I have just returned from a canoe trip on the Missouri River through the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. This is really a very beautiful area of Montana which not too many people visit. On the fourth and final night of the journey we made camp on the edge of a fantastic cottonwood grove above the river and my nine year old son was soon tree climbing.... He appeared with one of your (your father's ?) stones. We put the stone back in the fork of the big old tree... just a few miles downstream from the crossing point where Chief Joseph and his weary band forded the river before being caught in the Bears Paw Mountains to the north. Best campsite of the trip. Lots of soft-shelled turtles on the opposite side of the river here, diverse bird life in the grove itself...

Kent Perelman
July 17, 2009
Upper Missouri River Breaks, Montana