My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Foy.....it'd be difficult to fault them for the way that they feel. Heck, I'm a white guy in an RV and I sometimes get turned off by the behavior of other white guys in RVs. Many come off as entitled (at least that's how I see it). I could imagine that it's tough to see these million dollar rigs cruising through town all summer while the natives are barely getting by.....



Next is a sampling our route as we traveled south through the plains of Montana.....









I wanted to share these pictures.....cause I don't think that most people that visit Montana.....actually travel along these back roads.....along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.....





Some of these roads that we traveled.....they were barely even roads.....they seemed more like shortcuts through the manicured fields.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

More roads and mountains.....









And this.....one of the most incredible settings for a ranch house.....





And even more roads and mountains.....





And finally our campsite.....



Along the banks of the North Fork of the Teton River.....

 

[Ace Brown]

Did you leave the Jeep home?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[longhorn1]

We continued driving north and made a quick stop for a world famous (?) pastry at the small mercantile store in Polebridge, Montana.....

View attachment 835620

We drove west from here.....crossed the North Fork of the Flathead River and headed into Glacier National Park.....

View attachment 835621

I wasn't too sure what to expect since it was still the off season which is kind of a good thing & kind of a bad thing as well. We took the road (Inside Northfork Road) south and the good thing was that we had the road to ourselves.....

View attachment 835623

View attachment 835622

We were able to get in short hikes on the roadway since the dogs are allowed only here.....we parked along the shoreline of Winona Lake.....

View attachment 835624

.....which is where we saw our only wildlife during our brief stay.....a few deer grazing along the shore.....

View attachment 835625

We took another hike a bit further south where the road comes close to the eastern bank of the North Fork of the Flathead River.....

View attachment 835626

A gate across the road kept us from continuing onward.....that was the bad thing that I spoke of. We backtracked, and drove north, drove west, drove south.....and drove along the western bank of the North Fork of the Flathead River.....

View attachment 835631

View attachment 835632

View attachment 835633

Polebridge has been on my list for years. I just never get there. Someday🙃

 

[longhorn1]

The first time I visited Browning I was on a 6 week geology school field trip with 30 or so students and faculty. Every one of us was a pasty white kid in our late teens to early 20s. It was mid- July 1975. We spent a morning visiting the Museum of the Plains Indian before moving on southeast on our first leg of returning to NC. Everywhere we went in small groups--the parking area at the museum, a couple of small stores, a coffee shop, and a gas station--there was an unmistakable feeling of mild hostility from the locals to our group. Later that day, down in Choteau, some locals told us "that's the way it is in Browning--the Blackfeet don't care for tourists". Decades later I experienced similar feelings as I drove through Crow Agency on a hot summer Friday afternoon in 2010. Literally dozens of individuals cast their gaze towards my loudly rattling old diesel pickup as I worked through a 4-way stop intersection. Not a smile from nor a wave returned by any of them. Later that day, down in Broadus, a local told me that my lack of a front license plate (NC does not require them) pegged me as a tourist, triggering indifference, at best, from the Native Americans populating Crow Agency and Lame Deer.

Hard to undo all of those years of injustice to Native Americans. From wars to taking their lands, and it goes on from there. Whenever I'm in Montana the Spirits talk to me and it is always sad.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ace.....that's right. These trips that I'm doing right now (2 so far and I'm headed back out for a third soon) are only 10 to 14 days and, for the most part, I don't need it. The four wheel drive truck does OK, and I much prefer walking over four wheeling.....

JD.....it's a crying shame.....that's for sure.....



It rained, snowed, and hailed.....lighting and thunder.....and some pretty good winds for most of the night. The skies began to clear.....in the morning we headed up Teton Pass.....



I had no idea what to expect here.....it was just a random place that we had stumbled on.....





Now the weather was beautiful along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.....and more specifically, along the banks of the North Fork of the Teton River.....







As we headed up and into the mountains, things changed rather quickly.....





I'm sure that the light rain that still fell.....off and on.....was a well needed light rain.....it's been too dry in Montana.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

This sign is one to take seriously while visiting here as I've both heard and read that's there is a healthy population of bears in this area.....so much so that they're moving into the plains and into the prairies.....HALLELUJAH !



We mostly walked along the road.....occasionally sticking our heads into places that looked interesting.....but we were always bear alert.....no spray, no guns, just common sense.....



The road followed the meanders of the river.....







As you can see, the scenery was sensational (which is why I struggled with limiting the number of pictures that I'm posting.....I took several hundred).....





So much diversity.....and so much beauty.....





Towering rock cliffs lined either side of the river.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

There looked to be some great dispersed camping in this canyon, as well as one National Forest Campground.....



