GOOGLE EARTH SATELLITE VIEW: Eastern Montana, US12 From Powder River MT, Elevation 2392 Ft To Elevation 2502 Ft. Plus Related Passages From Book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.,

In ZMM Route Segment 1 …There are none of these darker areas, hence relatively hot & dry! This fits the experience of The ZMM Narrator, Chris, John & Sylvia Sutherland.

….In above Google Satellite View, The ZMM Route following US 12 West, is the fine yellow line at the right of the image. The ZMM Narrator’s Roadside Rest Area, is discerned above the text “ere-Cox-Creek”.>> ((With a magnifying glass, or the zoom function on your browser, you can see => An even weaker white line, which is the from US 12 entrance ramp curveing up >> Then westward to the fuzzy white area which combines: a) The parking lot, b) Buildings, and c) And to the North, an adjacent slope of bare volcanic ash. >> Then further west is the exit ramp in the darker strip slant down back to US 12.))
….One mile further West you see US 12 crosses the twisty Powder River (2392 Ft), in which you see the white of sand at river curves. The lowland Powder River Valley is the Narrator’s “We enter a low rimed canyon” At the left of the image the road has risen by 200 fooeet (to (2592 Ft).
Here is what the ZMM Narrator says: =>
….We enter a low-rimmed canyon. Before long, a roadside stop I’ve been waiting for appears. A few benches, a little building and some tiny green trees with hoses running to their bases. … [[ Several passages omitted.]] …John goes into the building to soak his shirt with water. …. John comes over dripping with water and says, "You go ahead this time, we’ll stay behind."
…. "I won’t go fast," I say. ... "That’s all right," he says. "We’ll get there."
….So I go ahead and we take it slowly. The road through the canyon doesn’t straighten out into more of what we’ve been through, as I expected it would, but starts to wind upward. Surprise.” *

Now, You Can See What the Narrator Says In The Image =>
…. US 12 (The Yellow Line West), Goes Straight To Cross The Powder River, And Turns To the Right. All This, Fits The ZMM Narrator, Including Fact The Road Is Climbing Rapidly: As is shown in Henry Gurr’s 2002 Research Photo, the feeling is ~3% grade..

GOOGLE EARTH SATELLITE VIEW: Eastern Montana, US12 From Elevation 2592 To Elevation 3005 Ft. Plus Related Passages From Book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.,

In ZMM Route Segment 2 …The darker areas are in the center of the image, among slight hills, showing presence of a minor ridge.

…. At image right (2592 Ft), the narrow yellow line (US 12 Westward) goes straight and then, “meanders a little” as it goes through the minor hills, where the darker green means “and a little higher each time. ... Some shrubs appear “
….After the minor hills, the road then goes through relatively level land (~3005 Ft), where this landscape must then go gradually down sufficiently to create what you see as => Aa narrow darker green band of a rain runoff channel, at 45 deg in the SW corner of the image (~2900 Ft).
….Notice that the flat areas, are a uniform medium brown, meaning grass, sage, and small dry bushes.: This is opposed to many of the slopes amongst the darker green areas, which are somewhat white, meaning wind & rain eroded barren slopes, especially if the slope is South or West facing. It is likely these whitish areas are actually composed of multi-colored layers of volcanic dust, giving evidence of very long history of volcanic eruptions, likely through eons of time, from Yellowstone National Park., mThis would have been the source of massive volcanic eruptions some 335 miles away to the Southwest.. These are mentioned many times in
Henry S Gurr’s ZMM Route Research Photos (August 2019), To Find & Photograph Any Changes Since His First 2002 ZMM Research, 17 Years Earlier. PLEASE REMEMBER: Click Blue Gallery Level Navigation, Upper. Right, To Get Album Description.

….Study the image above and contrast to what the ZMM Narrator says =>
….”Now the road meanders a little, now it cuts back away from the direction in which we should be going, then returns. Soon it rises a little and then rises some more. We are moving in angular directions into narrow devil’s gaps, then upward again higher and a little higher each time. ... Some shrubs appear.

GOOGLE EARTH SATELLITE VIEW: Eastern Montana, US12 From Elevation 3005 Ft To Elevation 2950 Ft. Plus Related Passages From Book Zen and the Elevation toof Motorcycle Maintenance.,

In ZMM Route Segment 3 …The Darker Areas Are Small & Thin, Meaning Road Here Has Gone Down Slightly In Elevation, And Absence Of Hills, Evidently Also Reduces Chance For Rain.

….The right half of above image, repeats previous photo’s “Some minor hills”: and “A narrow darker green rain runoff channel, at 45 deg.” This is so that you can see that this ~5 mile portion of US 12, stays around (2950 Ft), and the area by the road, has relatively few darker green areas.

