West Yellowstone, MT to Rapid City, SD

Sunday, July 11 - Happy Birthday Abbie!

After a good night's sleep, especially for Abbie and Jeff who were up almost 23 hours, we got up early and made breakfast before heading into Yellowstone. Yellowstone's roads are in a figure 8. When we were here 16 years ago, we 'did' Yellowstone in a day - traveling the outside of the figure 8 in a circle, clockwise. This time, we have two days, and planned a loop a day. We decided to do the lower loop first - because that was the area we did at the end of our day the first time in Yellowstone and we were tired, so don't remember as much, and because the one thing Jeff was looking forward to most was Old Faithful. So - lower loop, counter-clockwise it was!

We drove in the West Entrance and were enthralled even before getting to the loops. The beautiful Madison River paralleled the road, and we were greeted by several bison along the way. We were amazed that people were fly fishing in the water as the bison were grazing along the banks - neither seeming to care much about the other.

We stopped in the Lower Geyser Basin along Fountain Flat Drive to take a .6 mile walk to some geysers. One was at the edge of a stream, much like a hot tub on the edge of a pool. Several were in an area where bubbles, steam and the smell of sulpher were abundant. It was fascinating to watch the water bubbling - actually boiling up from the earth.

We stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots, where we took a 1/2 mile walk on the boardwalks out into the field of geysers. Many areas are fragile with thin crusts and dangerous boiling water or acid, and the only way to see things up close is to walk on the boardwalks. My question was 'how did they put the boardwalks in such dangerous areas?"!

The Fountain Paint Pots had areas that just blurped and bubbled mud, some were small holes with occasional fountains of water splashing out, and others were geysers which erupted every so often, but generally not in a predictable pattern.

We drove the Firehole Lake Drive, stopping to see several other geysers. The one which would have been great to see was not expected to go off until the evening, with a 4-hour window. It flowed into terraces, and the color patterns were fascinating without the geyser!

We arrived at Old Faithful about 11:05, and joined the throngs of people all heading in one direction. We guessed (correctly) that they were heading to the geyser, and discovered the predicted time to go off was 11:20, give or take 10 minutes. We joined everyone in the viewing area and waited. The geyser would start to steam more, then little bursts of water would come up, everyone would point their camers, snap a few shots and say 'ahhh' - 'ohh' as the geyser quieted down again. This happened several times before the 'official' eruption. When Abbie said "Happy Birthday to ME", we looked at the clock and realized it was spouting at 1:27 (home time) - the time of her birth!! After the eruption, we headed to find food (not great fast food), then shopped a little. We were leaving as the next eruption was starting, about 1:00. Old Faithful erupts about every 90 minutes +/- 10 minutes. The area was a mobhouse, with zillions of people and construction of a new Visitor's Education Center taking up a lot of space and parking.

We continued on our loop, heading over Craig Pass at 8626', then down into West Thumb and Grant Village. My goal was to stop at every Visitor's Center to have my passport stamped, and in Grant Village I also joined the park association which benefitted the park with additional funds to keep the park going and help pay for improvements and conservation efforts. I received a free tote bag in return, as well as 15% off purchases in Yellowstone and other National Parks for a year. On our way in to Grant Village, we spotted 2 elk beside the road. We stayed in the truck and took pictures, being careful not to disturb the elk. A family, however, stopped and the 3 kids piled out and headed to within yards of the elk. We left before we saw something we didn't want to see!

We skirted the western edge of Yellowstone Lake, which is North America's largest mountain lake. It is 20 miles long, 14 miles wide, 430 feet deep at its deepest point. Average surface temps are 60 degrees, with bottom temps never rising above 42 degrees. It currently drains into the Gulf of Mexico, but has over time drained into the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. As we drove, we saw several deer grazing, and stopped to take pictures.

The weather was turning cloudy, with sprinkles on and off.

The lower loop of the park is inside the 30 x 45 mile caldera, or basin, of the volcano which created Yellowstone. The magmatic heat from the latest eruption (640,000 years ago) is what powers the park's geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mudpots today.

After stopping at the Fishing Bridge Visitor's Center, where we had showers and hail, and saw the forecast was for 61 degrees, we headed north on the eastern part of the loop, stopping at the Mud Volcano, where we saw one of the most intersting geysers, the Dragon's Mouth Spring. Shaped like a dragon's mouth, with steam spewing out, and water coming out in waves, with the smell of sulphur and the groaning like a dragon, the sight was eerie at best! We stopped at the Sulphur Caldron and discovered the acidity level of the area was just below that of battery acid, which topped the scale for acidity.

