What Lurks Behind the Clouds 2-11-24

What Lurks Behind the Cloud Flynn Family Story Slingers 11 February 2024 by Cary Holmquist Where I grew up was under the Big Sky Country, the East Side of the Continental Divide, where the Rocky Mountain Front to the west was more than 30 miles distant. The Land of the Shining Mountains, as several native tribes called it, named for the bright Sun’s light reflecting off the snow or bare rock, depending on the season. Those mountain peaks and jagged outlines blaze out until the shadows of evening crept over them like a dark blanket. To the south were the tall ancient volcanic lakes called Square Butte and Crown Butte, and the lower buttes called Floweree and Shaw Buttes. And behind them the dark peaks of the volcanic Adell Mountains and eastward the Little Belt Mountains and farther east the huddled peaks of the Highwood Mountains. All around and to the north were no peaks. A few low horizontal ridges we called bench lands, not at all flat—just try...