The valley warmed up, the cloud layer dropped and it looked to be a dreary, socked in day. We went looking for sunshine.
We’ve noticed that often there are patches of sunlight to the south so the initial thought was to go around the lake thinking we might get some sun in Polson on the south shore. Polson was still under the clouds, but there were spots of light and blue further south singing their siren song.
Just before NinePipes, the Mission Mountains started making an appearance. We headed for Charlo and the National Bison Range area.
Charlo, MT was originally a trail crossing for freighters hauling grain and other goods from the rich Ronan Valley to the railroad at Dixon. The place was first called Big Flat, then Charlotte, and later Charlo, in honor of Chief Charlo of the Flatheads, one of the few chiefs who refused to sign Special Commissioner James A. Garfield’s order (August 27, 1872) removing all Indians of the region to the Jocko reservation. Joseph Dixon, a governor and US Senator, was instrumental in establishing the name Charlo.
The Bison Range is technically in Moise, MT but most know Charlo as the “gateway”.
This was my first visit to the range.
First visit for Karl, also!
Steve told us that in the summer, it is bumper to bumper on the roads that wind through the open range.
Today, though, we had the range nearly to ourselves.
Not even buffalo, antelope or elk…
White tail deer, though – we saw a LOT of deer!
And a river runs through it.
And there was sunshine.
