Intro to Work In Progress - Dead Cow Beach

Follow the old highway until you get to the hill with the old abandoned house at its summit (the one that everyone thinks is haunted). From there you'll want to look for the second dirt road on your right, the one before the bridge. If you've reached the bridge, you've just passed the road you should have turned on. Once on it, count exactly ten (or maybe twelve, which was it?) cattle guards while traveling down the road. Whether it is ten or twelve does not mater as much as whether or not you are counting them. When you've reached the spot where there's a deep turn in the road and a lightly laid two-wheels-width -road off to the side of it, you'll know this is where you need to be. It also helps that the new owners of the land so nicely put up a "No Motorized Vehicle" sign on the corner in big, bright orange. (it's quite easy to find the turn off now). On the two-wheels-width-road, you will drive a short diddy (yes, drive... you mustn't leave your adventure tools on the road) over the hill, and when you've broken the crest you will first notice the river below, winding and snaking, whipping and swirling across the wooded land. To your right you'll see rings of white rock from tribes of ancient times (Indians), long since moved on and, perhaps, long since left beautiful treasures to be dug up. As your mum or dad drives further on, you'll see on your left the High Cliffs with Rock City upon it (the city of ancient pillars of rock shaped like miniature skyscrapers). Further on, you might get a glimpse of the adventure to be had in the sandstone hills to the right, where the hills are falling into the river and exposing the animals long lost before. But as you get closer to the edge of the river, one thing will become quite clear. This place is not like any other you've ever seen. This place is full of adventures to be had, creatures to be fought, and challenges to be overcome. This place is mesmerizing. This place is magical. This PLACE is Dead Cow Beach!

Now why in the world would such a thrilling spot along the Sun River, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, have such a horribly dreadful name? Well, if you've ever looked into the miracle of Africa, you would see that the giant mammal known as Loxodonta Africana, or more commonly referred to as the African Elephant, has a very mysterious ritual when it comes to the end of its life. The elephant leaves all the others that it has lived its long days with here on Earth, and goes to the place of its ancestors. Its instincts take it sometimes many miles to a land where only the dying elephants go. There they sit and let the inevitable take hold of them. There they join their grandfathers and grandmothers that passed away before them. Dead Cow Beach is the Elephant Graveyard of Montana, except that instead of elephants, we have a much smaller creature that is slightly less exotic to us all. We have the dying grounds of the Ungulates Bovidae, the modern cow.

Don't get too excited! It's only common to see one skeleton of a cow during the trip, but sometimes, SOMETIMES, you'll find three or four. It's quite a sight! They'll all be in different stages of deterioration. Some will be completely skeletal! Some will have little pieces of fur and flesh still hanging from the bones! Some will have meat over most of the innards! Some, if your lucky, will even be freshly dead (these are the ones to set your tent far from, however, because they tend to be the least suitable for sleeping by). But the excitement of the dead cows quickly passes when you realize the giant feat of figuring out what you're going to do next. Maybe you'll run to the river and cross it barefoot, rubbing your soles against the souls of the rounded rollers beneath. Slimy and slippery, they make the task both hard and exhilarating at the same time. Once across, you'll look back over to the other side and be amazed that you actually made it through the waist high current that you see rushing by. But you did make it across, and now you see that you have the world in your hands, the world according to Dead Cow Beach.