Wed, 7/2/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: I walked up to the Visitor’s Center this morning while Mike was getting the marinade ready for the chicken we’re having for dinner tonight. I bought two books—one about John Colter’s time in the Rockies and the other entitled “It Happened in Yellowstone”. John Colter was part of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and on the return trip he requested to be relieved of his duties, which both Captains readily agreed. He went back into this wild, uninhabited area and did some amazing things. The one thing that puts me in awe of him was a trip he made for the fur trading post owned by Manuel Lisa. In the winter of 1807-1808 he covered over 500 miles on foot and alone—visiting various Indian villages and camps to let them know of the new trading post. He started north of what is now Billings and traveled west along the Shoshone River, into what is now Yellowstone, south into the Tetons and the Jackson area, and then back—in the winter, on foot, and alone. Amazing!

I thought it was a little chilly this morning, but lots of people were walking around in shorts and tee shirts. Walked back and sat outside and started reading the book about John Coulter and Mike started the one on Yellowstone. In the afternoon we took a trail that leaves the campground and intersects the Eaton trail. This trail goes from Fishing Bridge on the Yellowstone all the way to Canyon City—16 miles. Follows the Yellowstone all the way—through prime bear country. We saw lots of bison droppings along the trail. 100 people got gored by Bison last summer. The trail starts out though a beautiful pine and spruce forest next to the Yellowstone River. On the river side there were a lot of old growth trees. The further along the trail we got we saw more scat—some of it pretty fresh—and we weren’t sure what left it. It wasn’t bison. Not sure what bear scat looks like. So we turned around and headed back. Followed a little road for a while off the trail which led to an old cabin. Back to the campground and we had grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and Italian vegetables for dinner.

Tue, 7/1/08

Yellowstone NP: WY: An iffy morning this morning so we decided to drive into Cody and get on the computer and do some grocery shopping. It’s 80 miles to Cody from here and will probably take two hours to get there. The speed limit in the park is 45 MPH and through the Shoshone National Forest it’s 50. A beautiful drive though. It was in the 50s when we left and in the 80s in Cody. We found a wi-fi spot outside a Comfort Inn and were able to get on from their parking lot. We had lunch at the Silver Dollar in Cody and then drove out west of town to the original town site of Cody which had a bunch of old buildings on it that we thought might be interesting. Turns out all these buildings are authentic from different parts of Wyoming which were disassembled and reassembled at this site. One was a saloon where the Hole in the Wall Gang used to hang out. Also a couple of cabins where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid used to hide out. There was an old school cabin called “The Coffin School” (1884). It was called that because the guy who originally owned the cabin died there of gangrene after he cut himself in the leg while hewing logs. Depressing name though. There were 26 buildings in all, plus a lot of different wagons from the 1800s. The neatest thing though is the little cemetery on this site. There are six graves there—all exhumed from other locations and reburied here. One of the graves was of Jeremiah “Liver Eating” Johnson. He died in California at the age of 76 and was moved to this site in 1974. Robert Redford was a pall bearer at this service. Of course he played him in the movie. This guy did all kinds of things after his “mountain man” days. He was born in New Jersey in 1824, had been a trapper, hunter, army scout, marshal, and Civil War veteran. Over 2000 people showed up for his reburial—the largest burial service in the history of Wyoming. Probably because Robert Redford was there. And in some of the buildings was displayed all kinds of buffalo coats, Indian clothing, saddles, tack—all kinds of artifacts from the period. Another cabin there was the home of Curly—one of Custer’s Crow Indian scouts. The guy that started this was an archaeologist for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. He realized that old historical buildings and associated material were rapidly disappearing from the landscape. So in 1967 work began to gather the historic buildings and relics to be displayed at this site on the west side of Cody, which was the area Buffalo Bill and his associates had chosen for the first town site of Cody in 1895. A great place. After we left the “Old Trail Town” we went to Wal Mart to do our grocery shopping—what a let down. Then drove back and hit a thunder storm at Sylvan Pass. Temperature dropped 30 degrees.

Yellowstone Inn

Mon, 6/30/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: Another pretty day. Decided to drive up to the Old Faithful area. Went over Craig pass and on the other side it was really warm—well, comparatively warm. It was in the low 80s when we got to Old Faithful. I wasn’t looking forward to this because I figured it would be mobbed with people—and it was. But we walked over to the veranda of the beautiful, rustic Old Faithful Lodge and got ourselves a couple of chairs and pulled them up to the railing for a beautiful view of the geyser. I went inside and bought a couple of sandwiches, some drinks, and some cookies, and we settled in to watch the eruption. The sky was getting threatening but we were under cover at least. And it went off pretty much on schedule. Thankfully we ate before the eruption because after everyone headed into the lodge for something to eat. It was packed and the lines were endless. So we walked over to the older and more historic Old Faithful Inn and explored this fantastic lobby. We were going to walk the trail through the geyser basin, but it was looking iffy weatherwise, so we headed back to where we were parked and on the way saw Old Faithful go off again. Drove back making many stops along the way. The Firehole River and Firehole Lake are pretty spectacular. We saw an elk carcass on the way to Firehole Lake. Stopped at another hot spring and walked around for a while and drove down Firehole River Canyon road. This canyon is spectacular with vertical cliffs of about 1000 ft. and this cascading river at the bottom. Also took the Virginia Rapids side road which was really scary—no guard rails and a straight drop into the canyon. Beautiful though. And we stopped at Gibbon Falls. There are so many beautiful streams, falls, and river valleys in this park. On the way back along the Yellowstone River we saw a beaver. Great day.

