Montana - capital, cave, headwaters!

first woman elected to Congress - she voted against engaging in WW1- MT capital

Lewis & Clark Caverns - named by Teddy Roosevelt - L&C past by but never saw it

 

headwaters of the Missouri River - Madison & Jefferson Rivers split - Gallatin River downstream 

North Dakota Oilfields

I've spent the better part of two weeks around or in oil basin country. The basin itself is huge, running into Canada, South Dakota, Montana and most of North Dakota. Apparently the basin is shaped like a basin and for some reason the upper NW part of North Dakota is the easiest place to drill.

Early oil field articles talked about traffic jams and man camps. A couple weeks ago, a “Friends of” newspaper had some official figures saying each wellhead involves 2000 'trucking events'. Then a park host told me Minot was a zoo; traffic was terrible, prices high and shops half empty because they couldn't keep up with demand. His park, he said, made a point of keeping out workers, parks were for vacationing not working. Another told me before the parks starting being careful they had trouble with fights and injuries among workers.

While in the badlands, I saw a band of red that is quite attractive and photographed rather poorly, for me. Well, that layer is clay that baked into brick when a lower layer of low-grade coal burned. That band is fairly close to the surface and is hard enough its used for gravel. My first oilfield encounters were empty parking lots of crushed red gravel with well made red gravel roads leading to them. Nothing else, simply large, empty, very level looking spots anywhere from a half to two or three city blocks in size, I spotted a derrick on the horizon and then dots of flame. And tankers heading south. And pickups loaded with tools. Not much was heading north and those semis seemed to be empty. I went past a line of tankers waiting to park under a makeshift shelter. A huge hand-painted sign by the road read “fresh water for sale”.

Then wells started appearing. Small flat places held an oil pump or two and several tanks that looked very orderly. Larger places had several pumps or rows of tanks and pipes with valves diving in and out of the red gravel. A load of generators went past, a couple loads of trusses and flat-bed pickups with pallets of drinking water. Here and there more hand-made signs appeared with messages like no-semis and this-is-not-the-entrance. Nothing else was in sight, just a sign and a gravel road going someplace behind the hills. The correct roads were pretty easy to spot. Usually they were new and always there were skid marks on the pavement before a turn and gravel strewn pavement where they came back.

A junction. I turned west toward Williston, ND, one of the first oil boom towns. Clusters of trailers start showing up. Some clusters aren't even level. Now there was more traffic, like rural stretches of interstate. Except, these are two lane roads through hills with 65 mph speed limits. The road is in good condition as are all the roads I've been on in ND, and its wide enough with slow lanes on long up hills, but I've seen those skid marks.

The closer I came to town the more wells there were. It seemed like there are pumps and tanks between every hill. They aren't that close together though there will be several along one stretch of road and then a longish break before more appear. Pumps and tanks are non-obtrusive, mostly they're painted a dull tan that matches the local dirt. Some, I'm guessing the land owners' choice, are painted colors; I saw John Deere and red, white and blue. All have small orange wind socks however I neither saw nor heard any plane while there.

I found my park, settled in for the night and starting checking on next stop. Oh oh, long weekend coming up and everything was already full, except my park, and its still too cold to comfortably camp without a little heat so I unhitched, settled a bit more and gave scout its nightly check. All those down hills have badly worn her tires. The last thing I want is to change a tire with semis whizzing by. This is GMC and Ram country and even boat trailers have bigger wheels than scout. I started calling tire companies; one nearly laughed. Finally I called one with a cheerful, friendly first-job voice (It wasn't) who offered to locate one and call back. A minute later I had two tires on order and directions to find the shop. Me and a wheel headed into town.

The landscape started looking bruised. Buildings that look like pole barns have names with welding, fabrication, electrical and construction in their names. All are surrounded by pickups.

Nearly overwhelmed by new is a quiet, older town with all the old-time small-town politeness I've come to respect. I stopped in to a couple of new businesses. Except for one, it really was her first job, everyone was polite. And even the first-timer was helpful.