Thus the ZMM Narrator Doesn’t Say Anything Concerning This Landscape, Because His Focus (And Narrative Purpose), Is On Steady Going Up, And More Green:
… And as Henry Gurr remembers from twice driveing this road westward, his tTraveler’s sSense was always giving a feeling of gradually going up. This sense comes from => Here the traveler can see the western horizon ~6 miles ahead, with upward slope, clear & sharp against the sky, with no land seen beyond. Although there are minor elevation changes, the sense of the road, is always gradually up, because that’s how it looks! And Henry Gurr’s once eastward traverse, didn’t change this feeling.

GOOGLE EARTH SATELLITE VIEW: Eastern Montana, US12 From Elevation 2933 Ft To Elevation 3159 Ft. Plus Related Passages From Book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.,

In ZMM Route Segment 4 …A Lot More Darker Green Areas In The Image Center, And Then This Darker Green Continuing On Both Side Of Road West.

….The above image at right, again repeats the previous image “A narrow darker green rain runoff channel, at 45 deg.” , but is centered on a grouping of darker green hills, where US 20 is starting to go up again, from (2933 Ft) to (3159 Ft).
….The darker green on both sides of US 12, mean more rain and trees.

Here is what the ZMM Narrator says: =>
…”Some shrubs appear. Then small trees. The road goes higher still into grass, and then fenced meadows.”

GOOGLE EARTH SATELLITE VIEW: Eastern Montana, US12 From Elevation 3159 Ft To Elevation 3117 Ft. Plus Related Passages From Book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.,

In ZMM Route Segment 5 … Contrasting Darker Green Areas, At the Ridge Top, Which Is 10 Miles East Of Miles City MT. AND Further West =>A Slope Down To The Yellowstone River, Which Looks Nearly Completely Barren Of Any Life!

….In the above image, focus your attention on the Yellow Google Map PinPoint, Which Marks the road intersection of US 12, with Main Ridge Road.
Please notice
….A) About 1 inch Northwest, is an oblong yellowish area along the North side of US 12, This is a slope of a major road cut, which is seen in many of Henry Gurr’s photos taken near this location. Remember this road-cut, since you will see it again, in the next photo, right side.
….B) Northeast of the PinPoint: The nearly Continuous, even much darker green areas, showing the evident positive effect of its higher rain fall, here on this ridge (~3300 Ft).
….C) And contrast B) with Southwest of the PinPoint: The less solid patch of darker green in south center of image, where forest & meadows surround a near top of ridge Micro Wave Tower..
….D) This C) “patch of darker green may well be the Narrator’s “Sylvia and Chris have walked into the meadow among the flowers under pines through which I can see the far side of the valley, away and below.”
….DE) Especially also notice how barren looking are the slopes to the West, of this “patch!! These slopes o/c have plenty of vegetation, but it can’t much green! Here note that => These are West facing slopes, down the Yellowstone Valley and Miles City MT, and are apparently barren looking, from a combination of hot afternoon sun, and prevailing winds, mostly going East with the rain happening, only after the clouds get move over the the top of the “ridge”,

Here Is What The ZMM Narrator Says: =>
….”Overhead a small cloud appears. Rain perhaps? Perhaps. Meadows must have rain. And these now have flowers in them. Strange how all this has changed. Nothing to show it on the map. And the consciousness of memory has disappeared too. Phædrus must not have come this way. But there was no other road. Strange. It keeps rising upward.
The sun angles toward the cloud, which now has grown downward to touch the horizon above us, in which there are trees, pines, and a cold wind comes down with pine smells from the trees. The flowers in the meadow blow in the wind and the cycle leans a little and we are suddenly cool.

7:53 am Tues 13 Aug 2019: To Get This Better View, Henry Gurr Climbed To Top of South Bluff, of US 12, Slightly West of The Top of the Major Ridge, ~10 Miles East of Miles City MT. ,

….Being in such a view (as shown photo above), The ZMM Narrator Ends Chapter 8, and Ends ZMM Part I. ,

This is all so new. And we are so in need of it, a new rain. My clothes become wet, and goggles are spattered, and chills start and feel delicious. The cloud passes from beneath the sun and the forest of pines and small meadows gleams again, sparkling where the sunlight catches small drops from the rain.
We reach the top of the climb dry again but cool now and stop, overlooking a huge valley and river below.
"I think we have arrived," John says.
Sylvia and Chris have walked into the meadow among the flowers under pines through which I can see the far side of the valley, away and below.
I am a pioneer now, looking onto a promised land.
”
********************

…It is an observed fact that => The increase in elevation of 735 Ft, from Powder River >> To>> US 12 at Main Ridge Road (3127 Ft.), is enough higher in elevation for extra rain, thus creating forested meadows, which the ZMM Narrator Delightfully Reports!!
As seen in the Satellite Views of this Album; =>,
These locations of cooler temperature and extra rainfall are the causes of the darker green areas. .And these darker green areas (usually forested), can be used to discern relative landscape elevation: The Five Satellite Views of This Album have effectively shown these landscape features:

Sincerely … Henry Gurr … 7 May 2020
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