Brian Peterson's road trip to Montana.

The plan was to meet Stan at The Clemmensen Compound somewhere along Highway 200 in Wolf Creek. He always led me to believe they were practically off the grid and couldn’t be located on a map. But I plugged the coordinates into Google Maps and Google gave me directions.

Google directed me past Helena to the Lincoln Highway, which quickly devolved into a twisting, turning mountain road. It was about this time my phone lost the signal. I remembered something about driving 37 miles, kept driving, and ended up behind a gravel truck going slowly uphill.

Near the peak of the mountain the gravel truck turned off. At first I thought it was courtesy, but soon realized it was probably just their destination. The downhill portion of the road ended at a crossroads at Highway 200 with no indication where Wolf Creek was.* Still there was no phone signal.

I guessed, turned left, and ended up in Lincoln. This is where the phone regained the signal, and Google Maps directed me right to Stan’s house. Stan was waiting. We gathered our gear, and he took me on a tour of the Wolf Creek area.

The following photos are by either Stan or me. All of my photos are identified. Most of Stan’s are.

Missouri River looking to the left.

Missouri River looking the other direction with a drift boat and a fisherman in waders along the shore.

The guy is fishing. The dog is under the umbrella. And the lady is rowing the boat. “Montana women are tough,” Stan told me.

We went to Deadman Coulee Rd to look for wildlife. Here is a herd of bighorn sheep blocking the road. Stan is sneaking up on them.

Herd of bighorn sheep blocking the road.

Snarky sheep letting us know his opinion of photographers.

The sheep finally had enough photography and jumped the fence to leave the road.

The yellow bird spotted flitting among the wildflowers along the road was an American goldfinch.

Also spotted a magpie, which is a bird we don’t see in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Magpie flying to another fence post.

At the end of this photoshoot I told Stan I planned to go back to Deadman Coulee Road first thing in the morning for more wildlife photography. I asked him if he wanted to come along. At first he said no, but then said, “Sure, I’d like to go.” We decided to leave the Clemmensen Compound at 6 AM. I sort of anticipated Stan would show up at the Guest House early. I took a shower at 5 AM. Stan knocked on the door just as I was putting on my pants. “Let’s go. We’re burning daylight!”

Here is sunrise somewhere along Highway 434 in Montana.

We arrived at Deadman Coulee Road for golden hour photography. Here is Stan’s action photo of the author.

Here is a low-light, high-ISO image of a Brewer’s blackbird with breakfast.

Here is a beef cow likely destined to become steak, because I don’t think McDonald’s uses grass-fed beef.

We spotted a herd of deer on the side of a hill.

The deer came closer to the road as they foraged.

It was good for the deer we were not hunters. This guy was staring at me as the camera clicked.

We left Deadman Coulee Road to look at other sights in the vicinity.

This is the Dearborn River as seen from the Dearborn River High Bridge.

Another view of the river from the Dearborn River High Bridge. Photo credit: Stan Clemmensen.

A tenacious lone pine, sort of, somehow growing out of the rock.

Here is a cedar waxwing spotted along the road.

This is an old dance hall. They tell me the owners of the ranch want to demolish it. But the neighbors are opposed.

We went to photograph some old buildings from like a hundred years ago when there was a mining operation near Wolf Creek.

Swayback cabin. An old miners’ cabin. Yeah, it’s seen better days. But could you imagine staying in this when it’s 70 below zero?

Photo credit: Stan Clemmensen.

Another miners’ cabin. This one was mostly intact. But it must have been brutally cold inside during winter.

With this day of photography at an end, my plan was to leave at first sunlight the next day for the long drive back to Arizona.

The author. Photo credit: Stan Clemmensen.

*Once I arrived in Wolf Creek I realized I could have driven to the Clemmensen property by I-15 and two straight-shot highways.