Naturally there is road construction, one five mile stretch took 15 minutes, that's fast by big city standards though it must seem forever out here. Every other vehicle was a semi. No skid marks in town, no speeding, no turning on yellow.

New businesses are mostly along the highway while sweeping in a rough semi-circle away from it is housing. There are lots of new apartment buildings, many with the look of government housing, and an area of new, wealthy houses that didn't look much better than the apartments. Since 5^th wheels seem to be housing of choice I did see a couple new trailer parks and found a man-camp that looked better than pictures of fema camps.

Even some businesses have put up housing. The meanest looking dwellings I saw were by a small casino outside a man camp. If they were both build around the same time, then any housing was probably good.

Laundromats have designated oilfield-clothes washers. The guys I saw doing laundry were uniformly young, well-built and very polite. License plates said some of these guys came from Georgia and Tennessee. I didn't see anyone as old as I except a couple of bums. Housing is so expense retirees may have sold out and moved away. Ads I read indicated apartments are renting for $1000/bedroom.

I left North Dakota with good feelings. There seems to be a state-wide cheerful optimism that is very appealing. Their roads are uniformly good. Even the obviously older ones have smooth roadbeds with well maintained surfaces and the state appears to be building similarly well-done new roads. Regardless of skid marks driving was not scary, There are a few workers in my park and they are the quietest people here. And ND is spending money to upgrade their historical sites and their state museum.

I  took a hike a couple of days ago,

this is what I saw out my window

Leaving early in the morning,

 
 I headed to the Little Missouri River, the
low spot in the background.

There were lots of these little flowers tucked into the shade of most of the juniper.

Tough grasses, trees and erosion mix together in an orderly jumble.

Harder rock slows and changes the erosion






though only for a while.

 There's a subtle mix of color I find very attractive.

 There is even enough water for cattails in a few places.

Government leases out parts for grazing.

 

 Finally!  The Little Missouri River.

 I let the snake win, carefully walking waay far around.  It's reared head in the upper left quarter is hard to see. I didn't
try very hard for a 'best' shot.

 After coming down an eroded trail I needed a water break.

This is the trail, marked easy on my map.

Camp is still  one mile away.

Home sweet home.

And there were ticks.  I removed 200+ before I lost count. Now a couple of days later there is still a stray or two hiding in Scout.

April 27

Here it is approaching the end of April and I'm still south of the middle of SD. By this time in 1805, Lewis and Clark were back on the Missouri River nearing Montana. Maybe they had a warmer spring, or maybe if they were cold and wet it didn't matter where they were cold and wet.

So far, I've avoided some cold and most wet. Snow is likely in Bismarck today and heavy rains are predicted for Pierre so I'm staying put beside the Missouri where I seem to be avoiding most of the violent weather patterns.

Since Lewis & Clarke’s day the Mo has been tamed somewhat by a series of dams that both moderate the flooding and create power. The Gavin Dam, the lowest, is near Yankton, SD. and forms Lewis and Clark Lake. I visited there last year. Next is Ft Randall dam forming Lake Sharpe. I was there too, long enough to look and then I skipped up to Pierre. This year I stopped for a couple of days hoping to see bald eagles fishing below the dam. I did see a turkey vulture before leaving however it was very windy and the only eagle I saw was on my way there.

I've read moans about all the valuable river valley farming that was lost with the dams. For the guys lucky enough to have that land it must have been traumatic since from what I've seen there isn't much farmland in the state; lots of hay, grazing and cattle but hardly any crop farming.

The campground I'm in, along Lake Sharpe, is nicely laid out. There are two small loops, with electricity, and a boat landing tucked along the shore above the rip-rap stabilizing the bank. Overnight use fees are based on popularity and this one isn't very popular. If you don't fish and don't play in the water there isn't much to do. For my city grandkids it would be great, woods, water, rocks and an occasional wild animal. On the other hand, if you lived in SD it would pretty much be same old, same old. Pierre's population is about that of Hibbing MN. Even Rapid City, quite large for SD, has about the same population Wilmar, MN. So, stepping outside to woods and unfettered play could be relatively easy.

