Gates of the Mountains, Montana

On our way to Helena for our next adventures, we enjoyed observing the scenery, which seemed to be constantly changing. In Great Falls, we were still in the prairie with occasional “islands” of mountain ranges. As we traveled south, the landscape began to change from the rolling hills and bluffs with few trees to higher hills and bluffs with sparse pine trees and wider valleys with farms and fairly lush growth. We crossed the Missouri several times. When we reached the Big Belt Mountains, we began to climb and descend over the terrain. The high hills and bluffs had given way to mountains with rocky cliffs and sharp crags. We stopped at an overlook on the way, and I climbed up a trail to see the other side. When I looked down I saw a steep canyon with the river flowing through it and old Highway 91 alongside. It was a spectacular view.

Taking a cruise of the Gates of the Mountains was on my list of definite things to do, but the cruise was closed for the season; however, we drove down to the park and talked to some of the crew who were just returning after having taken a tour of fourth graders. They suggested that we call the captain because there would be some tours the next day. So we did, and we were able to join one of them. Once again we were in the good company of fourth graders, and I must say they were very well behaved and respectful. I enjoyed chatting with two little girls in the seat in front of us.

The cruise was impressive, and the views were imposing and inspiring. The canyon walls were so high I can only imagine how the members of the Corps of Discovery felt as they traveled through in their canoes. Lewis recorded his experience in his journal:

“this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. These clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the hight of about 1200 feet. Every object here wears a dark and gloomy aspect. The towering and projecting rocks in many places seem ready to tumble on us. The river appears to have forced it’s way through this immence body of solid rock for the distance of 5¾ miles and where it makes it’s exit below has thown on either side vast columns of rocks mountains high. The river appears to have woarn a passage just the width of it’s channel or 150 yds. It is deep from side to side nor is ther in the 1^st 3 miles of this distance a spot except one of a few yards in extent on which a man could rest the soal of his foot. Several fine springs burst out at the waters edge from the interstices of the rocks. It happens fortunately that altho’ the current is strong it is not so much so but what it may be overcome with the oars for there is hear no possibility of using either the cord or Setting pole … from the singular appearance of this place I called it the gates of the rocky mountains.”

When we traveled through the canyon about mid-morning, the walls were amazing. They may have had a dark and gloomy aspect when Lewis was there due to his arrival in the evening. We were in awe of the entire canyon. The walls are imposing and full of spires, natural bridges, and wildlife. We spotted lots of geese and a few young bald eagles. After traveling down the narrow canyon, we reached a wider place in the river, and as the captain turned the boat, the walls of the canyon appeared to

close and then open again. The Gates of the Mountains is a most appropriate name.

Blood Moon Rising

Super Moon Rising

We were camping in Great Falls, Montana, on the night of the total lunar eclipse of the full moon on September 27, 2015 and had a fantastic view of the full moon rising with the eclipse already in process. All we had to do was put on our warmer clothes and take our camp chairs and my camera for a short walk into the open area on the east side of the campground. Then, right in front of us the beautiful moon rose over the mountains, and I was fortunate to get some pretty good shots.

This was not a planned part of the Lewis and Clark trip, but it was a pretty awesome additional attraction.

The Giant Springs Heritage State Park

The Giant Springs Heritage State Park is an impressive site beginning with the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, which has as its centerpiece a life-size exhibit demonstrating the struggle of portaging the Great Falls of the Missouri and a 30-minute feature film about the experience. The Center’s lobby allows a panoramic view of the Missouri River below and leads out to the River’s Edge Trail that leads between the river and high, rocky bluffs to the outstanding feature of the park.

Clark was the first in the expedition to see the Giant Springs. On June 18, 1805, he wrote about this first encounter:

“we proceeded on up the river a little more than a mile to the largest fountain or Spring I ever Saw, and doubt if it is not the largest in America Known, this water boils up from under th rocks near the edge of the river and falls immediately into the river 8 feet and keeps its Colour for ½ a mile which is emencely Clear and of a bluish Cast.”

Each day 156 million gallons of water flow into the Roe River, which is one of the shortest rivers in the world at just 201 feet in length. The water of the springs is still crystal clear with verdant vegetation in the springs and down the river. Water bubbles up constantly and the springs’ temperature remains a constant 54 degrees.

Giant Springs with Missouri River behind

Our first glimpse of the Giant Springs was the water from the springs flowing over rocks and tumbling into the Roe River. The spring basin is probably about 15 to 18 feet across, and it has a deck over the edge making it possible to peer down into the springs to see the large bubbles rising and bursting at the surface and the lush vegetation within the basin. The Roe River is very short, but not so short that a walking bridge is impossible. A walk across the bridge provides wonderful views of the water tumbling down from the springs on one side and the water flowing into the Missouri on the other.

