Black Eagle Dam

This was my first 'exploration' of my new home state.  Black Eagle Dam is about 10 minutes (at most) from the house and made for a nice walk and a chance to use my telephoto lens on "Cammy" (my camera).

Black Eagle Dam is on the site of the Black Eagle Falls mentioned by Lewis and Clark on their journey.  It had to be amazing to see it as actual falls, without the dam there.  I plan on visiting the other 4 falls along the river.

The road to the dam is twisty and fun to drive down.  However, I would not like to drive it in the snow.   The dam also is connected to the River Trail which you can bike or walk on for about 43 miles along the Missouri River.

 This is the bridge across the spillway to connect to the trail and to get closer to the water.

The bluffs across the river.  There is really no way to portray how immense they are.  If you look about a quarter of the way down from the top, you will see a fence.  The fence is about 4 feet tall, to give an idea of how tall the bluffs are. 

There are also seagulls every where in Great Falls.  They were about the last bird I ever expected to see here.  

Loving the telephoto lens!  This was a guy fishing in the shallows below the dam.  I would not like to slip and fall into the rapids though.  The water is pretty swift through here. 

 I love the water falls created by the rocks below the dam.  Can't get enough of taking pictures of the water over the dam. 

After walking down the river on the trail and back up to the dam for about 30 minutes or so, I decided to see the other dam in the area - Rainbow.  Unfortunately, it is more modern and closed where you can not get to it.  I will have to go out on the other side of the river at a future date and take pictures across the river. 

But I did take some pictures on the road leading to Rainbow Dam.  This is a railroad trestle across the river with the mountains in the background.

And another picture across the valley to the mountains.  It is hard to realize Great Falls is in a bowl of sorts.  One thing I can't get over are the clouds.  They are so close and we get some really awesome formations.  Of course, being 3000 feet closer to them might have something to do with how different the sky seems here in "Big Sky Country".