Mountains

Yesterday, I drove from Helena to Billings for a teaching engagement I have today.  I chose a route that included a two-lane highway that climbed up through Deep Creek Canyon and then crossed back to the Interstate by way of the Shields River Valley.  Posted is a photograph of Mountain Jack and the Crazy Mountains taken along the way.

The Crazies are a so-called island range.   Many of the chevron peaks surge to vertical elevations that reach 6000 feet above the surrounding prairie (10,000 feet in total elevation).  Owing to their location in the rain shadow created by the mountains to the west, the Crazy Mountains are fairly arid and do not support dense forests.  For that reason, the stony heights cut a sharp and impressive pose against the wide-open savannah and blue skies.

After arriving in Billings and setting up the training facility for the class, I was treated to a trip to the new Scheels sporting goods store.  The store is huge—something near 220,000-square-feet.  A glass aquarium archway greats you at the entrance.  A full-sized Ferris wheel operates at the center of the store.  A manmade mountain can be found on the second level of the store.  Posted is a photo of the manmade mountain and some of the animal mounts that are posed on the mountain—oddly frozen there for as long as the mountain stands—just like the mountain man, Thunder Jack, standing before the Crazy Mountains.

Both photographs were captured by my twice-as-smarter-than-me-phone.

--Mitchell Hegman