Blogs from Montana, United States, North America

As previously noted, Lewis and Clark were pessimistic about their ability to continue the Jefferson River as a transportation route for very long after leaving the Missouri Headwaters Confluence. They started looking for alternatives, splitting up to make the exploration shorter. By now it was late August and they were afraid of getting caught in the mountains in winter storms. Clark went up the larger Salmon River, even though the Native Americans had told them it was not navigable. Clark ultimately had to admit the wisdom of that analysis. Lewis went up the Big Hole, where one canoe capsized and two others were swamped, forcing them to stop and dry out their gear. Leaving the Big Hole, Lewis then tried going up the Beaverhead. This turned out to be non-navigable as well, but they finally managed ... read more

Leaving the little town of Winifred, we headed for Great Falls. There we planned to see what could be seen of the multiple falls, and visit the C.M. Russell Museum. The drive was a little over two and a half hours through unremarkable Montana countryside. We were not traveling along the Missouri River at this point, because the landscape of the area does not allow that very easily. Part of this area is Métis country, particularly around Lewistown. The Métis are a distinct ethnic group, mostly located in Canada, whose roots are in the union of white settlers (principally Scottish, French, and English) with indigenous peoples. Most commonly this was between a male trapper or trader and an indigenous woman. Over time, these formed a distinct ethnic group, although some Métis decided to identify as indigenous. ... read more

Arising early, we soon got to see the most glorious view - Williston in our rear view mirror. When we temporarily let the story of Lewis and Clark, they had built a log fort just downstream of the Mandan villages. It was a cold winter, and they subsisted on what game they could shoot and corn shared with them by the Mandans. As soon as river conditions allowed, they sent the keelboat back down the Missouri carrying maps , notes, and biological specimens obtained up to that point. The keelboat had been invaluable in carrying large amounts of equipment, trade goods, and foodstuffs, but they knew all along that they would have to abandon it at the Mandan villages. River conditions beyond that point simply would not allow for use of such a large, heavy, and ... read more

Got about 4 inches of new snow last night. The roads have been scraped, but are covered with packed snow and ice. The interstate is likely a two track. It was in the low teens overnight. Betty needed a jump to get started. Just got the vehicles all moved, started, running, cleaned off, a path shoveled, the steps salted, and the driveway packed down. Betty's furnace is running, heating the back. Sally's in a ZOOM meeting right now, a preliminary conversation with the county about another subdivision process. After that, we blow out the pipes, reel in the Starlink cable and pack that into Betty, pack the rest of our stuff, and hit the road. It'll likely be slow going for a while, especially from here to Billings, but we should be out of the snowy ... read more

Flathead Lake is located between Polson and Kalispell Montana. Nestled within tree covered mountains the lake has a bed of colorful rocks and is full of the clearest refreshing water. Wonderful to swim in and can walk a long distance out without going to deep. It is a very family friendly location so there is always the sounds of children playing in the water. The temperature has been around 90. My campspace has trees for shade and is lake front so i can frequently take little dips to cool off. There isn't much of a breeze, everything is calm and quiet. (Just as a little kid swimming by blows bubbles like a boat!) Polson is popular for their cherries which are in season now. Lucky me! Little stands line the roads in every direction offering the ... read more