Just outside of Bismarck, North Dakota, lies the reconstructed Fort Abraham Lincoln cavalry post, now a really nice state park. Lying at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers, the park has lots to see and do—a lovely riverside view, miles of hiking trails around the 1873 cavalry post and the 1872 infantry post, and a reconstructed Mandan Indian village.

The infantry post was created to protect surveyors and later workers from Indian attacks during construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. Unfortunately, infantry were of little use against the mounted and well-armed native tribes. So a cavalry post was quickly added downhill from the infantry post, and both posts operated together during the 1870s and 1880s. They were abandoned early in the 1890s, after the railroad was completed and the danger of native uprisings had been eliminated (generally, by eliminating the natives).

Fort Abraham Lincoln is best known as the post from which George Armstrong Custer led his 7th Cavalry to the ill-fated Battle of Little Big Horn. Today, a few of the buildings (barracks, stables, grainary, and Custer’s home) have been rebuilt as they would have appeared in 1875, when Custer was base commander. You can visit the buildings, and take a guided tour of Custer’s home. The tour guide kept mentioning all the materials that were ‘repurposed’ from the buildings after the Army abandoned the post. According to the guides, a number of older homes in Bismarck and nearby Mandan were built with materials from the barracks and officers’ homes. (They are still looking for the custom-built bannister that Custer had installed so that he could slide down the bannister and out the front door of his house, but no one has fessed up.)

Equally interesting was the reconstructed Mandan village. The Mandan culture wasn’t one I was familiar with—they were very successful river bottom farmers, and lived in large villages of well insulated, earth covered mound structures. They raised the ‘Three Sisters’ crops of corn, beans, and squash, and traded excess crops within a wide network of other tribes. They also hunted buffalo and other game. Unfortunately, their story is a common one among native tribes—first decimated by smallpox in the 1790s, they were nearly exterminated when the paddle wheel riverboats came up the Missouri, bringing Norway rats. The rats, who could burrow deeply into the soil as the local mice did not, destroyed their underground caches of food. Many starved to death. Finally, of course, they were driven from the river bottomlands into reservations on the dry prairies, where they could not farm as they had.

Russ caught up to me after I’d been there a couple of days, so I saw some of the sights before he came, but I saved the best for last, and we spent a hot but very interesting day touring the forts, climbing up the restored blockhouse fortifications at the infantry post, visiting Custer’s home and the park museum in the CCC-built visitors center, and strolling the Mandan village. They even have very good coffee and a nice bookshop in the old commissary building.

All in all, a highly recommended visit!

Just outside of Glendive, on the eastern edge of Montana, lies Makoshika State Park, and i am here to tell you, if nothing else, this was the most spectacular view from a campsite of the whole trip!

But there was a LOT else to Makoshika—amazing badlands formations and an awesome trail network. Before I decided on the picture I did, I nearly bought anither watercolor by Deb Schmit of Makoshika, and I was determined to see what she saw. Words can not do this place justice, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Russ and I took two short hikes, one to see the natural bridge, and then Moe and I headed out on a longer trail that snaked through the heart of the park back to our campsite, while Russ took the car and Scooby back. We both nearly died in the heat, and Russ had to come pick me up in the car only half a mile from camp because I could no longer walk, but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Russ found the RV park I was camped in about 4 pm. He’d originally estimated arriving at 1 or 2, but as clouds rolled overhead and the wind picked up, he had to revise that optimistic estimate. He showered and stowed his bike, then we headed out to one of the two bar/restaurants in town for dinner.

The next day, I took him out to Hell Creek, so that he could see the fantastic rock formations. He was suitably impressed, and probably took much better pictures than I did (they really have improved the iPhone cameras since my iPhone 6). Check his blog.

We took our time going out and back, partly because i had to keep stopping to allow for pictures, and partly because Russ complained that the washboard road was ”rattling his brain.” It was nearly one o’clock by the time we got back to town, so I suggested checking out the little dinosaur museum in town. (“Every little town in Montana has a dinosaur museum,” the ranger at Hell Creek told me.)

What we didn’t know was that we would be greeted by, and given a tour by, the woman who found the first nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton—Kathy Wankel. “Let me show you the T. rex I found,” she said, and led us to a display replica of the scapula, arm, and digits of a T. rex—the bones she and her husband Tom unearthed just outside of Jordan in 1988. Her discovery led to the excavation of an 85% complete skeleton, the Wankel T. rex, currently on loan to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

There were lots of other bones, fossil imprints, and models of dinosaur skeletons—including a life-size Triceratops—but it also housed a museum of the history of Garfield County, Montana, with a replica schoolroom, collections of World War I and II memorabilia, local ranch brand designs (Tom Wankel told us that Montana is the only state that still uses branding to mark herds), and vignettes of everyday life in the early 1900s, all carefully labeled with ”donated by . …” They even had the original two-cell jailhouse and a collection of early farm implements, including a ”sod-buster” plow. Russ and Tom had fun swapping farm stories inspired by some of the items Russ spotted.

