To the north of Bald Ridge is the aptly named North Ridge (6,803 feet).

Radio towers on top of North Ridge (6,803 feet).

Radio towers on top of North Ridge (6,803 feet).

Various peaks of the Bighorn Mountains are also visible looking further to the north.

I don't know which peak this is. Peaks in this general direction are named Mather Peaks, Powell Lakes Ridge, and Bomber Mountain. All are in excess of 12,000 feet.

Zooming in further, it looks like I may be seeing two peaks, one in front of the other.

If that's the case, I'd say that I'm looking at Mather Peaks East (12,420 feet), and West (12,348 feet). Since this photo looks west, one peak behind the other would match the East and West names. I have no idea, though. This is all just a guess on my part.

Zooming in on the peaks off in the distance.

Possibly Mather Peaks East (12,420 feet), and West (12,348 feet) off in the distance.

Possibly Mather Peaks East (12,420 feet), and West (12,348 feet) off in the distance.

From Buffalo, Wyoming, we made our way to westbound Interstate 90, which actually runs north-south in this part of the state. We passed by the city of Sheridan, Wyoming and turned onto Decker Road, so named because it takes motorists to the town of Decker, Montana. Actually, the word "town" is slightly misleading, as the only thing I saw in Decker was a post office. Eventually, we happened upon the Tongue River Reservoir State Park.

The Tongue River Reservoir was created in 1939 with the completion of the Tongue River Dam on the Tongue River, which flows northeast from the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming into Montana. The fact that this map shows North on the bottom bothered me.

We pulled into one of the parking areas and headed to the reservoir to take a few pics.

The Tongue River Reservoir was created in 1939 when construction of the Tongue River Dam was completed.

I also discovered that the Tongue River Reservoir is quite large at 12 miles in length.

As was the case with a lot of places I had seen so far on this trip, we had the whole place to ourselves. There isn't much of a population, let alone a population density to worry about here.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

I took two pics from one location in an attempt to stitch them together for a panorama. This is picture #1 of 2.

Panorama picture #2 of 2.

Two-picture panorama of the Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

Since it worked with two pics, I thought I'd try a panorama with five pics. This is picture #1 of 5.

Panorama picture #2 of 5.

Stitching the first two pics together worked well.

Panorama picture #3 of 5.

Panorama picture #4 of 5.

Panorama picture #5 of 5.

Five-picture panorama of the Tongue River Reservoir. This actually turned out much better than I expected.

The sun trying to peak through the large cloud made for a series of great pictures.

The sun is trying to peak through the large cloud.

I like the reflection in the photo above the best.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Decker, Montana.

I remember the first time I visited Heather when she lived in Colorado. During one of our drives through the middle of nowhere, I saw a road sign I wasn't familiar with - "Open Range." The Cliff's Notes version of the sign's meaning is that it would be a good idea for motorists to watch out for cattle on the road. I encountered this again today.

The roads into and out of the State Park are unpaved, which is common. In an area labeled as "Open Range," cows are free to graze wherever they want, in this case, next to us as we passed by.

I stopped so I could take a few pics.

They didn't seem to be too bothered by us passing through.

Ok, maybe this guy was a little perturbed.

But nobody else paid a whole lot of attention to us.

My lesson in "Open Range" roadways.

We left the Tongue River Reservoir State Park and headed north out of Decker on State Route 314. This was a beautiful drive almost directly north through the middle of nowhere. The only town labeled on a map on this section of Route 314 is Kirby, Montana. But just because it's labeled doesn't mean it actually exists. I later learned that Kirby is actually listed as a ghost town, which explains why I don't remember seeing anything.

Route 314 ended at its intersection with US Route 212 around 2 miles west of an actual town - Busby, Montana. We turned left heading west, away from Busby, with the ultimate goal being to run into Interstate 90 so we could head to Sheridan, Wyoming.

We had been noticing a lot of cloud cover looking southwest toward the Bighorn Mountains. I pulled over near the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, (which was closed), to take some pics of the weather in the distance.

If I had to guess, I'd say I was looking at a storm of some kind off in the distance.

Great weather in the distance over the Bighorn Mountains.

Zooming in on the great clouds off to the southwest.

Since panorama pics seem to work well for me, I took a series of 4 pics to stitch together. This is picture #1 of 4.