A landscape photograph of the Judith River valley near Winifred, Montana.

– Jason Fried

I drove two hours to Sunburst, Montana in the wee hours last Saturday morning to visit a strange geological formation and landscape known to some as Jerusalem Rocks. Not many have seen this part of Montana; it is only a stone’s throw from the Canadian border out in the middle of no where. And since the land is privately owned, most travel brochures mentioned it at all.

I had never seen anything like it in my life. Of course, I haven’t been to Arizona yet either. Strange rock formations weathered over time. A landscape that surely took many thousands of years to create. About the only people that frequent this place, it seems, are the local high school. Evidence of past parties (i.e. broken beer bottles) litter the surroundings and foolishly they have etched their names into stone at places. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful site and I wish more people had an opportunity to see it.

This was just a scouting trip on my part. I will return to Jerusalem Rocks again over the next several months. If I can fit it into my schedule I will camp there for a weekend yet this fall so I can explore every nook and cranny. Then I hope to return again this winter when the strange rock formations are covered with snow. And a spring trip would be nice when the field in the valley below becomes green and perhaps with a model or two in tow.

A field of waving wheat south of Chinook, Montana.

Almost all of the wheat has been cut from the fields here in north central Montana, but there is still some that remains. This is some of the summer’s last wheat here in these parts.

Stop sign that has been riddled with a shotgun outside of Havre, Montana.

There aren’t too many road signs here in Montana that don’t have bullet holes in them. At first I didn’t understand why. But then I realized it was for the same reasons I have so many photographs of utility poles. On the stark eastern Montana landscape often there is little else.

I captured this image south and east of Havre early in the morning as the sun was just rising above the horizon. I’ve been waiting to find a good sign with bullet holes to photograph with the sun coming through. The utilty poles in the background were a nice addition.

A billboard advertising all there is to see and do in Havre, Montana.

This is a really neat sign…sorely in need of a paint job, but might neat nonetheless. It can be found on the eastern entrance to Havre right on U.S. Highway 2.

I’m not a big fan of billboard, especially here in Big Sky country, but I think I can make an exception for those pitching the virtues of one’s town.

And national parks.

But that’s it.

A beautiful old church sits on an open plain in what is Lennep, Montana.