NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAYS 87 & 88 - CROSSING INTO USA, FRESNO RESERVOIR & FORT PECK DAM, MONTANA

 

Now that we have crossed into the United states, it is time to make our way across Montana. I was snapping some photos and this one happened to be my absolute favorite! I think it's somewhere between Shelby and Havre on US 2.

I think that it's going in my top five photos of the entire trip...

To me, it almost looks like a woven tapestry

 or someone stitched it with crewel threads

 on a canvas and added cotton or lambswool

 to the top section.

 I am always thinking in fiber themes?

Anyhow, back to the trip. Now that we are in Montana, this is really "Big Sky Country".  Looking about in 360°, and not seeing any mountains is really a big sensation change from the day or two before up in the Canadian Rockies.

As we neared Shelby, Montana it was time to turn and go east on Route US 2. You see, US 2 is close to my heart because it drives entirely across the top of the United States and right through my hometown of Iron River, Michigan. It rolls off the tongue in the common vernacular of people in the area, on the radio station, on TV commercials, or anyone giving directions or talking about going somewhere. US 2 means that main highway that takes you across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  It was kind of heartwarming to see that familiar nostalgic road sign.

We drove along quite a ways until we were getting close to Havre. Steve had found a little BLM land campground called Fresno Dam. It is sponsored by the Fresno chapter of Walleyes Unlimited. There's no fee to camp there, but they ask that you leave a donation if you can.

Here is their information:

https://visitmt.com/listing/fresno-reservoir-campground-2011

We pulled on in and found a beautiful spot right along the ledge overlooking the lower parking areas and the swimming beach. There was a nice breeze coming across the reservoir.

There were about four or five other campers there, but room for maybe 30 or so?

There aren't any hookups, but there is a pit toilet and picnic tables available. It was just perfect to get off the road far enough that we don't hear any noise from the highway.  

We found a perfect spot in the shade...

There was a little donation box attached to the wall by the pit toilet. We popped in a $20 bill and hope it helps. We appreciate having a nice safe spot to park for the night.

On the path down to the lake, we saw this little sign showing appreciation for our donations and who is sponsoring and maintaining this area.

Some stairs led from our camping level to the two layers of parking lots below as well as the harbor, boat landing and swimming area.  Further up above us there was another road that swung off with additional campsites.  But we think it would be a lot windier up there.

We looked on the map, and this reservoir was really very large. I suppose it is a favorite among the fishermen. We didn't see too many there, but it was during the week and there were pretty strong winds blowing. Maybe not the best weather for fishing, there might have been a storm cutting across from the West to the East on the weather map.

Another family had pulled in to the campground, and donned their swimsuits and headed down to the beach for some swimming. On their way back up, they said it was nice--- but the water was cold. 

By sunset, some of the wildfire smoke began to appear. It made for an absolutely beautiful sunset but we could catch a whiff of it in the air with the increasing wind.

All in all, we had a pretty relaxing night. We heard a few fishermen pull in early in the morning and go down to the lowest level of the parking lot.

We hit the road early and started our Eastward trek across the state. We had actually made reservations for the first time on our entire trip. We knew the temperatures were going to increase today as well as the amount of wildfire smoke in the air. We had decided we wanted to be sure of having a campsite with full hookups or at least electricity to get through the evening. So we started by hitting the road by 8:00 a.m. then we could maybe be somewhere by noon for our reservation...

We first stopped in the small town of Havre at their Walmart and stocked up. Remember, we had used up all of our produce and eggs and any fresh meats for the border crossing. So we were able to grab all of our familiar items that we wanted to reload the refrigerator. Enough to get us through the next few days.

We really enjoyed this gorgeous scenery along the way! But we could see the smoke coming down from the north...

To the south, as we drove heading east, it wasn't too bad. We loved seeing the ranches, and the rolling countryside. Every now and then there were herds of cattle. And a lot of open space.

Some areas look so barren. I'm not sure if this is windswept so much that nothing grows here, or was something already harvested?

Every now and then, we passed a little crossroads. Once in awhile there were little buildings that are like this. Kind of scrabbled together or added on. I wonder if originally this was a schoolhouse, or maybe a church, or maybe an inn?

Once in a while, sticking up out of nowhere, would be a clump of cottonwood trees. You can pretty much bet there's a spring underneath there, allowing them to flourish in the wide open prairie.

Many of the little towns we were driving through exist right alongside of the railroad tracks. Almost everyone has an abandoned or defunct granary. This is where the farmers would all bring their crops to be shipped out on the next train. Nowadays, shiny new harvester silos line the railroad tracks instead of these huge old buildings. They are rusting away and falling apart.

