June 18, 2010 – High Winds at Pompeys Pillar and Our Clark Makes His Own Mark

The day dawned sunny and dry, so we rode out from Billings, MT to Pompeys Pillar, MT. This is one of the few remaining places where physical evidence of the Lewis & Clark expedition remains visible. Captain Clark engraved his name and the date on the Pillar about mid-way up. The rest of the places have had Taco Bell parking lots paved over them. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Anyway, after realizing a nearby grain silo was not Pompeys Pillar, we instead directed our attention 180 degrees around to a rock tower about 130 feet high. It's managed by the National Park Service and is very tidy, the graffiti added before the start of NPS stewardship notwithstanding. The Pillar was a stopping place for Captain Clark on his split return journey to meet Captain Lewis who had followed the original course home only to be shot in the buttocks by Cruzatte, a nearsighted hunter with the expedition--how Cruzattte landed that job, I cannot possibly say. I expect all the fishing positions were filled. Captain Lewis was so badly wounded that Clark stepped-up and led the party back to St. Louis, MO along the river.

While on the Pillar, I met a marmot (aka, rock chuck) who was pleased to be sunning himself on the rock and cooperated for a snapshot. A group of kids was at the Pillar on a field trip and were pleased to meet my Lewis and Clark, who reveled in the attention. One of the kids asked why one dog put their nose down near the other dog's personal parts. I started to say that's how dogs say "hello". Fortunately, the light-bulb went on right then and I announced that Clark was checking Lewis' bullet wound to make sure it was healing. The kids were REALLY impressed with that!

Narrowly escaping with our lives from this encounter with the local natives, we hauled back to Livingston, MT and headed south on US-89. We entered Yellowstone Park and well...I am very glad people had the good sense to make this parkland and not just let capitalists slap-up fast food places and strip malls out here. There are some gorgeous vistas here and plenty of interesting turns and twists to make a motorcyclist happy. If you are with the Park Service, do not read the next two sentences. I stopped and stood about ten feet from a bison bull and took a quick photo. I was close enough to smell him--it wasn't awful, but I don't think Calvin Klein will be putting it in a bottle any time soon. I have no idea how I might have smelled to the bison. We're encamped tonight in the town of Gardiner, MT, just across the river from the Park and plan to explore it further tomorrow. Good night, all!

Here's the day's route:

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