Day 18 - Look Up, Look Down, Look All Around

Last night was one of the warmest since we left Nebraska.  We had both bedroom windows open all night and didn't use the electric blanket at all.  We left the campground for a day of sightseeing.  First stop was "The Mammoth Site" just outside of Hot Springs.  We had never heard of it until we arrived here.  In the 1970's a real estate developer was using a bulldozer to clear off land he had purchased for a housing development.  The blade of the bulldozer scrapped across the tusk of a mammoth.  He stopped the bulldozer until someone with a knowledge of fossils could be contacted.  The site has yielded to date, fossils from 59 mammoths.  Every year for one month students and scientists work in the site removing layers of rock/dirt to uncover more fossils.  The other 11 months, the fossils are studied and categorized.  I am posting a picture taken at the dig site.  The bones of a mammoth have been exposed but not removed yet.

Cloud bank over the mountains that brought in a cold front.

Below picture shows the box work formations in Wind Cave.

Above exposed skeleton of a wooly mammoth.
Below a tusk is clearly visible.

We then drove to Wind Cave National Park to take a cave tour.  I am posting a picture of what the cave is famous for..."box work" formations.  We were told that 95% of all box work formations are found here.  The guide explained that a box work formation is like brick and mortar with the brick
removed but leaving the mortar.  Look closely at the picture and you may be able to see the
formations.  Wind Cave NP has lots of wildlife.  We saw buffalo, a coyote, a deer, and prairie dogs.
Look closely at the picture of the buffalo and you will see a prairie dog standing from its burrow in
the background.  Carol's keen eye discovered the prairie dog!

Our last stop was Crazy Horse Mountain.  We both liked this the best.  Carol, Kara, and I were out
here 19 years ago and the only thing visible then was a hole which will someday be the under part of
his arm.  Now you can see his entire face and the top part of his outstretched arm.  Sculptor
Ziolkowski began the work in 1948.  He believed that the project should be funded with public
interest and not taxpayer money so he has never taken any money offered by the federal government.



When he died in 1982, he left detailed plans to be used with his scale models so the work could
continue.  Today his wife, Ruth, and seven of his ten children continue to work in the project.  Now
in addition the being able to see the mountain, there is a visitor's center which houses pictures, some
of his old equipment, and displays of Indian history.  It is very interesting.
As we were heading north to Crazy Horse Mountain, a cold front was coming from the north.  You could see the cloud bank over the mountains.  The temperatures dropped and the wind picked up.  We  would have liked to take a bus up to the site of the sculpture but it was so cold and we had not dressed for such a drastic change in temperature so we headed back to camp.  We had left Sandy in the trailer for nearly seven hours so we needed to get back.
We turned on the furnace when we got back and the winds had died down some.  I don't think we will have any windows open tonight!  The last picture I am posting is taken of a big burn they must of had out here.  There are signs down some of the smaller roads telling people that because of the burn, stay on the road.  It is possible to see some trees burned and others still green.

Tomorrow we plan to take Sandy with us and drive The Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road
and who knows what else or where else we may go.

X

A

Day 17 - George Armstrong Custer

We unhooked last night so this morning we timed ourselves to see how quickly we could be on the road.  We were able to pack and hook up in about 35 minutes.   We are getting better at backing the truck to a near perfect place for the ball of the hitch to fit into the hitch of the camper.  I will pat myself on the back because I'm the one at the hitch eyeballing where the ball on the truck should be to make the connection in one back up.  Anyway, we were on the road by 8:15 am.

We saw lots of animals at the Sheridan KOA.  When we first got there, we saw a small group of wild turkey near the registration building.  The next morning, that same group were in the playground area.  They must make the KOA home.  We also saw lots of rabbits and squirrels.  These animals are not what we have been seeing in Yellowstone but they are still animals!

We took I-90 to close to the border of Wyoming and South Dakota.  Then we took state route 585 to 85 to 18 into the Big Springs KOA in South Dakota.  They gave us a pretty campsite under tall pine trees.  It should be shady most of the time.  The only problem is that it isn't very level and we had to use every piece of board and lift blocks to get it leveled.  It's not perfect but it will do.  I hope we don't roll down the hill tonight!  We plan to be here four nights and three days.

Sheridan is less than 100 miles from where the Battle of Little Big Horn was fought.  We had been there before so we didn't make that a stop this trip.  The funny thing was that as we were driving down the road, we were listening to XM radio 50's station and they played the song "Please Mr. Custer" as we were driving past the exit for the Battle of Little Big Horn!  If you are old enough to remember that song, it is about a man who is begging Mr. Custer not to make him go to the Big Horn "cause there's Injuns out there!"

