Christikon

The above scene should be very familiar to our son Dan, our niece Kathy, and nephew Adam. Maybe it may mean a bit more to Adam, as this is where he met his wife Kjerstin. All of the fore- mentioned people worked at least one summer at this camp during their college years as counselors. Our son Dan maybe worked there at least three summers, so John and I were determined to see the camp. We are now parked outside the town of Big Timber and there is only one other small berg between Big Timber and the camp. After that small town John and I had to take a gravel and deeply rutted road for about 16 miles to get to the camp. That road went through the Beartooth Absaroka Mountain wilderness of the Gallatin National Forest. Just south of this area is Yellowstone Park, to give you a point of reference. The road may have been bad but the scenery was fantastic. We traveled over mountainous terrain and broad forested valleys. We were treated to scenes of monumental rocky walls and towering spires rising to 12,000 feet. We crossed a few rushing mountain streams. No wonder our son Dan wanted to keep returning to Christikon.  When we arrived at the camp there was one lone person there, the head of the camp, Pastor Bob Quam. He was busy with the last of many chores necessary for closing the camp for the summer. He warmly greeted us and gave us a tour of the place. While we were talking to him some animal kept yipping at us. It was a marmot, one of several marmots which like to hang around the camp, according to Bob.

The wildlife which we saw during the course of that day were numerous. Toward evening, while returning home, we saw many herds of deer. Counting the few we saw earlier in the day, some of them pronghorn antelope, we saw a total of about 100. In one wheat field there were sandhill cranes feeding peacefully with the deer, a sight which we found quite unusual. We also saw wild turkey and one osprey who was perched high in a tree. On our trip home we stopped at Natural Bridge Park. At one time there was a natural stone bridge spanning the Boulder River here. Being made of limestone it was not destined to last long and now the river running through that canyon is carving out another bridge. What is fascinating is that after the 100-foot waterfall at the mouth of the river, the Boulder river disappears underground and the rocky canyon is devoid of water.The deep canyon and waterfalls were quite an awesome sight. Unfortunately the camera does not quite capture that feeling!