GNP: East Side

Now for some sights from the other side of the hump.

This nearly perfectly straight chasm is Sunrift Gorge. When I was young, growing up in Nebraska, I had the idea that whatever landform flowing water occupied, it was sculpted entirely by that very flowing water. And in Nebraska, this is largely true. It wasn't until later when I realized that sometimes, a lot of the time, flowing water takes a path that was created by some means other than itself (this may seem obvious or trivial, but it wasn't to me). Sunrift Gorge is a perfect example. It wasn't carved out by the stream that runs through it, but instead the stream found the crack which itself was a result of some ancient earthquake.

At a point just upstream from where this photo was taken the stream bends at a right angle that would make Pythagoras himself proud.

Out the driver's side.

Out the passenger side.

These pictures, taken seconds apart and on the same road, show how dramatic the Rocky Mountain Front really is. The first photo looks as though it could've been taken in Iowa, while the second betrays its location. Grizzly bears' historical range once extended well into Eastern North America, but now they only go out into open plains along this part of the Front, the Eastern border of GNP.

Running Eagle Falls, near Two Medicine, used to be called "Trick Falls" because of the way the water appears to come from the middle of the rock wall. What happens is the creek sinks into the fragmented bedrock and emerges at the falls. When runoff is heavy, the creek can't sink fast enough and a smaller falls shoots off over the top of the bigger one. The rock escarpment and the Rocky Mountain Front are both part of the Lewis Overthrust Fault.


Thanks to Melissa for driving (and letting me sit in the back taking pictures), to Esther for coming along (and bringing all the good food) and to David Alt & Donald Hyndman for their excellent book, Roadside Geology of Montana.