Hole-in-the-Wall, Montana, United States
This was my first time on a guided canoe trip. One thing
that occurred to me is just how much work is involved. In this case it’s mostly
for the guides, but it would be similar if doing a trip independently. I guess
part of it comes down to how much gear you can pack along with you in a canoe
and how you have to lug it up the banks and set up camp. On a backpacking trip,
there’s only so much you can carry. Of course, that involves the work of
carrying it all the way.
After breakfast of French toast and sausage, we went for a
short hike into the canyon to see some Indian petroglyphs, those being carvings
on the rock (as opposed to pictographs, which are paintings on the rock). This was
the first but not the worst experience with “gumbo”, the bentonite clay soil
that becomes very slick and super sticky when wet and almost rock hard when
dry.
The first stretch over river in the morning under cloudy
skies was notable for several stacks of Shonkonite, stacks and dikes of volcanic
rock that’s much harder than surrounding sandstone so erodes more slowly, among
them Citadel Rock and Eagle Rock, the latter of which looks more like King Kong
or Harambe from the distance.
Bald
eagles seemed especially numerous on the river this morning, including one with
fledglings in a prominent nest in an isolated dead tree.
Rounding a corner, the spectacular site of Hole-in-the-Wall
came into view, possibly the most famous feature in the Missouri Breaks. Hole-in-the-Wall is a large arch in the white
cliffs near the top of a ridge several hundred feet above the river that is
visible from a long way in either direction. We pulled out, set up for lunch,
and went for a hike up, a mostly easy walk that near the top involved going
through a narrow slot and then some scrambling up a rock incline I would
probably not have been daring enough to try if I had been alone. The top of the
world views around the arch are absolutely spectacular and the highlight of the
day, if not the entire trip.
Skies mostly cleared during the hike, which was followed by
a beautiful afternoon floating on the river through some of the most impressive
white cliff and dark butte formations, then past a supposedly haunted abandoned
homestead once inhabited by a woman who is said to have gone insane. Supposedly
you can still hear her ghost playing the piano if you get close at night.
Our second night’s campsite was at a place called Slaughter
River, across from another long white cliff and not far from where a tributary
of that name enters the Missouri. The view from my tent on elevated ground
along the river was probably the best of the five campsites on the trip. Dinner had a Greek theme with chips and
hummus as an appetizer, lentils, and gyros/lamb meatballs with all the fixins
as the main. The night was clear,
breezy, and chilly, and I slept like a log.
2025-05-22