Cabin in the Snow[/caption]
March 25, 2013: After a fabulous couple of days in Shelby, MT with my daughter, her husband and all the kids, it was back on the road for the last leg of the trip to Rexburg. This was basically a straight shot down I-15 thru Great Falls, Helena and Butte. Unfortunately, the day started off pretty snowy and yucky.
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Gas Station in Shelby, MT[/caption]
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Interstate 15 heading South towards Great Falls[/caption]
By the time I had hit the Great Falls area, the weather was basically clearing up and so it was more or less smooth sailing to Helena. I was provided an excellent view of Tower Rock State Park.
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South on I-15 towards Tower Rock State Park[/caption]
Tower Rock State Park is a 400-foot high igneous rock formation that lies along a stretch of the Missouri River north of Helena. The river has formed a deep gorge into the rock. Tower Rock was noted in the Lewis and Clark Journals. Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal on July 16, 1805: ‘At this place there is a large rock of 400 feet high wich stands immediately in the gap which the Missouri makes on it’s passage from the mountains… This rock I called the tower. It may be ascended with some difficulty nearly to its summit and from it there is a most pleasing view of the country we are now about to leave. From it I saw that evening immense herds of buffaloe in the plains below.’
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Tower Rock State Park[/caption]
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Missouri River in Tower Rock State Park[/caption]
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Fishing on the Missouri[/caption]
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Hardy Bridge in Tower Rock State Park[/caption]
I took Exit 244 for Hardy Creek on got on to Old US Highway 91 and followed it along the Missouri River. This took me into the canyon area. I then crossed over the Hardy Bridge and continued along the river. Apparently, the silver steel bridge was the scene of the shootout between federal agents and rum-runners in the 1987 movie The Untouchables.
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Along the Missouri River in the park – probably still how it may have looked for Lewis and Clark. This photo was taken with the iPhone Panorama function, thus the little shift on the left[/caption]
Back on the freeway I moved a little further up the road to the Dearborn Rest Area in the Adel Mountains, a large stretch of volcanic remnants. The volcanic remnants run about 40 miles in length and 20 miles wide, and the area of Tower Rock State Park is part of this old volcanic flow.
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Adel Volcanic Mountains as seen from Dearborn Rest Area north of Helena[/caption]
From the rest area I continued south to Exit 234 which brought me into Craig, MT. From what I could tell, Craig is all about fishing on the Missouri River and the other tributary creeks. This section of the Missouri is apparently one of the premier trout fishing areas in the country. As for the small town, it was named for local pioneer Warren Craig. In 1886 Craig built a log house, with a stone fireplace. Many times he had to defend his homestead from the Indians. The house is located half mile from the Great Northern depot, but I was not able to get over it due to time constraints. In 1890 his son, John Craig settled in the area and Mrs. John Craig later served as postmaster.
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Old Row Boat in Craig, MT[/caption]
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Craig Train Stop[/caption]
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Sign for Bridge over Missouri at Craig – Forrest H. Anderson Memorial Bridge[/caption]
Ironically, my hope was a convenience store, but all that I could find were fishing related shops like the one below.
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Headhunter Flies & Guides – Craig, MT[/caption]
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Geese hang around the Missouri River in Craig[/caption]
From Craig I got back on I-15 to continue south towards Helena. I took exit 209 to see the “Gates of the Mountains.” Named by Meriwether Lewis on July 19, 1805 because of the 1200 foot tall towering limestone cliffs that seemed to block their way. He wrote, “this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. these clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the hight of 1200 feet. … the river appears to have forced its way through this immense body of solid rock for the distance of 5-3/4 Miles … I called it the gates of the rocky mountains.” Since that time the area has become a National Wilderness area by an act of Congress in 1964.
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Gates of the Mountains Info Sign at Turnoff[/caption]
At this visitor turnoff there are not only the signs, but there is a metal sculpture of a man and a dog that greeted me. Behind them was a spectacular view of the area.
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Man and Dog at Gates of the Mountains view point[/caption]
I am not sure (and have done a lot of looking!!) to see who made this sculpture. There is no information that I am aware of. Another view of it shows the Gates of the Mountains in the background.
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Man and Dog with Gates of the Mountains[/caption]
I did drive a bit down the road to get closer, but it is quite a drive down there. The lake is Upper Holter Lake.
