It's late May and I have decided to grab my old college roommate, Tony Boyle, and head north. Tony is an agreeable traveling companion and after several similar trips together, I'm confident he will endure my ramblings and idiosyncracies. We have often traveled together to meet up with another college buddy who lives in Darby, Montana. This time the plan is to head north through Wyoming, overnight at the most northerly city in the state: Sheridan. The following day we will head to Montana and visit the sight of Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn River. I had just finished reading a new biography of General Custer and Sitting Bull by Nathaniel Philbrick and I was very interested in piecing together the battle and revisiting the site. That was the plan and I was looking forward to the journey.
We left early on Monday morning and drove the entire day through the exciting towns of Rock Springs; Lander; Riverton; Worland and Buffalo. Rock Springs, is an old mining town with a population of about 18,000 people. It is located in an energy-rich region that boasts a large number of oil and natural gas wells. With the recent rise in oil prices, there is considerably more activity taking place in the oil fields. Lander is named for transcontinental explorer Frederick W. Lander, Lander is located in central Wyoming, along the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River. It is located just south of the Wind River Indian Reservation. About seven thousand people call Lander home including a fair number of Native Americans.
We left Lander and drove the twenty-five miles to Riverton, just about the center of the state. Riverton is an old farming community where sugar beets reigned supreme as the crop of choice throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. There was a major spike in growth in the city when in 1953, uranium was found in the hills surrounding the city. Fifty-five miles later and we found ourselves in the steaming town of Thermopolis. Thermopolis is tucked among the foothills of the Owl Creek Mountains beside the Big Horn River. It’s one of those small, picturesque towns where the elevation is higher than the population. The town is renowned and named for being home to the World’s Largest Mineral Hot Spring.
Originally part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, the Shoshone and Arapahoe Tribes sold this land to the United States in 1896 so that the healing waters of Big Horn Hot Springs would be available to the public. (I know this because Wikipedia told me so!).
When we reached Worland, we headed east on U.S. Highway 16 until we reached the sleepy little town of Ten Sleep an American An Indian rest stop, so called because it was 10 days travel, or “10 sleeps,” from Fort Laramie (southeast), Yellowstone National Park (west-northwest), and the Indian Agency on the Stillwater River in Montana (northwest). Today the three hundred plus residents of Ten Sleep rely on ranching and tourism as their primary means of economic survival.
We continued driving through the Bighorn Mountains and over the Powder River Pass. The Big Horn Mountain Divide is the high-elevation backbone of the mountain range, which has its southern end in Wyoming and its northern end in Montana. Along the highway we saw long segments of tall wooden fences, standing at an angle to the roadway. These snow fences divert blowing and drifting snow away from the road.
Shortly after travceling over the pass we arrived at the town of Buffalo. The population was 3,900 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Johnson County. In recent years, the town has boomed economically due to methane production from the coal bed methane extraction method used in the Powder River Basin and surrounding areas. Founded in 1879 by homesteaders, cattle ranchers, and miners, Buffalo was not named for the animal, but for Buffalo, New York, hometown of one early settler, Alvin J. McCray. By 1883, there were a dozen saloons in town, but no churches. While an old buffalo trail did once run down Main Street, Buffalo’s streets are most famous for being the only place in the US where you can make a legal U-turn on a highway bridge, right in the middle of town. As the Johnson County Seat, Buffalo also claims the distinction of having hosted the oldest county fair in the state in 1887.
We left Buffalo and drove the remaining thirty-five miles to Sheridan where we will overnight before heading to our final destionation on this leg of the trip: the Little-Bighorn Battlefield. We drove down Main Street and encountered road construction virtually throughout the town. We took the detours and eventually wound back on Main Street where the Trail's End Motel awaited my tired body. The Trail's End is certainly not high-end, but it served the purpose and at the right price. After we settled in, it was time to look for a restaurant and since we were in the mood for Mexican, we chose Los Agaves on Coffeen avenue (which BTW is the only Mexican restaurant in town). The food wasn't exceptional, but it was tolerable and reasonably priced. Time to head back to the motel.
