Smoky skies

 We started off the day under clear skies with temperatures in the mid-50's which meant I wore all of the liners to my motorcycle gear to stay warm.

Instead of taking interstates from Missoula to Bozeman, our destination for the weekend, we opted for the more scenic route starting east on Montana Hwy 200. We rode through valleys with views of the mountains to both the north and south, sometimes through forested hills and other times past fields planted with corn, wheat and hay.

We turned south on Montana Hwy 141 and crossed the Blackfoot River. We crossed many smaller creeks and streams and almost everywhere saw signs pointing out fishing access points.

Hwy 141 passes by Nevada Lake, created with an earth dam in 1938.

In Avon we turned east on US 12 and climbed up 6,320' MacDonald Pass on the Continental Divide. The skies had been clear until we started down the eastern side of the pass, and for the rest of the ride it was so smoky from hundreds of wildfires in Canada that we could barely see outlines of mountains.

US 12 skirts Helena and then joins with US 287 heading south, crossing the Missouri River which starts near Three Forks Montana and ends at the Mississippi River. At 2,341 miles, it's the longest river in the United States.

We continued south on US 287 to Townsend, then diverted to a series of county roads, once again taking the scenic route into Bozeman instead of the interstate. Even though we knew there were towering mountain peaks surrounding Bozeman, we could see none of them due to the increasingly smoky skies.

We'll stay in Bozeman through the weekend with our youngest son and then based on weather and air quality conditions, decide which direction is next.