Joe & Wilma's Excellent Adventures

 Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge

We went into Glasgow again this morning. Had breakfast at McDonald’s, ran a few errands. Tried to decide what we were going to do today. We had several options -- going east to Wolf Point, or west to Malta, or north to Canada.  While we were eating, a train went by and had a lot of PRIME cars on it.  We saw this the other day too.  So PRIME is coming to anyone waiting on orders.

We finally decided to take this gravel/road Maxness that’s supposed to take us to Fourchette Bay, which is supposed to be in the Charles Russell Wildlife Refuge area.  This is not the main route to this wildlife area, so we’re not sure what we’re going to run into.  Of course, that’s part of the adventure for Joe -- not knowing where we’re going.  As for me. I prefer a little more specific information.  We started on this road about 11:30 a.m.  Parts of these roads (there were several turns) were open range, and Joe sometimes had to encourage the cows to get off the road.  The cattle like to walk back and forth in front of us.  We had this happen off and on throughout the drive.

Antelope are a common site here -- we saw eight of them on the way into Glasgow this morning, and we have seen them off and on all day.  We also saw a few muley deer today. 

.This whole drive has been on an unpaid road, but it’s in pretty good shape. Joe been able to maintain a speed around the mid 40s. That’s pretty good for a gravel road.  In fact, it was better than some of the paved roads with potholes.

About 35 miles in on this dirt road, our terrain changed and we got into the hills.  For the birders, there are tons of birds on this road.  We don’t know what kind they are, but they are very plentiful. They seem to like feeding in the grass along the road.  We have hit 6 birds with the RV on this trip, and we were amazed that we didn't hit any today in the Jeep.  They like to fly right in front of us.

Out n the middle of nowhere, we came upon a little rest area, with a toilet, and a little pond just past it.  We needed to walk a little, and I picked up a few rocks.  I found one I liked but Joe would not dig it out for me.

The one I liked was just left of the shadow.

There was a two-track leading out of this little parking area to a pond, so of course we had to check it out.

We didn’t have a map of this route to go by so we were using the GPS in the jeep and my phone with Maps. They didn’t always agree. Joe’s instructions typically wanted us to turn on every little two-track, where my instructions kept us on the main gravel road.  We keep hoping we’re going to end up in the right spot.

We came to an intersection and the road straight ahead looked pretty chewed up, it turned out that was our road and there were two road graders right ahead of us making ridges down the middle. We had been driving on Ridge Road for a long time -- now we had our own ridge. Joe always prefers the road less traveled, and this was definitely that. 

We came past a farm with a semi, tractors,  and horses.  We felt like we were driving right through his yard.  They had a few goats too, we had not seen that before.

Less than a mile after we passed his place, we came upon 2 fences that Joe had to get out, drive through, then shut. With my bad right arm, he didn't think I could get the wire off the post, or release the emergency brake in the Jeep, so he had to do it all.

After driving for three hours, we finally saw some Buffalo on the open range -- that was encouraging because there are supposed to be buffalo at this refuge.  And the landscape started to change.  At 2:40 we got to the sign that said the Charles M Russell wildlife management area!  We had found our destination.  And it actually was a Wow.

The landscape changed from prairie and scrub brush to some trees.  

There were several campers with boats back here.  Apparently, Walleye and Sauger are the fish in this lake.  We used to catch Sauger in Kentucky Lake when our kids were young.

For once, we brought a picnic with us, so we found a shelter and soaked up the atmosphere for a short while.  After a 3-hour drive, we only spent about 45 minutes at this campground.  And we didn't see any of the elusive big horn sheep or elk that we had heard about.  We assume they don't come out until evening, and we sure didn't want to be stuck back here that late.  It was very pretty down here. The lake reminds me of Roosevelt Lake at home.  And we are going back a different way.

As we worked our way out, we caught sight of 2 osprey in a nest in the top of a dead tree.   Every time I think I see something, I say "stop" and we come to a screeching halt in this loose gravel.

Another interesting sight was this mailbox post -- encircled in barbed wire.  I guess this is one way to protect your mailbox.

Joe thinks this might be the first time we’ve ever driven 100 miles on a dirt road to get to our destination and then at least 50 more miles on a dirt road to get back to paved road. I’m hoping it’s our last time too.

But we always see interesting things, especially wildlife.  On our "different" way back, we came up on a pond with two groups of black wing tipped pelicans called American White Pelicans (I googled them).  

We also spotted a old, Lutheran church on a hill, also in the middle of nowhere, it seemed.  It was old, but well kept. 

 Then Joe spotted a big old snake in the road.  Somehow, I didn't see it so he backed up so I could see it.  He had run over it, but not killed it.  I just got a glimpse of it by the front wheel on my side, then it just disappeared.  I did not see it head for the grass on the side of the road, and Joe did not see it come out in front of the Jeep.  So I worried that we now had a snake on board somewhere -- wrapped around the drive shaft, or a tire.  He never showed up again, so I assume he crawled off into the grass very quickly, but I kept an eye out the next time I got out of the Jeep.  Joe saw a dead snake a little while later but he didn't stop.  We stopped for fuel in Malta and Joe checked around for the snake. He didn’t see any so he thinks we’re good. No blood, no snake, no nothing.

We drove about 280 miles today in the Jeep, 150 on gravel or dirt.  Way too long of a day for these old people.  We saw:

 antelope

 mule deer

 two osprey 

snake

American white pelicans 

buffalo 

birds, birds, birds

and a dead snake

We got back to the RV about 7:15, totally worn out.  But tomorrow we move on, so we will see what's ahead.