As we drove along, the terrain changed off in the distance. We could see the faint outline of some mountains through the smoky atmosphere of the wildfires. Yes, the smoke was catching up to us!

The clouds were also looking darker, so I don't know if the storms were going to circumvent around us or if it was just going to be a rain shower. Not being familiar with this area, I don't know how to "read" the clouds or their formations. To me they look ominous and scary!

But as we drove a long, some of them seem to reduce in size and whisp away in parts. This would expose patches of blue dky overhead. I looked on the wildfire maps and the air quality hazard distance.  They are kind of random in this area. Some showed high and some showed low. So I think we were right on the fringe edge?

"Oh beautiful for spacious skies

 and amber waves of grain"

How perfectly said.

America the Beautiful.

I think it was maybe written about exactly this... We saw how vast the fields are and watched them undulate and dip and sway in the breeze.

We drove along until we needed to make a turn to the south towards Fort Peck.  

This was our FIRST time making RESERVATIONS on this entire trip!!!

We were already familiar with this park because we had been here last year. We had been attempting to drive on US 2 all the way out to Washington State. But we got this far in August 2024 and the wildfire smoke was so bad that we turned around and went back home.

So here we are again, almost a year later, trying to hide out here with electrical plug-ins so we could keep the windows shut to hide from the smoke.  

We already knew the layout of the park and knew every single site was level and beautiful and shaded. So it was very easy to go online and look for a site. We had gone online the day before and there were no sites available. But Steve went back online again towards evening, and we found one single site available! Someone must have canceled, and we were able to snap it up!

This is a very nice park run by the Army Corps of Engineers. They also honor our America the Beautiful Senior Access Pass which gives us half price on their $25 camping fee. So we were staying here with electric hookups for $12.50. 

There is a dump station near the entrance to the park as well as water spigot spaced around in the park at various places to fill your holding tank before you get into your campsite.

They have showers and firewood available to purchase.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233489

We were reserved on site number 3. They are long deep sites with tall shady trees overhead. But not so many that it obstructed our Starlink. The electric posts are located nice and deep in the site so you don't need a long electric cord or extensions to reach the post. The picnic tables are heavy concrete and was a little more forward than we would have preferred. But it would work out just fine to grill out our dinner for the evening.

The temperatures were rising throughout the day, and the forecast was get into the high 80s and low 90s. We sure were glad to be able to be plugged in and turn on the air conditioning.

This was the "backyard" to our campsite. Such lovely wide open space of neatly cut lawn. It was just perfect to take Nick out on his long flexi lead to burn off some of his energy.

Nick will never, ever be let off lead no matter how much we think he will listen. Because he suddenly thinks he can fly after birds or airplanes or anything else he will launch his little body up in the air and try to follow whatever it is he sees. He turns immediately deaf to anybody calling him, and focuses only on the bird. He thinks he can fly with them!!!

So in this photo below he is definitely on a secure harness double clipped to his collar and the harness with a sturdy flexi lead cord.

We have taught him to run around us in large circles, kind of like a horse on a lounge line. We can get him to burn off his energy by racing around and around and around. We encourage him by chanting "run run run" to keep him moving and burn off all of his pent-up energy.  By him going around us in circles while we stand in the middle stationary, he gets in a lot more exercise than if we were just walking him on the leash. Just look at him go...

While I was exercising the goofy boy out back, Steve was getting out the grill and starting to cook our dinner.

While at Walmart earlier in the day we had picked up some steaks. We know they are not top quality. But we were going to grill them up anyhow. Steve had marinated them in the fridge in a Ziploc bag for most of the day while we were driving.  While he got out the grill, I made some baked potatoes and some salads with our fresh new produce.

I know it looks like a lot of meat for two people.  We would slice up the leftovers into little strips and freeze them to use in a stir fry later. Actually, they weren't too bad. 

TOAST to another day of safe driving and seeing beautiful vistas across the state of Montana.

Dinner wasn't too bad after all, steaks were surprisingly tender. Nick got a little teeny piece as he waited patiently under the picnic table.

We relaxed outside for the evening for a while, but traveling over 500 miles in the last 2 days has worn us down a bit. It wasn't too long before we were toddling off to bed. 

Thankful that we had a campsite with electric hookups to run the air conditioner because things were getting more hot and more humid and a little more smokey...

Steve sat out to finish his beer while I headed inside to make up the bed and get in my jammies.

Sweet dreams.

Here is the YouTube video that goes along with today's blog:

293 miles traveled to Fresno damn the day before

&

196 miles traveled today to Fort Peck

 8,365 miles traveled so far