The next morning we arose and ate a hearty breakfast at the motel restaurant - wow! $3.50 for guests. We packed up and headed out of town, but before we left we stopped at a convenience store for gas and discovered a major mess: Interstate 90 was flooded and there was no way we were going to the Battlefield today or perhaps several days. Bummer! It seems the only way out of town was on Highway 14 heading west to Lovell. The road to Lovell would eventually lead to Billings and then to Bozeman our next stop. After we left Dayton, a small town of about six hundred souls and sitting at about 4,000 feet in elevation, we reached Burgess Junction in the Bighorn National Forest. If we drive south we will find Greybull, east will take us to Lovell. We head east and reach the summit at at almost ninety-five hundred feet.
Lovell, Montana experienced its fifteen minutes of fame in the 1980's when the town was the center of a scandal when Dr. John Story was discovered to be sexually abusing patients. He was convicted on six separate charges of sexually assaulting his patients in 1985. The dominant religion is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There are several other churches in town including Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Baptist. There is also a small group of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints living near town. Lovell is located near the Bighorn Mountains and the Bighorn River. We passed through Lovell as quickly as we could, however, the road into Montana was under heavy construction, so out journey was considerably delayed.
Eventually we reached our destination: Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman is the county seat of Gallatin County and was named after John M. Bozeman who established the Bozeman Trail and was a key founder of the town in August 1864. It is also the home of the Montana State Bobcats where about ten thousand undergrads study or do other things.
We were meeting Boyle's nephew Dana and his two daughters: Sammie and Allie, at Ted's Montana Grill.
Ted's is a bit of a misnomer because it is actually a large chain found in places as far south as Florida and east as New York. The restaurant is located in the Baxter Hotel on Main Street. The Baxter, located in the heart of Bozeman’s downtown historic district, has been the social hub for dining and nightlife in Southwest Montana since its opening in 1929. I was looking forward to the BBQ Bison Shortribs that I had noticed on their website.
Unfortunately, Shortrib night was Saturday and this was Tuesday so I settled on the Bison Ribeye. This was my first experience with Bison ribeye and I decided that I far preferred beef - the bison was good, but not as juicy or as fat as beef. The redeeming feature was that it is by far a healthier choice (but who wants healthy when dining out???). Dana and the girls were good company and we enjoyed hearing about their lives.
We bid farewell to our dinner guests and checked in at the Marriott Residence Inn on Valley Center Drive. Fortunately, I had a free night at Marriott and it was good for the one bedroom suite. The room had a pull out sofa, as well as, a separate bedroom. Of course, Boyle would be sleeping on the pull out and I would suffer on the king-sized bed. And, oh yes, I gave Boyle a choice.
We enjoyed the excellent breakfast at the hotel the next morning and then jumped in the car to head West to our final Montana destination: Darby. I was careful with my speed, though tempted to shoot for triple digits, Montana now has a speed limit. From 1995 until 1999, the daytime maximum speed limit in Montana was "reasonable and prudent"; it is now 75 miles per hour. I'm sure that this restriction by the Montana legislature has helped boost the revenues of many a county. I-90 runs east and west and is the longest interstate in the United States. It begins at Boston and ends at Seattle, the Montana portion is the longest at over 550 miles.
About an hour west of Bozeman is the town of Three Forks historically considered the birthplace or start of the Missouri River. We stopped for a few minutes at the Missouri Headwaters State Park, where the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin Rivers converge to form the Missouri River. The three rivers, west to east, were named by Meriwether Lewis in late July 1805 for President Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State James Madison, and Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin. In July, 1805, The Lewis and Clark Expedition visited the site.