Grizzly back in the trees

Lower Falls

Sun, 6/29/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: Another beautiful day. We hiked the Pelican Creek trail in the morning—a pretty little trail that leads you through pines and firs to Yellowstone Lake and then through a pretty marsh area. However, this area was flooded out so we backtracked through the woods. I said I would not hike in grizzly territory, which this definitely is, but here we are traipsing through the woods. I sang a lot though to let them know we were around. That scared everything away. Decided to have lunch at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge, but they only had a cafeteria. So we went to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel and had lunch in their elegant dining room. This hotel is very historic—originally built in 1890. It’s had several renovations and additions, bringing it to its current elegance. Its large veranda looks out to Yellowstone Lake and the mountains beyond. After lunch we decided to drive back toward Sylvan Pass, and returning we saw a grizzly with two yearling cubs. Watched them for a while and then back to our pretty campsite in the pines. Hit the upper 70s today.

LeHardys Rapids

Sat, 6/28/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: A beautiful morning. We decided to drive up to Canyon City and stop at all the points along the way. Our first stop was at sulphur caldron and mud volcano. Interesting, but not very pretty. The drive took us along the Yellowstone River all the way to Canyon City. Spectacular views. After that we stopped at LeHardys Rapids—a beautiful spot on the river where cutthroat trout fight their way up the rapids to Fishing Bridge where they spawn. That is happening now. We saw a couple of the trout in the shallows—resting I guess before they tackled the rapids. We are here at a great time since they had a late snow melt and there is lots of water in the rivers and lakes. In fact, there is a lot of snow still around—even in our campground. Had lunch at Canyon City and then backtracked to the upper and lower falls. These are on the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Spectacular canyon and falls. We hiked down one of the rim trails and saw an elk on the trail. We heard a grizzly and her two cubs were spotted at Hayden Valley. We only saw Bison when we went by there. Back to the campground. This campground has a grocery store, gas station, laundry, as well as a car and RV repair facility. We stopped at the grocery store to check it out. Pretty limited. We plan to head back to Cody anyway, so we’ll do our grocery shopping then.

Yellowstone Lake

Fri, 6/27/08

Yellowstone NP, WY: We left our campground in Wapiti around 11:00 and headed to the west entrance of the park. What incredible scenery. Wild flowers are everywhere. We’re at the Fishing Bridge campground and Mike did such a good job with the reservation because he asked for a site on the periphery and we’re on the end of a loop surrounded by pines. It’s a great site. It’s as beautiful as a national forest campground but with water, electric, and sewer. No TV reception, no cell phone signal and no Internet though. After we got set up we drove around for a while. We’re within walking distance of the Yellowstone River as it comes out of Yellowstone Lake. A beautiful spot. Drove around Yellowstone Lake a little bit and stopped at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge. On the way there were a couple of bison in the road blocking traffic. Back to campground and Italian sausage sandwiches and three bean salad for dinner.

Blooming Cactus

Custer Battlefield

Wild Flower

Custer Battlefield

Yellowstone NP, WY: Got up this morning and did the laundry and cleaned the bathroom. Then I updated our expenses in my spreadsheet. We left Hardin, MT, around 11:00 and headed north on I90. We stopped around Billings and had some lunch, then continued on. On the outskirts of Billings we crossed the Yellowstone River with some pretty impressive sandstone bluffs. There are a lot of oil refineries in Billings which aren’t too attractive. We need more refineries though, but nobody wants them in their city. Just west of Billings we started seeing the Beartooth Mountains. Shortly after that we got off the highway and headed southwest along the Yellowstone River, following the river for quite a while. The river is very high and really cranking. The river valley is pretty, but beyond is a pretty desolate landscape with ridges and buttes covered in sage brush—and probably lots of rattle snakes. We went through Bridger, MT, named for mountain man extraordinaire, Jim Bridger. After Bridger we drove for miles and miles seeing nothing but huge ranches. Went through Cody, WY, which is a neat little town on the Shoshone River. Just outside of Cody the river flows through Shoshone Canyon which is incredible. We definitely will go back sans the fifth wheel. Our campground is at the Yellowstone Valley Inn just west of Cody. They have cabins, the inn, and have recently added a campground. Pretty nice place. Beautiful panoramic view of the mountains all around us. Had dinner in the restaurant there. We’re not even unhooking. Will leave tomorrow for our campground in the middle of Yellowstone. We’ll be in Yellowstone for 3 weeks.