#2: [19-Apr-04]

09-Sep-2001 -- This is the most convenient confluence to my home of Billings, Montana. About 30 miles away, Interstate 94 takes you to within a couple of miles. Take the Pompeys Pillar exit (I-94 exit 23) and then drive about a mile west, past the Pompeys Pillar National Monument entrance, to the next gravel road on the right. Turn right, and a bit less than a mile later, you will cross over the Yellowstone on what is now a one-lane bridge (although they are currently building a new bridge). Just north of the bridge, you will cross the 46th parallel, but the ranch house is visible up the road to the north and west.

After getting waved permission from one of the ranchhands, I slipped under the barbed wire fence and walked the half-mile east from the road to the confluence point. After an initial uphill, the walk is a gently rolling one with especially good views to the south. The confluence is nestled into a sort of amphitheatre with hills mostly surrounding it on three sides and the downslope continuing down toward the river to the south.

The hike offers a unique perspective on Pompeys Pillar, the only written evidence along the path of Lewis and Clark's expedition, where Clark carved his name and the date into the pillar. The Yellowstone River, the USA's longest undammed river, gives a calming influence on this rugged and harsh terrain.