Nearby was Fort Benton ND where we visited the Fort area and local graveyard where many of the pioneers were laid to rest. This confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers was our destination and the real start point of our reconnaissance trip, although we had learned quite a lot up to this point in the journey.

We then headed west on Highway 2, which was under construction for several miles. We drove on orange-red clay and gravel through miles of outcroppings of glacial silt with colors varying from white to tan to gray with streaks of black in between. We passed through Culbertson, Poplar, Wolf Point and then left Hwy 2 at Nashua and took Hwy 117 south to Fort Peck Lake and Dam.

This is a huge lake (134 miles long) easily seen from space in satellite photos. The problem with navigating the lake is that it has some 1,500 miles of shoreline with many dead-end fingers of water where a kayaker could easily get lost or delayed. We put the kayak in at the boat ramp and kayaked out into the lake to check its appearance and size. My immediate thought was to get some form of navigation map so that with the help of a compass one could navigate up the main channel to Fort Benton, MT.