We departed Great Falls, MT this morning after driving back one exit from the RV park to fill up with diesel fuel - at $4.39/gallon. In West Yellowstone, it had been about $4.79/gallon. We had been told to make sure you left the Great Falls area with enough fuel to get us there and back!!!! They were right. When we arrived in St. Mary, MT (east entrance to the park), diesel was $4.99/gallon!
Anyway, the drive was through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. I'm going to be honest. I really could not tell much difference between the Indian Reservation and the plains of Montana which we had driven through on other days. However, after having listened to the abridged Ambrose book, Undaunted Courage, on CD last week, we did know that Meriwether Lewis had a run in with Blackfeet Indians on his way back to St. Louis from the Pacific.
Getting to St. Mary was non-eventful. Just rolling hills running parallel to the mountains. The real mountains. High, rocky and snowy Rocky Mountains. Again, quite awe inspiring to see the mountains rise up from the plains where you see farmers raising wheat and cattlemen raising cattle - all to ensure we are fed. Some of those dummies in Washington need to come to Montana and South Dakota and see the impact fuel prices are having on these folks. Believe it or not - they do not have mass transit!!! An electric car would not get a child to school - it would run out of juice!!! I commented to Jimmy today that being rural mail delivery person would be a really expensive job in this area of the country.
Anyway, we arrive in St. Mary at the KOA and get settled in. The mountains of Glacier National Park are visible out the front window of the RV. Not as much snow as I expected, but spectacular nonetheless!!! Oh - by the way - it is in the high 80's here - but no humidity.
After getting the RV set up and the cats settled, Jimmy and I head to the park. At the east entrance visitor's center, an osprey has built a nest on top of a telephone pole. The rangers have a scope on the osprey so that you can see them up close and personal. We find that the Going to the Sun Road is not open all the way. From the east side, we can go about 12 miles and then walk about 2 more. So - off we go up the mountain. No snow. Not a lot of cars. Not anything like Yellowstone. What we have read indicates that this park gets about 1/3 the number of visitors each year that Yellowstone gets. I guess I can understand that. It is much further north. It does not have the development around or in it that Yellowstone has. Where Yellowstone has well developed roads within the park for tourists, Glacier has one road across the park (about 50 miles), and it is closed right now.
Anyway, we get to the point where the road is closed and walk about 1 miles up the road. That is where we decided that the air was too thin and the temperature too high for us to go any farther. It is a good thing that we turned around then, because the rangers were coming down from the actual point where the snowplows and heavy equipment were working to open the rest of the road and telling everyone to go back down. We were told that the problem is not snow on the highway right now. It is damage to the road done by avalanches and slides. One ranger told us that there was one point where the road just isn't!!! Personally, I would prefer to wait until the road IS before we go up there. They do hope to have the road open by this Thursday. We will keep our fingers crossed that we get to make the trip across the park before we have to leave to come home.
Anyway, that is about all we did today. There are pictures in the blog page on Glacier National Park pictures. We are considering taking a boat tour of one or two of the lakes. We hope to get up into Canada to see the park further north. Plus, we will make a trip around to the west side of the park and go as far on the Going to the Sun Road as possible just in case they don't get the entire road open while we are here.
More tomorrow.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Days 14 and 15 - Great Falls, MT
Believe it or not, nothing much to report. We arrived in Great Falls, MT, yesterday afternoon after numerous delays on the trip from West Yellowstone (wrecks, slow traffic, etc.). It was almost 90 degrees - this after experiencing about 40 degrees two days before!!!!
Anyway, the grocery store was calling (we were out of paper plates on which to feed Bear and Peaches). So, off to Smith's I got. Smith's is Kroger!!! They had Breyers ice cream and a lot of other stuff that looked too interesting to pass up. So, I checked out and went back to the RV. Guess what I didn't get!!! Paper plates. I didn't get them until Sunday morning when I went back to the store.
We did make two forays in the tourist area. There is a Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center along the Missouri River. We drove out there and toured the center. It was really interesting, particularly after having listened to the abridged version of Undaunted Courage. We wound up buying the unabridged version to listen to on the trip home.
The interesting thing about Great Falls is the actual falls. There were 4 falls which Lewis and Clark encountered on their great expedition to find a northwest passage. They have been dammed up. The interesting thing is how it was done. The dams are placed far enough back from the falls to preserve the beauty of the falls themselves. We drove out of town about 20 miles to the Ryan Dam - which is where the Great Falls are now. It was a really nice park with a suspension bridge over a little branch of the Missouri River.
Garrie - I forgot the camera. I took some pictures at Ryan Dam with my telephone. They at the begining of this update.
That is really all we did today. Just kind of chilled. Tomorrow - we head to Glacier National Park.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 13 - Yellowstone
Pictures have been updated at the blog page titled Yellowstone pictures. This is the last update to Yellowstone pictures, as we leave tomorrow morning for Great Falls, MT on the way to Glacier National Park.
Today was to have been a leisurely drive around the entire park just looking for animals and stopping for one last eruption at Old Faithful.
We had barely gotten inside the park when we came upon a large group of cars pulled off the road. The male bald eagle (from the eagle nest we saw the very first day) was perched up on the very top of a tree across the little river from the road. Of course, I had to jump out and take his picture - 3 times. They are the first new pictures in Yellowstone animals. He is on the tree right in the middle of the picture - you can clearly see his white head.
Then, on into the park and we head south towards Old Faithful. I had been a little disappointed in the geyser when we saw it on Wednesday. I thought it was a little weak and I wanted to give it one more change. On the way to the site, we came upon a walkway (just past the Midway Geyser Basin) to Fairy Falls. So, off we went. Then we realized that the walkway we were on was the one mile walk to the access trail to Fairy Falls. The total, one way walk was 2.6 miles. We had promised ourselves that we would not take any long walks today since we were driving the entire circumference of the park!!! So, we walked out a little ways and then turned back to the car.
On to Old Faithful. She was scheduled to erupt in about 20 minutes from the time we arrived. So, we decided to walk around the walkway to the back side of the geyser to get a different view. I found a place to take the pictures where the sun would not be directly in my face. Jimmy called our friend Jim Bennett in Corinth to update him on our trip. While they were talking, Old Faithful made a minimal eruption. I, for one, thought it was over since it was not much less than the one we saw the other time. So, down to the cell phone I went to give Jim the web site for this blog. I no sooner hung up than Old Faithful put on a most spectacular show. It went for about 4 minutes and the spray was at least two times higher than we had seen it on our previous visit. I have appended the pictures that I took today to the Yellowstone Geyser set of pictures. I kind of just held the button down on the camera and let it take pictures.
After the show, Jimmy went in to talk to the rangers about where to find bear. They told us to head north towards the Hayden area. But, they also told him that it would be just plain out old fashioned luck if we were to see one. So, up to the cafeteria for lunch and on to the car for the drive.
It was my turn to drive. We had to go back over the mountain passes that we went over yesterday when it was sleeting. Today, it was absolutely glorious. No rain. No snow. No sleet. Almost no motorcycles. As we came out of the pass, Jimmy started looking down into the meadows through the binoculars looking for bear. None to be seen. We saw some buffalo (they are everywhere), but no bear. We had just about given up when we saw lots of cars pulled off the highway - rather helter skelter. Obviously, they had seen something important, and we needed to join them. So, I pulled off the side of the road (actually off the road vs. just kind of off the road) and we traipsed off across a hilly meadow to see what was going on. There was a black bear. Now, we didn't get close enough to determine if it was a black bear or a grizzly bear or an adult or a cub. But, we did get to see our second bear of the trip. One couple that we talked to had two children. The little boy had made a wish to see a bear when he blew on a dandelion. He got his wish, and we got ours.
The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. Just back to West Yellowstone and to the RV for a night of relaxation before we head out in the morning.
I did forget to include one funny thing that we saw yesterday. As we were heading out of the park, we saw our second wreck of the day. It was an RV which had apparently backed its rear wheels off the roadway. It was just sitting there with its front wheels on the road and its underbody on the curb. Yes, the wrecker was there to pull him out!!! Maybe it was a rental unit!!!
Till tomorrow.
Today was to have been a leisurely drive around the entire park just looking for animals and stopping for one last eruption at Old Faithful.
We had barely gotten inside the park when we came upon a large group of cars pulled off the road. The male bald eagle (from the eagle nest we saw the very first day) was perched up on the very top of a tree across the little river from the road. Of course, I had to jump out and take his picture - 3 times. They are the first new pictures in Yellowstone animals. He is on the tree right in the middle of the picture - you can clearly see his white head.
Then, on into the park and we head south towards Old Faithful. I had been a little disappointed in the geyser when we saw it on Wednesday. I thought it was a little weak and I wanted to give it one more change. On the way to the site, we came upon a walkway (just past the Midway Geyser Basin) to Fairy Falls. So, off we went. Then we realized that the walkway we were on was the one mile walk to the access trail to Fairy Falls. The total, one way walk was 2.6 miles. We had promised ourselves that we would not take any long walks today since we were driving the entire circumference of the park!!! So, we walked out a little ways and then turned back to the car.