But a storm was brewing, and as thunder rumbled across the sky, we took our leave and headed back to cover Russ’s bike and close up the camper before the rain.

Early in the day, I gathered up water, snacks (for me and the doggies) and binoculars, and headed up the Jeep road, into the gashed and weathered hills above Fort Peck Lake. Wary of snakes, I sternly commanded the dogs to stay behind me and, surprisingly, they obeyed. As we walked, swarms of grasshoppers exploded like popcorn around my feet. Most make no sound, but there are larger ones, with inner wings of bright yellow or red, that make a harsh clacking as they fly. On either side, sagebrush, coarse grasses, fatbush, juniper, and prickly pear speckled the ground, and stunted evergreens clung impossibly to the hillsides.

A young man at camp told me that, as a boy growing up in Ohio, he dreamed of seeing Hell Creek, where the first T. rex skeleton was found, and where important discoveries of Triceratops and other fossils were made. Even today, new fossils are found as bones literally appear out of eroded hillsides, and I was eager to discover the area for myself.

We walked on, the heat oppressive even in the early morning, and soon the dogs were panting. I didn’t need encouragement to stop frequently, to take in the amazing views. These badlands, I’m told, run all along the Missouri River, and in many other areas where water has carved deep, twisting canyons through the soft sandstone. Wherever harder rock inclusions exist, they form fantastic sculptures. 

We reached the sign telling us of the importance of these fossil beds, and warning us not to disturb the fossils. As we trudged on, now on a single track trail, I looked at the crumbling hillsides on either side.

They were littered with broken rocks, pieces of larger shapes now crushed by the elements. As I sat to water and feed the dogs and myself, I looked down and spotted a thin sliver of rock with the faint outline of a leaf impressed on it. 

That’s when I knew I was very likely walking on the bones of ancient beings. I sat for a while, contemplating the very different planet on which they lived and died. Then we walked—carefully—back down to camp. 

Russ was very concerned about the next few days—it promised to be hot, and there are very few towns with services along the route—in some cases, he would have nearly 70 miles between places to stay. He was panicky about the cabin he’d reserved in Stanford, the next town, so I promised to stop on my way through and confirm. (No one was there, so I left a threatening note.)

I myself had a 5 hour drive to Jordan and Hell Creek Campground, on Fort Peck Lake. While most of central Montana is dry, flat, and featureless, 

not all of it is. I passed three mountain ranges: the Little Belt, the Great Snowy, and the Judith. Along the way, we also passed mesas (buttes? I’m never sure) that abruptly rose above the flat plains. 

I finally reached Jordan, and turned north onto the twisting, rutted, 25-mile gravel road that leads to Hell Creek Campground. That’s when the landscape suddenly got freaky.

I would have taken more pictures, but I was trying to keep the car and camper from sliding off the road. Late in the day, I made it to the campground, which is on the shores of Fort Peck Lake.

More exploring tomorrow. 

I found out from a neighbor at the KOA that there was a western art show at the Montana Expo Grounds in Great Falls. I decided that would make a nice break in the hot weather, so on Friday, off I went, with the dogs safely stowed away in the air-conditioned camper. 

Now, western art isn’t really my thing (probably because I’ve never been out west), but there was a lot of very impressive stuff there. The show benefits the CM Russell Museum, with its collections of western art (Charles M Russell and Frederic Remington are considered the two great western artists). Interesting, but still not my thing, until I came to the booth of Deb Schmit. Not only was her work distinctly different from everyone else’s, we had a good time chatting. One small watercolor caught my eye, but I would have to make some financial transfers to purchase it, so I promised to return the next day with Russ, who would hopefully agree with my choice.

I was about to head back to the car when I learned that there were TWO MORE BUILDINGS of art, so…

Along the midway, I came across a group of vintage campers, all owned by members of a women’s fly-fishing club called Sisters on the Fly. They were open for viewing, so in I went, and they were adorable! I didn’t get pictures of all of them (one was completely decorated in a Wonder Woman theme), but I chatted with the owners, and nearly forgot about the rest of the show.

The heat finally drove me back inside, though, and that’s when I met Jennifer Solberg, with whom I shared an immediate connection. And her jewelry, journals, and kaleidoscopes were beautiful! I had to have one of her journal necklaces—the perfect place to store some of the most important things I’ve learned in life and on this trip.

She offered to bring me extra leather ties the next day, and, since I’d be returning with Russ anyway, I promised to see her again. We parted with hugs. An instant friend!