Honored in Three Forks, the Indian woman Sacagawea is best known as the interpreter and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1800, she was captured by the Mennetaree tribe near the present site of Three Forks. She later returned to this area with Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. A statue of Sacagawea now sits in a park off Main Street. There is a beautiful hotel in the middle of town and would be great place to spend a night - maybe next time.
We drove on I-90 through Butte and then headed south on I-15 until we reached Divide. Divide is so named because of its proximity to the Continental Divide. At Divide we again headed west on Montana 43 through the Beaverhead National Forest. The road parallels the Big Hole River and is truly some beautiful country.
We stopped for lunch at the Crossing in the small town of Wisdom. By the way, not all "Ma & Pa's" restaurants measure up to their reputation for down-home cooking, but a guess a burger is a burger. There are about a hundred folks living in Wisdom and I didn't notice that any of them appeared to be any wiser than you and me. Actually the town was named for the Wisdom River which is now the Big Hole. Just thought you'd like to know.
After lunch we drove another hour or so to Jack Herbert's place on the West Fork in Darby. Jack, Boyle and I are attended (sometimes) Ogden High School together and taught each other a lot of bad habits, most of which have long since been discarded.
Jack was on the upper portion of his land hauling lumber to his small mill. Jack has about twenty acres of prime lumber and if he is in need of a few dollars he just fells a couple of pines and mills them for the locals. Jack is a true minimalist which according to Sonny's blog is basically a lifestyle that is free of complications, clutter,confusion and distraction. It's where you have taken your life and streamlined it to make it the most efficient it can possibly be. I am not a minimalist and as a matter of fact, I could easily be a maximalist.
Jack grows virtually all of his produce and manages to bag an elk on his property every year. His garden and greenhouse are extremely productive due in no small measure to the fact that he uses an outhouse - this is called ultimate recycling. Jack is an excellent chef and he prepared a delectable meal that evening. I very much enjoyed the elk, but passed on the veggies.
Friends are the one thing Jack has in abundance and we had the opportunity to meet several of them during our stay. They are generally not the kind of people you would find walking down the street in Morgan, Utah, however, they are interesting, intelligent and fun-filled folks with an appetite for all things natural. Jack does maintain one luxury and that is the internet, it allows him to keep up with the daily events of the world (not that he cares!) and provides a source of communication with his many friends.
I even noticed what appeared to be a sixties vintage, thirteen inch television with an antennae on a shelf - no satellite or
cable here man. As you can readily see from the photo of Jack on the right - he's a distinctive fellow with a very distinct lifestyle - more power to him!
The next evening we all went to dinner at The Naughty Moose in Sula, about ten miles down the road. Dan and Christy have the recipe for outstanding food, service and ambience. I think folks come from miles around to dine in their rustic restaurant. I always look forward to a hearty meal and I've never been disappointed. Tonight I ordered the country fried steak and a caesar salad. This is the first time I had ordered this traditional bit of comfort food and I wasn't sure what to expect. If you are ever in Sula and stop at the Moose for dinner,but be warned; the country fried steak is large enough to feed an army. I managed to get through about half the serving and sent the rest home with Jack.
The following day, we all jumped in the car and drove to Hamilton, a slightly larger town about thirty miles up the road. Jack's friend, Sally, works at the Hamilton Library and we enjoyed lunch with her at a local cafe. After lunch we met up with one of Jack's music-playing buddies and enjoyed listening to some improvised guitar and drum playing. Jack is an accomplished drummer and often gathers with his friends for an evening of music and other activities. Jack's hospitality was very much appreciated - we stayed in his Dad's vacant cabin on the upper part of the property and it actually has a bathroom! Unfortunately, after a couple of relaxing and enjoyable days with Jack on the West Fork it was time to head home.
