climbed up to the top of the cliffs, viewed the Prairie dog town, and got out to walk the trail to the edge to look over. We were stopped by several large yellow warning signs posted to "be aware of prairie rattlesnakes". We didn't think we needed to look over the cliffs that much, so we got back into Rosie and drove down to the interpretive center. The center was very interesting with the displays of how the buffalo parts were used by the Indians---including the hoof nails strung to be like a door knocker, the organs as inflatable pouches, etc.---nothing was wasted.

As we made our way back to the highway and Great Falls we saw a doe and two young ones in the fields. At a Flying J gas station we topped the gas tank up paying $3.669 per gal for 8.941 gal for $32.80. Mileage was 15089.

Stopped and called our cousin Colin who is stationed at the nearby airbase to see if he could have dinner or breakfast with us. He said he was on night duty for the next 3 nights and couldn't meet with us. So, decided to find the Wal-mart and settle in for the night. It was located on the other side of town right across the street from a huge oil tank compound. It was really smelly and in the morning we both decided we wouldn't stay there again. We picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner since it was relatively late by the time we got ourselves settled.

---