Neither of us slept well last night; consequently, we were awake and raring to go at 5AM. We were on the road by 6 with a rather long day ahead.

Our first destination was Butte, Montana, a city built on a mine. We went to the Berkeley Acid Pit, where we viewed the partly water-filled surface mine with a Ph reading of 2.4 and a depth of 1.600 feet. It is 7,000 feet long and 5,600 feet wide and was known in its heyday as the largest open pit mine in the world. The material removed from the mine between 1955 and 1982, its short operations span, gave Butte the nickname, "The Richest Hill on Earth." It was impressive, but more interesting was the fact that there are ten thousand miles of mine tunnels under the city drilled to a depth of 5,100 feet. You would think the town would collapse, but the bedrock is apparently very strong.

Berkeley Acid Pit had a nice reflection off the still water in the mine

We were also able to see the tall statue high above Butte called "Our Lady of The Rockies." However, we once again encountered that nemesis that plagued my last trip, smoke! There are wildfires in Washington and British Columbia, and the smoke is drifting eastward. I hope that it will clear somewhat tomorrow when we plan to drive across Glacier National Park.

Our Lady of the Rockies is a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary on the Continental Divide overlooking Butte, Montana and looks quite eerie up there

Leaving Butte in our rear view mirror, we headed north to Helena and a short distance beyond it, for a two hour boat trip through Gates of The Mountains, so named by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 when they went through the deep canyon on the Missouri River. The river wasn't dammed back then, so the canyon was hundreds of feet deeper when Lewis and Clark passed through it. Even today the scenery was stunning, with sheer cliffs and hills 800 to 1,000 feet over us on either side of the boat.

Gates of the Mountains has wildlife, petroglyphs and rock formations


Ancient people drew these petroglyphs on the canyon walls
(Use the magnifier on your device to see them closer)

Back on the road after our boat excursion, we continued up I-15, this time driving through several canyons and mountain passes of indescribable beauty. Then in the space of two minutes, the landscape changed from mountains to flat prairie reminiscent of Kansas and Nebraska.

Our guide on the boat had suggested that we stop at a small state park outside of the town of Ulm up near Great Falls. We took his advice and took a short side trip to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. There was an indoor interpretive center and then a walking trail of several miles up onto a bluff with a sharp drop off. We went through the first half, but opted out of the walk in a blazing hot sun. It is the only park I've ever seen that doesn't have a single tree in it. We did learn what a buffalo jump was, though; something that I have heard of in the past, but never understood until now. (I leave it to you to look it up on your search engine)

Our day ended just outside of the small town of Shelby, but we also passed through a badlands just before we arrived there. We are just 50 miles east of the entrance to Glacier National Park, which we hope to drive through tomorrow on the scenic byway called "Going to the Sun Road." The smoky haze has either dissipated or never reached here in the first place, so we're looking forward to a clear day in the park.

This cliff is the most significant part of First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park


A mini badlands in the middle of Montana near Shelby

Mileage - 325 Total - 2855