Back Roads of Montana and National Bison Range

What an absolutely beautiful drive we had on Monday as we explored the back roads of northwest Montana that wound through the prairies, mountains, and along rivers.  A gorgeous day with plenty of blue sky and pleasant temperature.  We got up early and were on the road by 7:30 AM.   Our first destination was the National Bison Range, about a 40 minute drive north of Missoula.  The bison range is on the Flathead Indian Reservation.  The 18,500-acre bison range is home to about 500 head of bison, plus black bear, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, & elk.  The drive is an 18 mile one way hard packed gravel road that winds over the edge of prairie hills, through a forest, and back down to the valley.  From various higher hills, there are fantastic views of the surrounding countryside.   The view of the farm and ranch lands from above made the valley look like somebody just laid a patchwork quilt over it.  The area seemed like a real hidden gem. 

The Flathead River flows through this area and the Mission Mountains are in the background of this next picture.  The Bitterroot Mountains to the southeast in the 2nd picture can be seen from the top of our drive.   

 

As soon as we entered the park at 8 AM, we were rewarded with a sighting of a coyote on the ridge.  Pictures may be a bit blurred because signs all through the park tell you not to get out of your car.  Plus, with the truck running and driving on gravel, it was hard to control the shaking.  I did cheat once in awhile and got out, and we were able to get out of the truck at the rest area.  It was still early morning so some areas were still in shadow.  We saw a small group of bison and a few individuals throughout the park. We also saw mule deer, antelope, and even a chipmunk.  But no sighting of elk or bear. 

  

  

    

   

  

The big horn sheep were way up on a far ridge, so with the camera zoomed all the way out, it was still a bit shaky.  So Doug got out his spotting scope.  We also saw a nice big eagle out hunting for his breakfast.  The drive took about 2 hours because we drove pretty slow as we scouted the area very carefully looking for the wildlife.  

   

  

This was such a treat and don’t know why we didn’t discover it on previous visits to Missoula. 

Our second destination was to view areas that show remaining evidence of Glacial Lake Missoula.  Lake Missoula was a prehistoric glacial lake in western MT that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about 3,000 square miles and contained about 500 cubic miles of water.  The Glacial Lake Missoula National Natural Landmark is located about 68 miles northwest of Missoula at the north end of the Camas Prairie Valley.  It was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1966 because it contains the great ripples, often measuring 25 to 50 feet high and 300 feet formed by repeated cataclysmic floods over only about 2,000 years, rather than through the millions of years of erosion that had been previously assumed.  The lake was the result of an ice dam on the Clark Fork caused by the southern encroachment of a finger of an ice sheet into the Idaho panhandle.  The height of the ice dam typically approached 2,000 feet,  flooding the valleys of western Montana approximately 200 miles eastward. It was the largest ice-dammed lake known to have occurred.  The periodic rupturing of the ice dam resulted in the Missoula Floods – cataclysmic floods that swept across eastern WA and down the Columbia River Gorge approximately 40 times during a 2,000 year period. The cumulative effect of the floods was to excavate 50 cubic miles of sediment and basalt from the scablands of eastern Washington and to transport it downstream.  These floods are noteworthy for producing canyons and other large geologic features through cataclysms rather than through more gradual processes. 

Doug researched where to find some of the “ripples” and we were able to see some of them and also see some of the other land features where the water flowed through mountain areas, etc..  It is just beyond comprehension as to the size of this amount of water and ice!  Ripple marks on the landscape are easily visible from a plane.  In the bison range there is a marker that shows the highest level of the water.  Back down in the valley, we would have been under 1,300’ of water at that location as seen in the picture below taken from the bison range.  Missoula would have been under 1,000’ feet of water.  When the ice dam broke, the water rushed across the landscape at 50 to 60 miles an hour!  You can see some ripples running across the center of the 2nd picture.  The 3rd picture shows one of the passes that the water rushed over.  Just unimaginable!!

  

That was really interesting to see.  Since we were out that way, we crossed over the pass above into the valley on the other side to have lunch.  What a neat little place off the beaten path we found in Hot Springs, a tiny town nestled up against the base of a mountain way out in the middle of nowhere.   The food was better than what we would find in any larger town!  We even had lunch with REAL cowboys.  Horse trailer plus horse in the parking lot,  plaid shirts, stained jeans and cowboy hats,  worn boots, and even worn spurs!  Just good old Montana working cowboys. 

 

We completed our drive by going back to Missoula by way of more scenery.  It was so pleasant on wide open roads with almost no traffic and landscape that took us back into the forest and along the Clark Fork River.   It was so pretty out there!  We have been on lots of scenic drives, but our route the other day has become one of our more memorable ones.  Amazing how quickly the landscape changes from prairie to forest in just a short distance between the two.  The 2nd picture is Rainbow Lake, a lasting result that formed after the Missoula floods.  We turned off the main road and took a short jaunt down a dirt road to stand at the edge of the lake.  Wouldn’t you know, there was a small bridge just a few yards up the road with this view!  But there was nowhere to pull over.  Not bad shooting from a moving truck!  

   

  

It is just such a scenic area of Montana and we enjoyed every minute of it!  To top off the day, our route brought us back to I-90 at St. Regis, many miles west of Missoula.  We had stopped there on our way to the the campground.  We knew what they served! Yep! Huckleberry Ice Cream!  So of course, we got another fix!  I also took advantage and stocked up on a few huckleberry products.  The day was well worth the long hours in the truck.