Near Glacier National Park

A big post from Big Sky Country.  We took 212 through the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Indian Reservations in Southeast Montana.  We only took time for a brief stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield.  We happened upon it on the anniversary of the battle, without planning it that way, and it was crowded so we didn't stay long.  We suffered a flat tire shortly after and limped into Billings.  I was prepared for a long wait to get a new tire, but the tire shop worked like a pit crew and we were back on our way in just 20 minutes.  We thoroughly enjoyed the drive between Billings and Livingston.  We had a wonderful breakfast at Wheat Montana in Three Forks and got to Glacier late in the afternoon.  I kept noting fields of deep pink along the way. It turns out that it is sainfoin, Onobrychus viciifolia.  I never got a close up because the wind was blowing a steady 30 mph with gusts of 50mph or so.  I had to concentrate just to keep the car on the road. But it was lovely with the puffy clouds, blue sky, and mountains in the distance.

We stopped in Browning for gas and noted all the very friendly dogs that seem to populate the town and wander ceaselessly looking for handouts.  I chose to enter the park at a lesser known spot, near Two Medicine Lake.  I did not like the road prior to that.  I suffer from acrophobia, and what looked like a non-scary road, Montana Highway 49, turned out to be a little uncomfortable for me.  Forest didn't think it a big deal, but the roadway had slid slightly down the side of the mountain in a few places.  The roadside sign euphemism for this to warn travellers was "Rough Break", warning of the sudden and significant dip in the road surface.  It was a road well worth travelling. Rain was beginning to fall in the distance and the scene was dramatic, and it was refreshingly cool, and the wind had subsided a bit. 

We stopped before the entrance station and looked around the dense lodgepole pine forest. It was green and lush and damp, in contrast to the dry forests and prairies we'd been travelling through.  The beargrass, Xerophyllum tenax, was in full bloom. 

I was lucky enough to find a black stemmed form, which I have never seen before.  Theoretically, it could be propagated, but beargrass is not often grown in gardens because of its rather exacting requirements, so this is a rarity that will have to be enjoyed where it grows naturally.  The leaves look very soft, but they are quite hard and wiry.  The leaves are available from florists for use in bouquets, and the natives used them to weave baskets.