July 17, 2013: Flash Flood in Bannack.
Billings Gazette photo
The annual Bannack Days celebration was scheduled last year for July 18 and 19, and we thought it would be fun to go check it out. The rain gods, though, had something else planned for Bannack: a flash flood that tore down the main street for 90 minutes. There were about 20 people visiting the town that day, and some were caught by the flood, but all made it out alive. Holy buckets. Of rain. But look at the blue skies in this photo. Amazing.
Bannack was closed for the rest of summer last year. I’d heard that the damage had been fixed, but I was worried that one of my favorite places might never be the same.
It was rainy for our road trip to Bannack this week, but the town looked just as it always has. We camped on Grasshopper Creek, and had the town to ourselves in the late evening and early morning.
There are two cemetaries in town, an early one on the hill right above town, and a later one a little ways outside of town.
As always, it’s the children’s graves that pull at our hearts, even more than a 100 years after they’re gone.
Off the Beaten Path: Hikes, Backpacks, and Travels 
What an amazing place, so full of solitude! Dramatic!
Drama and solitude: exactly right. Would have been a better title! Thanks.
A great “been there!’
🙂
Pleased they were able to repair the damage. We were there five years ago. It looks the same now!
They must have done a lot of work, that’s for sure.
WOW! So grateful for rescue and restoration. I’m impressed. And yes, it’s always moving and poignant to see children’s graves. I can see why there are people who feel compelled to leave fond tokens of their recognition at the graves, even though it’s entirely possible no one living knows anything about the specific children in them anymore; the death of a child is a universal loss.
xo
Exactly. It’s doubly moving to see the little toys and flowers that have been left. What a hard life it was – one family lost three children in two years.