We found out that the hill behind the teepee is taller than it looks when we took the three-mile hike toward it.
Native Americans used sites like this to make hunting for bison easier. They lured the lead female bison onto this narrow strip of land by wearing calf skins and acting like a wayward baby bison. When the lead bison would try to gather that baby back into the herd, she would bring the rest of the bison closer to the cliff where Denisa is standing. Then the Indian hunters that crept up from behind would spook the herd from the back, causing a stampede towards this rocky cliff.
Once the lead bison realized that there was no where to run, it was too late to stop. Even if the lead could stop, the herd behind would force it over the tall ledge to the valley far below. There the rest of the tribe's men waited with spears and arrows to kill the injured animals. Then the women jumped to work, butchering and skinning and beginning the process of saving all the bison parts used in their lives on the prairie.
Our wildlife picture of the hike is this marmot, who seems to be quite used to hikers that traipse just a few feet from his home.
We notice that this part of Montana is drier than other parts of the country that we have traveled this summer. But Denisa is glad to see that these prairies still host beautiful purple flowers.
Today we have rain in the forecast, and the showers hit as we're driving to our next Montana state park. We must be crazy to start a hike in the rain! But Denisa wants to get the value out of that pass, so we survey the rainy canyon we're about to hike down into.
Denisa had seen pictures of this state park, and she wanted to take those beautiful pictures too. So that's how we found ourselves at Sluice Box State Park. We were expecting a visitor center to get some advice for the best hiking option. But we found no ranger or visitor's information. So we are unsupervised, in the rain, on this very narrow canyon ridge trail with steep drop offs.
We were glad to see a touch of sunshine in the valley, but we were still wearing our raincoats because it is chilly today.
Our hike took us over another ridge, and we could finally see down to the water below.
The further into this hike, the more we understand the park's name. A sluice box is a narrow channel used for rinsing away the dirt from precious gems or gold nuggets. Denisa is standing on the right hand edge of the picture below, and she can see that this narrow channel of water would make a giant sluice box.
Our cliffs are closer to the water now, as the trail is taking us down in elevation. We're also glad that we no longer need our rain coats as we're seeing some blue skies.
Down at the water's edge, we can see that the water is perfectly clear. This is Belt Creek, that flows from the Belt Mountains that surround Sluice Box State Park.
Whether looking down from ridge,
or looking up at the canyon walls, we are enjoying a beautiful hike today. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!
Mark took another steep hike down to the river in another spot on the trail.The picture below helps to show how tall the canyon walls are when you see how tiny Mark is by the water's edge.
From his perspective near the water, he can look up to see Denisa's silhouette. He also notices that the ridge she's standing on looks like hand-laid stones.
While waiting for Mark to make that steep climb back up, Denisa had time to take pictures of the wildflowers that are blooming on the ridge.
She recognizes the flowers above as some relative of the phlox, and the ones below are wild geranium.
We hiked almost two miles before we decided that we better turn around and head back to the car. The views were even prettier on the way back because we had sunshine. We could see that waterfall now that had been shrouded in the rain when we started this hike.
Likewise, the narrow trail along the ridge edge seems a lot less scary now that it has dried out some in the sunshine. Once again, we're glad that we made the effort to come to Sluice Box State Park to take pictures like the ones Denisa had seen on the internet.
That's enough water to make a waterfall as it flows over the rocks that separate the springs from the river. When Lewis and Clark found this spring on their Voyage of Discovery in 1805 they wrote, "the largest fountain or spring I have ever saw, and doubt if it is not the largest in America." They were right!
Some of that spring water is diverted down this little canal that has been named Roe River. From here we can see one of the shortest rivers in this country as it flows into the longest river in the country--the Missouri River.
Little Roe River is well-named, as we find that right next door to it is a state fish hatchery. We went through the exhibit room, that explained the roe gathering and fertilization process that produces a 95% survival rate for these fish eggs. While the ponds for the young trout were off limits to visitors, we could walk beside the show tank full of prize trout specimens.
Sometimes buying the park pass gives us the incentive to visit parks that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. After visiting three state parks close to Great Falls, we can sleep well knowing that we have now gotten good value from the Montana park pass we purchased when we entered the state. So it must be about time to head down the road, and out of Montana now.
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