We arrived at the North Gate to Fort Harrison and called for security to open the gate. A very nice civilian security service person arrive to open the gate. They asked if we had any weapons and I informed them that we had a Glock 19. They made sure it was cleared and then put a cable-lock on it until I leave the base. This is the first base that has inquired about a weapon. We then proceeded to the Billeting Office to check in as we had a reservation for a spot. Turns out that they had made an error and booked us in for the next day and all sites were full; off we went to the overflow space for the night. This was not a big deal since we had water in our tanks and could "dry-camp" without issue. The Camp Host, Jessie, is a very nice person who is a retired Navy Seal.

We drove into Helena and went to the Capitol building; a beautiful building. The grounds are immaculately maintained. I took several photos of the site and then we drove around the area. It is clear that the the people of Montana are quite proud of their capitol building and grounds.

We then drove to the Cathedral of Saint Helena near old-town Helena. We were there thirty minutes before evening mass, so people were beginning to arrive. What a fantastic church! The stained glass work in the building is about the best that I have ever seen. I did go around taking pictures and was in awe of the workmanship that went into this place. It was so inspiring that it just made me want to sit, relax, and show my appreciation to God for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me. Check out the photos sections for the pictures of the cathedral; pretty amazing.

We then took a walk through old-town Helena. The buildings in this area were constructed, mostly, in the late 1800s. They were awesome and very well refurbished. The architecture was pretty amazing as you will be able to see if you look at the photos. This constitutes a great downtown area for people to explore; kind of like a river-walk without the river. We also came upon a place called Reeder's Alley. It was originally constructed during the Montana gold rush around the 1880 time-frame. It grew to include several small businesses and a couple of brothels. the city has restored it to close to its original condition to include rebuilding a wooden bridge just to the north of the alley. This is the oldest operational wooden bridge in the country.

Lisa found information about a boat tour of the Missouri River through the narrows named by Meriweather Lewis as the "Gates to the Mountains." When Lewis traveled this area, the Missouri Rivers was a wild river. Now, dams have been built and this section of the river is now about 100 feet deep. It is a channel that is about 50 to 100 yards wide. It is now a lake. The two-hour tour is aboard the Sacawajea 2, which carries about 40 people. Our captain and guide, explained the topography and history of the area. We were able to explore for a short time where Meriweather Lewis and his group camped along the river in 1805. Our guide also explained what had happened during a forest fire along the river at Mann Gulch; 14 fire-fighting air jumpers parachuted into the fire area and teamed up with on person on the ground to fight the fire. Only two of the 15 men survived the fire; she explained how they did it. The fire overran the 13 others. This was a beautiful and informative two-hour tour of the Missouri River. We intend to take the kayaks to this same location and kayak through the narrows; very beautiful.

We decided to go to the Gates to the Mountains and then kayak in the channel. It was a near-perfect day. We had absolutely calm winds and calm, glassy water for the entire trip. We ended being out on the water for over five hours. Along the way, we say deer coming down to the lake to drink and I found myself as close as I have been to a bald eagle. It was about 25 feet away, watching me float by. It then flew to another tree-top and I was able to get several photos. Pretty cool! The two o'clock boat tour of the Gates to the Mountains came by us as we were floating along. The steep cliffs made it quite fun to kayak right along their bases. Pretty amazing and awfully hard on the neck. As we were cruising along another large tour boat came by with a host of people on it who were partying "hearty." We waved to them and they waved back. When we got back to the dock. they were returning to the dock too. Turns out it was the governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, who is a democrat (go figure; in Montana?) and is now running for president.

While traveling to Helena, we stopped at a reststop on the freeway. While there, we talked to a couple who recommended that we go to the York Bar for the best hamburger in the state. We decided to give it a try after the kayak trip to Gates to the Mountains. York is a very small town in the mountains and has just a few buildings and an old-fashioned bar that serves food. We got the burgers and they were excellent. Nice to eat with the locals and have a great hamburger. They served them with chips, but fries would have been better. A great experience.

Through research, Lisa found a place to kayak on the Missouri River called Canyon Ferry Reservoir. We went there to kayak and ended up with another gorgeous day. We kayaked for about three hours and then headed home. We kayaked near the Canyon Ferry dam. The dam is about 250 high and backs up the Missouri River for about 20 miles. No other boats on the lake, so it was calm water like glass.

Fort Harrison has a museum. It was open on the day that we were leaving so we prepped the RV for departure and then walked over to see the museum; it was enlightening. Fort Harrison is an Army National Guard base that provided a training location for the Montana National Guard and militias from the past. During World War II, the base played an important, top-secret mission. It seems that Winston Churchill was informed that the Germans were in the process of making an atomic bomb. The Germans had built a super-secret facility to make "heavy water" in a valley in Norway. Churchill figured if Hitler got an atomic bomb, the war was over. He contacted President Roosevelt and came up with a plan create a team of special operations soldiers to attack and destroy the facility. The team was made up of Canadians and American and they were trained to fight at night with knives rather than guns. They also trained to work in snow and ice conditions. Just before they were to deploy on this "suicide" mission, a group of commandos from Norway destroyed the facility. This team from Montana went on to fight in Europe against the Germans and were greatly feared since they worked silently at night killing Germans who were on guard duty or patrols. They became known at the Devil's Brigade" and the "Black Devils" since they cover their faces with black paint for night ops. Amazing and a prelude to the Navy's Seals.