The town of Three Forks gets its name from the nearby three rivers that converge to form the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark came up the Missouri, of course, and decided to name these three tributaries after the President and Secretaries of State and Treasury that sent them on this journey of discovery. The Madison and Jefferson join up first, then about a mile downstream, the Gallatin makes the third river serving as headwaters of the Missouri River. The Madison and Gallatin both get their start in Yellowstone Park. The movie A River Runs Through It filmed the fishing scenes on the Gallatin in Gallatin Canyon.

Lewis drew a map of this area and labeled Fort Rock as a good place for a fort, but one was never built here. The campground at Missouri Headwaters State Park was full, so after our hike to see the sights here, we moved to the Three Forks Market RV park.

The town grocery store has put in an RV park and it is very nice and very convenient for getting groceries. Right behind us is the Three Forks Rodeo arena and grounds. A high school rodeo competition is taking place this weekend, so we have the sights, sounds and smells of horses. Several times Tony thought the litter box needed to be scooped, but he was just getting a whiff of the “barnyard” across the street.