My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

rfseabc.....thanks for the link and I'll check it out shortly. We're holed up in the camper waiting on the high winds to die down.....




We continued driving north on Highway 89 and the goal now was simply to find a spot to spend the night.....preferably with Verizon internet access. We drove quite a few miles that late afternoon / evening and we saw hundreds of excellent spots but nothing with Verizon internet access.....Verizon just does not exist here. Finally at the top of the mountain we stopped for the night.....



We parked along the highway.....there was little traffic. It seems as though I've done this for so long now that those perfect overnight spots, those Instagram photo type places.....they just no longer are of much importance to me.....



Everything around us had changed as we climbed that mountain.....now surrounded by a dense evergreen forest.....





Almost claustrophobic.....and I don't get claustrophobic.....



The dogs settled in as they always do.....yes that's the kitchen table.....



The following morning we were back on the highway continuing north.....made another brief stop.....this one at Memorial Falls.....



I was excited to see the waterfalls.....my thinking was that it'll be spectacular with all these recent rains.....





We hadn't been long on the trail when I encountered this sign.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Now the trail took us along the meanders of Belt Creek.....



Nearly the entire stretch of Belt Creek that we saw, was covered in fallen logs (as you can easily see in these photographs).....but what puzzled me about those fallen logs were the ends of the logs.....they all appeared to be cut by a saw as opposed to being broken by storm damage.....why ? I'm still puzzled.....



As we approached the falls I saw tons of those signs asking that visitors not carve up the trees.....and I saw this everywhere that I looked.....



If you look closely at these photographs you'll see behind every main tree that I photographed, plenty more carved up trees.....



My initial glimpse of the lower falls was something like this.....



Maybe I should just be thankful that people aren't carving into the rocks.....yet.....



The falls (upper & lower) weren't spectacular in many ways.....yet they were spectacular in their own way.....despite the nearby work of man.....







And we continued driving north.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The next stop was in Neihart, Montana .....I have no idea why we stopped here.....possibly I felt like being inconvenienced (the sign).....



Neihart, Montana is a former mining town.....there's a bunch of informative signs for people like XP member Foy (you know.....all about the rocks).....



I didn't even stay here long enough to let the dogs out of the truck so all of these pictures were taken without dogs yanking on the leash (that's probably why you're all of a sudden noticing the high quality photography).....



As best as I could tell, the jail was the best thing to see.....



I was surprised at how pleased I was when I realized that I could actually remove that steel pin on the door and go inside.....



I guess claustrophobic came to mind again.....





It's hard to believe that people could actually put people into something like this.....but the unfortunate reality is (and we all know it) is that it's still happening today.....



And that book.....that's torture right there.....



On a brighter note, I did find me some more weathered wood to admire.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We continued north on Highway 89 and made our next stop at a roadside scenic overlook above Belt Creek & Sluice Box Canyon.....



From that vantage point I noticed a footpath paralleling the meanders of Belt Creek.....we were ready for a hike.....



We were all anxious to get out and stretch our legs.....







It was nice here.....no people.....lots of songbirds.....







Unfortunately after about one mile of hiking, the trail crossed Belt Creek.....and we didn't.....



.....so we continued driving north (FWIW later that evening I found an upper trailhead on a map.....we never hiked it but I'm guessing that's the good one).....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We drove just a few miles further north and made our next stop at the Al Buck Memorial Park .....



Al Buck Memorial Park was open for business.....



Now this little roadside picnic area had a secret.....and I'll just bet that nearly 100 % of travelers that pass by here never even see it (thankfully).....



That little spring just came gushing out of that rock wall and this beautiful little glade was created below it and we (the 2 dogs & I) absolutely loved it there.....it was like this tiny heaven on earth.....the dogs sloshed around in there and dismantled the entire mass of purple flowers and as they floated away they created this beautiful flow of flowers compounded with the sun shining brightly.....believe me.....it was insane beautiful.....



There was a wind that afternoon that blew through those massive Cottonwood trees and they released their seeds in the thousands and it was almost as if we were walking in a light snow.....



The ground was covered in the sparkling seeds.....



It was a perfect weather day in Montana.....perfectly formed white clouds in every way flowed overhead.....



Well.....we really liked this roadside park.....so we decided to stay the night.....



I was anxious for tomorrow.....tractors and all that good stuff of Montana were just waiting to be admired.....