The park is a fantastic place to bike ride, jog, hike, or just enjoy the views. For me, it was a call to relax and experience peace.

Great Falls of the Missouri

On June 13, 1805, Lewis gained absolute confirmation that they were definitely on the correct path. While the Corps of Discovery was spending the winter with the Mandans and Hidatsas, they had many conversations with trappers and Native Americans who had traveled the Missouri to the west, and they had spoken of a tremendous waterfall before the mountains. Lewis recorded his first encounter with the falls:

“I had proceded on … about two miles … whin my ears were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water … a roaring too tremendious to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri.”

“…the irregular and somewhat projecting rocks below receives the water in it’s passage down and brakes it into a perfect white foam which assumes a thousand forms in a moment sometimes flying up in jets of sparkling foam to the hight of fifteen or twenty feet and are scarcely formed before large roling bodies of the same beaten and foaming water is thrown over and conceals them. In short the rocks seem to be most happily fixed to present a sheet of the whitest beaten froath for 200 yards in length and about 80 feet perpendicular. … from the reflection of the sun on the spray or mist which arrises from these falls there is a beatifull rainbow produced which adds not a little to the beauty of this majestically grand senery.”

Lewis was overcome by the beauty of the scene and had no idea at this point that this was the first of five waterfalls: Great Falls, Crooked Falls, Rainbow Falls, Colter Falls, and Black Eagle Falls.

After the conversations over the winter, Lewis and Clark knew they would need to portage the boats around the falls, and they had planned on the portage requiring about half a day. Obviously the descriptions they had heard in the winter did not do the falls justice, and Lewis and Clark quickly realized that the portage would be much lengthier and more difficult than anticipated. The Corps of Discovery faced many obstacles: the falls themselves, rough and rocky terrain, unavoidable prickly pears, and fatigue. The sharp rocks and prickly pears were so prevalent that a pair of moccasins would only last two days, and they would have to be repaired after the first day. It was long, hard, exhausting work; and it ended up taking a month to complete the portage instead of the half day they had expected.  Despite the great hardships, the men were undaunted in their determination to succeed.

Rainbow Falls in Great Falls, Montana

We visited three of the falls on our trip: Black Eagle, Rainbow, and Great Falls. Colter Falls is now submerged due to dam construction, and Crooked Falls is much diminished.  None of the falls appear as Lewis first saw them because of the dams. Although, due to the time of year of our visit, the falls were somewhat less than spectacular, I imagine that in the spring time they are still and amazing sight even with the dams. I was most pleased with Rainbow Falls mostly because of the colors in the rock wall over which the water would be flowing in the spring. I’m not at all sorry we went, and I would love to be able to see the falls in the spring time.

Decision Point

On June 2, 1805, the Corps of Discovery reached what would be called Decision Point in present day Montana. They camped on the south bank of the Missouri River across from the mouth of the Marias River. They were faced with a critical decision. Which of the rivers was the Missouri and which was the tributary? A wrong decision here could have disastrous consequences for the success of the expedition and possibly for the lives of the members of the Corps. 

The decision was of such importance, that the group stayed at the site for nine days and sent out two groups of three men each to explore both rivers and report back. One of the confounding factors was that the river traveling from the north had much the character and appearance of the river they had been traveling. It was muddy and “terbid.” However, the river to the south was perfectly transparent with “round and flat smooth stones like most rivers issuing from a mountainous country.” The majority of the party believed the north fork was the Missouri, but both Lewis and Clark were quite skeptical of that. The report back from the small parties was inconclusive, so Lewis and Clark each set out with a small party each to try to identify the correct route. The Captains agreed that the north fork was most likely the Missouri, but the men were not persuaded. However, they had so much trust in their leaders that they would follow them where they led. Once the decision was made, Lewis named the fork to the north “Maria’s River” in honor of his cousin Maria Wood; and when the Corps moved on, they followed the south fork. The evening before they broke camp, Cruzatte played his fiddle and the men enjoyed a cheerful evening of dancing and singing.

After our visit to Fort Benton, we drove about nine miles, almost to Loma, Montana, to an overlook of Decision Point. The overlook had several interpretive signs and a marker showing the camp site during the expedition’s stay there. The area looks like it would be well suited to camping. I am glad the location remains very similar to the way it was when Lewis and Clark were there and has not been submerged by a dam like so many other have. It was definitely worth the drive to see the place that held so much importance for the success of the expedition.

