Lewis and Clark National Forest - the Rockies Part 1

 

In which Moominmama avoids Glacier National Park, asking if magnificent views of the Rockies can be had without the crowds?

Moominmama camped in the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park during her first year on the road. And it was a spectacular visit, a highlight of the summer. 

But Two Medicine campground is closed this year, and the rest of Glacier National Park in August is a traffic headache, likely made worse by the decision to end timed-entry reservations.

Instead, Moominmama decided to scope out the Eastern Rockies of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, just below Glacier National Park. The second consideration was escaping the heat!  When a ranger at First Peoples Buffalo Jump recommended Gibson Reservoir, I looked it up and realized it was close to a forest service campground, Home Gulch.

Home Gulch is located along the Sun River, which was dammed to create the Gibson Reservoir in the mountains. The river, with its flow controlled by dams, irrigates much of the farmland in the valley below around Augusta and Choteau, Montana.

Moominmama drove daily up to the reservoir to swim and also hiked most of its length one morning. Apart from a couple boaters, I had the entire place to myself on that hike. 

Unfortunately, my visit coincided with the strong winds targeting eastern Washington state and Oregon, driving wildfires and pushing smoke across the mountains.

Moominmama's final night was a sleepless one. The wind gusts were so fierce, the trailer shook violently at intervals. Still I fared better than the people of Spokane. This same windstorm fed the wildfires that destroyed homes and forced mass evacuations there.

But not all the days were smoky. Moominmama had a chance to join a trail ride at nearby Sun Canyon Lodge to see the landscape as Native riders or early cowboys would have seen it. 

It was remarkable the steep inclines the horses could manage on the way up, and it was all Moominmama could do to stay in the saddle on the way down! Skidding and lurching on a horse's back required holding on tight, while leaning rearward to take weight off the horse's hardworking front legs.

I picked hiking from thereon. I'd rather skid and lurch on my own two feet. But it was fun to spend a day at the Lodge, which had a taxidermy-decorated restaurant where I had lunch. That's about as western as you can get.

It turned out that the AllTrails app featured very few of the many trails in the area, so Moominmama was thrilled when she found her own way to an easy trail along the north side of the Sun River -- and surprised and amazed to find rock art. 

This is Blackfoot territory, and they consider this a holy spot, but it's unclear who drew this picture, what it means or who left the thousands of red ochre handprints on the rocks nearby.

In the wide open Montana landscape,  Moominmama came to enjoy the little touches: river rocks made smooth tumbling in the water, lavender daisies with yellow centers and this beautiful butterfly who let me get close enough to get a decent photo!

As I write this, I am north of Glacier National Park, at Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, which abuts Glacier.

I am recovering from a head cold but hoping to take advantage of a ranger-led hike from Waterton into the northernmost part of Glacier National Park as part of the International Peace Park hike.

More on that to come! In the meantime, I leave you with a photo of the view from Sun Canyon Lodge. What do you think? Did I succeed in finding the magnificence of the Rockies without the crowds?