We headed across the middle of the figure 8 to leave the park, stopping for construction along a beautiful stream. As we were leaving the park, we saw a bald eagle and several more elk.

We went into West Yellowstone and stopped at the 3 Bears Restaurant for Abbie's birthday dinner. Rick and Jeff tried bison ribs, which they liked. We took photos of several decorated bison in the town, and stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things. We tried to find ice cream cake or birthday cake for Abbie's birthday, but had to settle for fudge at the camp store (what a sacrifice!)


Monday, July 12

We were up even earlier today, and after breakfast headed in to tour the northern loop of the park, again going counter-clockwise.

On our way in to the park, we encountered an 'animal jam' (which occurs when motorists spot wildlife and everyone stops). The cause - a coyote wandering along the road! We saw it ahead, and watched it wander from the left side of the road to our side, walking right past our truck! It didn't seem bothered by the people or cars, and thankfully no one was crazy and got out to take pictures!

We re-traced our steps across the center of the park, taking a one-way narrow road to the Virginia Cascades. We were treated not only to the waterfalls, but to the quiet stream above. I couldn't resist, and peeled off shoes and socks to dip my feet into the stream. Cold - but ah, so good! We stopped at a beautiful meadow - the wind in the trees and birds were the only sounds.

We crossed Yellowstone River and took the South Rim Drive to the Upper and Lower Falls. This area is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, where the Yellowstone River drops 1000 feet over 2 falls. The Upper Falls drops a total of 109 feet. The Lower Falls are visible from Artist's Point, and while there, photographed 2 people who were painting pictures of the falls. Both views were breathtaking, but I think we all agreed that the Lower Falls were the best. When we stopped at Uncle Tom's Trail for a view of the Upper Falls, we discovered a bull elk wandering through the area. Rangers were there to be sure people weren't stupid (as they were), making people back up and clear the area so as not to scare the elk and get hurt.

We then drove the North Rim Drive, stopping at the brink of the Upper Falls for a different perspective, then continuing to the Canyon Village Visitor's Center where we stopped to get an ice cream snack and shop a little after I got my passport stamped. I bought a coat! Only $28, with the 15% discount on that. Now I can't wait for it to be cold :) As we were eating our ice cream, a pica was running around (about the size of a chipmunk or praire dog), and stood up and posed for several pictures for me.

We continued north on the eastern side of the upper loop road, seeing snow, waterfalls and beautiful scenery. We were on the lookout for bear, and were not disappointed! We encountered an 'animal jam', and found an adorable black bear in the center of it. Rick was able to park as a car pulled out, and we had front-row seats to the bear munching flowers in the field only about 25 feet from us. As it ambled toward the cars, people scattered (smart move), moving to put the cars between the bear and themselves. We saw people driving by with someone standing up through the sunroof to get photos, others standing on top of their truck roofs to get photos.

We stopped at Roosevelt Lodge for lunch, getting there at 2:50, with lunch hours listed until 3:00. Abbie tried the bison chili, and Rick and Jeff got elk burgers. I had a salad, and tried the huckleberry vinagarette dressing. Huckleberry is a huge product in this area. We had eaten here when we were at the park the first time, and Rick was determined to eat here again.

After lunch, we continued on to Mammoth Hot Springs, the park's headquarters. After getting the passport stamped (5th and final time for Yellowstone), we did the Upper Terrace Drive, stopping to examine this area carefully. There are no words to describe this hot spring area - other-worldy, with fascinating colors and patterns created by the hot springs. We followed the boardwalks again to see close-up the various springs and pools.

After we left, we headed on our final part of the loop. We missed the Obsidian Cliffs as we were distracted by - a grizzly bear! We had seen one earlier from a distance across a large meadow. This one was close to the road, but in trees where it was hard to get a picture. The rangers were on top of this 'animal jam' in a hurry, not allowing people to stop or get out, so we could not get a good photo of the bear. But we saw it - that's what counts! A short time later, Jeff and Abbie spotted a wolf heading into the trees along a meadow. Again, it was gone before we could stop and get photos but it counted in our animal count! A few more bison and elk ended our day. We headed back to the camper to start packing for our trip the next day.

When we got back to the trailer, we had a note on the door from people from Strasburg, PA, who camp with Rick in the Crossroads rallies! They were parked a few sites away, and recognized the trailer. Rick visited with them as we snacked for dinner.

