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| Buffalo Jump State Park and Great Falls, MT | |
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| | Buffalo Jump State Park and Great Falls, MT | | | |
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Buffalo Jump State Park and Great Falls, MT
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| Hiking | 0.78 Miles |
99 AEG |
| | Hiking | 0.78 Miles | 35 Mns | | 1.34 mph |
| 99 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Written 9-14-2025. I'm including our last day in Great Falls, but not in the mileage.
On our way to western Montana, we (Wendy and me) stopped at a place I've wanted to go for about 40 years; altho, it wasn't exactly where I thought it was. I thought the Jump was on Square Butte, but it is not; however, you can see it from here.
First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park is just outside of Great Falls from the Interstate. Native peoples used this site for at least a thousand years before Lewis and Clark passed through here. The bison jump site consists of a mile long sandstone cliff; there are remnants of drive lines on top of the cliff and there are up to 18 ft. of compacted buffalo remains below the cliff. The park has an interpretive trail, picnic tables and a black-tailed prairie dog town to help the visitor better understand the epic history of hunting on the high plains.
It has been described as, geographically speaking, either North America's largest buffalo jump or the world's largest. There is some evidence that it was the most utilized buffalo jump in the world.
The Buffalo Jump we have in my hometown of Havre wasn't discovered until 1962 and opened to the public in 1992. It is great to visit if you're ever in the area. Today, we stopped at the Visitor Center which is really well done. Wendy made friends with an American Buffalo (bison). We toured a little of the outside as well before driving up to Taft Ridge. It was an overcast day and windy as usual. You walk on a sidewalk until the edge and appreciate why the bison couldn't see their demise ahead.
We walked down below the ridge and around where the bison and Indians were so many years ago. It was rather eerie and interesting. We rounded the east side and headed up the hill where we encountered Prairie Dog town; altho, I initially thought the holes were badger. We could hear the dogs warning each other that we were about. I was able to get a good picture of one of the guards as it whistled. I look forward to coming back as there is more to see off to the west. Our drive was interesting as I had never been on the dirt road to Vaughan before. We drove Highway 200 and made our way to Whitefish.
BUT let me tell you about Kathy's last day in Montana. It was Dam day to see why they call it Great Falls. On July 24th, before leaving Shelby, we stopped at a coffee shop which was right next door to the commemorative boxing ring from the Dempsey-Gibbons fight of 1923. The girls had a quick match and then we headed to the ranch south of Chester. We were going to stay, but harvest would be starting that afternoon so we thot it best to get out of the way. We drove to Fort Benton, where I was born, and I gave the girls a short tour of main street where we walked down to the Ice Cream shop. They didn't have my huckleberry sundae so I settled for a large huckleberry milkshake  ; even for as much as I like huckleberry, it was hard to drink the whole thing.
We arrived in Great Falls and settled in at Cousin Brian's place. The girls decided they wanted to do part of the River Walk and I would pick them up at Black Eagle Falls. I walked around Overlook Park after dropping them off. A couple hours later they called to say they made their destination and I went to Black Eagle Memorial Island In 2001, Tailrace Island was renamed Black Eagle Memorial Island (in honor of those workers who lost their lives while working on or at the dam) and turned over to the River's Edge Trail. Black Eagle Falls was the first hydroelectric dam power plant facility built in Great Falls way back when electricity was novel and new.
I walked around a little until the girls showed up.
The next day we did the Belt Sluice Boxes hike. For Kathy's last day I thought we should see all the Falls. I have never seen them all. We had breakfast at Tracy's so I could have my huckleberry waffle, with huckleberry whipped butter and syrup. Then it was off to the Farmer's Market where we picked up a little bag of huckleberries (based on the price, Kathy called them gold) and some Rainier cherries. Great Falls is now part of the ArtsFest which gathered talented artists from across the continent to create wonderful awesome murals. I have to say, this is the best I've seen Great Falls look since I left for good in the late 80s.
Now to complete our Dam mission. First up was Rainbow Falls The Missouri river spills over a sheer ledge of sandstone in the Kootenai Formation, forming the falls. The falls used to flow with a great deal of force year-round. In 1914 the river shortly upstream was dammed for hydroelectric power by the Rainbow Dam, which forms a run-of-the-river reservoir.
At the top of the parking area is the continuous River's Edge (60 miles long) trail that starts on the other side of the city of Great Falls. A lot of it is paved so great for taking a bike and it's mostly along the Missouri River. You may ask, "tibber, why didn't you hike it when you lived there?" Easy, it wasn't constructed until 1992.
Next up: Ryan's Dam. The dam is built on the largest of the five Great Falls of the Missouri. The dam was constructed on top of a 10-foot cascade that Lewis and Clark observed to lie just upstream of Grand Fall. It operates at "run-of-river," meaning the water flows through or over the dam at the same rate as the natural flow of the river.
I think the last time I was here was the late 80s. They've dressed it up quite a bit from what I remember. There was a wedding that day so the pedestrian bridge was decorated very nicely too.
I had never been to Morony Dam The dam is named after a banker, director of the Amalgamated Copper Company (a forerunner of the Anaconda Copper Company), and director of the Montana Power Company. (Morony was largely responsible for constructing Ryan Dam.) Montana Power commissioned the dam in order to provide additional power to the Anaconda Copper's zinc refinery at nearby Great Falls.
We walked down to the river and enjoyed the river and dam's flow. There are hiking trails around here. As we drove out we passed by what was the Morony Village remnants of "Ragtown", once a bustling community of about 500 housing dam builders on the Backroads in the late 1920s.
And one more Dam stop before good-bye cocktails at the Montana Club. We drove to the Black Eagle Falls Overlook/Viewpoint from above. They had opened more gates, so it was nice to see all that water flowing. The Falls make for great winter pictures too.
Here are the videos:
Dam Falls Part 1 of 2: Rainbow, Ryan (FYI Rainbow Dam ate the Colter Falls named after a L&C Corp of Discovery participant - great story that Kevin Costner narrated about him on tv) [ youtube video ]
Dam Falls Part 2 of 2: Ryan, Morony, Black Eagle [ youtube video ]
First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park [ youtube video ] |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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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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