On to Old Faithful. She was scheduled to erupt in about 20 minutes from the time we arrived. So, we decided to walk around the walkway to the back side of the geyser to get a different view. I found a place to take the pictures where the sun would not be directly in my face. Jimmy called our friend Jim Bennett in Corinth to update him on our trip. While they were talking, Old Faithful made a minimal eruption. I, for one, thought it was over since it was not much less than the one we saw the other time. So, down to the cell phone I went to give Jim the web site for this blog. I no sooner hung up than Old Faithful put on a most spectacular show. It went for about 4 minutes and the spray was at least two times higher than we had seen it on our previous visit. I have appended the pictures that I took today to the Yellowstone Geyser set of pictures. I kind of just held the button down on the camera and let it take pictures.
After the show, Jimmy went in to talk to the rangers about where to find bear. They told us to head north towards the Hayden area. But, they also told him that it would be just plain out old fashioned luck if we were to see one. So, up to the cafeteria for lunch and on to the car for the drive.
It was my turn to drive. We had to go back over the mountain passes that we went over yesterday when it was sleeting. Today, it was absolutely glorious. No rain. No snow. No sleet. Almost no motorcycles. As we came out of the pass, Jimmy started looking down into the meadows through the binoculars looking for bear. None to be seen. We saw some buffalo (they are everywhere), but no bear. We had just about given up when we saw lots of cars pulled off the highway - rather helter skelter. Obviously, they had seen something important, and we needed to join them. So, I pulled off the side of the road (actually off the road vs. just kind of off the road) and we traipsed off across a hilly meadow to see what was going on. There was a black bear. Now, we didn't get close enough to determine if it was a black bear or a grizzly bear or an adult or a cub. But, we did get to see our second bear of the trip. One couple that we talked to had two children. The little boy had made a wish to see a bear when he blew on a dandelion. He got his wish, and we got ours.
The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. Just back to West Yellowstone and to the RV for a night of relaxation before we head out in the morning.
I did forget to include one funny thing that we saw yesterday. As we were heading out of the park, we saw our second wreck of the day. It was an RV which had apparently backed its rear wheels off the roadway. It was just sitting there with its front wheels on the road and its underbody on the curb. Yes, the wrecker was there to pull him out!!! Maybe it was a rental unit!!!
Till tomorrow.
Yellowstone Pictures
This blog will be uploaded with pictures from today. I have found out that if you double click on the slide show, it will take you to the picasa web album site where you can see the pictures more clearly. But, as of right now, the pictures are uploaded and labeled for our first two days in the park.
Yellowstone Animals
Yellowstone Geysers
Yellowstone Scenery
Yellowstone Animals
Yellowstone Geysers
Yellowstone Scenery
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 12 - Yellowstone
Pictures are at url: http://picasaweb.google.com/mcthomas2005
Once all of the pictures are uploaded and labeled - I will create one blog entry with just pictures slideshows. You can double click on a slideshow and it will take you to our pictures web site.
Anyway, today was the north circle in Yellowstone. Of course, that meant repeating everything we had seen from West Yellowstone to Madison and north to Norris. But, even with the fact that we were repeating miles traveled, we did see something new - a wreck. How on earth someone can take out a pine tree with a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour - I don't know. But, someone did. There were emergency vehicles, ambulances, rangers and all of the other emergency services there with traffic stopped on both sides of the road - well, maybe just slowed down. We also stopped to take pictures of the eagle nest since the sun was covered with clouds in the morning.
Our first real stop today was the Norris Geyser Basin. The Steamboat Geyser is in this basin. It goes off on a regular basis, but when it has a major eruption (last one was in May 2005), it shoots water higher than Old Faithful. Now, its really big eruptions are on an 8 to 50 year cycle. That means, you could just walk away from the geyser heading to the parking lot and that sucker could blow and you would miss it!!!! That did not happen to us, but it certainly could have.
From there we headed north to Sheepeaters Cliffs. These cliffs were formed by a lava flow that solidified into basalt cliffs. They actually reminded me of Devil's Tower with the vertical stratifications and the broken off pieces at the base. There were supposed to be marmots nesting in the broken pieces of rock at the base. We did not see any, but I did get a great picture of a chipmunk (it is in the Yellowstone Animals album at the url at the beginning).
Just north of Sheepeaters Cliffs were the Hoodoos. Hoodoos are vertical stones that have eroded away and are just standing there. There was a little drive through the hoodoos. Luckily it was one way - because it felt tight in the jeep!!!
North of the Hoodoos was Mammoth Park Headquarters. We stopped there and had lunch. There were signs everywhere that you were not to feed the elk. We couldn't feed the elk. There weren't any!!! But, there were a lot of people milling about and taking a break from driving.
Rather than climb the Mammoth Terraces right after lunch, we decided to drive to the north entrance to Yellowstone. That is where the Roosevelt Arch is. The arch was erected in 1903 and reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People" which was from the 1872 Congressional Act which actually created the park. It felt like it took us forever to reach the arch from Mammoth, because the park service was striping the road!!!! What was really interesting is that we actually left the park, did a u-turn, took our pictures and then had to show our pass to get right back into the park!!!
There were supposed to be mountain sheep in the area north of Mammoth and south of the north entrance. There was a wonderful area where the sheep should have been. We saw some pigeons - but no sheep in that wonderful area.
We then proceeded to the Mammoth Terraces. This was really an interesting area. It was a thermal area, but it didn't seem to be alive. The minerals from the thermal areas had created very artistic 'terraces' created by the deposits. Of course, you could not walk out onto the terraces, but it certainly did look like you ought to be able to. Jimmy and I agreed that we would go up one level. I do not know if either of us could have climbed all the way to the top. Plus, by now we have started to tire of thermal areas as well as bison!!!! There are so many you really become immune to their beauty!!! Kind of a shame, but it is the truth.
From Mammoth, we head south towards the Tower area. The first sight mentioned in our book was Gardner Canyon. As we approach the bridge, we saw lots of cars pulled over to the side. This is a clear indication in Yellowstone of animal life!!! So, as we drove across the bridge, I strained to see the animal everyone was taking pictures of. There he was. A brown bear down by the river. So, off the road we pull and out come the binoculars and camera. We get right down on the side of the hill and watch that bear waddle up the side of the hill (on the other side of the river!!!). I did take a picture of it. I can clearly see the bear. You will see kind of a brown blob in the middle of the picture!!! But, it counts as a bear sighting. It is our only bear sighting in the wild of the trip.
A short time after we left the bear and, later, Undine Falls, we came upon another traffic jam. It was another Elk Jam. There were two bull elks who needed to get across the highway. So, amble across the highway they did. No hurry - even with people jumping out of cars, slamming doors, and aiming cameras at them. They needed to get across the street to the meadow on the other side. I jumped out of the car and another lady and I ran up the highway with Jimmy keeping us safe by blocking traffic with the jeep. I got some really great pictures and then jumped back in the car and we drove across a little bridge and into a parking area. From there, I felt like we were right on top of the elk. Just look at the pictures. You can see the fur on their antlers!!!
Our next major experience was as we approached and went over Dunraven Pass. It had started to rain a little as we climbed up the mountain. By the time we were approaching the top, it started sleeting. We were high enough that a lot of the snow from the winter was still there. We had ice accumulating on the windshield. Lots of motorcycles were pulled off in little pull off areas getting under the shelter of the restrooms to wait for the rain and sleet to stop. Now, we were on a mountain road with a turnback called the Mae West Curve - so you can imagine that it was steep and curvy. Jimmy handled it like a pro and my armrest has a permanent hand print on it.
You can see the pictures that we took today at the url at the beginning of this day's blog. Please enjoy.
Once all of the pictures are uploaded and labeled - I will create one blog entry with just pictures slideshows. You can double click on a slideshow and it will take you to our pictures web site.
Anyway, today was the north circle in Yellowstone. Of course, that meant repeating everything we had seen from West Yellowstone to Madison and north to Norris. But, even with the fact that we were repeating miles traveled, we did see something new - a wreck. How on earth someone can take out a pine tree with a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour - I don't know. But, someone did. There were emergency vehicles, ambulances, rangers and all of the other emergency services there with traffic stopped on both sides of the road - well, maybe just slowed down. We also stopped to take pictures of the eagle nest since the sun was covered with clouds in the morning.
Our first real stop today was the Norris Geyser Basin. The Steamboat Geyser is in this basin. It goes off on a regular basis, but when it has a major eruption (last one was in May 2005), it shoots water higher than Old Faithful. Now, its really big eruptions are on an 8 to 50 year cycle. That means, you could just walk away from the geyser heading to the parking lot and that sucker could blow and you would miss it!!!! That did not happen to us, but it certainly could have.
From there we headed north to Sheepeaters Cliffs. These cliffs were formed by a lava flow that solidified into basalt cliffs. They actually reminded me of Devil's Tower with the vertical stratifications and the broken off pieces at the base. There were supposed to be marmots nesting in the broken pieces of rock at the base. We did not see any, but I did get a great picture of a chipmunk (it is in the Yellowstone Animals album at the url at the beginning).
