Rugged Outback Boots

Montana's outback

JORDAN - The gates of hell may have fewer cautionary warnings than those given to travelers venturing into the prairie badlands surrounding Fort Peck Reservoir.

There are the obvious concerns like extreme heat and cold, but then there are the ones specific to this region of northeastern Montana - mud so thick your boots grow 6-inch gumbo soles from walking around, remoteness often requiring self-rescue, sink holes big enough to swallow a truck.

This year, there is even more to worry about, thanks to the erosion and flooding caused by unusually heavy rainstorms and snowmelt runoff.

"Most of the refuge roads are still impassible," said Dana Hardy of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge office in Lewistown. The 1.1-million-acre refuge surrounds Fort Peck Reservoir. "All of a sudden you are going to come to a giant puddle and you won't know if it's 5 feet deep or 5 inches."

On a map, Fort Peck Reservoir's rugged coastline looks like Medusa's snaky hair - zigging and zagging in points, fingers and bays along its 1,500-mile-plus distance. The reservoir was created by backing up the Missouri River in the 1930s as part of a Depression-era work project. A drive around the outside of the reservoir would take days on rutted dirt roads, and no one can say if there's ever been anyone who has dared to boat around the entire shoreline in one trip.

The terrain can be as stark as any in the Utah desert. Buttes rise as steep and tall as a Mayan pyramid. Scoured sandstones balance harder rock like a tabletop. Gray gullies run deep and steep, the soft soils gouged by flash floods.

Less thirsty sagebrush and juniper are the hardiest long-lived plants to grow here, but in shaded areas pine trees are found. In a wet spring like this one, the prairie sprouts green with grass and blossoms with a variety of wildflowers, everything from yellow sweet clover to pink wild roses. The steady wind is sweet with their essence. A coyote chorus serenades the sunset.

So why bother to come? What's the attraction?

"God it's gorgeous in there," said Rick Graetz, a writer and University of Montana instructor who has spent 40 years exploring the nooks and crannies of the area. "I like the mountains of western Montana for the skiing, but I love eastern Montana's prairie."

The other main reason folks venture into the region is to hunt big game in the fall. The refuge and surrounding lands are home to elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope and bighorn sheep. Beginning with the archery season in September and on through the end of the rifle season in November, hunters scour the region in search of meat for the freezer or trophy antlers for the wall.

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