Just before NinePipes, the Mission Mountains started making an appearance. We headed for Charlo and the National Bison Range area.

Charlo, MT was originally a trail crossing for freighters hauling grain and other goods from the rich Ronan Valley to the railroad at Dixon. The place was first called Big Flat, then Charlotte, and later Charlo, in honor of Chief Charlo of the Flatheads, one of the few chiefs who refused to sign Special Commissioner James A. Garfield’s order (August 27, 1872) removing all Indians of the region to the Jocko reservation. Joseph Dixon, a governor and US Senator, was instrumental in establishing the name Charlo.

The Bison Range is technically in Moise, MT but most know Charlo as the “gateway”.

This was my first visit to the range.

Not even buffalo, antelope or elk…

White tail deer, though.

And a river runs through it.

And there was sunshine.