Just north of Sheepeaters Cliffs were the Hoodoos. Hoodoos are vertical stones that have eroded away and are just standing there. There was a little drive through the hoodoos. Luckily it was one way - because it felt tight in the jeep!!!
North of the Hoodoos was Mammoth Park Headquarters. We stopped there and had lunch. There were signs everywhere that you were not to feed the elk. We couldn't feed the elk. There weren't any!!! But, there were a lot of people milling about and taking a break from driving.
Rather than climb the Mammoth Terraces right after lunch, we decided to drive to the north entrance to Yellowstone. That is where the Roosevelt Arch is. The arch was erected in 1903 and reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People" which was from the 1872 Congressional Act which actually created the park. It felt like it took us forever to reach the arch from Mammoth, because the park service was striping the road!!!! What was really interesting is that we actually left the park, did a u-turn, took our pictures and then had to show our pass to get right back into the park!!!
There were supposed to be mountain sheep in the area north of Mammoth and south of the north entrance. There was a wonderful area where the sheep should have been. We saw some pigeons - but no sheep in that wonderful area.
We then proceeded to the Mammoth Terraces. This was really an interesting area. It was a thermal area, but it didn't seem to be alive. The minerals from the thermal areas had created very artistic 'terraces' created by the deposits. Of course, you could not walk out onto the terraces, but it certainly did look like you ought to be able to. Jimmy and I agreed that we would go up one level. I do not know if either of us could have climbed all the way to the top. Plus, by now we have started to tire of thermal areas as well as bison!!!! There are so many you really become immune to their beauty!!! Kind of a shame, but it is the truth.
From Mammoth, we head south towards the Tower area. The first sight mentioned in our book was Gardner Canyon. As we approach the bridge, we saw lots of cars pulled over to the side. This is a clear indication in Yellowstone of animal life!!! So, as we drove across the bridge, I strained to see the animal everyone was taking pictures of. There he was. A brown bear down by the river. So, off the road we pull and out come the binoculars and camera. We get right down on the side of the hill and watch that bear waddle up the side of the hill (on the other side of the river!!!). I did take a picture of it. I can clearly see the bear. You will see kind of a brown blob in the middle of the picture!!! But, it counts as a bear sighting. It is our only bear sighting in the wild of the trip.
A short time after we left the bear and, later, Undine Falls, we came upon another traffic jam. It was another Elk Jam. There were two bull elks who needed to get across the highway. So, amble across the highway they did. No hurry - even with people jumping out of cars, slamming doors, and aiming cameras at them. They needed to get across the street to the meadow on the other side. I jumped out of the car and another lady and I ran up the highway with Jimmy keeping us safe by blocking traffic with the jeep. I got some really great pictures and then jumped back in the car and we drove across a little bridge and into a parking area. From there, I felt like we were right on top of the elk. Just look at the pictures. You can see the fur on their antlers!!!
Our next major experience was as we approached and went over Dunraven Pass. It had started to rain a little as we climbed up the mountain. By the time we were approaching the top, it started sleeting. We were high enough that a lot of the snow from the winter was still there. We had ice accumulating on the windshield. Lots of motorcycles were pulled off in little pull off areas getting under the shelter of the restrooms to wait for the rain and sleet to stop. Now, we were on a mountain road with a turnback called the Mae West Curve - so you can imagine that it was steep and curvy. Jimmy handled it like a pro and my armrest has a permanent hand print on it.
You can see the pictures that we took today at the url at the beginning of this day's blog. Please enjoy.
PushAmerica.org
I am including this in the blog as a separate entry. When we arrived in Yellowstone, we passed young men who were biking into the park. There seemed to be a whole lot of them. They were outfitted in really good biking attire and riding really nice bikes.
Yesterday, when we were in the park, we stopped to look at some animals (or scenery) at the same time a group of the young men were stopped. So, of course, I had to ask them if they were training for the Olympics or something!!! They laughed good heartedly and told me that they were part of a fund raising effort called Push America (web site is pushamerica.org). They are members of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity across the US and their mission is: Push America programs were created to educate and provide a quality hands-on service experience for members of Pi Kappa Phi while enhancing the lives of people with disabilities.
Of course, after seeing these young men riding their bikes through the mountains of Yellowstone National Park (there is a picture of them at the continental divide taking a break), I encourage everyone who reads the blog to go to their web site and make a decision regarding a contribution.
Martha
Day 11 - Yellowstone
Pictures are at url: http://picasaweb.google.com/mcthomas2005
It is impossible to describe in words what we saw on the south loop in Yellowstone today. I wish I were so gifted that I could even know the right words to use. Suffice it to say, I was impressed.
Anyway, we headed through the west entrance and proceeded south towards Old Faithful. Along the way to Old Faithful, guess what we saw - more buffalo. Believe it or not, we actually became quite jaded about the old buffalo. I guess we were seeing so many that we no longer stopped each time we saw one to snap a picture. We didn't get the picture of the bald eagle on the way in either, because the sun was coming up in the east and you couldn't see anything from the glare. I'm thinking it is going to take a special trip to that tree one afternoon to get my picture.
Along the way, there is an area along the Gibbon River where there is a scenic pulloff for some cascades. They were absolutely phenomenal. But, the most interesting thing there was this raven. He was sitting on the stone wall right next to the car when we stopped. He walked up the stone wall to the passenger door and stayed there until I got out and took a couple of pictures of him. He never moved. In fact, when we came by on the way home (8 hours later), that raven was still sitting on that stone wall and people were still taking his picture.
When we make the turn south at the Madison intersection, the first opportunity we have for scenery is the Firehole Canyon Drive. We learn that the term 'hole' was used by early explorers for canyon areas. Luckily, Firehole Canyon Drive is one way, because it was kind of narrow. In fact, the road was one of the original roads in Yellowstone. We definitely could not have driven the RV through here if there were anyone coming the other way. Along the way, we stopped at Firehole Canyon Falls and Firehole Canyon Cascades for pictures.
I'm not going to describe every thermal area at which we stopped. Suffice it to say, that are wonderful. The colors are beyond description. My pictures just do not do them justice. You can see the bacteria that is able to grow in the heat of the thermal pools. You can see the 'paintpots' where the various minerals cause the surrounding ground to become colors such as red, yellow, and gold. I definitely cannot describe the smell at some of them. They call it rotten egg. Some are not that bad - and some are definitely worse!!!
When we arrive at the Old Faithful complex, it is lunch time. In fact, it is after lunch time and we are both really tired. I think we have walked more this morning than we have in a long long time. So, into the grill we go for a hamburger - which was actually quite good and not tourist expensive. Just regular prices for regular food. Not like most tourist traps you visit where they have a captive audience and make the most of it. According to the sign posted at the cashier, we have 55 minutes until Old Faithful erupts again. So, we finish our lunch and head across the parking lot to find a place to watch the eruption.
We luckily find a place right next to the ranger who is telling the people in his general area about the thermal areas. The first scary thing is that the Yellowstone caldera is a volcano. Not active, but you are still sitting on a caldera. He also tells us that Yellowstone accounts for about 53% of the thermal activities (geysers, hot pools, etc.) in the world. That is quite impressive. He did mention Arkansas, California, Hawaii and Russia as other areas where there is thermal activity like geysers (and I guess volcanoes?). He tells us that they estimate the time when Old Faithful will erupt and that 'she' performs with a plus or minus 10 minute reliability. True to form, about 9 minutes before the schedule says she will erupt, the steam starts to build and the water spurts up to the sky. I'll be honest, it wasn't as impressive as I was expecting, but I could certainly appreciate the fact that Old Faithful is the most reliable geyser in the park and that you can get a wonderful view of the eruption. It just wasn't as high as I expected, nor did it last as long. The ranger did say that other eruptions during the day could be higher or could last longer - so we just were not there for the spectacular one!!! It's okay - I got my moneys worth and more.
From Old Faithful, we proceeded to Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake has a shoreline of 110 miles at an elevation of 7,733 feet and measures 20 by 14 miles. It is one of the largest mountain lakes in the US. By the end of summer, the surface waters have warmed to a toasty 60 degrees. Heaven only knows what the temperature of the water under the surface is (the book says 42 degrees)!! West Thumb Bay is the deepest area of the lake. It is a crater that is 4 miles across and 6 miles long which was formed 200,000 years ago (before my time). The early explorers thought the lake looked like a fist. West Thumb Bay is at the position of the thumb on a fist - hence the name.
One of the most spectacular areas we went to today was the upper and lower falls areas of the Yellowstone River. The upper falls are so named because they are upstream from the lower falls. The lower falls, however, are 308 feet compared to the 109 feet of the upper falls. Whatever!!! Bottom line, they are spectacular, particularly when seen in concert with the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is 1,200 feet deep, 4,000 feet across and 24 miles long. It is a river eroded geyser basin. Again, the colors are so beautiful that no camera can really do them justice. Again, minerals in the rock result in brilliant colors that the sun just really brings to life.
