Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park was one of the high points of my 1997 cross-country trip with my dog Sam. It is a national park located in northwestern Montana on the US-Canadian border. I didn't go to Glacier when I was in graduate school in Montana (1987-1988), so it was still on my bucket list. It was worth the wait.

Welcome to Glacier National Park

The park was established in 1910.

Glacier National Park is one of the crowned jewels of the US National Park System. It encompasses more than a million acres. In no way do my pictures do it justice. It is a land of mountain ranges, glaciers, rivers, alpine meadows, forests, and waterfalls. The Going-to-the-Sun Road is the road that transverses the park. It is approximately 50 miles long. I drove it. They say it is one of the most difficult roads in the US to snowplow in the spring. I could see that. The scenery was amazing.

Snowfall can occur at any time during the year.

Gorging river

Going-to-the-Sun Road transverses the park.

St. Mary's Lake

Glacier NP has more than 700 lakes.

-------------------------------------------
Published 25 Sept 2024

-------------------------------------------

Beartooth Highway

Beartooth Highway did not disappoint. I drove the 68-mile road during my 1997 whirlwind tour of the West.  My dog Sam was my travel companion. I was able to take her a few places for walking, but dogs were generally not allowed on trails. 

The most beautiful drive in America

I still have my 1994 Ford Ranger.

Beartooth Highway was called "the most beautiful roadway in America" by late CBS News correspondent Charles Kuralt. The road goes from Red Lodge to Cooke City, Montana and traces a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks, along the Montana-Wyoming border to the 10,947-foot-high Beartooth Pass in Wyoming. The Beartooth Mountains have 20 peaks over 12,000 feet in elevation. The approximate elevation rise is 5747 feet in 12 miles. Wow! 

68-mile road from Red Lodge to Cooke City, MT

The pass is only open for about 5 months out of the year.

The highway officially opened June 14, 1936.

The road is a section of US Route 214.

Wow all around

-----------------------------------------
Post created 26 Sept 2024

-----------------------------------------

Locked up in Montana

Not sure why I went to prison, but I did. With my dog Sam on my '97 cross-country trip. Montana Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge was built by convict labor in the late 1880's. It was the first territorial prison in the western US and Montana's main prison until 1979 when the last prisoners left. A new prison has been built nearby.

Montana Territorial Prison, c. 1871

Prison layout

Cell blocks

The old prison housed the worst offenders for over 100 years and was known for overcrowding and mismanagement (like a lot of old prisons). It had two major riots. Probably not when I visited, but today the old prison houses five museums. 

Shower schedule:  only 2 per week

Hangings took place inside the prison, within sight of some of the cells. The gallows used were portable and used throughout the state. They were called the "galloping gallows" because of their mobility. The last man was hanged (in Montana) in 1943.

"Galloping gallows"

-------------------------------------------

Post created 25 Sept 2024

------------------------------------------

Montana Ghost Towns

Montana is full of ghosts towns. We (Mom, Dad, and I) visited two of them in 1987:  Virginia City and Nevada City. Virginia City was founded in 1863 after a massive gold strike in Alder Gulch. It quickly became a lawless frontier settlement before serving as the Montana Territorial Capital from 1865 to 1875. Nevada City is a sister city to Virginia City. It, too, was part of the richest gold strike in the Rocky Mountains. Both were ghost towns by the 1880s. They were fun to explore. Every little kid dreams of playing in an old west town.

Livery

Wagon

Sedman house, c. 1873

Barber shop

Wonder what a cold bath cost?

Mercantile

Outhouse

Nevada City

Executions

Ghost Town

All Aboard

--------------------------------------
Post created 09 June 2026

--------------------------------------

Three Forks of the Missouri

I visited Three Forks when I was a graduate student at Montana State University. It was a short trip from Belgrade for Jake and I. Jake was my Australian Shepherd puppy. I also took my parents to Three Forks when they visited me in the summer of '87.

Missouri Headwaters 

Convergence

Three Forks is where the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers meet to form the Missouri River. It is a legendary crossroads of western history and was "discovered" by Lewis and Clark in 1805. It is where Sacajawea was captured as a young girl, only to return years later as a crucial member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Missouri Headwaters State Park was established in 1947. Three Forks is the nearby town.

Shoreline

Train passing through

Legendary fishing hub

Old Gallatin City Hotel

Jake by the river

Nearby

Little Jake

Unfortunately Jake didn't travel well. It's not that he didn't like to travel, it's just that the car ride made him vomit. Too bad. We probably could have gone a lot more places together.

---------------------------------------
Post created 04 June 2026

---------------------------------------

Montana range sheep

One of the reasons I went to graduate school in Montana was because I wanted exposure to the range sheep industry. It was so different from the sheep industry in the Mid Atlantic states. Montana State University was doing research that interested me and offered me an assistantship, so my dream came true. While I was there, I got the chance to work at a local sheep ranch (John Paugh). The ranch ran several thousand ewes, mostly Targhee. 

A beautiful place to graze

Sheep grazing

Big Sky Country

The sheep (ewes and lambs) grazed summer range, a mix of public and railroad lands. One day we went up to visit the sheep camp. They had a herder and everything. It was an amazing day, a real "eye opener" for an easterner. I'll never forget the crazy (nail-biting) ride up the mountain.

The range

Purple lupine

Mountain pasture

Targhee was (probably still is) the breed of choice for Montana ranchers. They are a dual purpose breed that was developed in the 1920's by USDA. Ironically, my Master's research involved Rambouillet ewes (n=300). The Targhee is a cross derived from the Rambouillet. One of the difference between western range ewes and breeds more common to the East is their inclination to stay together. They have a very strong flocking instinct. It's this gregarious behavior that protects them from predators, along with the presence of herders and guardian dogs. It was so cool to see 1000 ewes and their lambs (a band) move as one.

Move as one

Stick together like glue

Targhee ewes

Father and son

Mrs. Paugh

Letting the sheep back out

Old barn

The home ranch was in Bozeman, on the way to the university. I lived in nearby Belgrade. I got a job there helping during lambing season. I learned and earned.

Home ranch

John Paugh was very active in the Montana and US sheep industry. I saw him once or twice in later years at the ASI convention. I don't know that he recognized me. He passed away in 2015. His son still runs the ranch.

------------------------------------
Post created 13 June 2026

------------------------------------