And more weathered wood of course.....

 

[AbleGuy]

These beautiful, enticing pictures of the green, cool northlands are enjoyable, comforting armchair travel for me on the 100°+ days were enduring here, thx so much for your prolific postings.

You find and go to some of the most incredibly beautiful places in the west. Might you ever have the desire to informally lead a small group of others on any of these journeys? You’d be a heck of a wagon master!

 

[fisher205]

Jerry, If you haven’t read Ivan Doig, you may want to look him up. His books are about Montana and “This House of Sky” is about growing up in White Sulphur Springs. “Dancing at the Rascals Fair” and its sequels are some great fiction. Safe travels.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

AbleGuy.....your weather down there sounds brutal.....it's just the opposite here. I had the heat on for a bit this morning. Regarding your question about me leading a group.....I couldn't think of a worse candidate. I never know when I'm leaving, where I'm going, nor when I'll return. I camp in some of the most God awful places, my dogs are constantly misbehaving, and I'm the perfect example of a loner.....I could go on & on. But I do take your question & comment as a compliment, and I'm grateful for it. Thank you.....

fisher205.....when I saw your post earlier today, I had never heard the name Ivan Doig before. I Googled his name, became familiar with him, poor guy died in Seattle in 2015.....I'm thinking his wish would have been like mine.....to die in Montana. Now it's late in the day and I actually have a story (kinda) about Ivan Doig & my travels, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.....it'll be a few days before I get to that story kinda. Stay safe as well my friend.....thanks.....



That night in the camper I devised a new plan.....so it was that we continued north on Highway 89 with this new plan in mind.....the next town that we passed through along Highway 89 was Belt, Montana.....



Just beyond that underpass (shown in picture above), we passed yet another concrete jail building, much like the one that we visited in Neihart, Montana, but this one was covered in beautiful flowers.....it looked more like a flower shop than an old jail building.....it was a happy jail I guess you could say. I wanted to grab a picture but when I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw 2 cowboys riding my bumper so I moved on.....I'm not looking for a gunfight.....



In Belt, Montana we connected with Highway 331 and we continued driving north / northeast.....





It was yet another sensational weather day in Montana.....







Eventually the road took us through Highwood, Montana.....



.....which also had a concrete jail building.....but not quiet as happy as the one in Belt, Montana.....



Now there were no more small towns on our route.....just those wide open highways & those big skies that Montana is so well known for.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I was in absolute awe of the scenery that surrounded us.....I could post hundreds of pictures here (and maybe I already have.....I don't know).....





We passed another lone antelope in the fields.....



.....more silos and out buildings.....



Somewhere north of Highwood, Montana, we left the highway behind.....we began traveling on the back roads.....we had a destination in mind.....more old weathered buildings.....





A small herd of antelope kicked up the dust in the uncultivated field.....



Pretty amazing the machinery that these ranchers have.....





And after miles and miles of back road travels, we were almost there.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

This was our first view of the Missouri River.....



.....we passed through a small canyon.....as the road took us down to the river.....



We had finally arrived at the Carter Ferry.....now I had no idea what the process was here.....I pushed the call button and waited.....and waited.....I could see someone on the far side.....someone that appeared to be working in the yard.....



We walked around.....took some pictures.....and waited.....





Still waiting.....we backtracked up the canyon and took more pictures.....



Finally the pilot of the ferry decided to come get us.....



The 80 year old pilot.....he seemed about as angry a man as I ever have met. Our short ride across the Missouri River went something like this:

These words are from the pilots' mouth as best I can recall.....

"No you can't get out of the truck." (I'm not so sure that's true).

"Is that one of those G D Chinese cell phones you're taking pictures with ?"

"No, I don't have one. You're making the G D Chinese rich buying that. They're taking over this country."

"And the fing Mexicans are all climbing the wall and taking all our jobs."



He was pleased that I wasn't from Bozeman, Montana.....that town is "full of A Holes and they're all coming north".....



For some reason (maybe obvious) that short ferry ride across the Missouri River reminded of the long ferry ride that I took from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland as I was on my way to northeast Labrador.....more than a decade ago.....that trip was, as best I recall, a 5 or 6 hour ferry ride.....I ate a large meal and got seasick.....threw up over the side and felt nauseous as I departed that ferry.....left this one feeling the same.....hate just ain't my thing.....