While driving across the park looking for bear, we come to an area with lots of cars and lots of people with big cameras and binoculars. Based on what we have read, this can only means wolves. So, we pull over and help enlarge the traffic slow down for those behind us. Out come our binoculars (for the first time) and to the shoulder of the road we go. I can't see anything. Jimmy can't see anything. We put our glasses back on and we still can't see anything. There is a ranger with a spotting scope focused on the wolf. She even knows his number, how old he is, and that he is a loner (he has separated from the pack). Of course, I'm going to get in line and look through the spotting scope to see the wolf. All you can see is a grassy field, a rock and a black wolf ear poking up above the grass. Apparently he actually raises his head every once in a while, but I certainly never saw anything but the ear. For a view of an ear - there were sure a lot of people stopped with big cameras with big lenses trying to get a picture!!!! I passed.
Back in the car and on towards the exit, we come upon two rangers directing traffic. This was the elk jam. There were two elk lying on the side of the road. Yes, my Daddy and my brother would have drooled over the rack. His horns were still furry. You couldn't get a real impression of their size since they were lying down - but you would tell they were big. The rangers were a little frustrated with the traffic, because the elk had not picked a place with a pulloff for cars to make their cameo appearance for the cameras.
We got back in the car and had driven no more than a mile when I sighted a small group of elk off at the back of a field. So, off the road we pull so that we can pull out the binoculars and get a real look at the elk. I tried to take a picture of them. I know that they are there - and I labeled the picture so that you can see them!!!
Not much else to tell about today. We did see a lot of burn evidence from the big burn in 1988. We actually saw a small area which apparently had burned within the last month or two. But, the miracle was the regrowth. Nature certainly has a way of preserving and renewing itself.
I told Jimmy at Old Faithful that I don't see how anyone could possibly come to these mountains and see the animals and the thermal activities and not believe in God. How could this exist without Him?
Pictures at url: http://picasaweb.google.com/mcthomas2005
It is impossible to describe in words what we saw on the south loop in Yellowstone today. I wish I were so gifted that I could even know the right words to use. Suffice it to say, I was impressed.
Anyway, we headed through the west entrance and proceeded south towards Old Faithful. Along the way to Old Faithful, guess what we saw - more buffalo. Believe it or not, we actually became quite jaded about the old buffalo. I guess we were seeing so many that we no longer stopped each time we saw one to snap a picture. We didn't get the picture of the bald eagle on the way in either, because the sun was coming up in the east and you couldn't see anything from the glare. I'm thinking it is going to take a special trip to that tree one afternoon to get my picture.
Along the way, there is an area along the Gibbon River where there is a scenic pulloff for some cascades. They were absolutely phenomenal. But, the most interesting thing there was this raven. He was sitting on the stone wall right next to the car when we stopped. He walked up the stone wall to the passenger door and stayed there until I got out and took a couple of pictures of him. He never moved. In fact, when we came by on the way home (8 hours later), that raven was still sitting on that stone wall and people were still taking his picture.
When we make the turn south at the Madison intersection, the first opportunity we have for scenery is the Firehole Canyon Drive. We learn that the term 'hole' was used by early explorers for canyon areas. Luckily, Firehole Canyon Drive is one way, because it was kind of narrow. In fact, the road was one of the original roads in Yellowstone. We definitely could not have driven the RV through here if there were anyone coming the other way. Along the way, we stopped at Firehole Canyon Falls and Firehole Canyon Cascades for pictures.
I'm not going to describe every thermal area at which we stopped. Suffice it to say, that are wonderful. The colors are beyond description. My pictures just do not do them justice. You can see the bacteria that is able to grow in the heat of the thermal pools. You can see the 'paintpots' where the various minerals cause the surrounding ground to become colors such as red, yellow, and gold. I definitely cannot describe the smell at some of them. They call it rotten egg. Some are not that bad - and some are definitely worse!!!
When we arrive at the Old Faithful complex, it is lunch time. In fact, it is after lunch time and we are both really tired. I think we have walked more this morning than we have in a long long time. So, into the grill we go for a hamburger - which was actually quite good and not tourist expensive. Just regular prices for regular food. Not like most tourist traps you visit where they have a captive audience and make the most of it. According to the sign posted at the cashier, we have 55 minutes until Old Faithful erupts again. So, we finish our lunch and head across the parking lot to find a place to watch the eruption.
We luckily find a place right next to the ranger who is telling the people in his general area about the thermal areas. The first scary thing is that the Yellowstone caldera is a volcano. Not active, but you are still sitting on a caldera. He also tells us that Yellowstone accounts for about 53% of the thermal activities (geysers, hot pools, etc.) in the world. That is quite impressive. He did mention Arkansas, California, Hawaii and Russia as other areas where there is thermal activity like geysers (and I guess volcanoes?). He tells us that they estimate the time when Old Faithful will erupt and that 'she' performs with a plus or minus 10 minute reliability. True to form, about 9 minutes before the schedule says she will erupt, the steam starts to build and the water spurts up to the sky. I'll be honest, it wasn't as impressive as I was expecting, but I could certainly appreciate the fact that Old Faithful is the most reliable geyser in the park and that you can get a wonderful view of the eruption. It just wasn't as high as I expected, nor did it last as long. The ranger did say that other eruptions during the day could be higher or could last longer - so we just were not there for the spectacular one!!! It's okay - I got my moneys worth and more.
From Old Faithful, we proceeded to Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake has a shoreline of 110 miles at an elevation of 7,733 feet and measures 20 by 14 miles. It is one of the largest mountain lakes in the US. By the end of summer, the surface waters have warmed to a toasty 60 degrees. Heaven only knows what the temperature of the water under the surface is (the book says 42 degrees)!! West Thumb Bay is the deepest area of the lake. It is a crater that is 4 miles across and 6 miles long which was formed 200,000 years ago (before my time). The early explorers thought the lake looked like a fist. West Thumb Bay is at the position of the thumb on a fist - hence the name.
One of the most spectacular areas we went to today was the upper and lower falls areas of the Yellowstone River. The upper falls are so named because they are upstream from the lower falls. The lower falls, however, are 308 feet compared to the 109 feet of the upper falls. Whatever!!! Bottom line, they are spectacular, particularly when seen in concert with the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is 1,200 feet deep, 4,000 feet across and 24 miles long. It is a river eroded geyser basin. Again, the colors are so beautiful that no camera can really do them justice. Again, minerals in the rock result in brilliant colors that the sun just really brings to life.
While driving across the park looking for bear, we come to an area with lots of cars and lots of people with big cameras and binoculars. Based on what we have read, this can only means wolves. So, we pull over and help enlarge the traffic slow down for those behind us. Out come our binoculars (for the first time) and to the shoulder of the road we go. I can't see anything. Jimmy can't see anything. We put our glasses back on and we still can't see anything. There is a ranger with a spotting scope focused on the wolf. She even knows his number, how old he is, and that he is a loner (he has separated from the pack). Of course, I'm going to get in line and look through the spotting scope to see the wolf. All you can see is a grassy field, a rock and a black wolf ear poking up above the grass. Apparently he actually raises his head every once in a while, but I certainly never saw anything but the ear. For a view of an ear - there were sure a lot of people stopped with big cameras with big lenses trying to get a picture!!!! I passed.
Back in the car and on towards the exit, we come upon two rangers directing traffic. This was the elk jam. There were two elk lying on the side of the road. Yes, my Daddy and my brother would have drooled over the rack. His horns were still furry. You couldn't get a real impression of their size since they were lying down - but you would tell they were big. The rangers were a little frustrated with the traffic, because the elk had not picked a place with a pulloff for cars to make their cameo appearance for the cameras.
We got back in the car and had driven no more than a mile when I sighted a small group of elk off at the back of a field. So, off the road we pull so that we can pull out the binoculars and get a real look at the elk. I tried to take a picture of them. I know that they are there - and I labeled the picture so that you can see them!!!
Not much else to tell about today. We did see a lot of burn evidence from the big burn in 1988. We actually saw a small area which apparently had burned within the last month or two. But, the miracle was the regrowth. Nature certainly has a way of preserving and renewing itself.
I told Jimmy at Old Faithful that I don't see how anyone could possibly come to these mountains and see the animals and the thermal activities and not believe in God. How could this exist without Him?
Pictures at url: http://picasaweb.google.com/mcthomas2005
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Day 10 - West Yellowstone - Day 1
We got up at our normal time this morning to find a small swimming pool (well, maybe a big mud puddle). Apparently the sprinkler system around the RV area where we were parked had run most of the night and the one across the street behind us was still running, resulting in a large muddy area right behind the RV - where we needed to be to hook up the car. It wasn't pleasant, but we got it done.
Then, west again toward Belgrade where we intended to purchase fuel since the price was about a dime less than in Billings. Off in the distance to the west, snow capped mountains rose above the buttes. I took a couple of pictures out the front window of the RV (I'll attach them after this little bit). There was very little else to talk about - other than the fact that we aren't in Mississippi anymore!!!!! Mountains with snow. Real mountains with snow. Absolutely beautiful.
