Rex Trulove
Ours is a tiny town that is located in a small river valley that is about three miles wide and perhaps eight miles long. On either side of the valley, there are mountains. These aren’t exceptionally high; only about 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the valley floor, so we think of them as ‘hills’. However, the terrain is steep and rugged, climbing from the valley floor to the tops of the mountains in less than a mile. At times, it gives a feeling of being timeless, in more ways than one.
The pictures here are of just one place, roughly midway between our town and the county seat, 24 miles northwest of us. This is one of those places that seem caught in time. Except for the buildings and railroad tracks, the land itself probably looked very similar to this over 150 years ago, when the area was settled. Native Americans had been in the area for much longer, but the land probably still didn’t change much, even over the past several centuries.
Of secondary interest, this is also the site of one of the huge forest fires that raged in Montana in 2017. Less than a year has passed and the scars are still very evident.
Frozen in time
Bare spots can be seen on this extremely steep hillside. Only a year ago, the rock face would have been hard to see because of the huge number of trees that covered the entire hill. There are still trees here but the snow helps to show how a substantial part of these hills is now barren. Many of the trees that can be seen are also dead because of the fire. That isn't as apparent in this image.
The river can't be seen. It is at the base of the rock face. Of particular interest, though, and the reason this image was taken, is the frozen waterfalls in the lower left, just above the treetops at the bottom this picture. When the spring thaw comes, these will be free-flowing, cascading down the mountainside.
Rock bands
This image is just to the right of the previous one. The bands of slate can be clearly seen because of the snow. Also evident is the lack of trees in most of the image. All of this hillside looked like the two swaths of trees that can be seen. The forest was dense. The forest service will be unable to replant in this area because it is so steep, so nature will need to eventually erase the fire scars.
It is pretty easy to see why firefighters had difficulty battling the blaze. The issue was amplified because of the narrowness of this area and the altitude of the hills. This creates a natural corridor for winds. Repeatedly, the fire died down, only to be whipped up again by those winds.
More banding and fire damage
This is yet more of a northerly view. This shows how much of this side of the hill was destroyed by fire. Again, none of the white patches would have been visible last year. The only part that would have been seen is the sheer cliff in the middle right of this image. The rest of the hillside was even denser than the stand of trees that can be seen just over the railroad tracks. The fire reached the top of the hills, less than a half mile away and 2,500 feet above where this picture was taken. Meanwhile, the fire was also burning on the other side of these hills.
This is the view almost due north. It shows how narrow this part of the river valley is. It also shows the U shape that was cut by glaciers and subsequently by the river. There are mountains in the distance, but only a thin strip can be seen above a low snow-cloud formation filling that section of the valley. To give a notion of the distance, those clouds are roughly four miles from where I was standing when I took this image.
This was the fire
This is a picture taken from our back porch of the fire that has been referenced repeatedly in these images. The location of these flames is about 15 miles south of where the other images were taken, so this should give a good idea of how big this fire was. The air distance from where this was taken and the fire in the image is about three and a quarter miles.
Other side of the road
Shown here are the hills on the other side of the road. There are also bare spots here. These are partly because of fire, but not the same fire. Most of the damage here was caused by fires that raged in 2016. Part of the bare spots here is also because of the talus slides that periodically run down the hill. A talus is a pile of rock debris that accumulates at the base of steep slopes and in one of these rock slides, trees and shrubs are uprooted and destroyed.
Incidentally, the hills in this picture are prime bighorn sheep country. This section of road, from here to the other side of the clouds in the draw in the middle left of the image, is one of the worst in the state for collisions between cars and bighorn sheep. Over 438 bighorns have been killed in this small stretch of road, according to Montana Department of Transportation.
Two things to note about car/bighorn collisions. 1. They are almost always fatal for the bighorn and nearly always totally destroy the car. 2. In Montana, there are big fines for hitting a bighorn with a car, even if the animal jumps out in front of you. Many people find themselves not only needing to replace their cars and pay for a hospital visit, they get an automatic fine from the state, too. Anyone driving this section of road needs to slow down and stay alert.
Ice fall closeup
This is a closeup of the frozen waterfalls. The chances are excellent that if a person didn't know that there were waterfalls over this cliff, they wouldn't even notice the frozen condition of those falls. They appear as mostly gigantic icicles. Some of these are over 30 feet from top to bottom.
The rock the ice falls is on is a curious mixture. The rock is largely slate and it dates back to a time when the entire area was covered by a shallow sea before the uplift of the Rocky Mountains began. The uplift not only exposed the rock, it is responsible for the tilt that can be seen in the rock, sloping downward from left to right.
Too bad about the forest fire. The waterfalls will be beautiful!
A lot of people aren’t even aware that they are there. Yes, they are quite beautiful.
That is good for you, less people!
That is the interesting thing. Nearly everyone going from the east or southeast to Spokane, Washington, Seattle, or Cour d’Alene, Idaho, drive down that stretch of road. That is the most direct route from Missoula, Helena, or Great Falls, Montana, to those other cities. A lot of people talk about the ‘fly-over’ states, but truth is that most people who drive from one place to another don’t pay much attention to the areas they drive through. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, though, especially considering that tourism is one of this state’s biggest industries.
Wonderful view of the area.
I was pleased that we were able to find a place to pull off the road, to take these pictures. :))
At least your work was not in vain.
I can just imagine how beautiful it is in spring and summer.
I agree. I’ve thought about meeting and becoming friends with the people who live in the place across from these waterfalls. I doubt they’d mind if someone took pictures of the falls from right across from them. :))
That sounds like a great plan. Maybe they would like a new friend, too.
That is quite possible. For that matter, there is a good chance that I already know them. With so few people living here, it is likely that they come to this town frequently, in which case, I’ve probably met them.