Shelby & Fort Benton, Montana Expedition (56k beware)

thethinginthewoods · Mar 7, 2011

During a lazy weekend while attending MSU-Northern in Havre, I decided to take the new Jeep out for some adventures to explore the surrounding area and distant towns. (Sorry for the crappy quality of the pics, I took them with my cell phone)

I started out following highway 2 along the BNSF/Amtrak Empire Builder route to Shelby, Montana, the next biggest city to the East of Havre.

Looking East, back towards Havre:

I stopped at an abandoned grain elevator outside of Lothair:
Looking West:

Looking up the collapsed elevator shaft:

thethinginthewoods · Mar 7, 2011

I found a really old abandoned farm house a few hundred yards off the highway across the tracks and treked through knee-deep frozen snow to check it out. Judging by the wiring in the walls and architecture, i'd say it was built in the early 1900's, possibly wired later (20's or 30's):

Made it to Shelby:

On the way back to Havre, I found another neat old abandoned farm shack. I threw the Jeep in 4x4 and cruised down a snowy trail to check it out. Within a couple hundred feet of the cabin, the new "stocker" just couldn't compete with the deep snow and it sunk within a few inches of the unibody frame! I didn't have any recovery tools with me (yet), so I dug out with a large ice-scraper and eventually throttled out, having to speed in reverse to keep momentum up.

Heavy winds from the north have taken their toll on the shack:

Stuck:

thethinginthewoods · Mar 7, 2011

On to Fort Benton! Fort Benton was an important stop on the Missouri River during the Lewis & Clark expedition. It turned into a very lawless town and daily death on mainstreet was not uncommon.

An old schoolhouse, just north of the turn-off to Fort Benton along highway 87:

Found a trail leading into a ravine, then along a cliff to the top of a bluff where I found another gathering of cabins at the end of a large wheat field:

thethinginthewoods · Mar 7, 2011

Headed back down the trail and up another ravine. The ravine was really cool because it wandered way back up into the country and I could picture cowboys and indians riding horseback up the trail, then possibly being attacked by indians! Seemed kind of neat that here I am in the 21st century, trekking up the same canyon with my 4.0 L6 powered 4x4 horse!

Top of the bluff:

The cliffside:

A couple miles up the ravine at a dead end!

Found a neat steam paddlewheel boat just outide of Fort Benton:

The frozen Missouri River:

Fort Benton:

The only casualty of the expedition:

MT Mike · Mar 7, 2011

Shelby is west of Havre, and those ravines are called coulees.

What are you studying at Northern?

thethinginthewoods · Mar 7, 2011

MT Mike said:
Shelby is west of Havre, and those ravines are called coulees.
What are you studying at Northern?

Oh! haha, you caught my mistake. I must have been tired from the drive and I guess I accidently typed "east" when I meant west, but it's too late to edit the post. I am studying diesel technology. I just completed an associate's degree in diesel technology back home in Washington, but decided to transfer here to finish up a 4-year.

jmaxj · Mar 7, 2011

great pics i'm now thinking i need to get up there to explore.

Cottontail · Mar 7, 2011

Finding those old abandoned towns and houses and barns was one of my favorite things on the road trip through Montana I did back in the late 90s.

I love abandoned buildings.

jakeWI · Mar 8, 2011

Thanks for the awesome write up! Real cool finds.

I like that paddleboat haha.

Ronbo · Mar 8, 2011

Nice write up, thanks for sharing. I've always wanted to explore the old, abandoned Milwaukee Road railroad right-of-way through Montana. One of these days I'll get up there.

MT Mike · Mar 8, 2011

If you're going to be around in early summer, we should go through the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge. Takes you across the Missouri twice on the only active ferry's in Montana and 60 or so miles of remote two tracks (all legal). I've been wanting to make that drive for a while, but it has to be after spring, or the gumbo mud will have us trapped for days.

Gonepostal · Mar 8, 2011

MT Mike said:
If you're going to be around in early summer, we should go through the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge. Takes you across the Missouri twice on the only active ferry's in Montana and 60 or so miles of remote two tracks (all legal). I've been wanting to make that drive for a while, but it has to be after spring, or the gumbo mud will have us trapped for days.

If you don't mind me crashing the party and depending on where gas prices are by then, I might be interested in throwing in on a trip like this.

MT Mike · Mar 8, 2011

Gonepostal said:
If you don't mind me crashing the party and depending on where gas prices are by then, I might be interested in throwing in on a trip like this.

The more the merrier. Will just have to wait and see what gas prices are like. Probably be June before the roads are passable.

thethinginthewoods · Mar 9, 2011

MT Mike said:
If you're going to be around in early summer, we should go through the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge. Takes you across the Missouri twice on the only active ferry's in Montana and 60 or so miles of remote two tracks (all legal). I've been wanting to make that drive for a while, but it has to be after spring, or the gumbo mud will have us trapped for days.

I'm always in for an adventure! I think our semester ends at the beginning of May and I'm headed to vegas for a few days before I return home to Washington for the summer, but I'd love to do some more exploring and meet some XJ/Jeep folks over here. The more the merrier!

My primary "war-wagon" is back home and could probably tackle anything here, but I will most likely just have my new stock XJ with me since it's my daily driver.

I haven't been here long enough to know what the seasons are like just yet, but are April or September too early or late for off-road exploring based on snow & such?

97XJ2 · Mar 10, 2011

Love this kind of stuff. It's a flatter, bigger version of the Keweenaw and the Mining towns.

MT Mike · Mar 10, 2011

thethinginthewoods said:
I'm always in for an adventure! I think our semester ends at the beginning of May and I'm headed to vegas for a few days before I return home to Washington for the summer, but I'd love to do some more exploring and meet some XJ/Jeep folks over here. The more the merrier!

My primary "war-wagon" is back home and could probably tackle anything here, but I will most likely just have my new stock XJ with me since it's my daily driver.

I haven't been here long enough to know what the seasons are like just yet, but are April or September too early or late for off-road exploring based on snow & such?

April, May, and June are Montana's "rainy" season. If you get caught on some of those dirt roads around the Hi Line when it starts raining, you'll quickly find out that you won't be getting out until it dries out. Those roads turn to pure gumbo quicker than you can say "uh-oh". I've known more than a few people who had to abandon a rig for days/weeks at a time and then find the nearest rancher to help them dig it out once everything dried up, all while staying on a county road. That sh!t gets down right nasty.

That's not to say that a day trip or weekend can't be done, you just have to pay very close attention to the weather and be prepared to change plans rapidly.

Shelby & Fort Benton, Montana Expedition (56k beware)

thethinginthewoods

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thethinginthewoods

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thethinginthewoods

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MT Mike

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Cottontail

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