Tuesday, July 13

We were up early and headed out of West Yellowstone along the western edge of the park, going north to Bozman, MT and Rt. 90. As we were traveling, I spotted a moose along the road! Rick missed it, and we had no cell signal for me to call Abbie and Jeff, who were behind us. We had arranged a signal - Rick would put the left or right turn signal on, depending on what side of the road I may have seen wildlife. We didn't have time to signal - it was right beside us when I saw it.

We traveled from Bozman to Billings, then stopped for lunch before continuing on through Wyoming into South Dakota on Rt. 90. What we originally thought would be about an 8 hour trip turned into 12 hours total - mapquest said 8 1/2, GPS said 10 1/2. With stops, it was a long day! We saw antelope herds in Wyoming. We continued to see beehives - something we've seen throughout the trip. In Billings, we were surprised to see PPL! What are they doing in Montana?

One of my goals this trip was to visit Devil's Tower in northeast Wyoming. We have been near, but not visited it, several times. However, because of our change to North Dakota on the way out, and the unexpectedly longer travel time today, we again were not able to stop. We DID see it, though, from about 25 miles away! No photos, but at least I can say I saw it! (Devil's Tower NP was featured in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in the 1970s as the tower where mysterious extraterrestrial beings were gathering.)

We arrived about 6:00 local time, and Rick didn't want to go out to eat. After talking to our new neighbor, from Scranton, for a while, he checked out what we had in the fridge/freezer, and realized he'd better head to a grocery store. By the time he got back and cooked, it was 10:00 local time! Way too late for dinner no matter how you look at it! We were all grateful for bed after clean-up.

Wednesday, July 14

Up early, again, and ready to hit the Black Hills. We decided to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at the campground, then head to Mt. Rushmore. We traveled through some very tourist-y areas on the way. The little towns may have been fun to tour in the middle of no-where, but for an area ripe with natural wonders, they were very out of place. Its a shame people flock to these areas, ignoring nature!

At Mt. Rushmore, we took many photos of the same 4 heads :) We saw the movie (first one for this trip - at least Jeff had that experience!), bought a few souviniers. I ducked into the last gift shop unexpectedly, and was glad I did. In the shop was a man who had worked on the making of Mt. Rushmore. He worked on it for 3 years, when he was 17-20 years old. He published a book about his experience - answering questions he has had about his experience. He also played on a baseball team, made up of people who worked on the mountain. He appeared pretty fragile, but his wife was energetic and helpful. We bought an autographed book before leaving.

We then traveled the corkscrew highway - a road that actually wraps around itself. The very narrow road has bridges that wind in a narrow corkscrew, and there were tunnels that were one-lane. We saw some deer along the way. We then went to the Needles Highway. Highway is a misnomer, as the road is barely one car-width wide in places. It winds through forest areas and through oddly-shaped granite spires - a mini-badlands of sorts.

The Needles Highway took us near the Crazy Horse monument, where we stopped (outside the park) just to take pictures before heading into Custer for lunch. Rick and Jeff tried lamb sausage soup, and Rick had a bison burger.

We then headed to Custer State Park in search of wildlife. This was the park where we first ever encountered bison. We saw lots of pronghorn, and about half-way through the drive found the burrow. The borros are not native to the Black Hills - there are descendants from the herd that once hauled visitors up to the top of Harney Peak. The rides were discontinued years ago and the borros released into the park. The borros have become a popular attraction in the park, and stop traffic to search for food. They walk along the road poking their heads into vehicles to see if they get food - if not, they go to the next car. It was very entertaining to watch them. We had one come and scratch his head against the side mirror!

We were almost out of the park, and still had not seen anything other than pronghorns and bison, when we started spotting bison droppings. Lots and lots of them. Fresh. We knew bison had passed through here recently. A little way down the road, Abbie spotted a bison trudging along behind a hill, and we definitely smelled them! At last, as we came over a rise, there was an 'animal jam' and bison in the woods. This turned out to be the tail end of a herd of bison going - somewhere. Where, we don't know, but they were not grazing, they were walking, trotting with a purpose. We saw several babies, and the granddaddy - perhaps the one that chased Rick 16 years ago! We watched them surround cars as they crossed 2 roads near an intersection, and heard them bleating.Whew - they are monstrous things! It is impressive seeing one or two bison, but we wanted Jeff to get the full bison experience of being in the middle of a herd - and we got that experience!