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Gates of the Mountains near Helena, MT[/caption]
After this amazing scene (which the photo does no justice to), I continued south towards Helena.
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I-15 South towards Helena[/caption]
I decided to go through Helena and then through Montana City and then on to Butte. I decided to stop at the Butte Berkeley Pit overlook for my next stop.
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Berkeley Pit – Butte, MT[/caption]
The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine in Butte. It is one mile long by half a mile wide with an approximate depth of 1,780 feet. The mine was opened in 1955 and operated by Anaconda Copper and later by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), until its closure in 1982.
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Berkeley Pit as seen from Downtown Butte[/caption]
The viewpoint offers a couple of great sights. First there is a spectacular view of the Anaconda Mountain range (also known as the Pintlars) east of Butte, which has a number of 10,000 foot tall peaks. And, also from the overview point, to the west, you can see the 90 foot tall “Our Lady of the Rockies” statue 3500 feet above the view point (actual elevation is 8510 feet) .
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Anaconda Range – east of Butte (tallest peaks include West Goat Peak, Mt. Evans, Mt. Haggin, Warren Peak and East Goat Peak – all over 10,000 feet tall)[/caption]
The “Our Lady of the Rockies” statue was placed on the East Ridge on the Continental Divide overlooking Butte. It is apparently the second tallest statue in the United States after the Statue of Liberty (see list of tallest statues on Wikipedia). The statue was built by volunteers using donated materials to honor women everywhere, especially mothers. The design for the statue was engineered by Laurien Eugene Riehl. He was a retired engineer for the Anaconda Company who donated his engineering skills to the project, specifically the statue would need to handle the intense winds at the top of the peak. A full photo of this huge beautiful statue is available here.
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Our Lady of the Rockies statue as seen from the Butte Overlook[/caption]
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Our Lady of the Rockies info sign at Butte Overlook[/caption]
From the overlook I took a drive into Butte for fuel and a drive through town. Here are a few sights of Butte:
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Butte, Montana Welcome sign[/caption]
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Mural on side of a building[/caption]
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Old Building Advertisement, Butte, MT[/caption]
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Acoma Restaurant Sign[/caption]
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Lincoln Hotel Advertisement[/caption]
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Colorful and Unique Architecture[/caption]
After the nice drive around Butte, it was back on I-15 heading south. I was humored when I approached Exit 111 south of Butte. The sign said Feely. So, I took the exit just to get the sign… Now I know how to get to Feely. I just need to find Touchy next!!
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Feely, Montana sign[/caption]
Not much further down the road was yet another interesting sign:
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Divide Wisdom, MT[/caption]
What I am wondering is if I need to really divide wisdom? Can’t I keep the complete wisdom? Actually, I would have liked to have made it to Wisdom. I have been to Wisdom, KY. I need more Wisdom!!
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I-15 South of Divide/Wisdom, MT[/caption]
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Union Pacific Bridge over the Big Hole River near Glen, MT[/caption]
I continued south towards Idaho. Though I was not able to get any photos, I passed by a HUGE Buffalo Ranch near Dillon. I must have seen 200-300 head from the freeway. Continuing south I passed the huge Clark Canyon Reservoir, with water frozen.
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Clark Canyon Reservoir in Southern Montana[/caption]
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South on I-15 near Lima, MT[/caption]
From Lima I soon entered into Idaho. I ventured south into Spencer, Idaho, which is the home of the Opal Mountain Mine and is known as the Opal Capital of America.
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Spencer, Idaho sign[/caption]
Opals were apparently discovered in the Spencer area in 1948 and there is one big mine in operation. there are a number of shops. As it was a snowy Sunday, nothing was opened, but it was a unique little drive right off of the freeway.
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High Country Opal – Spencer, ID[/caption]
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Spencer Opal Mines[/caption]
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Cabin in the Snow – near Spencer, ID[/caption]
From Spencer I continued south and finally got to Exit 143 and headed east towards Rexburg, where I will be for the next couple of weeks.
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East to Rexburg – notice the big white LDS Temple in the middle of town and Tetons in the distance[/caption]
Finally…hotel sweet hotel. I am at the beautiful AmericInn Hotel. My room even has a jacuzzi in it!!
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AmericInn Rexburg Jacuzzi[/caption]
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Time for Bed – AmericInn, Rexburg[/caption]]]>
