Day 58 – Great Falls MT

It was an interesting morning. We drove 12 miles south of Great Falls to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. For centuries before the Indians had horses, they lured herds of buffalo to this mesa and over the cliffs. They then butchered them to survive the tough Montana winters. The visitors center was nicely done and fairly new. The staff were very helpful and friendly. Bill walked a bit of the 3 mile loop, and then we drove a gravel road up to the top of the cliffs. There was a huge prairie dog village up there. Apparently prairie dogs and buffalo co-existed well together. The view from up there was magnificent.

Back in town we went to the overlook of the Lewis & Clark Upper Portage Camp. They spent almost a month here, portaging and recovering from that exhausting 18 day task. There were some interpretive signs. We were the only ones there.

Then we went to see if I could get my hair cut at a strip mall. They said to come back in half an hour, so we went next door and had Mongolian Barbecue for lunch. It was really quite good and cheap. I didn’t quite finish my lunch when I had to go get my hair cut by a blond 12-year old looking girl who had a ton of black eye shadow on. She didn’t do a horrible job, and she was fast enough that I could go back and finish my lunch with Bill!

Bill dropped me off at the RV while he went to look for cigars and to drive 6 miles on a bumpy, dusty, 6 mile road to the lower portage camp. I chatted with Mandy and worked on some photos. When he returned we did laundry. After dinner we went to Wal-Mart to fill up our water jugs. Most Supercenters have a Culligan dispenser for 33¢ a gallon. I got some cottage cheese, apples, and mouthwash. How exciting.

I loaded some more photos of our day on the Great Falls link to the left.