Wednesday 26 September 2018
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Today we complete our 700+ mile drive across Montana. As we near the time for our third driver switch O realizes we are very near to Pompey National Monument. Although we are both concerned about time, we decide to stop and briefly explore as we have already driven by on a previous trip intending to stop “sometime in the future.” I guess the future is now.
Pompey’s Pillar is a sandstone formation, the only major sandstone formation in the area. It is located near a ford on the Yellowstone River and was an important site for William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Clark named the site after the young son (nicknamed Pomp, or Pompey) of Sacagawea. Clark was very fond of the child. This is also a sacred site for the Crow people who call it Mountain Lion’s Lodge in their language (iish-biia ah-naac’he’.)
There is more here to see than we have time for, but it is a fascinating visit nonetheless. O and I climb the boardwalk stairs up the bluff to see Clark’s signature on the rock and then ascend to the top where a volunteer interpreter shows us copies of Clark’s detailed journal and amazingly accurate maps. From the summit we can compare his maps to the current landscape and try to imagine the vast herds of bison and elk noted by Clark.
From the monument we continue our drive to North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We stop in Medora for dinner before heading to campsite 19 in the Cottonwood Campground. We are one of three Sprinters camped in a row here!