Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 23 the time I pulled up at the base of the jumbled mass of rocks I'd set out to find. As promised, the route to the Ringing Rocks is not suitable for low-clearance vehicles or for motorcycles intended for highway-only use. Visitors also have the option to leave their vehicles in the parking area near the railroad tracks and to hike in on foot. STONES, TONES, GIANTS AND GNOMES I had decided to set out on my offbeat adventure excessively early the morning of my visit, having banked the knowledge the rugged five-mile voyage off the interstate would likely be slow-going and take longer than typically expect- ed to travel such a distance. I ulti- mately ended up having covered ground much more quickly than I anticipated and arrived shortly after daybreak to find Mother Nature had left me with a rare and memorable gift. There wasn't a soul in sight. I had the Ringing Rocks entirely to myself. I clambered out of the Jeep— hammer tucked firmly in my waistband—and headed over to the sprawling iron-red tower of haphazard polyhedrons piled up before me. They seemed oddly out-of- place in the landscape, as if they had been dumped out of the sky and onto the forest floor below. Their rusty color contrasted with the drab gray of the boulders lying outside the perimeter of the pile, and instead of having smooth, weathered edges like most stones in the area, these were angular and had long, nearly flat surfaces. They weren't remarkable in appearance, but their visual differences made the mound stand out from the surrounding landscape like a beacon. Nothing was growing on the boulder mound, even though tall pines and wildflowers were thick in the area leading right up to its base. I was initially cautious about climbing onto the rocks because I was extremely concerned one could shift beneath me and tumble to the valley floor below. If the rocks are removed from the pile, their ringing sound is lost forever. It was also a ride down the mountainside I wasn't keen on experiencing. I tested my footing and was relieved to con- firm they were firmly positioned against one another. I scrambled up across the boul- ders, which varied in size from about three feet to 12 feet wide, making my way about halfway up the pile before I pulled out my trusty hammer. I chose a stone at random and lightly tapped it, cre- ating a magnificent, resoundingly deep tone strikingly similar to that of an old church bell. Even though I knew what to expect, the richness of the tone came as a surprise. I quickly sought to replicate it, twisting left and right and lower BEAVERHEAD/ BEAVERHEAD/ DEER LODGE DEER LODGE NATIONAL NATIONAL FOREST FOREST D D

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