Wannagan to Missouri Headwaters
Cold night at Wannagan, woke at 7.00am. Coffee warmed us, but Jeri’s fingers hurt with the cold. Cereal and fruit for breakfast, out of the CG by 8.00am for the 20-mile gravel road drive to I-94. Pretty much interstate all day, rolling great plains, wheat, corn and pasture.
Stopped at Pompeys Pillar for a brief walk and lunch. Display and graffiti/carving unfortunately off limits, but the facsimile was good. This was one of the things to see on our list; the only tangible evidence of the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery where William Clark carved his name on a prominent rock near the Yellowstone river. Clark named the rock for Sacajawea’s son, but native American peoples had known of the rock for many years and left numerous carvings on the rock as well. Very low on gas, our chosen gas station was out of operation but ‘Tiger Town’ in Ballantine did it for us and we also got a 10lb block of ice for the cooler. Montana’s mountain ranges came into view, some with snow. Made the Missouri Headwaters State Park CG at 5.00pm. Unfortunately, we could only stay one night but that turned out not to be a bad thing. The campground was very open and our site was very close to others and seemed quite ‘urban’. Parked on a concrete pad which turned out to be an ADA site which we booked by mistake, but the warden let us stay anyway. Booked Saturday and Tuesday night hotels, Jeri cooked meat sauce with peppers and onion served with edamame spaghetti and Mark West Pinot. Bed at 9.15.
Amazing landscape! So why was pompeys pillar named so?
Clark named it after Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, son of expedition member Sacagawea (the only woman in the Corps of Discovery), whom he gave the nickname “Pompy”. Originally called”Pompys Tower”; it was changed to the current title in 1814.