Through Montana to Glacier - Thursday 6-24-2010

The part of Montana from Big Timber to St. Mary starts out as grazing and ranchland. Many large areas with few human signs except fencing and some cattle. Ever since we went to the Badlands in South Dakota we have seen "Cattle Guards" at entrances and exits from public roads. These are grates set at road level about 5 feet wide across the entrance. Metal bars about 2 inches wide span the distance of the opening and there is no gate. The bars are separated by about 3 or 4 inches. This is to prevent hoofed animals from getting out or in the protected spot. Vehicles can drive over them, sounds and feels like "rumble strips". Here in Montana we see less sagebrush than in SD or WY. In many fields there are irrigation sprinkers mounted on wheels that move as they water them. Some are mounted to pivot in a semi-circular pattern and others move across the fields on multiple wheels in a straight line. Almost every town that we saw had grain elevators or bins for storage of crops.
I saw this truck carrying a cow and calf to market. LOL.