Hardy Creek area and River Road from Cascade to Ulm

We had some worrisome news yesterday, and couldn't bear to stay around this place, so we headed out toward Great Falls, McDonalds, and a great photo shoot. Those are the times when you most feel the need to create, so here are these photos for you to see.

Our trip began on the back road to town, where we realized we were starving. I had my favorite chicken nuggets and honey mustard sauce and Robert had his favorite, cheeseburger! From there, we headed up past the airport, down the back roads to Ulm, and from there, took the old highway to Hardy Creek.

At that point, Robert thought we might come home again, but I convinced him we still had an hour or so of light and we ought to take advantage of it, since we were all ready "out there".

We took the back road to Cascade, ordered some meat at Cascade Meats, and from there, crossed the river, deciding we'd take the first road that turned left.

Ended up on River Road! A delightful road to poke along, looking for photos. It's very difficult nowdays, to get photos of Square Butte, with no houses, power lines, or commercial enterprises ruining the view. From River Road, I was able to satisfy that urge to show a "pure" Square Butte, I wanted it to look like it might have when Charlie Russell saw it in the old days.

Eagles were fishing along the river, and sitting in the cottonwood trees along the road. Wild turkeys scratched at the base of trees, and deer watched us go by. The moon came out in the late afternoon sky...Robert spied an old Buick in a yard, and all in all, it was a great trip!

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The photos here are just a teaser to maybe get you interested in seeing the remainder of photos on my flickr site.
Donna Ridgway
Email me at artistreferencephotos@gmail.com
Nature of Montana Photo blog.
Photos and art studio blog.

Great Falls on 226 to Ulm on 330.

This little old windmill sits by itself, out on the prairie. I look forward to seeing it, each time we travel this road. It's on road 226, heading south out of Great Falls. We take this road in a circle until it joins 330, heading into Ulm.

I love taking photos of cattle chewing their cuds. This bull was chewing away...I catch the rhythm and click when the mouth is open! It's kind of a silly game I like to play. Cattle are always chewing their cuds, so you know you can play often...:) To bad the mouth is always in line with the top wire on the fence...


The prairie is beautiful. I never get tired of finding it's secret places.

This house sits on a bluff, I can't imagine homesteading there. But perhaps in the old days, a creek ran there, so it made sense!
This is the bluff the house sits upon.
Smith River, near Ulm.


There are always deer along this road. This trip, there were some magpies sitting on the does back. You can see them if you look closely. The deer were a long way off, I barely caught the magpies.
Donna Ridgway

Email me at artistreferencephotos@gmail.com
Nature of Montana Photo blog.
Photos and art studio blog.