 

[Foy]

Interesting to know of the demeanor of the Carter Ferry operator. We found the McClelland Ferry guy to be amiable and the Virgelle Ferry lady operator to be downright effusive.

Heads-up on accessing the McClelland Ferry, especially from the north. Both directions are very steep, and the north side is mostly dirt so it's got to be amazingly slick when wet.

Heads-up #2 if you take a shine to the trail from Winifred to the James Kipp campground on the Missouri at the US 191 crossing. The descent to and ascent from Two-Calf Creek is banzai in both directions. Fun for your Jeep, however.

Foy

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Foy....."We found the McClelland Ferry guy to be amiable and the Virgelle Ferry lady operator to be downright effusive.".....I agree with you 100 %.....the Virgelle Ferry pilot lady is an awesome lady & thanks for the tips.....



We connected with the main highway and headed east into Fort Benton, Montana to make a stop at the Upper Missouri River Breaks IInterpretive Center.....lots of good stuff to see here.....





Then we continued further east and just before the small town of Loma, Montana , we left the highway and headed south returning to the Missouri River.....





We made what I thought would be a brief stop at Decision Point .....we spent the night here.....



Right here are some of the most beautiful views of the intersection of the Matas River and the Missouri River .....



Everyday now the weather seems to be near perfect.....



The first harvest of the seasons has begun.....the grain trucks on the back roads are becoming a much more common sight.....



We're absolutely loving the life on the road.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Just below our campsite at Decision Point, there's a bridge that crosses the Missouri River.....we took it and drove south, then east.....Google Maps told me that it was a 29 mile drive to the next ferry across the Missouri River.....we weren't in any hurry and we stopped often.....the wheat fields were absolutely incredible as they flowed like waves in an ocean powered by the morning winds.....we loved it here.....





We stopped often to walk along the desolate roads and explore.....









Trapper.....she preferred to hunt the field mice along the roads' ditches.....but Tanner.....he's crazy for those wheat fields.....it was nearly impossible to get him to come back.....this is his world.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

So we're just driving these back roads not paying much attention at all.....listening to Cowboy music (not country.....there's a definite difference) on the radio.....





Occasionally I'd hear Google Maps tell me to go left or right.....and occasionally there'd be no road right there when it said go left or right.....it directed me down fence lines and sometimes right through the middle of wheat fields.....



Of course I'd ignore it then and at one point it said we were 40 miles from the ferry (remember we started at 29 miles).....



Well, I wasn't freaking out or anything.....like I said we were in no hurry.....we passed that same truck that I posted earlier later in the day.....I wondered if he was lost just like me.....



I finally had to get out my paper map and get things sorted out.....some of these roads we took got pretty rough.....



It took us better than half a day to drive those 29 miles.....lesson nearly learned (I say nearly cause I did it again).....we parked on a bluff above the Missouri River.....and we ended up staying right there for the night.....



That evening we hiked down to the river to check things out (3 miles round-trip).....



I stood there on the shoreline of the Missouri River with a leash in each hand.....I'm looking at this box and I see a woman on the opposite side of the river yelling "I'm coming" and I yelled back "tomorrow please".....



This was a good place.....

 

[Foy]

Your posts stir up good memories of a fine 3 days of our 2020 trip to that area! We'd camped out at a motel in Great Falls for a couple of nights and on the day in between we went to see the Ryan Dam, thence up to Fort Benton for a couple of hours (a rodeo was under way at the fairgrounds!), further up to Loma to see Decision Point, across the river there, and on to the Virgelle Ferry, guided by our trusty Benchmark Road and Recreation Atlas. The ferry pilot lady was a highly personable treat to talk to even though our trip interrupted her grandchild's birthday party under way in the shade of some big cottonwoods. We shopped up some essentials at the Virgelle store (high end junk) and returned to Great Falls.
The next day we provisioned up at the Wal Mart in Black Eagle the next morning and went right back up the highway to Big Sandy, fueled up with diesel there, and proceeded on a spectacular traverse of the southwestern and southern edges of the Bear Paws to and across the McClelland Ferry, and an ill-fated drive from just outside of Winifred, through part of the CM Russell NWR, to James Kipp Rec area at the US 191 crossing. Lots of wheat harvesting under way pretty much everywhere, and genuine characters at the Virgelle Ferry, the store in Virgelle, and at the McClelland Ferry.