The Trek to MT (7/28 - 8/9/24)

On our way to Glacier National Park from IA, we stopped in several western towns to experience some of the history of the westward expansion of the US. One of the repeated themes was coming across areas the Lewis and Clark expedition explored while moving west. Along the way, we stayed in Rapid City, SD, Garryowen, MT, and Great Falls, MT.

In Great Falls, you find out how it got it name from the expedition. Lewis and Clark were using the Missouri River on boats to traverse west and met a series of five falls here which greatly complicated and delayed the expedition. Great Falls is the largest city in MT and has a bike trail along the river we rode which is right next to these statues.

While in Garryowen, we toured the very close Little Bighorn Battlefield where Lt. Col. George A. Custer and 262 other US soldiers died fighting several thousand Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors in 1876.

We stayed at the 7th Ranch RV Park just south of Garryowen. That is our RV right there in the middle.

There were some short walking paths from the campground to a hill which provided spectacular views of the valley and amazing sunsets.

One day we went south and back into Sheridan, WY and toured the Trails End Mansion and drove around the city.

This 14k sq ft mansion was another interesting flash back in history.

The grounds around the mansion had several examples of the creative use of a chainsaw on dying ash trees.

We also stopped by Fort Phil Kearny which was part of the Bozeman Trail during the Indian Wars. There is just so much history in the area from the later 1,800s.

To the north along the Yellowstone River, we visited Pompey's Pillar. Named after Sacagawea's son nicknamed Pomp, there are petroglyphs and an actual inscription on the rock from Clark on the expedition she helped guide. We also took a day trip to check out Billings and to stock up at Costco.

The expedition was trying to discover if waterways could take them all the way to Pacific Ocean so that is why rivers in the area have the most historical monuments related to the expedition.

In Great Falls, they built hydroelectric dams on three of the five waterfalls to power the city.

On the bike trail, we saw this tree and other statues like it that made it more interesting.