Anyway, we make our way through a little edge of Yellowstone Park (a little edge that highway 191 runs through) on the way to the town of West Yellowstone. We didn't see much of the town on the way through to the KOA, because the highway on which we continued west was right at the north edge of town. Anyway, we got to the KOA and couldn't level the RV!!! The space where we are parked is quite sloped to the left. When we attempted to level, the entire left side of the RV was off the ground. Can't do that!!! Anyway, Mike (a retired engineer who works at the KOA) showed up and sent Mike (a young handyman who works in the park) for boards. They placed four long boards under the real tires and a stack of two wide, short boards under the front tire on the left side of the RV. Jimmy backed up onto the boards and we were magically level!!!! I would never have figured it out. So, we landed at West Yellowstone KOA.
Once we got settled into our space, we decided to ride over to the park and just see a few sights. We had a long wait to get into the park. There doesn't seem to be much abatement of tourism over here due to fuel prices. There were only two lines working at the entrance, and there were lots of cars backed up trying to pay their fee and get into the park. Thankfully, Jimmy bought a Golden Age Pass on one of his trips with Garrie Colhoun - so we just show the pass and his driver's license and in we go!!!
Not far past the west entrance to Yellowstone, we had to brake suddenly. Of course, the speed limit is only 45, so you don't have to brake very hard. Cars were pulled off on the side of the road to see the bald eagle nest up in the very top of a dead tree. You could actually see the bald eagle's head. Of course, we didn't stop right then since there wasn't a place to pull off. At one point, the rangers had put signs along the side of the road and you could not stop since it would bother the eagles.
On we went into the park. There are a lot of buffalo out here. They just go wherever they want to go, stop wherever they want to stop, eat whatever they want to eat, rub up against the trees to get all that winter fur off, poop wherever they want to poop, etc. There are signs all through Yellowstone telling you not to pet the buffalo. I'm sorry, but who in their right mind would walk up to something that big and try to pet it. When we came upon our first herd of buffalo, they were just out in the grass eating right at the parking area. I think they like to have their pictures taken. They just stand there and pose. They really look like nickels. Anyway, on that first little excursion, buffalo was about the only thing we saw. But, they were everywhere. There was one field where there were three babies with their mothers. Awesome experience.
We also saw our first thermal fields. Not the big geisers. More like hot springs or mud pits. I was quite impressed with how tourist friendly Yellowstone is, while maintaining the majesty of the park. There are boardwalks throughout the park where the tourist can safely observe the unique geo-thermal areas without endangering themselves or the park.
All pictures for the Yellowstone excursion will be in one blog later in the week - or, your can go to my picasa web site and view them whenever you wish. You will have to copy and paste the url in order to go to the pictures I think. At least I did when I tested it. That url is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mcthomas2005
Then, west again toward Belgrade where we intended to purchase fuel since the price was about a dime less than in Billings. Off in the distance to the west, snow capped mountains rose above the buttes. I took a couple of pictures out the front window of the RV (I'll attach them after this little bit). There was very little else to talk about - other than the fact that we aren't in Mississippi anymore!!!!! Mountains with snow. Real mountains with snow. Absolutely beautiful.
Anyway, we make our way through a little edge of Yellowstone Park (a little edge that highway 191 runs through) on the way to the town of West Yellowstone. We didn't see much of the town on the way through to the KOA, because the highway on which we continued west was right at the north edge of town. Anyway, we got to the KOA and couldn't level the RV!!! The space where we are parked is quite sloped to the left. When we attempted to level, the entire left side of the RV was off the ground. Can't do that!!! Anyway, Mike (a retired engineer who works at the KOA) showed up and sent Mike (a young handyman who works in the park) for boards. They placed four long boards under the real tires and a stack of two wide, short boards under the front tire on the left side of the RV. Jimmy backed up onto the boards and we were magically level!!!! I would never have figured it out. So, we landed at West Yellowstone KOA.
Once we got settled into our space, we decided to ride over to the park and just see a few sights. We had a long wait to get into the park. There doesn't seem to be much abatement of tourism over here due to fuel prices. There were only two lines working at the entrance, and there were lots of cars backed up trying to pay their fee and get into the park. Thankfully, Jimmy bought a Golden Age Pass on one of his trips with Garrie Colhoun - so we just show the pass and his driver's license and in we go!!!
Not far past the west entrance to Yellowstone, we had to brake suddenly. Of course, the speed limit is only 45, so you don't have to brake very hard. Cars were pulled off on the side of the road to see the bald eagle nest up in the very top of a dead tree. You could actually see the bald eagle's head. Of course, we didn't stop right then since there wasn't a place to pull off. At one point, the rangers had put signs along the side of the road and you could not stop since it would bother the eagles.
On we went into the park. There are a lot of buffalo out here. They just go wherever they want to go, stop wherever they want to stop, eat whatever they want to eat, rub up against the trees to get all that winter fur off, poop wherever they want to poop, etc. There are signs all through Yellowstone telling you not to pet the buffalo. I'm sorry, but who in their right mind would walk up to something that big and try to pet it. When we came upon our first herd of buffalo, they were just out in the grass eating right at the parking area. I think they like to have their pictures taken. They just stand there and pose. They really look like nickels. Anyway, on that first little excursion, buffalo was about the only thing we saw. But, they were everywhere. There was one field where there were three babies with their mothers. Awesome experience.
We also saw our first thermal fields. Not the big geisers. More like hot springs or mud pits. I was quite impressed with how tourist friendly Yellowstone is, while maintaining the majesty of the park. There are boardwalks throughout the park where the tourist can safely observe the unique geo-thermal areas without endangering themselves or the park.
All pictures for the Yellowstone excursion will be in one blog later in the week - or, your can go to my picasa web site and view them whenever you wish. You will have to copy and paste the url in order to go to the pictures I think. At least I did when I tested it. That url is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mcthomas2005
Monday, June 23, 2008
Day 9 - Billings, MT
Believe it or not, we did nothing today. Well, nothing from the perspective of a tourist.
The cats allowed us to sleep fairly late. Bear got me up about 7:30 (home time). He didn't want anything. He just wanted me to get up.
I wound up cleaning the interior of the RV from back to front. Then washed two loads of clothes, dried one and left the other drying while we went out to get lunch and scout out diesel fuel prices for tomorrow. Then we came back to the RV and just chilled the rest of the afternoon until Travis called to talk about his relocation.
So, tomorrow we will get up and head to West Yellowstone.
Sorry nothing more interesting happened today than cleaning, but sometimes it is just like that.
The cats allowed us to sleep fairly late. Bear got me up about 7:30 (home time). He didn't want anything. He just wanted me to get up.
I wound up cleaning the interior of the RV from back to front. Then washed two loads of clothes, dried one and left the other drying while we went out to get lunch and scout out diesel fuel prices for tomorrow. Then we came back to the RV and just chilled the rest of the afternoon until Travis called to talk about his relocation.
So, tomorrow we will get up and head to West Yellowstone.
Sorry nothing more interesting happened today than cleaning, but sometimes it is just like that.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Day 8 - Billings, MT
Today we head to Billings, MT where we will spend two nights. Our goal was to go to Belle Fourche, get fuel and head west on Montana Highway 212 to join back up with interstate 90 at the Little Big Horn National Monument. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men . . . . . .
We got the fuel and headed west on Highway 212. Only to run into a detour which would wind up taking us 71 miles north on Highway 59 to join with Interstate 95. When I say a detour, I mean a detour. There was no Highway 212 in front of us. It just was gone. They were totally reconstructing the highway. So, we missed the Indian reservation and the Little Big Horn National Monument. We will get the monument on the way home from Glacier National Park week after next, but for now - it was a long day driving about 40 miles out of the way.
We did, however, get to visit Pompey's Pillar. If you are familiar with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, you know that many of the places we have visited or passed are either on the expedition trail or one of the side expedition trails that they took. In other words, "slept here or close to here" almost everywhere we have been. In face, we listened to the 4.5 hour CD version of Stephen E. Ambrose's book - Undaunted Courage. We probably should have listened to the unabridged, 22 hour, version. However, we couldn't find it before we left.
Had we listened to the entire version, we would have heard more about William Clark's side expedition up the Yellowstone River. Meriwether Lewis was on a side expedition up another river at the same time. Anyway, while on his expedition, William Clark stopped at a sandstone monolith which he named Pompy's Tower in honor of Sacagawea's son whom Clark called Pomp (little chief in Shoshoni). The pillar was renamed Pompeys Pillar in 1814 when the Lewis and Clark journals were published. This is the only remaining on-site physical evidence of Lewis and Clark's epic journal and is a national monument. Pictures at the end of this section.
We finished our day's travel at the Number 1 KOA in the nation. The park backs up to the Yellowstone River in Billings. We will be here for two nights. I do not know what tomorrow holds in terms of sightseeing, but I do know that the KOA store had a locally brewed brown ale called Moose Drool. I'll let you know about it tomorrow.
