Montana

World Famous!?

I know my head has been under a bushel, but World Famous applied to the Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City, Montana escaped me somehow. Perchance World Famous can be applied to an event that one person saw, then he/she traveled all over the world? Or, maybe the folks out there have their tongue stuck into their cheek?

Aside from debating the superlative adjective, there were people attending this event from around the northwest states. The campground we found was full, so we eneded up in an overflow site with electric only. This confounded our plans to get some laundry done while we were there, so we adjusted our plan to stay only one night instead of two.

Miles City Hitching Post

I found this hitching post amusing, perhaps because my Yankee mind is not ensnared in the cliche which surrounds the western natives. I find it funny because it appears that the horses all got away and left their bits behind, but the tree was not so fortunate, humorously attesting to the lack of cowboy skills of the locals.

So, instead of Miles City, we spent two nights in Great Falls. That may have been a blessing, because Great Falls offered some views and interesting history not to be found in Miles City

Black Eagle Falls & Dam

Great Falls was the major challenge for the Lewis and Clark Expedition as they worked their way up the Missouri River. They had heard that there was a large waterfall on the Missouri from the Native Americans as they approached from the east. Their perception was one big waterfall which they could get by with a simple portage. After arriving there, they found not one, but 5 waterfalls, plus numerous cascades. They surveyed routes, and decided to carry their boats and gear around to the south of the river, over a distance of 18 miles. The portage took them a month to complete.

Rainbow Falls & Dam

Today, the 4 of the 5 falls are complemented with dams which channel the Missouri through hydroelectric powere plants to produce powere for the region. The 5th waterfall eneded up under the water behind one of the dams.

We parked in Dick's Campgorund in Great Falls. It's a little hard to find the entrance, but it had spacious pull through sites. Disk's was nearly full, to, but it was because the Canadians had a long weekend for Vicrtoria Day, and the Albertians were venturing south to escape the cold, windy days that were still lingering on up north.