Beaver seemed to own this river.....we saw dams way down the river near our campsite as well as way up the river.....almost to the bridge.....beaver dams were everywhere.....







I'd be curious to know what the cause is for this discoloration of the river water.....hopefully a natural mineral (Foy ?).....



The further up the road that we traveled, the less friendly the road became......the bad weather from the night before really slicked up that roadbed.....





After we crossed the bridge, the road steepened.....it became really slippery, and with caution to the wind.....and in an effort not to destroy the roadbed, I decided to back down a ways to a turn around spot, and head on out.....



The three of us.....we loved it here.....the place is absolutely incredible. Apparently, at the end of the road is a ski resort.....but on this day, we were the only ones here.....almost.....

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I look forward to hearing Foy's response. It reminds me a lot of the color from old mining activity. I have seen in other places. I am on my phone though, so the color may be off.

 

[EpicPlanet]

Just came across this thread. 14 years and 351 pages! I'm sure this will be answered as I read through, but since that'll take a bit of time, @YukonMontanaTannerTrapper, can you give a TL;DR recap of what you are up to now? Still nomadic or do you have a home base now?

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

PNWY.....just this morning I read an interesting article about climate change and the impact that it's having on earth. Apparently metals are beginning to leach out of cooling soils.....you can can read it here.....

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/climate/orange-rivers-permafrost-alaska

EpicPlanet.....welcome. I currently have a home base and can say without any reservations, I'm happy that I do. I no longer have any interest in full timing. It's hard for me to believe that I've posted for so long, and have posted so much. I enjoy travel, taking pictures, and writing stories.....therein lies my fault.....



We continued driving south, still driving along random dirt and gravel roads, relying on Google Maps to take me closer to home (and to our next campsite).....







Now, I can say without any hesitation whatsoever, is that Google Maps is not such a good tool to use in the plains and praires of Montana.....





On this particular day.....on our way to our next campsite.....Google Maps took us to the front door of two different ranch houses. And that's not a good thing.....and actually, maybe, could easily be a bad thing.....but we lived to tell yet one more story.....





I did get to see some pretty cool trucks.....ranchers always have the best collection of old vehicles.....they don't seem to sell.....at least that's how I see it.....



Or maybe they just keep on working them.....as seems to be the case with this one.....



I guess that one of the beauties of being lost so often.....is that you really do see more beautiful things (since I seemed to have covered so much more ground than anticipated).....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

And here's some more pictures.....in black and white.....







Just random stuff that I found interesting.....







.....as we worked our way further south.....







Next up.....camping, hiking, and exploring at an amazing lake in the Central Plains of Montana.....

 

[ITTOG]

The photo's were all great but I was really interested in the road with the different shades of brown. They look like they were manicured.

 

[Arjan]

You really have an eye to get us to see a very different US.

Many thanks !

 

[Foy]

There looked to be some great dispersed camping in this canyon, as well as one National Forest Campground.....

View attachment 836167

Beaver seemed to own this river.....we saw dams way down the river near our campsite as well as way up the river.....almost to the bridge.....beaver dams were everywhere.....

View attachment 836168

View attachment 836169

View attachment 836170

I'd be curious to know what the cause is for this discoloration of the river water.....hopefully a natural mineral (Foy ?).....

View attachment 836171

The further up the road that we traveled, the less friendly the road became......the bad weather from the night before really slicked up that roadbed.....

View attachment 836172

View attachment 836173

After we crossed the bridge, the road steepened.....it became really slippery, and with caution to the wind.....and in an effort not to destroy the roadbed, I decided to back down a ways to a turn around spot, and head on out.....

View attachment 836174

The three of us.....we loved it here.....the place is absolutely incredible. Apparently, at the end of the road is a ski resort.....but on this day, we were the only ones here.....almost.....

View attachment 836175

Well, time for another SWAG (Sophisticated Wild ****** Guess about some rock pictures, something I quite enjoy doing:

The picture of "discolored water" is at the end of a sequence including several beaver dams and ponds. It looks like the picture is centered on the exposed bottom of a drained beaver pond. While flooded, some fine light tan colored mud or silt sedimentation accumulated on the bottom of the pond. After the pond drained, the thin, flat lying layer (a few inches thick?) hardened and was then dissected by the stream and that formed channels. The rain raised the level of the creek resulting in a spillover on top of the dried mud layer. The tan mud seen through the clear water looks like discolored water especially when seen next to the deeper channel which has entirely removed the underlying mud layer.

At least that's the way I see it.

Looks like you ventured down into the Shonkin Sag after leaving the North Fork of the Teton. The Sag is a good story about the ancestral Missouri River and continental glaciation. I recommend "Roadside Geology of Montana" (Second edition) for this and hours and hours of other interesting reading on what we see while hiking and driving Montana's back roads.

Foy