Russ had just arrived when I finally returned, and was thrilled to find out that they’d just restocked their ice cream at the camp store. (You can guess where we went next.) The next day, I finally convinced him to come to the show with me, by promising that I wouldn’t be long. In fact, Russ and Jennifer’s husband Troy hit it off almost as well as Jennifer and I had, as he peppered Russ with questions about his trip. I showed Jennifer the messages I’d already inscribed in my journal, as we compared life stories and hard-won wisdom. We stayed with them for almost an hour before I pulled Russ away to confirm my choice at Deb Schmit’s booth. Russ immediately chose the same painting I did, enjoyed talking to Deb, and I happily walked off with a great memento of our trip. (BTW, he also found the vintage campers fascinating, and spent quite a while talking to the owner of one of them. For a guy who doesn’t want to go to craft shows, he can be surprisingly hard to dislodge.)

Russ wanted to see the Lewis and Clark Museum next to the state park I’d visited earlier, so off we went. It was an immersive journey through their expedition, from planning to finish, and we only left when they forced us out at closing. We returned to camp for more ice cream and a good night’s sleep before both of us headed out the next morning. 

Tues., August 18 I drove through sweltering temps to the KOA campground in Great Falls. I decided a little pampering was appropriate (and a long shower was absolutely necessary). The entrance to the campground, beside a Walmart and through an industrial area, wasn’t promising, but the campground itself is well shaded and quiet, except for the occasional helicopter flyovers from the nearby Malmstrom Air Force Base..

After a hot shower, dinner, and a good night’s sleep, I was ready to explore the area. Giant Springs State Park has miles of walking paths and trails along the Missouri River and a Lewis and Clark Trail Interpretive Center. The Great Falls of the Missouri is a short drive away (where Great Falls got its name).The boys and I set out.

The Giant Springs are a shady, cool retreat right next to the river.

After a stroll along the river to look at all the watefowl, we drove downriver to Ryan Dam and the Great Falls. Unfortunately. pets aren’t allowed on Ryan Island, where you get the best view of the dam and falls, so I snapped a few quick photos and returned to the car before Moe and Scooby expired in the heat

We reluctantly left Duck Lake on Tuesday. Russ and Matt had struck up a friendship, and I enjoyed talking with Matt, his wife Sharon, and their grandson Justin, who became a regular visitor to our campsite to play with the dogs. Matt even loaned me a copy of a book of Blackfeet tales of Glacier and the surrounding territory (all part of the Blackfeet Reservation). I felt they deserved something for all their kindness and friendship, so on leaving, I presented Justin with O Bear, the stuffed toy black bear that I had carried with me the whole trip, asking him to take good care of him, and to see that he got to visit Yellowstone again some day.

Now, KOA campgrounds are not my favorites, but heading east across Montana, the campsites are few and far between. And after ??? days where my only shower was a dip in Duck Lake, I was ready for all the amenities. Great Falls KOA is actually pretty nice: shaded, quiet, just outside of town and convenient to shopping.

I was grateful for all of the above (especially the showers) after a long, hot day of driving through the arid Montana grazing lands.

Then i came across these guys!

This isn’t too bad:

I settled in, then got food for myself. I’ll do a bigger shopping trip when Russ gets here on Thursday. In the meantime, I think I’ll check out Great Springs State Park on the other side of town, and the falls that gave Great Falls its name.

Monday I was up and raring to go. It was another warm, cloudless day as we prepared breakfast and got ready to head to Glacier. And then….

This is bear country, they said.

Stow all your trash safely, they said.

Did we listen? No!

Our trash was invaded!

Off to Glacier! We got there before the crowds, and just in time for the first big shuttle bus toward Logan Pass. We saw a grizzly bear on the way, but I didn’t get my camera out in time.

Hiking from Logan Pass up to the Hidden Lake overlook:

…and then my phone died. You can see Russ’s blog (russloomis.com) for the rest of the pictures of this spectacular place. He did share one with me:

We rested for a snack at Hidden Lake overlook, where the ground squirrels (locals call them gophers) are very tame. They will climb right up into your lap for treats. Luckily, we had some fruit and nut mix. I was in heaven, and shared my treats with several kids, who were thrilled.

At the overlook we saw mountain goats snoozing on rock ledges across the way, then were treated to the sight of one ambling right across the trail. As we headed back to the Logan Pass visitors center, we saw two bands of bighorn sheep, resting and grazing near the trail. There were more ground squirrels, both gophers and the smaller golden-mantled ground squirrels that look like chipmunks. We also saw a couple of marmots. The pines smelled heavenly, and the views were breathtaking. I could not even begin to put into words how magnificent this place is.

We hopped the shuttle down to the trailhead to St. Mary’s Falls, and hiked there and back, but decided at that point that we’d better think about going back to our campsite and rescuing the dogs, who’d been cooped up all day.

