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| The Great Falls before Ryan Dam was built |
We've spent the week in Great Falls, MT. It's another one of my bucket list items. I've read the journals and books on the Corps of Discover (Lewis & Clark) and just wanted to see what they were up against when they arrived at the Great Falls area. It just hadn't registered with me that they actually had to portage around five falls - not just one big water fall and numerous cascades. I didn't really understand the terrain they were dealing with when they arrived (high desert and rolling hills). The Indians knew and as was noted at the Lewis & Clark interpretative center, no one lived here when the Corps of Discover came by.
Today, one water fall (Colter) is under water behind Rainbow Dam. Three are below dams. Only Crooked Falls is not interrupted by a dam. Even though this area is under an extreme drought, you wouldn't know it by the volume of water of the Missouri River passing through. The area & people are nice, but the area itself is not scenic. The reservoirs aren't that inviting. We're told winters are harsh. Great Falls, itself, is bike and walking friendly and generally looks & feels like a blue collar town. When a hydraulic leak became big enough Wednesday that our trailer could no longer stay level using the hydraulic leveling legs, it only took a half-day to get it into a shop & a day to diagnose and get a new hydraulic line built & installed. They worked around other appointments to get us taken care of.
We've had a good stay. It's getting warmer for us as we're out of the mountains. Tomorrow we head south to Butte, MT for a few nights. From here on out we'll be in heat and wildfire smoke.
Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us. More pictures of three of the falls below. David
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| Rainbow Falls |
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| Great Falls (today) |
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| Black Eagle Falls |
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