Making a Break for It

Believe it or not, there are still some parts of Montana that we have not explored. So when Dan suggested one of those places on Saturday morning, I couldn't get out of the house fast enough!

Our destination, the Missouri River Breaks, is an area well-known to Montana hunters for trophy elk and mule deer. I was also hoping for some interesting topography. We started at the west end of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. We took the 20-mile auto loop, which gives an overview of the area with interpretive signs about Lewis & Clark, wildlife, geology, and more. 

The main house

Our first stop was at an abandoned homestead in the river bottoms. The assortment of corrals and outbuildings, and the main house were actually in use until 1972. The structures are still largely intact, including some portions of the sod roofs. We had to walk about a quarter of a mile on a two-track through a very damp riparian marsh to reach the buildings. The frogs and the birds were chirping, and it was fun to try to identify bird and animal tracks in the soft mud. 

Note the sod roof

I did not expect to see cacti in such a wet environment. 

I thought about entitling this post
"Running with the Bulls"!

After a quick lunch, we returned to the car. The road climbed steeply up out of the bottoms to the mesa top. As we came out of the trees, we spotted a truck stopped in the road with a very large, black mammal just off the side of the road. I really thought it was a moose, but as we got closer, it became apparent that it was in reality a very big "domestic" bull. He was in no hurry to let the truck get by. In fact, he rather seemed to be enjoying keeping the truck in check. The truck finally got by, and it was our turn. A couple of times, I honestly thought the bull might charge our poor little Subaru. After a mile or so of two-stepping with the bull, he got far enough off of the road for Dan to "gun it" and get around. 

At the end of the auto tour road, we turned east toward Malta and Fort Peck. This is another place that we hadn't seen. But with nearly 300 miles to go yet to get home, we didn't stop to explore the dam and reservoir. As we drove south, we relished the very green hills, especially in the badland formations that are normally brown and dry. Surprisingly enough, despite the 600+ miles that we drove, we got home earlier than we often do. It wasn't even midnight! All in all, it was a good day of exploring.