This past Thurs we drove through Lamar to Cook City then up and over the Bear Tooth Mountain, they still have tons of snow.
We ate lunch in Red Lodge before continuing on to Billings where we spent the night. I bought a new pair of hiking boots.

The next day we drove to Hardin and out to where we were going to watch in reenactment of Little Big Horn. The signs along the way were hilarious, they looked like they had been made by 3rd graders.
We went to the Little Big Horn battlefield even though we had been there last year. From there we went across the street and ate Indian Tacos. I got indigestion so badly I thought I was going to die.
We drove back to Hardin and the reenactment. We watched warriors on painted war ponies thunder by right in front of us representing the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho. They were lead by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. As history repeated itself, the 7th Cavalry lead by Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer was defeated. It was a fabulous reenactment.
Afterwards we drove to Sheridan, WY where we spent the night.

Our boss gave us three days off so the next day we drove over the Big Horn Mts into Cody, WY and then on back to Mammoth. Along the way we stopped off outside Lovell to see the wild horses. They are descendents of the conquistador horses.



































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Last night we hiked part of Blacktail Trail It was a great hike. We saw an elk with huge rack watching us as we were returning. At Lava Creek we saw two male elk that were running and jumping. We thought maybe they were trying to get away from some bees because every time they got near a certain tree they would jump all over the place. They even started fighting with each other but as soon as they got away from the tree they were calm. As we got near Mammoth we saw a bison in the middle of the road, it looked like he was lying down. We soon realized that he was trying to crawl to the side of the road and that he couldn't stand up. He tried but he would fall down. He had been hit by a car and I guess his back legs were broken. There was another bison that stayed right with him to comfort him. The other one kept kissing him. It was sooooooo sad. I asked one of the Rangers about it today and he said they had to put him down. Thank goodness they did that.

Elk trying to get away from something

Chasing each other through the creek

What's going on here?

Wed we got an extra day off so we drove to Helena, MT. We took a tour of the Cathedral of St. Helena which was build in the Victorian Gothic style. We kept remarking that we couldn’t believe a cathedral like that was in the middle of Montana. It was fabulous.
We got on the open air “Last Chance Tour Train” and took an hour ride around the city hearing various stories: about the discovery of gold in Last Chance Gulch, how Helena beat out Anaconda to become the capital (it didn’t hurt that twice as many people in Helena voted as they had citizens!) We saw the original Governor’s Mansion and learned that Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy were both from Helena. I had on two coats and the wool blanket that they provided us. I was warm but wouldn’t have been without the blanket. After the “train” tour we walked through the capital. We were both surprised that there was no security.
We went to Reeder’s Alley, the oldest section of town that is still intact. We made a reservation at what we thought was the Holiday Inn Express . . . we put the address(Washington St.) into our GPS. We kept driving down Washington St but couldn’t find it. The GPS “speaker” kept saying “you have arrived” but the Holiday Inn was no where to be seen. We must have called the hotel 3-4 times telling them where we were, they kept trying to give us directions. The last time we drove down Washington we decided to go into the La Quienta and ask them if they knew where the Holiday Inn was. Well, it turns out that La Quienta bought Holiday Inn Express recently. We called many times yet the girls on the front desk they never mentioned the hotel name had been changed.

We left early Thurs morning for Great Falls. When we got there we went to the Visitor’s Center. The lady there was lovely, she gave us all kinds of info plus suggesting a place for us to stay.
The first thing we did was go out to Black Eagle Falls on the Missouri River. This was one of the falls that Lewis and Clark had to portage around.
It was so cold where we ate lunch (because the had the A/C on) that I went out to the car and got my winter jacket with the hood. All the other people had on short sleeve shirts and sandles, of course they were from MT.
We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center where we saw a film and went through the exhibit hall. We walked the trail to another falls. On our way back ND let out a scream, I couldn’t imagine what had happened until I looked down and saw a rattle snake. We were both looking at the falls and not down, she heard him rattle.
We went to the Charlie Russell Museum to see the paintings, sculptures, drawings and illustrations he created from childhood through the end of his life. His subjects were based on western history and his own experiences including cowboys, Indians and wildlife. His home and studio are also on the property.
We checked into our hotel, the O’Haire Motor Inn, which came complete with a dumpy room, an A/C that didn’t work, and the Sip and Dip Lounge with a mermaid swimming around in an “aquarium” behind the bar. We took one look at her and turned around and walked back to our dumpy room.

We got up early Fri and drove out to Ryan Falls another place where Lewis and Clark had to portage the canoes around the falls.
On our way back to Mammoth we stopped at a Buffalo Jump. They had an interruptive center there. It was very interesting. A Ranger also told us the history of the buffalo jump. We drove up to where they chased the buffalo over the cliffs.

Cathedral of St Helena

Inside the Capital


Reeder's Alley, Helena

Charlie Russell's home, Great Falls

Charlie Russell's studio

Outside the Charlie Russell home. The lilac trees are blooming all over Montana. They are beautiful and smell wonderful.

Rattler heading for the tall grass

Does anyone know what kind of birds these are?

Ryan Falls and dam on Missouri River

Buffalo Jump

I loved this $450 buffalo "hat"

This past Thurs we drove down to Canyon because we wanted to see how much snow they still have . . . a LOT. We drove through the campground and there was tons of snow. You couldn’t see the fire pits and the picnic tables were buried. People had set up their tents right on the pavement. Then we drove down to Lake to see snow. They didn’t have as much. We at lunch (it was awful) in the Lake EDR. Coming home we went over Dunraven Pass. We got back to Mammoth in time for dinner, it was disgusting.

Rustic Falls near Bunsen Peak

Roaring Mountain

Say what?

Camping at Canyon

These people were set up for a picnic

This group must have been from Florida, they have their lounge chair out

Great place to have a picnic

Bear in front of Lake Yellowstone

Lower Falls

Rocks around the Lower Falls

Seen enough of this yet?

Going over the Dunraven Pass from Canyon to Roosevelt

Dunraven Pass

Rock Formations on the way back to Mammoth