Saturday Pictures on Sunday

Saturday Pictures on Sunday

March 28, 2014

(click to enlarge)

We traveled along Madison Rd. from
Norris Rd., MT 84, up to I-90 accessing
Madison River at multiple points.

Actually, I shot these photos on Friday.  

We were tired of the snow, so I went down the valley where the temperatures are (relatively) warmer and the precipitation (relatively) less, where the snow cover is almost entirely gone.  I decided to explore a section of the Madison River, beyond the sign on Madison Road ("Pavement Ends") that would turn most urban dwellers back.

The Madison is reputed as perhaps the best fly fishing stream in an area that is renown for its fly fishing. Just above the stretch I explored, the Madison joins with the Jefferson and Gallitan Rivers, at the aptly named Three Forks, to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The Madison begins in Yellowstone National Park where the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers join at the aptly named Madison junction. About a hundred miles upstream, the Madison forms Quake Lake, where the river was impounded by the debris of a massive earthquake induced 80 million ton rock slide on August 17, 1959.

The white cliffs reflect the under burden's heavy limestone and gypsum content which, at various times, has supported large cement mining and manufacturing operations in the area. 

Here are Friday's photos! Don't forget to click to enlarge.

Hence the state motto.