Why am I staying at a place with barely a phone signal, no fellow campers and too windy for a fire? There is also no trains, no semis, no planes, no sirens and no blasting radios. I was at a park, for nearly the same fee, with flush toilets, showers and wi-fi; it also had trains, planes, semis, sirens and a heavy bass neighbor. Yesterday a pair of white-tailed does slipped past in dusky dawn and later a flock of unknown ducks ( maybe northern shovelers) entertained me. The lake and surrounding hills change appearance with the time of day and sky cover. And I'm watching trees become fuzzy as leaves or flowers grow. In a couple more days, when the weather stabilizes a bit I'll move on. For now this is just fine.

Cranes

There are two great migrations left in the new world – one is the caribou in Alaska and the other is the crane migration in south-central Nebraska. I've seen cranes in their winter grounds in New Mexico however Nebraska said theirs was different. Nebraska said something like ½ million cranes pass through a 50 mile stretch of the Platte River. Now, the Platte is not the Missouri so I don't think Lewis & Clark witnessed that particular migration however I wanted to revisit a couple places in Nebraska before picking up my Lewis and Clark journey and the crane migration seemed like an interesting starting place.

So I started out, on St Patrick's day, in a sleet storm. Eventually I drove south far enough that I left the ice behind. Due to this and that it was late before I actually left the cities so it was fairly late when I pulled into my first Nebraska State Recreation Area. Although Nebraska’s SRAs stay open all winter, water is turned off so only 'primitive' toilets are available. Unfortunately the only pit toilet I found was locked. Why would a park lock their pit toilets? It seemed to go with the day, I was very tired so stayed the night. Fortunately I found a coffee/pit stop a few moments into my morning drive.

In a couple of hours I arrived at another SRA outside of Kearney where I had planned on staying only a couple of nights before moving to a different site at the eastern end of the migration channel. Fortunately a field just outside of the area had about 1000 birds feeding when I drove in. I immediately decided I'd stay longer and arbitrarily paid for several nights. The wind had been picking up during my morning drive so I was willing to believe the predicted 50mph gusts for the evening. A quick check of my stores verified I'd forgotten to pack the tie-down ropes. Maybe I wouldn't need any however a previous wind storm had damaged scout so I chose to take no chances. A quick trip into town, a few minutes time tying her down and I felt safe leaving scout set up with or without me inside.

One of my summer purchases had been a batch of Dollar Tree noodles that fit quite well into the folding channels visible from the inside of scout. Putting noodles in the channels cut drafts by half. By mid-afternoon it looked like a blizzard outside and occasional gusts rocked scout on her wheels. However my small heater kept her warm enough to be comfortable.

The official crane festival didn't start for a few more days but the cranes didn't know that, and the Rowe Audubon Sanctuary catered to the cranes, and us paying public. The only space I'd been able to get in one of their blinds was on this snowy, blizzardy night so I put on a hundred layers of clothes and drove to the Sanctuary. Roughly 60 of us showed up to freeze ourselves for a couple of hours in expectation of seeing some cranes sort of close up.

For the next two hours I stood mesmerized watching cranes, pulling away from a viewing hole only long enough to ask a question of our guide and clean the snow off my glasses. I looked but there were no birds. Our guide assured us they would come; each evening was different however they would come. At first they came in ones and threes; family groups our guide said. Then they started coming in fives, tens, 25, 50 and too many to count. They flew by heading upstream. Eventually they moved closer. I could see dust motes of birds, specks of birds and then streams of birds dropping below the tree line as they settled onto sandbars on the lee side of the river. A guy had a spotting scope he let me look through. The birds were walking back and forth in little groups.