We got the fuel and headed west on Highway 212. Only to run into a detour which would wind up taking us 71 miles north on Highway 59 to join with Interstate 95. When I say a detour, I mean a detour. There was no Highway 212 in front of us. It just was gone. They were totally reconstructing the highway. So, we missed the Indian reservation and the Little Big Horn National Monument. We will get the monument on the way home from Glacier National Park week after next, but for now - it was a long day driving about 40 miles out of the way.
We did, however, get to visit Pompey's Pillar. If you are familiar with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, you know that many of the places we have visited or passed are either on the expedition trail or one of the side expedition trails that they took. In other words, "slept here or close to here" almost everywhere we have been. In face, we listened to the 4.5 hour CD version of Stephen E. Ambrose's book - Undaunted Courage. We probably should have listened to the unabridged, 22 hour, version. However, we couldn't find it before we left.
Had we listened to the entire version, we would have heard more about William Clark's side expedition up the Yellowstone River. Meriwether Lewis was on a side expedition up another river at the same time. Anyway, while on his expedition, William Clark stopped at a sandstone monolith which he named Pompy's Tower in honor of Sacagawea's son whom Clark called Pomp (little chief in Shoshoni). The pillar was renamed Pompeys Pillar in 1814 when the Lewis and Clark journals were published. This is the only remaining on-site physical evidence of Lewis and Clark's epic journal and is a national monument. Pictures at the end of this section.
We finished our day's travel at the Number 1 KOA in the nation. The park backs up to the Yellowstone River in Billings. We will be here for two nights. I do not know what tomorrow holds in terms of sightseeing, but I do know that the KOA store had a locally brewed brown ale called Moose Drool. I'll let you know about it tomorrow.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Day 7 - Devil's Tower MT and Geographic Center of the US
I'll just start off by saying - I cannot wait until you see the pictures. I had no idea what to expect at the Devil's Tower.
We started out going west on the interstate and then got off at the little town of Sundance, MT. After driving for quite a way, we crested a hill and there it was. Rising out of the plains of Montana is a monolith of stone called the Devil's Tower. We stopped and I took a couple of pictures (one of the cycle people who had just gotten their picture taken with the Devil's Tower in the background. Nothing prepares you for this thing. There are buttes that you see off to the north west of the Tower, but it stands alone in its grandeur.
The closer we got to the Devil's Tower, the more impressive it got. It looks like a huge backhoe scraped the sides off a mountain and left it with huge grooves up the side. When you are farther away, the grooves appear to be equally sized. However, as you get closer, you see that some of larger than others. And, they go straight up. And, people climb the thing!!!! There are some pictures in the slide show of people climbing, but I don't know that you will be able to see them - as they are just like little dots in the photographs - and not much bigger in person.
Devil's Tower is a National Park, so Jimmy shows his Golden Age Pass and in we go. The first site we come to is the park's prairie dog field. On both sides of the road, you see prairie dogs sitting up on top of their little houses (tunnel entrances). Some are just standing there and some are barking at the people who they consider a potential threat. Every few feet are signs telling you not to pet or feed the prairie dogs. Apparently people food makes them sick and they carry fleas that cause the plague. So, we neither fed nor petted them - but we did stand and watch them for a long time.
Once we tired of watching the prairie dog antics, we completed the drive up to the base on Devil's Tower. A ranger was giving a lecture on the falcons who nest on the side of the monolith. When we walked around the base of the tower (no, we did not attempt the climb), we could hear the falcons crying and see them soaring. Of course, they do not show up well in pictures.
We did make the entire 1.3 mile walk around the base. The pictures in the following slide show are taken at various points around the base. It was quite a strenuous walk (lots of uphill), but the path is paved. And, for every uphill - there is a downhill. I believe that we will both sleep well this evening!!!!
After we left the Devil's Tower, we headed east to Belle Fourche. While on the highway, we came upon two cattle drives. How cool can you get!!! Both cattle drives had cowboys on horses actually herding the cattle. One had an ATV - but that doesn't count. They were real cattle drives. Both were right in the hearts of towns. However, the second one was in the big city of Aladdin - population 15. There were more cows than there were people. There was a 110 year old general store. There were a lot of motorcycles stopped at the general store.
By the way, there are more motorcycles out here than I have ever seen. Apparently, in August, there is a huge motorcycle rally in Sturgis, SD. But, if there are more here then than there are now, there won't be any room for anyone else!!!
Our ultimate destination after leaving the Devil's Tower was Belle Fourche. Marked on the map about 21 miles north of the town is the geographical center of the United States. So, north on highway 85 we go, passing the Geographical Center Tourist Information Center. When we reached the road that runs east right at the point on the map, we turned right looking for the marker. Guess what, the actual geographical center is where we were, but the marker is back in Belle Fourche. So, we turned around and headed back to town to the Dairy Queen where we celebrated the fact that we were at the actual point.
Tomorrow we leave for Billings, MT. I believe most of our trip will take us across an Indian reservation. But, more in the blog on that tomorrow.
We started out going west on the interstate and then got off at the little town of Sundance, MT. After driving for quite a way, we crested a hill and there it was. Rising out of the plains of Montana is a monolith of stone called the Devil's Tower. We stopped and I took a couple of pictures (one of the cycle people who had just gotten their picture taken with the Devil's Tower in the background. Nothing prepares you for this thing. There are buttes that you see off to the north west of the Tower, but it stands alone in its grandeur.
The closer we got to the Devil's Tower, the more impressive it got. It looks like a huge backhoe scraped the sides off a mountain and left it with huge grooves up the side. When you are farther away, the grooves appear to be equally sized. However, as you get closer, you see that some of larger than others. And, they go straight up. And, people climb the thing!!!! There are some pictures in the slide show of people climbing, but I don't know that you will be able to see them - as they are just like little dots in the photographs - and not much bigger in person.
Devil's Tower is a National Park, so Jimmy shows his Golden Age Pass and in we go. The first site we come to is the park's prairie dog field. On both sides of the road, you see prairie dogs sitting up on top of their little houses (tunnel entrances). Some are just standing there and some are barking at the people who they consider a potential threat. Every few feet are signs telling you not to pet or feed the prairie dogs. Apparently people food makes them sick and they carry fleas that cause the plague. So, we neither fed nor petted them - but we did stand and watch them for a long time.
Once we tired of watching the prairie dog antics, we completed the drive up to the base on Devil's Tower. A ranger was giving a lecture on the falcons who nest on the side of the monolith. When we walked around the base of the tower (no, we did not attempt the climb), we could hear the falcons crying and see them soaring. Of course, they do not show up well in pictures.
We did make the entire 1.3 mile walk around the base. The pictures in the following slide show are taken at various points around the base. It was quite a strenuous walk (lots of uphill), but the path is paved. And, for every uphill - there is a downhill. I believe that we will both sleep well this evening!!!!
After we left the Devil's Tower, we headed east to Belle Fourche. While on the highway, we came upon two cattle drives. How cool can you get!!! Both cattle drives had cowboys on horses actually herding the cattle. One had an ATV - but that doesn't count. They were real cattle drives. Both were right in the hearts of towns. However, the second one was in the big city of Aladdin - population 15. There were more cows than there were people. There was a 110 year old general store. There were a lot of motorcycles stopped at the general store.
By the way, there are more motorcycles out here than I have ever seen. Apparently, in August, there is a huge motorcycle rally in Sturgis, SD. But, if there are more here then than there are now, there won't be any room for anyone else!!!
Our ultimate destination after leaving the Devil's Tower was Belle Fourche. Marked on the map about 21 miles north of the town is the geographical center of the United States. So, north on highway 85 we go, passing the Geographical Center Tourist Information Center. When we reached the road that runs east right at the point on the map, we turned right looking for the marker. Guess what, the actual geographical center is where we were, but the marker is back in Belle Fourche. So, we turned around and headed back to town to the Dairy Queen where we celebrated the fact that we were at the actual point.
Tomorrow we leave for Billings, MT. I believe most of our trip will take us across an Indian reservation. But, more in the blog on that tomorrow.
Day 6 - Deadwood, SD
Not really a lot to write about today. We slept a little later than usual and then went to Deadwood, SD. It is interesting in that the entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is in a state of restoration and building (as evidenced by the traffic slow downs we experienced). It is, in fact, the largest historic preservation project in the United States.
When you arrive in Deadwood, you are greeted by new hotels and old saloons. All of which have slot machines. There are 80 places in which to gamble in Deadwood. Limited wage gambling probably saved Deadwood when it was legalized in 1989.
Deadwood was founded in 1876 and was named for the dead trees found in the gulch. Deadwood had the first telephone exchange in the state of South Dakota, and calls were 50 cents (25 cents cheaper than the stagecoach).
The original Deadwood had an economy based on gold mining and lumber. Add tourism to that today. You can still pan for gold at an old mine. Most gold panning now, though, is via the one armed bandits. A local resident told us that the payoffs were really bad, but the town appreciated all of the contributions. When you walk down Main Street in Deadwood, you will hear music from the saloons sung by cowboy want-a-be's. You are also likely to see armed cowboys walking the streets with their 10 gallon hats and side arms tucked into their belts.
