More Adventures in Montana

So we were ready to leave Great Falls, and as Bob checked the tires....you guessed it! The infamous low tire was once again low! Bob filled it and off we went to Havre, Montana about 120 miles north of Great Falls. Now, we didn't actually stay in Havre, we stayed at Fresno Reservoir about 10 miles west of Havre. Walleyes Unlimited, a fishing club in Montana, operates a campground at the reservoir. Not only is the campground open to the public, it is free AND it has free wi-fi! No, it doesn't have hook-ups.

 The campground is on the upper tier of a terraced area. The rooftop is that of the pavilion on the middle terrace, with the lake in the background.

 From the pavilion, you see the steps leading to the campground.

Bob and I visited Havre on our 2010 trip to Alaska. Then, we stayed at a campground in Beaver Creek County Park. The campground we stayed in is no longer listed as a campground.

While in the area we wanted to geocache and visit underground Havre. Our first afternoon we spent geocaching on the way to Beaver Creek County Park. We wanted to see what happened to the campground we stayed at on our previous trip.  Well, it has been turned into a 'day use only area.' We did see a camper there, but we weren't sure is it was staying overnight. There were plenty of geocaches from Havre to the park and most of them were in good shape.

The next day we took the Havre Beneath the Streets tour. Havre began as Bullhook Bottoms--a railroad siding for a fast growing area. Original residents voted on a new, more respectable name and shortened Le Havre--the birthplace of one resident's parents--- to Havre. Most locals couldn't pronounce the French Havre so it gained a new pronunciation---'have her.'

In 1903 or thereabouts, the town was burned to the ground by a disgruntled saloon patron. The residents immediately set up shop in their basements as they did not want to lose their prestigious billing as the hub of northern Montana.  The underground beneath four blocks of the city became a shopping mall. There was an office for the traveling dentist. The chair in the left hand corner had a box under it for the dentist to stow his instruments. The chair folded and was moved from town to town with the dentist.

 Of course, the saloon survived  its move to the underground.

 As did the local bordello.

 There was a meat market, two lawyers' offices, a post office, a bakery, and an opium den. All in all, it was an interesting place.

We spent another day geocaching along the back roads near Havre. We even found 4 caches in Kremlin!  We enjoyed our stay at Walleyes Unlimited, but we needed to move on down the road. Our next stop was Fort Peck Lake.

Now if you ever go to Fort Peck Lake, make sure you have everything you need as there is no longer even a convenience store in town. The closest grocery store is 25 miles away in Glasgow! The Corps of Engineers have several campgrounds in the area. We chose Downstream Recreation Area as it was close to the Interpretive Center and the Power Houses.

Bob and I were excited to see that the area had a great walking trail. We were able to get our steps in each day we were there.

The Power House tour was impressive. The tall structures above each power house will hold between 4.5 and 6.5 million gallons of water in an emergency. We took the Power House tour on Tuesday afternoon. Sorry, no cameras were allowed in the facility which generates electricity for most of Montana and the surrounding states.  Many people think the road next to the lake is the dam, but it isn't. The dam is under the grassy hill behind the power houses. Construction began in the late 1930s by  WPA workers.

In the Missouri River (which is diverted away from the lake by the two tunnels on the left of the power houses), white pelicans like to roost on the rocks.

 Located between the campground and the power houses is the interpretive center for Fort Peck. It includes information on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, the building of the dam and casts of dinosaurs found in the area.

 This T-Rex was found in a local farmer's field in the 1980s.

 The most complete fossilized skeleton of a T-Rex was also found in northern Montana.

 Bob and I went geocaching after touring the interpretive center. There was one fun multi-cache that took us around the small town of Ft. Peck. Another one was located near Boy Scout Camp 1. That one almost did me in! Bob was about 20 feet ahead of me in a slightly wooded area with tall grass along the sides of the trail. Well, Bob spooked a grouse that came flying up out of the grass between the two of us. It was headed straight for me! The grouse quickly changed its flight path, but not before I was thoroughly startled!

Bob and I are anxious to get on with our trip. We plan to travel US 2 through northeastern Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and into western Wisconsin. Our next travel day took us into......