Zig-zagging from Missoula to Livingston

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Took the long route, south along the Bitteroot Mountains, then east across the mountains following the roads that were available, extending what would have been a less than three hour drive on the interstate into a six hour drive. Was it worth it? Yes!

As we drove south on 93 (which follows the Lewis and Clark trail here) we passed through several towns and began to wonder if this choice of route was a mistake. The towns have so much roadside dreck (billboards and other signage), that we literally could only glimpse the mountains in between the visual garbage. I was thinking of a clever homage to Venturi, a la "Learning from Montana". But as we got further south, it cleared up, and by the time we passed through Sula it was just like we were hoping - big mountains and nobody around. Drop dead gorgeous. We topped out at Lost Trail, a Forest Dept ski area that is huge and yet hardly developed at the base. There's parking for maybe 200 cars.

At this junction we turned left on Hwy 43 and headed east toward Wisdom, as one does. We approached a National Historic Site that commemorates the Battle of Big Hole. In general we haven't followed the pull of historic markers, but something about this place was powerful. The Battle of Big Hole started when Army infantry ambushed Nez Perce natives as they slept, and killed men, women and children indiscriminately. The warriors repelled the attackers, forcing them into a nearby thicket, and kept them pinned down there for a day and a night to provide cover while the survivors escaped. They also captured the army's Howitzer artillery cannon.

A small museum is on the site, with photographs and accounts from people on both sides who lived through the siege, and a enthusiastic park ranger, a woman in her sixties who looked like she could have been a mixed descendant. The anglo survivors were disturbed by their actions, haunted by the howls of agony as the returning warriors discovered their slaughtered families. The natives fled north to an area near the Canadian border, where they were confronted again and signed a treaty. The Nez Perce now live on a reservation bordering the Grand Coulee dam near Colville, Washington. Years later General Gibbon and Chief Joseph would meet, reconciled to the horrors of that day.

We asked the park ranger which route she would recommend, and she directed us toward Virginia City, so we continued to zig-zag east across the high plain. Taking adequate pictures of this landscape is a futile task - the scale of everything is so vast that it defies the lens. At least with the hit and run photography we're doing. The area is pure Montana ranchland. We saw huge herds of cattle grazing on seemingly endless pastures. One herd of cattle we passed was easily over a thousand head. We passed through Wisdom, a small, weathered cowboy town with the basic services for ranching and the highway - a restaurant, a mechanic with a big wrecker truck, a welder, a feed and supply company and a gas station.

We continued over the next range and coasted down, hitching up with I-15, which we took north to the town of Dillon, just a couple miles up the road. Dillon is ranching town with a small state university. The development pattern is similar to many we've passed through on this part of the trip: two downtown main streets, one that fronts on the train line, and another main street perpendicular to it. We grabbed a burger in a cavernous restaurant fronting the tracks, empty except for us and a small group. The right wall was lined with video games (Asteroids, Tank Commander, Defender etc). Against the opposite wall were electronic slot machines, which everyone seems to ignore The hotel fronts onto the train track, and offers $10 rooms.

Leaving Dillon, we passed through a series of ranch towns similar in character to Wisdom or Dillon, depending on the size. Two notable exceptions are Nevada City and Virginia City. We just passed through these and didn't take any pictures, which I regret now. They are basically well-preserved western ghost towns with all the original buildings, farm implements etc. The stores are all geared to tourists, but the outward indications are very subtle. Taos Pueblo does a similar act: maintain the illusion from the exterior, and sell touro schwag. What else?

As we approached Bozeman, the ranch land gave way to commerce. Bozeman is in a beautiful location, and with a large university it has a similar feel as our hometown of Boulder. Overall, I was not very interested in Bozeman. Nice place, but boring and expensive. We drove another 25 miles east to Livingston, which is both a ranch town as well as a tourist way-station, for folks who are heading to Yellowstone, like us. We checked into a Best Western with around 100 rooms, but probably only 5 of them occupied. Headed over to the main street for dinner at The Stockman's, which was just ok. I wonder how these towns will do when the tourist season starts again.