The shuttles are crowded, even on a a Monday, and the drivers have their own system for letting people on, based on who will be leaving and entering, and at what points. At our last hop, a family of five was trying to make a connecting shuttle by 5:30. We entered, but that left only three places. I could hear the driver giving them a hard time, so I came forward to offer our seats, as we could wait for the next shuttle. At that, the driver agreed to let the family on after all. The dad tapped me on the shoulder to thank me, and said something profound: ”Sometimes it just takes one act of kindness to open the gates of kindness.”

And we got to see another grizzly!

Thursday morning, I heard from Russ—his hosts of the night before had convinced him to ride Going to the Sun road through Glacier National Park, and to meet me at Duck Lake by turning south from there, rather than coming north from route 2. So as I skirted the southern edge of Glacier with the dogs and my newly beefed-up hitch, Russ was riding through the heart of those majestic peaks. He promised to catch up to me on Friday, and to stay for some hiking. 

Duck Lake was unexpected—just 20 rustic, widely spaced campsites, all on the shore of the lake. There’s no water, but several sites have electric hookups. Not far from the eastern entrance to Glacier, it’s on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation; indeed, next door is a tribal campground, closed to outsiders. No one was in the office when I arrived at 5:30, but a passing camper suggested I find a site I liked and check back. I left the vehicles at the office and walked the dogs up the dirt road past the campsites, to stretch our legs and scope out the options. I met Matt, one of the hosts, chatting with another camper near the end of the line. He offered me and the dogs a ride back to the office in his car. On the way back, I pointed to site 8 as a possibility, but he quickly dissuaded me, saying “You don’t want that one. It’s haunted.” He did not elaborate. 

I decided to take site 7 instead, especially after he also told me that he’d frightened a grizzly away from site 8 just the day before. I have noticed that everyone here carries their bear spray with them, so I don’t think he was joking.

Then we ran into a problem: they don’t take credit cards or out of state checks. I’m one of those people who don’t carry cash any more, so that left us with a dilemma. After a telephone confab with his wife (“She’s the boss.”), it was agreed that they would trust me until the morning, when I promised to drive to the ATM in Leaning Tree. I settled into my shaded spot, and spent some time watching grebes, gulls, and pelicans on the lake. After watching the sun set behind Glacier Park, I snuggled in for a deep sleep. 

The next day I did, indeed, drive to Leaning Tree for the ATM—and an excellent breakfast. I returned to camp, and settled in to wait for Russ. In the meantime, I swam in the crystal clear waters of Duck Lake, relaxed in the cool breeze, and generally enjoyed the view of nearby Glacier Park. I was astonished to be approached mid-day by the hosts with a question: “Would I like some fish?” They handed me a beautiful rainbow trout that had to be at least 16 inches long. “Just caught this morning,” they assured me. Of COURSE I would like some fish! I thanked them profusely, and made plans to grill it for dinner after Russ arrived.

And then I waited, and waited…. and waited…

It wasn’t until nearly 7:30, when I went to the office to tell my hosts that I would drive to Leaning Tree, where I could get cell service, that they remembered that their WiFi had finally been repaired, and that I could use it. Then I received all of Russ’s messages from the previous two days, and found out that he had been directed all the way from Saint Mary’s, 9 miles away in Glacier Park, to Browning, 30 miles south of me, to a Duck Lake Campground that didn’t exist.

We finally connected by phone, and I set off to get him and his bike, which meant first emptying the back of the car of a great deal of weighty tools, equipment, extra food and clothing, storing anything that might attract bears in the camper, and then driving 30 miles to Browning with the dogs, who could not be trusted with all that extra food in the camper. Russ was starving when I found him, so after a quick stop at a gas station for fuel, we headed to the casino, the only place still open after 8 pm. Not our first choice under any circumstances, but they had burgers and fries, and—most importantly—ice cream. 

We left the casino after dark and were headed back to camp when a warning light I’d never seen before started flashing.  I pulled into the gas station where I’d just gotten gas a hour ago, and pulled out the car’s manual to find out what was going on. According to the manual, the engine was about to overheat. Russ was exhausted and brain dead by this time, so it was up to me to figure out what to do. I’m sure those of you who know more about cars would know immediately, but I was very glad for the help of two young Blackfeet men, who tactfully showed me how to fill up my coolant and got us back on the road.

Goodness knows how late it was when we got back. We still had to get the bike stowed, move all of the stuff back into the car, and then set up the bed in the camper before we could flop down and sleep. The fish would have to wait for another day. 

Saturday Russ worked on his bike, and we did finally grill that trout. It was delicious with grilled onions and sweet peppers, and some pretzel rolls I’d found on my trip here. 

Sunday we planned to return to Glacier so I could see the park, but I was feeling queasy and headachey so we decided instead to stay one more day and see Glacier on Monday. Hopefully I will feel better, and we will find it less crowded.