Handstands Around the World

a former gymnast with a neverending case of wanderlust


Montana road trip 2021, part I: waterfalls, birds, & the Lewis and Clark expedition

When my mom and I met up in Montana this summer, it was to spend a week exploring one of my favorite states, visiting a few well-known attractions and a handful of lesser-known ones in the western half of the state.

Views from the road

Our first stop was the town of White Sulphur Springs to visit the Castle Museum and Carriage House. It’s $7/person and the museum has a surprisingly large assortment of items… everything from old pianos to medical tools, typewriters to military uniforms, buggies to antique safes and other banking artifacts. It’s quite a collection for such a random tiny museum.

After looking through the museum, we received a guided tour of the castle. The original architect and occupant was a man named Byron R. Sherman, who built the house for his family. Sherman was very prominent in the community, a businessman with investments in cattle, mining, banking, and many other industries… and therefore quite a lot of money to build such an ornate house. It even had electricity and two indoor bathrooms with running hot and cold water… extremely unusual for the late 1800s.

No photos are allowed inside, but I do have this external photo.

From here we continued north, traveling along Kings Hill Scenic Byway. This is a drive we’d done before so we didn’t make any stops along the way this time. At the north end of the byway is Sluice Boxes State Park. We’d stopped here before too, briefly; this time we decided to actually explore it.

Sluice Boxes State Park
Lunch spot!

It’s a primitive park that’s really only equipped for hiking and fishing. There’s a trail that runs about 7 miles (11 km) along Belt Creek from one end of the park to the other. Our plan was to hike the first 2-3 miles (3-5 km) of it.

We didn’t quite make it that far.

Just shy of 1 mile (1.6 km) in, the trail crossed the creek… sans bridge. It’s a sizable creek and the water was knee deep in places, but we were able to safely navigate it (definitely wear shoes you don’t mind getting wet).

There weren’t any signs explaining these old structures, but there used to be mining in the area so I’m assuming they’re leftover from those days

A short distance later was creek crossing #2. This one wasn’t passable. It was too deep and flowing too fast for us to safely make it across, so we were forced to turn around. But even though our hike was cut short, we enjoyed our scenic jaunt along the water.

Belt Creek crossing #2… AKA our turnaround point since we couldn’t make it across

We ended our day in Great Falls at Dick’s RV Park. It was a pretty location along the Sun River, not far from its confluence with the Missouri River. The campground itself, however, was not great. The tent area was clearly an afterthought, a field way at the back with a bunch of randomly placed picnic tables, no privacy between sites, and a very long walk to the bathrooms.

Also, the owners were obsessed with enforcing the speed limit… to the point that they scolded us when we were in fact not exceeding the limit. I wouldn’t stay there again.

Confluence of the Sun River (flowing in from the left) and Missouri River (right)

We spent part of the next day in the Great Falls area, visiting some local attractions. First up was Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), about 25 mins north of the city. We arrived to find the visitor center closed, no lake, and no wildlife. We were beginning to think it had been a wasted trip when the lake finally came into view… and it was absolutely teeming with bird life. This place must be a birdwatcher’s paradise!

Benton Lake is one of many prairie potholes that span central North America. These potholes were formed by glaciers during the last ice age and are now filled with water and provide important habitats for many plants, insects, and birds. There are over 200 bird species at Benton Lake, some of which nest there and some of which pass through on their annual migration.

Neither of us are bird experts but we were able to identify a few of them, including some species we’d never seen before: black-necked stilts, American coots, black-capped night herons, curlews, and an avocet. We also saw dozens of gulls, ducks, grebes, and yellow-headed blackbirds. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any good bird photos with my iPhone.

Benton Lake NWR
If you squint you might be able to spot the herons and ducks in this photo…
Avocet (very small, right in the center)

Just east of Great Falls is the Lewis & Clark Portage Site. In June 1805, the Lewis & Clark expedition — otherwise known as the Corps of Discovery — reached present-day Great Falls… which is named for the series of five waterfalls on the Missouri River. Collectively, they drop 360 feet (110 m).

The expedition therefore had to portage their boats and all their supplies 18 miles (29 km) around the falls. Obviously that’s a tall order, especially when one of the boats was a 55 foot (17 m) wooden canoe loaded with supplies. Also, the terrain isn’t exactly a walk in the park… there are hills and rocks and cacti, among other challenges. It took the men 5 trips over 2 weeks to get all their supplies around the waterfalls.

