Missoula to Great Falls

 

On Wednesday we drove around the town,  and then left Missoula and the University of Montana behind and headed northeast toward Great Falls on Highway 200.

We saw many more rivers like the Blackfoot River above, as we drove up and over the Rocky Mountains now going to the east.  The ice cold, clear rivers and creeks are wonderful to see, and Bill wished he had brought his fishing pole.

In Great Falls we visited the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center that sits on the banks of the Missouri River.

We spent an educational and interesting afternoon looking at hundreds of displays and artifacts about Lewis and Clark and their journey of discovery.  We learned plenty and found the center to be a tourist attraction not to be missed if you come to Montana.

This is a picture of what the falls on the Missouri River looked like when Lewis and Clark had to work their group up and around them in the very early 19th century at the Great Falls location here.

This is what those same water falls look like today.

After Lewis and Clark we drove about 20 miles out of Great Falls to this fascinating small Montana State Park above.  As the name implies, the site is where American Indians drove buffalo over a cliff to kill them.  

Here Karen stands on the cliff where you can see forever, but the buffalo did not see coming.  She was showing off as Bill would not stand that close to the edge for anything!

A look from the side of the cliffs shows you how dangerous it could be to a herd of running animals.

The state park had a small museum and welcome center of its own.  Here Karen poses with a couple of buffalo in the center that also explained more about the buffalo jump site.  We learned that experts believe there were approximately 300 such "jump" sites in North America in past history that were used by primitive people.  We consider it to be the Earth's first example of "fast" food.

🐂