Day 2 continued
After leaving Little Bighorn we continued our quest to see more state parks. Rosebud earlier that day was unmanned so we put our $5 in an envelope and slid it in a box. Then discussed how this was going to break us if we paid five bucks at every little waystop state park. But we moved on from Little Bighorn to Pictograph State Park. This had a small visitor center with a real person where we saw a sign for a non-resident annual pass to the state parks. Scott did some quick mental math because he’s just good like that, and figured it was a worthwhile deal because we had several parks in the pipeline. That was quite the experience for the summer help. Apparently non-residents do not purchase Montana State Park annual passes. Ever. (At later stops with rangers we had to assure them repeatedly that we had a sticker on our car window. Fortunately, most rangers turned out to be trusting souls, although one was unaware the state even offered such a thing. So fun to be a complete anomaly. Later in the trip I took a picture of the sticker with my phone for proof.)
Armed with our new pass, we hiked the short, but steep trail to the cave. There was a sign up saying to be careful because a rattlesnake had been seen on the trail earlier in the day. Scott’s response: Cool! Another lady’s response: No way am I going up there! Being brave adventurers, we started up. That couple did not. Soon we saw them following us escorted by the ranger with a snake-catching pincer-thing. So we got free patter in the cave. Score!
The cave was fascinating. It had red and black drawings on the walls, but the black ones are harder to see because there is seepage on the back wall which dries white and obscures the drawings. He said they are much easier to see when the cave is wet because the walls are dark.
We then hiked over to the Ghost Cave and got a glamour shot of me in a secluded shade area which was pretty and only lasted for a few feet, but was a nice break from the heat.
Ghost Cave had a series of concretions, which are snowball-like rock growths over ancient clam shells. Photos of Scott with geologic formations whenever possible as he endures my historical forays with good grace.
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