Fort Benton, Montana

The Missouri River proved to be a constant challenge to the men of the expedition. On May 31, 1805, Lewis described a situation that could prove daunting, but not for the brave men of the Corps of Discovery:

“The obstructions of rocky points and riffles still continue as yesterday; at those places the men are compelled to be much in the water even to their armpits, and the water is yet very could, and so frequent are those point that they are one fourth of their time in the water, added to this the banks and bluffs along which they are obliged to pass are so slippery and the mud so tenacious that they are unable to wear their mockersons, and in that situation dragging the heavy burthen of a canoe and walking occasionally for several hundred yards over the sharp fragments of rocks which tumble from the clifts and garnish the borders of the river; in short their labour is incredibly painfull and great, yet those faithfull fellows bear it without a murmur.”

And yet, on the same day, Lewis wrote eloquently of his awe of the views the river provided:

“The hills and river Clifts which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance. The bluffs of the river rise to the hight of from 2 to 300 feet and in most places nearly perpendicular; they are formed of remarkable white sandstone which is sufficiently soft to give way readily to the impression of water; two or thre thin horizontal stratas of white freestone, on which the rains or water make no impression, lie imbedded in these clifts of soft stone near the upper part of them; … The water in the course of time in decending from those hills and plains on either side of the river has trickled down the soft sand clifts and woarn it into a thousand grotesque figures, which with the help of a little imagination and an oblique view at a distance, are made to represent elegant ranges of lofty freestone buildings, having their parapets well stocked with statuary; columns of various sculpture both grooved and plain, are also seen supporting long galleries in front of those buildings…nitches and alcoves of various forms and sizes are seen at different hights as we pass … As we passed on it seemed as if those seens of visionary inchantment would never have and end; for here it is too that nature presents to the view of the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable workmanship, so perfect indeed are those walls that I should have thought that nature had attempted here to rival the human art of masonry had I not recollected that she had first began her work.”

As we arrived in Fort Benton, which is near the place Lewis penned his thoughts that day, we were rewarded with beautiful views of the Missouri River from overlooks above as well as along the riverside of the historic city. The Riverwalk includes many monuments marking numerous historical events of the city’s past. Of all the monuments, the sculpture of Lewis and Clark’s expedition was one of the finest sculpture of the Corps of Discovery we encountered on the trip.

Fort Benton was the first stop where the Lewis and Clark Trail and the Nez Perce Trail coincide. With my small but mighty Nez Perce heritage, I was moved to be traveling a part of the trail the Nez Perce traveled with Chief Joseph in the lead. This would not be the last encounter with the trail.

Several sites were well worth our time during our day in the small town. First we visited the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument and Interpretive Center, which houses impressive exhibits concerning natural history, Native Americans, and the explorers. One of my favorite exhibits was the rifle that Chief Joseph laid down at the time of his surrender. Fort Benton and the Fort Benton Museum was also very well done. Two of the walls of a building in the fort were original to the Fort. Both military and Native American artifacts were displayed.

All in all, we were very satisfied with our day trip to Fort Benton and would go back if we have the opportunity.

Montana’s Island Mountains

After traveling through prairie for a few weeks, we were surprised to suddenly see mountains ahead. They appeared as small mountain ranges in a sea of prairie, and, in fact, they were formed by the rocky earth being pushed up and through the prairie. Lewis and Clark were also surprised by the mountains, because they were neither a continuation of the Black Hills of North Dakota nor the Rocky Mountains.

When Clark first saw the mountains on May 25, 1805, he reported:

“those mountains appeared to be detached, and not ranges as laid down by the Minetarres, I also think I saw a range of high mounts. At a great distance to the S S W. but am not certain as the horizon was not clear enough to view it with Certainty.”

The next day, Lewis spotted the mountains and thought he was seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. He was elated as he believed they were much nearer than they were to the source of the Missouri and that the Rockies were close to the source. However, he would learn that they were still very far off from the Rocky Mountains.

The Island Mountains are the Little Rocky Mountains and Bears Paw Mountains to the north, the Judith Mountain Range to the south, and the HighwoodMountains in the distance near Great Falls. The Judith Range was named by William Clark for his future wife, Julia Hancock.

One of the sights on our way up the mountain.

We found that we would be able to drive to Judith Peak, so we set out in our four-wheel drive pickup on the winding gravel road that led to the summit of the 6,247 foot mountain. We definitely needed the four-wheel drive on the steep grades. This, for us, was a great adventure since neither of us are comfortable on narrow mountain roads, and we were rewarded for this adventure with a 360⁰ view of the area. It was fascinating to see extensive prairie in one direction and mountains in another. 

We were the only ones there that day, which added to our enjoyment of the experience. It was just us and a lot of telecommunications equipment (which is the reason why the road to the top is so well maintained).