A hard climb up Mt. Moriah will take you to the local cemetery. It is of interest due to the fact that Wild Bill Hickock was killed and is buried in Mt. Moriah cemetery. Calamity Jane requested that, at her death, she be buried close to Wild Bill Hickock. The cemetery is the eternal home to some 3000 souls, with only about 1000 of the graves being marked. Many who were buried here were paupers. Their graves would have been marked with wooden crosses, which ultimated rotted away. There was also a large Chinese section. Per their information, the Chinese residents would have been buried in the cemetery, but their bodies would have later been removed from the graves and shipped home to China.
After spending some time seeing the sites and spending a few quarters, we took a ride through Spearfish Canyon between Lead and Spearfish. A most impressive ride.
Tomorrow we head to Devil's tower and the geographic center of the US.
When you arrive in Deadwood, you are greeted by new hotels and old saloons. All of which have slot machines. There are 80 places in which to gamble in Deadwood. Limited wage gambling probably saved Deadwood when it was legalized in 1989.
Deadwood was founded in 1876 and was named for the dead trees found in the gulch. Deadwood had the first telephone exchange in the state of South Dakota, and calls were 50 cents (25 cents cheaper than the stagecoach).
The original Deadwood had an economy based on gold mining and lumber. Add tourism to that today. You can still pan for gold at an old mine. Most gold panning now, though, is via the one armed bandits. A local resident told us that the payoffs were really bad, but the town appreciated all of the contributions. When you walk down Main Street in Deadwood, you will hear music from the saloons sung by cowboy want-a-be's. You are also likely to see armed cowboys walking the streets with their 10 gallon hats and side arms tucked into their belts.
A hard climb up Mt. Moriah will take you to the local cemetery. It is of interest due to the fact that Wild Bill Hickock was killed and is buried in Mt. Moriah cemetery. Calamity Jane requested that, at her death, she be buried close to Wild Bill Hickock. The cemetery is the eternal home to some 3000 souls, with only about 1000 of the graves being marked. Many who were buried here were paupers. Their graves would have been marked with wooden crosses, which ultimated rotted away. There was also a large Chinese section. Per their information, the Chinese residents would have been buried in the cemetery, but their bodies would have later been removed from the graves and shipped home to China.
After spending some time seeing the sites and spending a few quarters, we took a ride through Spearfish Canyon between Lead and Spearfish. A most impressive ride.
Tomorrow we head to Devil's tower and the geographic center of the US.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Day 5 - Mount Rushmore and Bear Country
Well, after going back to sleep for a few hours after the storm, we got up, took showers, had breakfast and loaded up to go to Mount Rushmore. I don't know that we really knew what to expect, but it was everything we expected - and more.
We took highway 85 south from Elkhorn Ridge RV park to Deadwood. Deadwood is Day 6 - so I'll hold off telling you about it until then. After about two miles, the road started to rise into the Black Hills. Jimmy tells me that the Black Hills are so named because of the pine trees that cover the hillsides. I will admit that, from a distance, the hills do have a very dark color.
Once through Deadwood, we hit highway 385 towards Keystone, SD, headed towards Mt. Rushmore. Of course, we get caught behind two RV's, one of which is towing. The road is a little twisty, but not really bad, and the RV did not slow us down too much. In fact, it slowed us down enough where we could enjoy the views, see the deer, and see the farmsteads.
It was quite interesting when we arrived in Rushing. It looks a lot like Gatlinburg did before it got so commercial in recent years. There is a four lane main street, but both sides are covered with souvenir shops! There are a lot of people walking on the streets in shorts and tennis shoes. Also a lot of hotels and more businesses under construction.
As we leave the commercial part of town and head up the hill towards Mount Rushmore, the road twists and turns. As we made one left turn, I saw the sculptures. I wish we could have just stopped right there and looked at the awesome mountain face. Having seen it on television so many times in no way prepared us for the real thing. At one moment, you are looking at a regular old mountain, and the next moment you are seeing Mt. Rushmore in all of its glory.
So, up the hill we go and pay our $10 to park. Kind of interesting that it is a National Park, but your Golden Age Pass doesn't work for the parking. The parking lot was built and is run by a non-governmental organization. But, the parking is nice and up we go through the entrance to the park. Once again (but closer) there are the presidents. We walk through the avenue of states and get closer and closer. You look up there and are amazed that humans could actually have 'carved' those four faces out of the mountain side. You see the rubble from the carving below the faces, but you really cannot visualize that this was once just a mountain top.
Jimmy and I decide that we are going to walk the entire walk around the park area, including the strenuous part down to the sculpting house. For about half of the walk, it is just a boardwalk type walkway. But then we reach the steps down. I don't find it very strenuous at all. We get to the bottom of the walkway and realize that, to get back to the visitor's center and the ice cream, it is all up hill. So, up we go, taking breaks periodically. At the last stop before the top, a little boy in brand new Davy Crockett boots came by. I commented on his boots. He, of course, had to stop and tell us all about the boots, his Latoka lizard that he was wearing around his neck and his trip next year to Tennessee to see all the sites about Davy Crockett. What a fun break.
We finally reach the top and get our ice cream. that was about the best break of all. There are chipmunks and robins fighting over every crumb that is dropped by a tourist. Some of the crumbs are dropped accidentally. Some crumbs are put on the ground on purpose for the little animals. The little animals think that they are stealing, but the people are just casually feeding them - against all of the park rules, of course.
From Mt. Rushmore, we head back towards Rapid City. We are going to Bear Country - where the animals are loose and the people have to stay in their cars and drive through. The sweet young lady at the entrance actually asked if we were over 60!!! What a hoot. We got our ticket and started our drive to look at the wild animals. We first see a couple of Rocky Mountain elk. Around a curve is a whole family. The males all have fur on their antlers. My Daddy and Brother would have been drooling already. Over the cattle crossing and there is a herd of reindeer in the road walking from car to car. The we see the Big Horn, Dall and Rocky Moutain Sheep. All have their own little areas, but they think that they are free. From there we head out into bear country. Folks, they were everywhere. There were brown bear and grizzlies all over the field. They would walk down onto and across the roads just disregarding the fact that there were cars. One of the funniest was a black bear who just sat down on his rear end and started scratching his arms and chest. Then there was another who was scratching his back on an old log. We saw bison and miniature donkeys also. But, by far the most fun thing was the baby bear enclosure. There were about 13 baby bears who were just having a marvelous time playing with each other. They had a pine tree (looked like it was cut off and stuck in a pipe to hold it up) in the enclosure and the little bears would run up and climb it and fall off. They would stand up an box with each other and just run across the enclosure and roll down the hill with each other. If we had had a chair, I believe we would have just sat there and watched the babies forever.
But, all good things have to end, so we headed north towards the interstate and Fudrucker's for supper. Of course, we didn't remember where the Fudrucker's was and missed it. So, off to Deadwood to find a place to eat and back to the RV for some sleep.
Day 6 will be Deadwood, SD. I'll work on pictures later tonight or tomorrow morning.
We took highway 85 south from Elkhorn Ridge RV park to Deadwood. Deadwood is Day 6 - so I'll hold off telling you about it until then. After about two miles, the road started to rise into the Black Hills. Jimmy tells me that the Black Hills are so named because of the pine trees that cover the hillsides. I will admit that, from a distance, the hills do have a very dark color.
Once through Deadwood, we hit highway 385 towards Keystone, SD, headed towards Mt. Rushmore. Of course, we get caught behind two RV's, one of which is towing. The road is a little twisty, but not really bad, and the RV did not slow us down too much. In fact, it slowed us down enough where we could enjoy the views, see the deer, and see the farmsteads.
It was quite interesting when we arrived in Rushing. It looks a lot like Gatlinburg did before it got so commercial in recent years. There is a four lane main street, but both sides are covered with souvenir shops! There are a lot of people walking on the streets in shorts and tennis shoes. Also a lot of hotels and more businesses under construction.
As we leave the commercial part of town and head up the hill towards Mount Rushmore, the road twists and turns. As we made one left turn, I saw the sculptures. I wish we could have just stopped right there and looked at the awesome mountain face. Having seen it on television so many times in no way prepared us for the real thing. At one moment, you are looking at a regular old mountain, and the next moment you are seeing Mt. Rushmore in all of its glory.
So, up the hill we go and pay our $10 to park. Kind of interesting that it is a National Park, but your Golden Age Pass doesn't work for the parking. The parking lot was built and is run by a non-governmental organization. But, the parking is nice and up we go through the entrance to the park. Once again (but closer) there are the presidents. We walk through the avenue of states and get closer and closer. You look up there and are amazed that humans could actually have 'carved' those four faces out of the mountain side. You see the rubble from the carving below the faces, but you really cannot visualize that this was once just a mountain top.