A reconstruction of the portage at the interpretive center
Missouri River overlook from the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center

Just downriver is Giant Springs State Park, which preserves a natural freshwater spring that emerges from the rocks adjacent to the Missouri River. The water seeps through the ground from a nearby mountain range, a journey that takes 50 years, before bubbling up here. 150 million gallons (568 million liters) per day emerge from the rocks, forming the 201 foot (61 m) long Roe River – one of the shortest rivers in the world – before joining the Missouri.

Giant Springs & the Roe River

Up the road from the spring are overlooks of some of the waterfalls mentioned above. There are now three dams on the river, so the flow rate has changed drastically and one of the waterfalls is fully submerged. But the other four are still somewhat similar to what Lewis & Clark encountered more than 200 years ago, and we could certainly see how substantial an obstacle they were to the expedition.

Rainbow Falls
Black Eagle Falls
Missouri River

And that’s where I’ll leave off for now. More to come in the next few posts. Stay tuned!

25 responses to “Montana road trip 2021, part I: waterfalls, birds, & the Lewis and Clark expedition”

  1. What a beautiful place to visit, really getting back to nature

  2. Did you know the husband and I met and first started dating in Montana? It’s a great state. I missed it for a long time after we left. Thanks for sharing about a part of the state I don’t know much about.

  3. I honestly know of Montana for Glacier National Park (a place I’m dying to go to someday). Recently, I’ve been following some hikers on IG who’ve more-or-less moved to Montana from California, and the highlights they’re showing on their social media really capture just how gorgeous and pristine this state is. Looks like your road-trip was a lot of fun!

    1. Glacier is amazing, it’s my favorite place in the US (and maybe in the world). And yes, it was a really fun road trip!

  4. I noticed that there are many rivers.

  5. I’ve only even been to Montana once and that was to visit Glacier National Park, but it sounds like there are other lovely areas and trails to explore. Campgrounds that offer no privacy are the worst. That RV Park sounds like the pits.

    1. Glacier is absolutely the highlight of Montana in my opinion, but it’s a huge state with so much to see!

  6. Good read w/ good pics. Thx.

  7. Wonderful post, Diana! Great read and lovely captures!

    1. Thank you!

  8. Looking at your photos, I can see that there’s a reason why Montana is referred to as Big Sky Country – this is a seriously beautiful place with some of the most beautiful and towering peaks. I’ve never been to Montana but would love to visit Glacier National Park to see its unspoiled terrain. I am glad to hear you had a great time exploring your backyard and thanks for sharing it with us! Take care. Aiva xx

  9. Love the look of that scenic trail you’ hiked, as well as the freshwater spring. Your photos are telling a great story and I will be happy to read more about this road trip … don’t you just love a good old road trip!!

    1. Thank you! I do love roadtrips, especially in somewhere as wide open as Montana where we didn’t get stuck in any traffic.

  10. Thank you for a very informative post with beautiful photos. I look forward to reading about the rest of your trip. 👌

    1. Glad you enjoyed it, thank you! 😊

  11. We did a two-week road trip through Montana in the late summer of 2019 and it is a wonderful and beautiful state with incredible history as your post demonstrates. I will look forward to your continuing posts and hope you got to stop at some of Montana’s historic bars and great breweries.

    1. We stopped at one brewery and a historic restaurant that served beer… but my mom dislikes beer so it wasn’t a main focus of our trip.

  12. Wonderful descriptions and pictures Diana. I haven’t been to Montana and really want to get there one day. The Poe River is a gas.

  13. An interesting read. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to Montana.

    1. Glad you enjoyed it! What’s your favorite place you’ve visited in Montana?

      1. There’s a hike at the top of the Going-To-The-Sun-Road that led to a backcountry lodge. I really enjoyed that hike. There were bears everywhere but with so many people on the trail I wasn’t too concerned about safety. I also recall a cave system futher south where we took a guided tour. I think it was called Louis and Clark Cave but I’m not certain about the name.

        1. Lewis & Clark Caverns!

          1. Do you know if there is still a backcountry lodge that can be hiked from the top, at the interpretive centre, as a day hike in and out? It might be called Logan’s Pass, but I’m not certain. I know that the lodge was close for a number of years. They used to sell apple pie with ice-cream to day hikers. Overnight likely arrived by horseback on a different trail.

            1. I would guess you’re thinking of Granite Park Chalet, although I don’t think they serve food anymore. Sperry Chalet does serve food, but you don’t get there from Logan Pass, you start down at Lake McDonald. I would guess you’re thinking of one of those. I’ve never been but hear they’re great hikes!

            2. Granite Part Chalet definitely sounds familiar.

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