Gate to the Mountains

Bob Nystrand led us up I-15 and over to a park called Gates to the Mountains. Here the Missouri River cuts through the first hills of the Rockies and the spot was named by Meriweather Lewis on the famous expedition in 1805. As they made their way upriver they entered these limestone canyons which at the entry from the river look like a gateway. A tour boat took us on a trip down the river to this area and then turned around to view the gateway. The trip was particularly interesting yesterday because a good deal of the canyon on one side of the river was on fire. It's a national wilderness area where they normally let things burn. Because there were some structures about half down our boat ride and because the Park Service had an historic shed up in a gulch somewhere, they had started some "hot-spot" control in the area. They had a huge twin engine Sky Crane helicopter swooping down to the river,dropping a suction hose in and filling up. It then flew to the top of the canyon and dropped it's load. We saw this operation numerous times. About half way back, the fire looked like it was intensifying and jumped up into the crowns of some trees. The winds picked up considerably as we returned and then blew hard all afternoon. From Bob's valley, it looked like the fire was winning. In the evening, things calmed down and it even looked like some rain may have fallen. This morning, the smoke was pretty well gone and it appeared that the fire must have retreated.
Last night Bob broke out some elk steaks which were terrific. Lisa and her family, Kevin, Fred and Gnise stopped over and we had a nice visit. They are all avid outdoors people and love hunting, fishing and propagating local wild plant species.