Jimmy and I decide that we are going to walk the entire walk around the park area, including the strenuous part down to the sculpting house. For about half of the walk, it is just a boardwalk type walkway. But then we reach the steps down. I don't find it very strenuous at all. We get to the bottom of the walkway and realize that, to get back to the visitor's center and the ice cream, it is all up hill. So, up we go, taking breaks periodically. At the last stop before the top, a little boy in brand new Davy Crockett boots came by. I commented on his boots. He, of course, had to stop and tell us all about the boots, his Latoka lizard that he was wearing around his neck and his trip next year to Tennessee to see all the sites about Davy Crockett. What a fun break.
We finally reach the top and get our ice cream. that was about the best break of all. There are chipmunks and robins fighting over every crumb that is dropped by a tourist. Some of the crumbs are dropped accidentally. Some crumbs are put on the ground on purpose for the little animals. The little animals think that they are stealing, but the people are just casually feeding them - against all of the park rules, of course.
From Mt. Rushmore, we head back towards Rapid City. We are going to Bear Country - where the animals are loose and the people have to stay in their cars and drive through. The sweet young lady at the entrance actually asked if we were over 60!!! What a hoot. We got our ticket and started our drive to look at the wild animals. We first see a couple of Rocky Mountain elk. Around a curve is a whole family. The males all have fur on their antlers. My Daddy and Brother would have been drooling already. Over the cattle crossing and there is a herd of reindeer in the road walking from car to car. The we see the Big Horn, Dall and Rocky Moutain Sheep. All have their own little areas, but they think that they are free. From there we head out into bear country. Folks, they were everywhere. There were brown bear and grizzlies all over the field. They would walk down onto and across the roads just disregarding the fact that there were cars. One of the funniest was a black bear who just sat down on his rear end and started scratching his arms and chest. Then there was another who was scratching his back on an old log. We saw bison and miniature donkeys also. But, by far the most fun thing was the baby bear enclosure. There were about 13 baby bears who were just having a marvelous time playing with each other. They had a pine tree (looked like it was cut off and stuck in a pipe to hold it up) in the enclosure and the little bears would run up and climb it and fall off. They would stand up an box with each other and just run across the enclosure and roll down the hill with each other. If we had had a chair, I believe we would have just sat there and watched the babies forever.
But, all good things have to end, so we headed north towards the interstate and Fudrucker's for supper. Of course, we didn't remember where the Fudrucker's was and missed it. So, off to Deadwood to find a place to eat and back to the RV for some sleep.
Day 6 will be Deadwood, SD. I'll work on pictures later tonight or tomorrow morning.
Day 4.5 - First Night at Elkhorn Ridge RV Park
It is about 3:20 am (Holly Springs time). Apparently, a typhoon, hurricane, gully washer, and some other kind of storm has hit directly on top of Elkhorn RV Park. I (Martha) wake up first. Jimmy slowly comes out of his sleep. We had, of course, not pulled in the awning over the door - the awning that Tiffin had to replace due to a defective motor about a month ago. So, out of bed I come to close the awning.
Peaches and Bear are really scared of this storm. Bear is running from one end of the RV to the other, and he will not let me catch him. Peaches is just cowering. I finally caught her and put her in the bed with Jimmy, figuring that Bear will follow soon.
No such luck. I wish that words could describe this storm. Yes, it got worse. There was lightning - no need for lights inside the RV. There was thunder. There was wind so strong it felt like an earthquake. The RV was shaking, Peaches and Bear were shaking and I was shaking.
It got so bad that we finally started to worry about the covers over the slides being damaged. So, up we both get again. Jimmy closes the front two slides and I close the back two. That really did reduce the feeling of iminent threat of death. I guess because you couldn't hear the wind so much around the slides.
But now we have a bigger problem. We have Bear located. He is in bed shaking. But, we cannot find Peaches. Down on the floor I go looking behind and under the sofas. No Peaches. She isn't in the litter box, nor is she locked in the bathroom. I even went to the point of getting out a can of treats (at 4:30 in the morning) to shake. That normally brings both of them running. No such luck - but Bear wants his treats right now.
I check the very last place she could be hiding. Inside the bedroom slide under the bed. There is Bear, and Peaches is coming out of the hiding place entrance by Jimmy's side of the bed. Okay, the cats are finally located. Maybe I can get back to sleep.
I don't know what time the rain finally slacked off enough for me to sleep - but it did. So, the story will resume later this morning when we head for the hills. I'll put more about the black hills and why they are called that in the next issue.
By the way, pictures will be posted on my flickr site later today (when there are enough to post).
Peaches and Bear are really scared of this storm. Bear is running from one end of the RV to the other, and he will not let me catch him. Peaches is just cowering. I finally caught her and put her in the bed with Jimmy, figuring that Bear will follow soon.
No such luck. I wish that words could describe this storm. Yes, it got worse. There was lightning - no need for lights inside the RV. There was thunder. There was wind so strong it felt like an earthquake. The RV was shaking, Peaches and Bear were shaking and I was shaking.
It got so bad that we finally started to worry about the covers over the slides being damaged. So, up we both get again. Jimmy closes the front two slides and I close the back two. That really did reduce the feeling of iminent threat of death. I guess because you couldn't hear the wind so much around the slides.
But now we have a bigger problem. We have Bear located. He is in bed shaking. But, we cannot find Peaches. Down on the floor I go looking behind and under the sofas. No Peaches. She isn't in the litter box, nor is she locked in the bathroom. I even went to the point of getting out a can of treats (at 4:30 in the morning) to shake. That normally brings both of them running. No such luck - but Bear wants his treats right now.
I check the very last place she could be hiding. Inside the bedroom slide under the bed. There is Bear, and Peaches is coming out of the hiding place entrance by Jimmy's side of the bed. Okay, the cats are finally located. Maybe I can get back to sleep.
I don't know what time the rain finally slacked off enough for me to sleep - but it did. So, the story will resume later this morning when we head for the hills. I'll put more about the black hills and why they are called that in the next issue.
By the way, pictures will be posted on my flickr site later today (when there are enough to post).
Day 4 - Elkhorn RV Park, Spearfish, SD
We get up refreshed about
Today, we will finally see Wall Drug. Wall Drug was founded in 1931 by a couple named Hustead who bought and ran a drug store in Wall, SD. There is a lot of information on this tourist site on the internet. To tell the story briefly, Mr. Hustead and his wife bought a drug store in the little town of
We started seeing Wall Drug signs before we ever got to highway 90. They had little on them other than something like: free water; honey mooners get free donut and coffee; coffee for a nickel; and western art exhibits. Basically, their signage is just subtle advertising for the store.
We got to Wall about
After a quick lunch at Wall Drug, we get back in the RV and head west towards Spearfish. We will be at the Elkhorn RV Park for the next four days. From here we can go to
The pictures that follow are of Wall Drug and the RV park where we are staying.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Day 3 - Kennebec, SD
It is day 3 of our little trek. So far, there really isn’t much to see. We start off heading up interstate 29 towards
We had heard that there is a lot of flooding in
Plus, we are starting to see more wild animals killed on the side on the interstate, particularly in the areas where the fields are somewhat flooded.
Once we made the left turn to get off highway 29 and onto highway 90, when you look out the front of the RV, it looks like a big ribbon laid down on the land. I wouldn’t say that it is totally flat, because there are some hills and valleys. But, they are not really big hills. There are a lot of cows and a lot of grass and a lot of bales of high stacked up in fields. If you look off in the distance, you can see towns. Then about 10 minutes later, you actually get to the town.
Plus, since we got into
We stop for the night at a KOA RV park in
Day 2 - Council Bluffs, IA
Day 2 is kind of a repeat of day 1, except that when we stopped to eat lunch in a rest area, I made tuna salad, which had the cats doing little cat dances. Of course, I gave them about half the can. We are going to overnight in the back parking lot of another Harrah’s, but this time we are in
One interesting thing is that quite a bit of the parking lot area next to the
Notice that there are no cars in the parking lot!!!
Day 1 - St. Louis, MO
We have been packing the RV for a whole week. Finally, it is Sunday morning – Father’s Day – and we are about to head out for an adventure to states we have yet to visit. We will be heading north through
Since Peaches and Bear are going, I’ll have to give Peaches one of her travel sickness pills. She only takes a half pill, but it is really a pain to give it to her. If she doesn’t have one though, she is likely to get sick. So, I’ll get up early and stuffed a travel pill down her throat. We are lucky that Bear doesn’t share her affinity for car sickness. Of course, as soon as she had the pill, she went to hide.
There are just a few things left to pack up. Most important are Peaches, Bear and their litter box.
Jimmy brings in the cat carrier. Peaches, of course, is hiding. So, down on the floor to look under beds to find Peaches. She has secreted herself under the bed in the middle bedroom. The only problem with her hiding place is that her tail is sticking out. So, I scoop her up and pop her in the box. The normally reliable and unafraid Bear is now missing. I find him in the middle bedroom laying flat on his belly looking under the bed to help me find Peaches. So, scoop up the Bear and put him in the carrier and we are off to
It is a long first day of our trip. With one stop for fuel in
No pictures today. Most everyone who will be reading this has made the trek to
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