And the yammering they make is so incessant it hurt. Our guide said they sleep in the river so they will hear predators sneaking up on them. I don't know when they are quiet enough to hear anything. My camp was so close to the river the cranes put me to sleep at night and woke me in the morning.

Sometime during each day I went out bird hunting. And each day I found someplace where I simply stopped and watched. They eat, walk around, fly around and yammer. Not really so much to see,c but they scratched an itch inside me I didn't know I had. I'm sure I saw at least 100,000 birds flying in to settle for the night. To see birds with a 6ft wing span fill the air over my head, to look at birds nearly as tall as I, stirs a part of me that still believes in things that go bump in the night.

And then one day I was ok with leaving so I did.

Sad news

Scout has been having hinge problems. She been creaking and groaning when I put one side up nearly as badly as my hinges do some days. Then one day that ol' hinge didn't line up right at all. I called scout's clinic and was told to bring her in right away. The person I talked to said he had never fixed that kind of problem before however he knew he could fix her up . I trust him, he's done good by scout in the past so I brought her in, after a partial enema. Mother's garage is now littered with the flotsam & jetsam of a chunk of my life.

Sympathy cards are pointless since scout can't read and without her I'm homeless. For now I'm mooching off mother. If the sky ever dries up I'll work off my room and board doing some much needed house repair.

Or I may try mooching off friends – you know who you are and have been warned! For those of you impervious to mooching, I plan on visiting with you regardless.

Northward

For the last few days I've been exploring the area around Council Bluffs, IA and Omaha, NE. There actually is a real council bluff that is no longer on the river while Council Bluffs is on the river. The real council bluff is where L&C finally made contact with Indian leaders. My exploring has led to some interesting information, for me.

In Omaha, besides reading interesting signage, getting very lost and sampling, of course, some local brews, I visited the Joslyn Art Museum. If ever you find yourself in Omaha, stop and take a look. A surprise discovery for me was recognizing that I like some modern art quite a bit. Also, I was able to recognize art by the same artist! (Not modern) Thank you, sis, for wandering through an art gallery with me last time we met and sharing your skills.

 

The last few L&C visitor centers have focused on the discovery part of the expedition's journey. I was surprised to read that raccoons were unknown before Lewis made record of them. No raccoon's out east?

A young one tried to join me in Scout. It woke me up several times climbing on this and that trying to get in. It even opened up the fitting around my electrical wire. Two nights of it was enough so I moved on to a much busier campground where dogs woke me up instead. At least they weren't trying to get inside.

Several of Clark's August entries mention annoying mosquitoes. I haven't had those little buggers yet though I have had ticks about the size of pin heads trying to hitch a free ride.

All the stuff I read about L&C before leaving and all the stuff I've along the way talk about the trip as one of exploration and discovery. Heck, Jefferson even called it the Corps of Discovery. So, I have been exceedingly interested in little bits here and there that tell a somewhat different story. L&C had maps of the Missouri River they acquired from traders already here. They probably had maps that went all the way through Montana so they weren't heading off into unknown territory. I guess what makes that interesting to me is my shift in focus. These guys are not an army version of Danial Boone, they are recorders and appraisers, out to get a feel for what the country is worth and size up the Indians for strength and potential attitude. ( One Indian leader is reported to have said the British keep their word and Americans break theirs.) Suddenly, those thousands of settlers immediately pouring west make sense.

And I now understand Fort Atkinson much better than I did when I visited it. Ft Atkinson is located at another spot Clark marked as a good defensive position. It sits on THE council bluff and was the meeting place of many councils involving Indians. Most of the fort's history belongs to a different story so I imagine I'll be visiting it a different time.

Now I'm in yet another Lewis and Clark park, this one in Iowa. There is a L&C reenactment going on this weekend, a fortuitous coincidence. There is also supposed to be life-threatening storms tomorrow. In either case, I guess there's going to be a show.