Leaving Bismarck, North Dakota, this morning, I drove west on Interstate 94, crossing the Missouri River and then climbing across the Missouri Plateau via a stairway of low ridges and broad valleys. Nearing the Montana border, the highway winds through the scenic, heavily-dissected canyon of the Little Missouri River; two regions of that canyon are protected within Theodore Roosevelt National Park and I visited the southern segment for an hour or so, encountering bison and spectacular rock formations (more on the Park in a future post).
West of the Little Missouri Canyon is the Little Missouri National Grassland, beautiful in its "big-sky" grandeur. At Glendive, Montana, the Interstate crosses the Yellowstone River and then follows it upstream, all the way to Billings; the Yellowstone, which rises in Yellowstone National Park, is the largest tributary of the Upper Missouri, taking in flow from the Powder, Tongue and Bighorn Rivers (east to west), all arriving from Wyoming.
After a night in Laurel, Montana, just west of Billings, I plan an early morning visit to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park, where I hope to see (or at least hear) wolves. More on that adventure tomorrow.
West of the Little Missouri Canyon is the Little Missouri National Grassland, beautiful in its "big-sky" grandeur. At Glendive, Montana, the Interstate crosses the Yellowstone River and then follows it upstream, all the way to Billings; the Yellowstone, which rises in Yellowstone National Park, is the largest tributary of the Upper Missouri, taking in flow from the Powder, Tongue and Bighorn Rivers (east to west), all arriving from Wyoming.
After a night in Laurel, Montana, just west of Billings, I plan an early morning visit to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park, where I hope to see (or at least hear) wolves. More on that adventure tomorrow.
