51 miles
869 feet ascent
1,134 feet descent
2,239 calories
Eastern Montana is the home of Makoshika State Park, the largest in the state. "Makoshika" is a Sioux word, which loosely translated means "the bad lands". It is not too far from the more famous Bad Lands in South Dakota.
Eastern Montana Near Glendive
"Stolen Land" House Between Circle, MT & Glendive, MT
(Not sure why that was written on the house, but surely there is a story behind it)
Glendive is a town of roughly five thousand residents and sits along the Yellowstone River as it flows northward to the Missouri River.
The Muddy Yellowstone River, Glendive, MT
During Lewis and Clark's return journey from their winter on the Pacific coast, they split the Corps of Discovery into two crews in western Montana. One group retraced their outbound journey on the Missouri River, but the other explored the Yellowstone River and followed it until it joined with the Missouri, where they rejoined the rest of the Corps.
The scenery did not change much again today, but a very cool thing happened as I rolled out of Circle. Coming around a bend in the road I saw a fox on the side of the road chowing down on something. He was so involved he never heard or saw me until I was about twenty feet away. As soon as I reached for my phone though, he heard me and took off like a rocket! Foxes are fast; really fast. He must have covered a hundred yards in ten or fifteen seconds and I never saw him slow down.
As I near the end of Montana, here are a few things I've learned and will share if you ever venture this way:
In Montana it's not "you're welcome", it's "you betcha!"
If you aren't driving a truck, preferably a diesel one, then you probably aren't from Montana.
If you have to ask the waitress what "gems" are, you definitely are not from Montana.
"Gumbo" is not something you eat in Montana; here it means mud.
(Sorry, Connor)
No comments:
Post a Comment