Buffalo Gap Campground

Reservations or campsites in the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park open on May 1st and they are booked from mid -May through mid-September but Buffalo Gap, just down the road, almost always has sites open. Kind of nonsensical but good for travelers like us who do not make reservations. If fact this is one of those campgrounds where it's best to not make reservations. All the sites have paved parking pads but some are designated as RV and camper parking. They are double wide and fairly level. The tent parking pads are narrow and many are very slanted. Amenities include picnic tables, fire rings, rest rooms, shower rooms, and a dump station with fresh water. 

The campground has two loops, the Mandan and the Hidatsa.  Our site was in the Mandan loop, not designated as accessible and, while it was wide, the tables was down a steep hill. Twelve of the sites in that loop are designated as accessible but only a few actually are. Most have tables far away from the pavement, through rough grass or at the end of narrow paths.  Campground     46.95432, -103.67504

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

The US has had 45 presidents but there are only 14 libraries that are managed by the National Archives - from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama. They each have a museum featuring the president's life and legacy plus archival materials such as documents, files, films, videos, tapes, etc. Most of the other presidents have museums and/or achieves operated by universities, historic societies, or other organizations. Some have nothing at all. 

The Roosevelt Library is not part of the National Archives. It is managed by a nonprofit and is more of a museum than a library. The bulk of Roosevelt's papers are held at the Library of Congress, Dickson State University in North Dakota, Harvard, and the Smithsonian.  

Roosevelt was responsible for so many of the positive things we take for granted today such meat inspection, the Pure Food and Drug Act, anti-trust laws, the US Forest Service, and the protection of millions of acres of land as National Parks, Monuments, and wildlife reserves. He was also responsible for darker chapters of our history and supported American imperialism and the Spanish-American War that put Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba and the Philippines under US control. He believed Anglo Saxons were a superior class of people which colored his opinions and his support of Black and Native American people. The museum does a pretty good job of covering both sides. 

The museum is excellent with no expense spared to make it both information and entertaining. The main exhibit hall leads visitors through Roosevelt's life from his childhood in New York City, to his first political post, his days as a ranch owner in North Dakota, the presidency, and his adventures after he left office. The side galleries use state of the art audio visual displays to put visitors around a campfire with cowboys telling stories, in the middle of a battle in Cuba, and underwater after a boat capsizes on an uncharted river in the Amazon. 

A really fun part of the museum are the Ai photos. Each visitor is given a wristband and directed to a touch screen to fill in their email address and get their photo taken. There are a couple low screens for kids that work for people in wheelchairs. The wristband is held against star logos that are located around the museum. Many put the visitor in a photo from the time period of the surrounding exhibits, and the photos are emailed to the visitor. They are amusing because the visitor ages in the photos as they go through the time periods. The Ai program did a better job of making me look young than it did for Tony. It even gets the visitor's body shape correct.

 

 

The museum is accessible but strangely the entrance does not have a push button to automatically open the doors. It does have one to exit. The exhibit cases are a little too high for visitors in wheelchairs to view everything.

The grounds feature a one-mile boardwalk and a long switchback ramp that climbs the sloped roof of the museum. The boardwalk trail is accessible but there aren't railings or edges which could be dangerous because some sections are several feet off the ground. The switchback ramp is accessible but the view at the top is completely blocked for visitors in wheelchairs by a high wall.

Most of the parking is fairly far away from the entrance. RV parking is in the Medora Musical lot which is about 1/3 a mile from the entrance. Follow the dirt and gravel path - poorly marked and not in good condition. Visitors who have mobility issues can be dropped off at the entrance. Staff may be available to provide golf cart transportation. The golf carts are not wheelchair accessible. 

For a new facility the lack of attention to accessibility in all areas of the museum is disheartening. Library  46.91677, -103.5486

Central Montana Museum

The exhibits in this nicely curated museum follow a timeline of the human history of the region from the Native Americans through the era of trading posts, homesteading, and the growth of towns and cities. Everything is neatly arranged and labeled. Some of the more interesting local residents are highlighted in their own exhibits. Visitors are greeted by a replica of a Torosaurus skull found in Valentine, Montana. 

The museum is accessible. Use caution on the ramp that accesses the rear section of the museum. It's a little too steep. 

There's a paved path on the grounds that loops past a decommissioned missile. The path is accessible.

The bridge the goes from the parking lot to the entrance has does not meet flush with the sidewalk. This obstacle can be avoided by following the paved path on the left side of the parking lot. 

The parking lot is small. We fit by parking across the spaces. Museum   47.07067, -109.4139

The History Museum and Research Center

The museum is housed in a former International Harvester dealership. The building is huge with a lot of empty space. Most of the exhibits are temporary. An overview of Great Falls' is not included which is disappointing as I like to get a feel for the history of places we visit. The second floor has a large research center with thousands of historic documents and records. 

The accessible entrance is on the north side of the building. The second floor is accessed by an elevator. Many of the displays in the research center are not accessible due to the height of the display cases. 

Parking is in the rear of the museum. The parking lot is small but it widens at the south end so RVs can be parked in those spaces without interfering with traffic flow. Museum  47.50002, -111.30515

Lowry Bridge Campground

This tiny patch of BLM land, barely 1/2 mile square, has a campground with five sites, picnic tables, fire rings, a vault toilet, and access to the Sun River. There's one bear box and a sign about bear activity. We didn't see any bears.

When we arrived in early afternoon only one site was occupied. By evening all the sites were full but everyone left the next morning. Stay limit is three days.

The ground at the sites is hard packed and rolling is fairly easy. The tables have extended tops. The road is rough with large loose gravel. The short trail is not accessible. 

The sites are long enough for most RVs but the bridge has a 10-ton weight limit. Campground   47.51288, -112.0083

Montana Museum of Art & Culture

The museum features changing exhibits. The the exhibits in main galleries when we visited were the works of Morton Levin which he created from the 1930s - 2005. He worked in a variety of mediums, and the exhibit included drawings, paintings, prints, etchings, woodcuts, and engravings. Some are very intricate and some, like his depictions of WWII, are disturbing. 

Photos were not permitted of Morton Levin's artwork. The other galleries are small - one featured weavings and the other had a timeline of the museum's acquisitions. 

The museum is accessible.

The museum is on the campus of the University of Montana. It does not have a dedicated parking lot and like most college campus the parking lots have restrictions. We found an hourly lot - W on this map - and walked/rolled 1/3 mile along Campus Drive to the museum. We tried to cut through the campus and found steps without a ramp. Stick to the sidewalk which is in good condition. Museum  46.86473, -113.98473