Parque Natural Mexiquillo

6.23.2018

Glacier National Park

All I can say is that my photos fail miserably to convey the stunning grander of Glacier.

Emery Bay campground on Hungry Horse Reservoir 

Running Eagle Falls'

Two Medicine Lake


Flowering Bear Grass, first to recover after a fire


Forest recovering from recent forest fire

Bear


The bride and her party walked
 a quarter mile through the woods to get here.

Moose


Lake Josephines boat trip

Wedding with a million dollar view

Coral fungi 

Avalanche Creek


Avalanche Lake



Avalanche Creek

First People Buffalo Jump

This is the largest buffalo jump in North America. It is a mile long and 30 to 50 feet high. The buffalo was critical to the first peoples survival and many tribes shared this site. It was neutral ground. 



The buffalo runner was usually an agile 10 to 14 year old boy with great stamina. He might have to lure the heard for miles across the prairie to the jump.



This jump was very deceptive,
the land rolled down appearing to be a gentle slope ahead. 


Then suddenly the cliff appears. Too late




The injured animals were killed and all parts of the buffalo were used by the Native Americans.

Hundreds of pounds of raw meat was dried to reduce its weight 
so they could carry enough to get them through the winter

Buffalo hides were used for 
clothing and shelter

When the tribes acquired horses in the late 1700's they stopped using the buffalo jumps, preferring to hunt from horse back.


6.16.2018

The Great Falls

The Mandan had told Lewis and Clark they would reach a great falls further up the Missouri. On June 13th, 1805 Meriwether Lewis reached this thundering cascade. Journal

"I saw the spray arise above the plain like a column of smoke ... which soon began to make a roaring too tremendous to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri."

He had figured on a half day to portage around the falls, but further exportation dashed Lewis' hopes. Not one, but five falls blocked the next seven miles up river.

June 20th
"We all believed we are about two enter on the most perilous and dificuelt part of our voyage."

Captain Clark, using a sextant and a rod, employed geometry to measure the falls. Using his surveyor's tools, Clark measured the falls to be a height of 97 feet and 3/4 inches. Recent electronic measurements record the height of the falls as 96 feet.

Great Falls


Stretched to the limits of endurance, the men pushed and dragged heavy loads uphill to the prairie. They grabbed at bunches of grass or rocks to anchor themselves with one hand while straining at tow cords with the other. Moccasins, even double-soled, did not stop Prickly pear cactus spines from lancing their feet. The Corps wore through their moccasins every two days.


Wether extremes took their toll on the men. Blazing heat, torrential downpours - and worse. A sudden storm of egg size hail bombarded the men, who were traveling nearly naked, on the open plain. Bleeding and bruised, they straggled back to camp.


Black Eagle Falls  26 feet

Crocked Falls  19 feet high

Also 
Rainbow Falls 44 feet 6 inches
Colter Falls 6 feet 7 inches
Bicentennial reenactment 


The corps made carts with Cottonwood rounds for wheels and for the next three weeks they portaged their boats and equipment eighteen miles overland around the falls. The portage was the most grueling stretch of the journey that the expedition had faced so far.
They resumed their up river journey on July 15, 1805.  Journal

Iron Boat

While most of the crew lugged canoes and supplies around the falls, a select group worked on the 36 foot long, 4.5 feet wide iron boat. The frame weighed less than 200 pounds, but Lewis estimated it could carry 8,000 pounds of cargo. They lashed wooden braces to the frame and sewed elk and buffalo hides together to make a covering.
At first, the finished 'Experiment" flared "like a perfect cork on the water," but then it began to leak at the seams. Lewis had planned to seal the seams with pine tar pitch. Unfortunately, he could not have planned for the lack of pine trees along the Great Falls riverbanks. As a substitute, he created his own seam sealer from tallow, beeswax and charcoal. Disappointed, the men made two cottonwood dugouts to carry their gear instead.

Partial small model of the steel boat frame


Bicentennial reenactment

6.10.2018

The Confluence

Fortunately I didn't get caught in this downpour

One half of a to be very large dump truck bed.

The Corps of Discovery reach the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone April 25th, 1805

Confluence of Missouri and Yellowstone


On their return trip in 1806 Clark explored along the Yellowstone while Lewis explored north of the Missouri. They agreed to met at the confluence. 


Clark reached the confluence first where mosquitos proved too much for him. He moved several miles down stream leaving a note for Lewis on a tree branch much to Lewis' dismay.