Our tour complete, we headed to the camper to freshen up and let Haley out before heading to the Circle B Chuckwagon Dinner and Cowboy Show. We had also done this 16 years ago - our first chuckwagon experience of many. There were a few shops to browse through, horse rides for the children, and pistol shooting. About 10 minutes before dinner, there was a hokey shootout which was fun when our kids were small. Then in to a dinner that cowboys out on the prairie might experience. Chicken, steak or bison, baked potato, beans, peaches, a biscuit and ginger cake, with lemonade or coffee to drink. After dinner, we had cowboy music. Circle B is currently owned by a family (not the same singers we saw 16 years ago), who do almost everything. The music was the father and 2 sons, with the wife occasionally singing along. A few silly jokes rounded out the hour of entertainment. The father and one son staged the pre-dinner shoot-out, with the help of the children attending the dinner.

On the way home, we saw several deer. We passed through an area warning about big-horned sheep, but did not see any in any part of our trip.

We got back to camp and decided to try Haley in Kamp K9, their doggie park. Complete with an upside-down V shaped climbing mountain, a bridge and a teeter-totter, we hoped we could get her relaxed and on something. She resisted going near the park - but in the power struggle, Rick eventually won and got her in the park. She drooled but ran around checking things out. When Abbie and Jeff arrived, we ganged up on her, and before we knew it, she was going up and over the mountain! With all 4 of us praising and petting her, she was eating up the attention - maybe even grinned a few times! We then tried her on the bridge and once again, she was going up and over. We ran her back and forth between the two, and she was loving the attention and working off lots of energy. It only took about 1o minutes for her to learn those 2 new tricks! Then we tried the teeter-totter. When she eventually got on it and it tottered down the other side, she freaked and was not going near anything again! We got her back on the other two before heading back to camp. For that, she got an ice cream treat!

Thursday, July 15

Abbie and Jeff decided, after examining their route, to leave today after touring in order to get to Minneapolis with plenty of time to visit the friends they were staying with, so they packed up, and organized for the trip home. We again took advantage of the campground pancake breakfast (I've eaten more pancakes on this trip then I have in the past year! In fact, I started to collect them - saving and freezing leftovers on 3 separate occasions!)

We headed east, traveling in caravan to Wall, where they parked at Wall Drug, and joined us in the truck. We then traveled south to the Badlands National Park to do their loop drive. Again, no words can describe this land. Where you see seeminlgy endless prarie, suddenly you round a curve or come over a rise and see spires and sharp drop-offs and desolate areas. We wondered how the pioneers felt as they came over a rise and discovered virtually impassable land, with no way through it, and days and days around it. We say a prarie dog town and some pronghorns, but no other wildlife, although lots live in the park.

After stopping at the Visitor's Center (of course!), we headed back to Wall via Rt. 90. Wall DRug began in 1931 when a family bought the drug store in the middle 0f - nowhere. They gave it 5 years to make a go of it, and at the end were ready to give up when they decided they needed a way to get people in to their store from the highway. What did people need as they traveled on the hot, dusty road? Ice water! They put up signs similar to the Burma Shave signs, and before their last sign was out, people were flocking to their store for free ice water. While there, they bought ice cream cones and other things - and Wall Drug was in business for good. Now a popular tourist area, similar but better than South of the Border, it is a very busy place. We got there at lunch time and ate lunch - just minutes before the lunch rush. We meandered the different shops within the drug store (it covers a whole block), and Abbie and Jeff bought souviniers.

My right hand started hurting yesterday - a good case of 'camera hand', from gripping the camera to be ready for any photo. My thumb, especially, hurts, as that controls the on/off switch and the telephoto. I have a sore spot that feels like a bruise at the base of my thumb in my palm! I'll be in heaven when I get home - with Abbie and Jeff both taking photos, we'll share all the photos and have three times as many to choose from!

It was time to say goodby to Abbie and Jeff as they headed toward Souix City to spend the night before getting to Minneapolis Friday. Their flight leaves Minneapolis on Saturday. We headed south into Badland National Park again, this time taking a little-used dirt road through the west side of the park to Highway 44, which took us right to our campground. In our ride through the west side of the park, we saw Robert's Prarie Dog Town - which is more of a city, covering several miles! We saw a bison in the distance. We saw maybe 6 cars. And lots of prairie and badlands.

Back at camp, Rick headed out for an oil change and truck wash while I blogged the past 5 days! Dinner is cooking and then it is time to pack up and head toward home. We have about 27 hours to drive! Lots of time to review the trip and add stuff I forgot about to the blog :)

We took Haley to the dog park again - she was hesitant, and did not look too happy going through the routine, but remembered from last night. Another dog came to play shortly after we got there, so we took her out and will try again later. Maybe then she will be more relaxed and ready to play!