Jay and Gina's Journal

12 August GF

We stopped to see the other three (make that 2 - Coulder is submerged) Falls. The 3rd fall, Rainbow Falls was lovely with sunflowers following the morning sun. Crooked Falls was next.

 The Giant Springs State Park showed cased the shortest river, Roe River of 203 ft, which flows into the Missouri.  The water originates several miles away.  We watched them weighing trout from the fish hatchery for release into the Missouri.  Clark discovered the spring which is  lovely. The beautifully clear water makes the underwater plants sparkle in the morning sunlight.  

 We then went to the Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail Interpretive Center.(I wonder who keeps all the Lewis and Clark Museum names straight so that they don’t repeat each other?)  The walk along the river was delicious - you could taste the freshness of the morning. Two things stand out from the Center: the Corps of Discovery carried THREE moving vans of good with them, and the portrayal of the boat being pulled up  the hill.  Tom  and George both stated that the hill shown was a bit too steep because of the constrains ob building it inside the museum. Of note, the Spanish considered the purchase LA illegal because they thought they had right of first refusal on the territory.  Outside I saw a white pelican flying up the river!

 Our best lunch  - Mexican chimichungas - was served at the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife.  Stuffed animals gave us a chance to see several of them up front and personal.  The elk head in the office was enormous!

 It would seem that Jefferson had been right to be suspicious of his Army officers - Agent 13, an known Spanish agent,  was identified as General Wilkenson.  He retired to Mexico City.

 We crossed the Missouri for the last time, 30 times total for the trip, near the Black Eagle Falls.  The tiny white spot in the photos is a pelican.  Just below Black Eagle you have the story of McNeal and the Grizzly Bear who kept him up a tree for 2 hours after McNeal hit the bear in the head with a rifle because he was too close to shoot him.  George  told a tory about being kept up a tree by two bears who couldn’t climb the tree.  Unlike Black Bears, Grizzlies can’t climb trees.  So they came back with a beaver!