Someone has said that disasters for humans out in nature are usually caused by predictable factors: an impulse decision, the sunk cost principle, and bodily needs (hunger, thirst, fatigue, etc.)
By five p.m., after leaving Glacier NP and a long, hot day of driving across monotonous east Montana backcountry, we arrived at the turnoff for Hell Creek State Park, a spot Mike had picked via the internet for it’s water access—a treat in that dry area.
Paused at the brink of the turnoff, we contemplated a large sign that advised us that the road ahead was 25 miles of ungraded gravel, and four-wheel-drive was advised.
Mike stopped in front of the disturbing sign. We stared down a long dirt road passing between unprepossessing, bare and dusty knolls.
“We just washed the rig,” he said. Washing the rig in the previous town, scraping and scrubbing off layers of grit glued on with bug juice, had been an hour-long, laborious and expensive chore. “And 25 miles is a long way on a …
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