2021 MOA Rally Picture Thread

kblount said:

We're kind of a luddite crew and we don't use GPS (I was a cartographer so I prefer paper) so I'm sorry to say we don't have any tracks. However, if you're looking to take a ferry to Great Falls and you're travelling on US Highway 2 turn south at Chinook, MT: https://goo.gl/maps/rMKmerV23CmrEhHy6

There is no gas between Chinook and Winifred and the roads are impassible if wet.

The first image is a few miles south looking at the Bears Paw Mountains in northcentral Montana. The second image was taken a few miles north of the Stafford Ferry (the Missouri Breaks).

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PGlaves said:

On this route, 16 miles south of Chinook is the Bear Paw Battlefield, Nez Perce National Historic Site. This is the location where Chief Joseph and a band of Nez Perce, attempting to flee to Canada, surrendered to the U.S. Army. In what is considered one of the most memorable speeches ever, Chief Joseph has been translated to have said:

"I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Tu-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men [Ollokot] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

If you are riding across U.S. 2 this is a worthwhile short side trip. We discovered it on a test ride after I replaced the deformed axle tube and rebuilt the rear hub on Voni's F800S in a motel parking lot in Chinook in 2011.

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PGlaves said:

On this route, 16 miles south of Chinook is the Bear Paw Battlefield, Nez Perce National Historic Site. This is the location where Chief Joseph and a band of Nez Perce, attempting to flee to Canada, surrendered to the U.S. Army. In what is considered one of the most memorable speeches ever, Chief Joseph has been translated to have said:

"I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Tu-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men [Ollokot] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are – perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."

If you are riding across U.S. 2 this is a worthwhile short side trip. We discovered it on a test ride after I replaced the deformed axle tube and rebuilt the rear hub on Voni's F800S in a motel parking lot in Chinook in 2011.

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flyhi2cfar said:

Good history lesson Mr Glaves!
All the above (well... not the axle rebuild) would have been in October 1877, about 12 years after the US Civil War.
And for perspective may I include two related events of irony.

In June of 1805, a mere 72 years before the Bear Paw surrender... at a point 40 miles SW (near Loma MT on Hy 87, about 50mi NE of Great Falls);
Meriwether Lewis (the Lewis & Clark Expedition) and party spent 9 days at the confluence of the Marias and Missouri River...
pretty much deciding which way to go. They even named the camp Decision Point.
They chose correctly, but were plenty befuddled in their exploration of that area.
And makes me wonder how different history would have been, had they set off up the Marias River toward the Continental Divide
and the Glacier region.

And secondly; just about two years later and about 125 mile west of Bear Paw. Near Cut Bank MT.
On the return trip of the L & C Expedition, Meriwether had the only hostile encounter with Indians.
Over stolen property he stabbed one and shot one.

Just imagine that in one man's lifetime, the exploration to determine the boundaries of our Nation, the Civil War and the Indian Wars.

Incredible.

.... 5/19/21 Addition: Something had been picking at my mind a few days. I finally remembered!
No, it wasn't the Pony Express or the Telegraph era across the American west.
But it's closely related, and it also meant doom for the Indians' way of life.
It was construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.
There was a contentious period just 10 years before the Bear Paw siege and surrender, specifically along the route through Nebraska and
Wyoming. The rail line split the buffalo herds, as they would not cross the tracks. Skirmish and raids were pretty frequent across the plains.
Weaponry made a significant change to the proceedings beginning summer of 1867, US Army soldiers began receiving the Springfield rifle.
It was a breechloader sighted for a thousand yards maximum range.
On two occasions in fall of that year, the Sioux lost some of their best warriors to the quickness and range of the new Springfield.

From about 1850, as a young hunter and brave, at Bear Paw in 1877, and through his passing in 1904....
Chief Joseph certainly had perspective on western expansion.

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nyfty said:

View attachment 84102

Great elevation changes with some tight curves. Summit is 10,200 ASL. Best of all, almost no traffic. From Laramie take WY 130 west. On the west side go to Saratoga for the hot springs on the bank of the North Platte river. Watch out for the Pronghorns, on the prairie, and the moose in the mountains.

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gsinnc said:

Headed northwest

View attachment 84105

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gsinnc said:

Same place just new owners. It has been there for years but just got sold couple years back

Full daily ride report here

https://advrider.com/f/threads/coas...y-in-great-falls.1506620/page-2#post-42535804

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