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| Walking in my Grandmothers Footsteps, MT | |
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| | Walking in my Grandmothers Footsteps, MT | | | |
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Walking in my Grandmothers Footsteps, MT
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| Hiking | 2.18 Miles |
174 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.18 Miles | 59 Mns | | 2.34 mph |
| 174 ft AEG | 3 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | June 9th, 2021. This is our departure day back to Idaho. My cousin Kenny gave a few of us a Homestead Tour plus the day before and I decided a walk to the spring where my Grandmother got water would be interesting. It was an overcast day as I set out on my own.
As I started I had competition with a couple chickens along side until they headed over for the coop. As I approached the old airplane hanger that is now a barn, the sound of birds intensified. My cousin Kenny has built a several tree-layer shelterbelt which I think is partially responsible for the bird chatter. Back in 1913-1917 or so, there wasn't but one tree in the area so I don't know if my grandmother would have been pleasured by the sounds of the Western Meadowlarks and Cowbirds that I would hear the entire time. It's been said that she was a whistler so perhaps she did that along the way.
As I walked on the road track I saw a fox, but just as quickly, it went into its den. I didn't want to pursue it so I just continued west. There is a little bit of a coulee to my right before the water of the now reservoir starts to appear. It is very green here right now. I hiked closer to the water on this rather rough ground caused by the hoof prints of the cattle that had apparently been here during a wet spell.
There are bits of miniature flowers scattered about including Lewis Flax. I climbed up to the dam that I learned had been created by my father and Uncle Bud in 1956. I actually have some film of that and didn't realize it was from this dam (there is a bit of that in this video [ youtube video ] along with other home movies from 1955-1956). The dam is 50 foot across; I forgot to ask how long.
I walked around for just a moment before heading back. I went back down to the shore and followed it and the drainage all the way out back to the homestead. But for me, I didn't have to take two buckets of water with me. I just can't imagine having to do that a few times a day with nothing else around you for miles. It is said that my grandmother would walk to the top of what little hills there were to see if she still had neighbors. You can get a little more info in the video I made. If sainthoods could be dished out for being the best daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother; per everyone I've talked to, she would be sainted.
It was a wonderful way to end my time at the homestead before our drive to Idaho. That Monday we had a graveside service for my Uncle Bud and included my dad at the Manchester Cemetery in Gt Falls on June 7th (first time I had seen my dad's gravestone). We got two grand tours of two great coulees including Dead Indian and Sheep as well as the Homestead Tour the day before. Now it was time to drive back to Cottonwood, Idaho with two of my eldest cousins. I will be back in August after my Glacier trip.
Here are some of the videos from my trip:
Day One - Dead Indian Coulee at the Marias River, saw a new born fawn along the way [ youtube video ] . We also stopped by cousin Brad's place (my dad's old place) and drove thru Uncle Raymond's old place (now a hutterite colony) and then walked the horses to the barn for their farrier service the next morning. It is really hard to walk a horse and take video  .
Day Two - Sheep Coulee where we actually did a short little hike to a bit of a bluff in the coulee. The cousin who filmed us going to and from the bluff had never seen a coulee before [ youtube video ] and [ youtube video ]
Both of the Coulee drives are not on roads and involve engaged 4-wheel drive. The Marias River is what Lewis took back in 1806 to hook back up with Clark. One time as teenagers we went horse-camping at Four Mile Coulee which is between the two and it was quite the memory.
Day Three - Homestead Tour including around the homestead, a story about how my dad got burned going thru a field fire with a crawler tractor, over to cousin Steven's place (old house) and then over to Blowout, an unusual land formation [ youtube video ] and [ youtube video ] . We finished the day with a cousin "skeet-off" and an incredible sunset [ youtube video ]
Day Four - Walking in my Grandmother's footsteps [ youtube video ] to the spring which is now a reservoir and a bit with the chickens. They have at least four roosters that go off in the AM and don't shut up for a couple hours. In my opinion, they have four roosters too many. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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