Not just another pretty place.
During a recent trip to spend a few days with my parents in Harlem, I took advantage of the last fall-like Saturday of the year (10/28/17) to visit Snake Butte. The prominent butte sits on the Ft. Belknap Reservation, just 10 miles south of Harlem (my hometown). It is a pleasant prairie hike, but if you’re there just to take a walk or see the tribe’s bison herd, you’ll miss out on much of what Snake Butte has to offer. To fully appreciate the place you need to understand its volcanic origin, its significance to Native Americans, the role it played in the biggest construction project in Montana’s history, and how it was impacted by recent ice ages.

Quiz on Friday. 🙂
The calm, sunny, smokeless skies made for an especially enjoyable hike, but my goal this time was to take photos of these “points of interest”, and then put together a photo tour (see link below) to highlight the fascinating story of Snake Butte. So as you look through the photos be sure to read the captions – And if you know of a more interesting landform on the Hi-Line, please tell me about it!

FYI: The Hi-Line is the general area around Highway #2 in northern Montana between Glacier Park and the North Dakota border.

Below: This map marks hikes that have been featured on bigskywalker.com so far – Select full screen to expand, zoom in for more detail, or click on a marker for a link to the post.