Our trip south from Glacier park included a stop in Polson, Montana, on the shores of Flathead Lake. We needed to pick up some parts we ordered that we had sent to a friend’s house. Plus having hookups and good wifi for the first time in 5 days was rejuvenating. The road south toward Helena, Montana, goes through small ‘tribal towns’. All of the land in this area still has heavy Indian influence in that tribes are organized and active and have some political authority. Anyway, the little towns are generally poor, and St. Ignacius was no different. But it does have a beautiful Catholic church, built in 1881. Helena is a nice town in one of the fertile valleys common to this area and is the state capitol of Montana. We explored the town and found the ‘Mansion District’ with stately old homes. A lot of money was made here in gold mining. The main reason for coming to Helena was to take a boat tour called Gates of the Mountains (how does she find these things?). This tour is on Lake Holter, formed by damming up the Missouri River. The Missouri River, starting in St. Louis, was the main ‘highway’ used by Lewis and Clark in their quest to find the Northwest Passage. More about that later. The tour boat held 70 people and was driven by an excellent tour guide. The tour begins in a smaller ‘upper lake’ and heads downriver through Great White Rock Canyon, which after several miles opens into the main lake. As the Lewis and Clark expedition (also called the Corps of Discovery) made their way up this river (a free flowing river, not a placid lake like this) the mountainous wall before them suddenly revealed the passage shown in the photo below. Quote from Lewis' journal. Hence the name. As we headed on south we went through the little town of Ennis, Montana. Just a little dot on the map, we didn’t expect much, but were surprised to find a thriving place with cute shops on the main street. There was also a statue of a fly fisherman. Later we came to understand the significance. We like to ‘boondock’, or camp in isolated places, and we found a Forest Service campground called Ruby Creek on the banks of the lower Madison River. Very peaceful but two miles of washboard road made it no fun getting there. A hunting trip by jeep ride into the hills beyond y The Madison (remember that name) is a scenic flowing river which attracts fishermen who apparently hire guides to guide the boat with oars floating downstream while two customers fish. We saw many going by. This was also the place to fix the generator, finally. No more boiling water for coffee. Yea! But we had to leave this great spot, endure the 2 miles of washboard road back to the highway, and continue on to Yellowstone National Park. Stay tuned.
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Who are We?Chuck and Mary Lou have been traveling Trip Reports
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