The rest stop that I stayed at last night in Conrad was actually very nice. The bathrooms were open all night, the lot was well lit, the facilities were quite modern, there were security cameras, and I shared a quiet lot with two other RVs and three truckers. I woke at 6 AM today and was on the road by 6:30 AM. I drove south to Great Falls, MT. Great Falls is so named because of a series of five waterfalls that stymied the progress of the Lewis & Clark Expedition as it headed down the Missouri River into the Clearwater River I posted a few days ago and ultimately into the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. The Corps had to portage around these waterfalls and it took them 28 days to take all the equipment over land. Shown below are Great Falls and Rainbow Falls and a special picture from inside the van showing what potential #vanlife has.
At 9 AM, the Lewis & Clark National Historical Trail Interpretative Center in Great Falls opened. This was a fabulous museum. Following a film by Ken Burns, you entered a journey along hte Lewis & Clark trail with the left side of the hallway exhibits showing Lewis & Clark's items and the right side of the exhibit showing the Native American context.
Also in Great Falls, MT is the C M Russell Museum. Russell was an American artist (painter and sculptor) from the late 1800s to the early 1900s of scenes from the American West. The museum houses over 2000 of his works, an exhibit on bison, the artist's studio, and his home.
I then drove south on Highway 15 at a little less than the speed limit of 80 mph! I arrived at Gates of the Mountains Wilderness at 1 PM, had a picnic lunch, and took the 2 PM boat tour. The Gates of the Mountains is a stretch of the Missouri River that was mentioned prominently in the Lewis & Clark journals and which I read and dreamed about in the fabulous book Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose. Here, the Corps thought that the Missouri River was ending because the rugged tone cliffs on both sides of the river seemed to connect to each other when viewed from a distance. However, as they drew closer, the gates "opened" and they paddled through a stretch of canyon with white sheer cliffs of limestone. The canyon was filled with caves and holes in the rock, a natural arch, the nests of a bald eagle and osprey, a popular remote picnic area, the place where Lewis & Clark camped, and the site of the famous Man Gulch fire where 13 firefighters perished in a fire whirlwind. This was quite a lot to see on a two-hour boat ride for a mere $16. Absolutely stunning scenery and a wonderful experience.
Finally, I drove south from Helena, MT about 3 hrs to Gardiner, MT, which sits at the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Here, I camped on the side of the road neat an RV park.
Also in Great Falls, MT is the C M Russell Museum. Russell was an American artist (painter and sculptor) from the late 1800s to the early 1900s of scenes from the American West. The museum houses over 2000 of his works, an exhibit on bison, the artist's studio, and his home.
I then drove south on Highway 15 at a little less than the speed limit of 80 mph! I arrived at Gates of the Mountains Wilderness at 1 PM, had a picnic lunch, and took the 2 PM boat tour. The Gates of the Mountains is a stretch of the Missouri River that was mentioned prominently in the Lewis & Clark journals and which I read and dreamed about in the fabulous book Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose. Here, the Corps thought that the Missouri River was ending because the rugged tone cliffs on both sides of the river seemed to connect to each other when viewed from a distance. However, as they drew closer, the gates "opened" and they paddled through a stretch of canyon with white sheer cliffs of limestone. The canyon was filled with caves and holes in the rock, a natural arch, the nests of a bald eagle and osprey, a popular remote picnic area, the place where Lewis & Clark camped, and the site of the famous Man Gulch fire where 13 firefighters perished in a fire whirlwind. This was quite a lot to see on a two-hour boat ride for a mere $16. Absolutely stunning scenery and a wonderful experience.
Finally, I drove south from Helena, MT about 3 hrs to Gardiner, MT, which sits at the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Here, I camped on the side of the road neat an RV park.
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