Sleeping Buffalo

Looking for a place to camp, I found the Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs east of Malta.

Canada is a 45 minute drive.

Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs - A bar, a group of derelict buildings, an RV park, and an indoor hot springs.

It was a CCC project in the 1930s.

$9 to soak.

I found the original sleeping buffalo by the side of the highway on the way to Saco, Mt.

It used to act as a signpost for native people looking to ford the river.

The Missouri River used to flow north toward the Hudson Bay. ~15,000 years ago, an ice dam diverted the Missouri to its current channel.

The Milk River now runs in the ancient channel of the Missouri. The best ford of the Milk River is called the Cree Crossing and was used by native people to get to the southern range. The Sleeping Buffalo rock used to overlook the Cree Crossing. Native people incised its eyes, horns, backbone, and ribs.

In 1932, somebody said the Sleeping Buffalo was restless; they heard it bellowing in the night and noticed it shifting positions. So they took it down from the ridge and put it in the Malta City Park. Later, they moved it to the side of the highway.

This is Little Shell country. People leave modern day offerings.

Someone had their package delivered here.

$219.42

The power of the prairie was the buffalo.

Camping was $24 at the hot springs, so I slept at the reservoir.

Mosquitos