The Little Missouri (Lil’ Mo) River is a tributary of the Missouri River and flows northeast. Is that important? Well, it’s not really, except we have been seeing alot of her lately. She flows into the “Mighty MO” a term I coined (well maybe…) a couple of years ago when we visited Kansas City, and the Arabia Steamboat. Arabia was a time capsule of life in the mid 1800, simply amazing! See that at https://www.1856.com/ if you would like to learn more. Sorry, let me get back on our journey.
I don’t think I mentioned that Teddy Roosevelt NP is split between the South and North unit. We were in the South unit at Cottonwood campground, and then we traveled north to the Juniper campground. We knew the visitor center would be closed as it is too early in the season.
So as Elkhorn slowly drove through the main gate at the North unit, Bigfoot noticed a slowdown. When we looked ahead, there were seven buffalo walking down the road without a care in this world toward Elkhorn. But, we were proud of Elkhorn, as he stood his ground, and the buffalo wisely chose to go off road and avoid a confrontation with this traveling duo. It was a really cool welcoming committee to the park, and as close as we wanted to be to an animal that weighs 2000 lbs, 6ft tall, and 10 foot long and can out run a Chevy.
There is a scenic road through the park that we took, stopping and looking at different geological stuff. along the way. We didn’t see as much wildlife as we did in the South Unit. When we got to the halfway point we found the rest of the road was closed due to weather.
So we drove back to the campground, and again we had our choice of dry (no hookups) campsites, as there was only one other rig there. We paid our $3.50 and settled in.
Virgil and I went for a hike and found a beaver “training” site. At this point we had not seen the “chiseling mammal”, but there was evidence that his overachieving beaver had been gnawing on some very large cottonwood trees, for quite a while. What in the world was he going to do with these trees if they did fall?
Later, Virgil was walking along the river and spotted the aquatic rodent across the river. After some time, the beaver disappeared under the water into his home. Again, kinda cool!
We departed at 0930 to drive to Hindale, MT where there was a free city park by the Milk River. Great spot maintained by the Lions Club. They are dedicated to serving their communities and do a fantastic job. Spoke to a few locals, one said they are in the midst of a drought and only a few inches of snow all winter. We are about 50 miles south from Canada and I thought this area would have more snow than that.
We left again at… you got it, 0930 heading west on Hwy 2 (still). We stopped at the Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs. Well, there have been a lot of improvements to this hot spring over the years. It is quite the money maker, as they built a very nice building around the springs to make a hot tub and a swimming pool. Also, there is an old rock indigenous to the area, part of a group of boulders that the local Indians held sacred, and a pre-historic native long ago had made carvings in the rock to make it look more like a buffalo. It is revered by the locals and is like a shrine.
We continued on to another (free) city park in Chester, MT that allows up to 3 overnights. We only need one night thank you. Again, this is maintained by the Lions Club.
Next we will travel to Glacier National Park.
You were in Havre? Did you go down under the town? Very interesting. We were there three years ago with Dennis and Renie on our way to meet up with Torben and Patty. You are not having to deal with large crowds. LOL Have a safe and great trip! B.J.