The next morning we packed up and headed south back through Wisdom and then caught Montana 278 through Jackson and the Big Hole Pass to Dillon. Dillon's average annual temperature is 58 degrees and the only months that exceed eighty are July and August. It is "cold country". Twenty miles further down I-15 and we reached Clark Canyon Dam, aptly named for William Clark, the other half of Lewis. Clark Canyon Dam is an earthfill dam. The dam impounds the waters of the Beaverhead River, creating a body of water known as Clark Canyon Reservoir. Construction of the dam and reservoir required the relocation of U.S. Route 91 and a main line of the Union Pacific Railroad.
The reservoir inundated the former site of the small community of Armstead, Montana, and the site of Camp Fortunate, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped from August 17 to 22, 1805 and held negotiations with the Shoshone. If you head west at the dam you will cross over the Lemhi Pass. In mid-August 1805, Lewis and three other members of the Corps of Discovery had left the main group behind in search of native inhabitants of the area, heading toward Beaverhead Rock. On August 12, this small group came to Lemhi Pass, a two-mile span stretching across the present-day border between Montana and Idaho. Nestled among these mountains and bridging the gap between the ranges of the Rockies, Lemhi Pass maintains its unobtrusive, yet momentous, place in our nation's history. As they ventured westward, the party came across some of the most imposing landscapes that they had ever encountered--peaks upon jagged peaks as far as the eye could see. The crossing of this pass--the Continental Divide, a ridge extending North and South along the Rocky Mountains' Beaverhead Range--would prove one of the greatest achievements of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the West Coast. The first Americans to do so, the crew officially left United States territory, journeyed into disputed lands claimed by various European powers and reaffirmed their desire to reach the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his men also came to the westernmost reaches of the now less than mighty Missouri River. (I know all these things since I read about them in Wikipedia).
We stopped for a few minutes at the campground adjacent to the reservoir and the headed on south to Lima. Lima is on the Red Rock River some fifteen miles from the Monida Pass, which separates Montana from Idaho. The community was originally called Allerdice; then, when a station of the Utah and Northern (Union Pacific) was built there, it was called Spring Hill. The name Lima was chosen by Henry Thompson for his home, Lima, Wisconsin. (from Cheney's Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company)
Not far from Lima, Red Rock Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in the extreme southwest portion of Montana near the Idaho border. The Centennial Mountains rise steeply to the south providing a scenic atmosphere. The Refuge was established in 1935 to protect the rare trumpeter swan. Lima is also home to Jan's Cafe, right off the interstate, surely the best burger you'll find anywhere. I always time my visit through Lima around lunch time so I can enjoy one of Jan's succulent burgers. Jan is the owner and her pies were rated the very best by Montana Magazine.
After a full stomach, we head back south again to the Idaho border. We pass Mud Lake and Roberts and then hit the busy stretch of I-15 as we pass Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls serves as a hub to all of eastern Idaho and much of western Wyoming. Due to its relative economic vitality, high quality of life, and proximity to world-class outdoor recreation, it is often featured in various publications' lists of "best places to live.
Fifty miles south of Idaho Falls lies the old railroad town of Pocatello. I Thought you might be interested in a little (just a little) history of this old gold rush town. The discovery of gold in Idaho in 1860 brought the first large wave of U.S. settlers to the region. The Portneuf Valley became an important conduit for transportation of goods and freight. In 1877, railroad magnate Jay Gould of the Union Pacific Railroad acquired and extended the Utah and Northern Railway, which had previously stopped at the Utah border, into Idaho through the Portneuf Canyon. "Pocatello Junction", as it was first called, was founded as a stop along this route during the gold rush. After the gold rush subsided, the region began to attract ranchers and farmers. By 1882, the first residences and commercial development appeared in Pocatello.
Anyway, we quickly passed by "Poky" and continued our journey home. We arrived late in the afternoon on the third of June, our five day trip through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho had come to an end. We experienced the entire spectrum of activity during this brief outing: rough roads; bad weather; new friends; old friends; interesting sights; good and not so good food but most all enjoying each other's company. You'd think after a fifty year friendship there wouldn't be much to say, but we always seem to find something new and interesting to talk about - even if we do repeat ourselves frequently.
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