When we turned off I-90 to the two-laned road, we saw a sign for a mountain called "Inyan Kara".  I looked it up on the Internet (thanks to my I-Pad and hot spot) and found out that the mountain is 6,348 foot high and is considered sacred by the Lakota Indian tribe particularly for mothers in childbirth.  I also read a blog from a man who hiked to the top of the mountain, and he found this carved into a rock on the top:  74 G. Custer.  This man felt that George Custer had probably carved it in the rock when he was in the Black Hills area on an government expedition when gold was discovered.  That discovery of gold caused the government to break it's treaty with the Indiana which had given the Black Hills to the Lakota Indians. Two years later the Battle of Little Horn took place.  It seemed like every where we turned, George Custer's name was popping up!

Something else I have been noticing is how much this land depends on water.  To grow anything, they must irrigate.  It is interesting to see a circle of green where the irrigation pipes can water next to another area that is brown without the irrigation water.  If you see green, it has either been irrigated or there is a small creek flowing through the area.  Rain in the area must be almost nonexistent during the spring and summer growing season.  I do think that the brown and yellow colored terrain is beautiful but I like living where we have green yards and roadsides.

We aren't  sure what we are going to do tomorrow.  I would like to go to Wind Cave so we may take a short cave trip.  There is also a big dinosaur dig here at Big Springs where you go and see bones in all stages of being dug up.  Of course we want to go to Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse carving on the mountain and the Needles Highway.  We have three days to get everything done.

Look closely and you will see turkeys.

Shades of irrigation.

Inyan Kara Mountain, South Dakota.

Backroad somewhere off the beaten path in South Dakota.

Day 16 - On the Road Again

After six days of being in the same spot, it was hard to get up and begin the packing up procedures.  We did pretty well because we were on the road by 8:30 am.  We decided to take US 191 north to
I-90 at Bozeman.  We had never been on 191 and really enjoyed the drive.  The road went through what I would call the Gallatin River Canyon.  The road followed the Gallatin River through high stone walls.  Sometimes there would be a forrest of pine trees mixed with yellow leaved trees and other times it would just be stone walls.
At the beginning of the canyon, we saw a road sign that said the highway department was in the process of making the road less accident-prone.  In Montana, the state puts white crosses along the road where a fatality has occurred.  There are no names on the crosses and The American Legion maintains them.  As we traveled through the canyon, we saw between 30 to 40 crosses on a 21 mile stretch of road.  We could see why so many deaths could occur because if you were to go off the road, there would be no place to go except into the river or into the canyon wall.
As we traveled on I-90, the terrain began to change from what we had gotten accustomed to.  We got into the low golden grasses and scrub-covered hills.  It is pretty, but not as jaw-dropping as the high mountains and rock canyons.  We stopped for gas at a truck plaza in Hardin, Montana.  If we hadn't needed gas, we would have left before getting gas.  We couldn't get the pump to work and finally someone had to  out to get it going for us.  We hadn't eaten and wanted to get something to eat but the store was small, crowded, and uninviting.  Carol has a small book he got when he was driving a semi which lists most of the truckstops on the interstates and other major highways.  We use it to find places we can get gas with some ease.  I drew a line through that one so we never make that mistake again.
We stopped early (3:30 pm) at a KOA near Sheridan,  Wyoming.  It is your typical KOA by the interstate.  We can actually see the cars/trucks on the interstate from our site.  It is much warmer here so I will be taking the electric blanket off the bed.  It is cool but not the cold we have been used to.  We won't be in too big of a hurry tomorrow morning because we think it is only 3-4 hours to the Mt. Rushmore area.
There aren't many pictures to post today.  There is one of the campsite in which we spent the last week, some from the town, one from the canyon, and from the interstate.

Our campsite at Grizzley RV Park

Hibernation Station Motel outside our campsite.

It was sad to take a picture of this sign the last time we left the park for this trip.

Gallatin Valley

One of the many interesting rooftops at Hibernation Station

     

I-80 east somewhere in Montana.

Day 15 - Farewell Tour of Yellowstone

We headed into the park by 8:30 am. We took Sandy with us today because we knew that we wouldn't be taking hikes today.  We took the Firehole Canyon Drive.  It was a two-mile loop that went through a deep canyon.  There was a clear river that followed the floor of the canyon rolling over huge boulders here and there.  There was a beautiful waterfall.  This drive is definitely one we would take again.  In fact, we did take it two times to get all the pictures we wanted.  The pullovers were small and sometimes full so we drove it the second time to get all the pictures we wanted.

From there we headed north past the Norris Geyser Basin area.  We found an overlook that showed a wide view of the basin with the steam from the geysers.  We stopped, took pictures, and then took a short walk to see if we could get a better picture.  When we got back to our truck, there were several other people there and they asked us if we had seen the wolf.  What wolf?  They had seen a wolf run across the road and down the way we had gone.  That is why they had stopped.  We missed it all.

The most northern point we went on the road was to an overlook of the Gallatin Mountain Range.  There were beautiful purple bushes in the meadow along with the golden grasses so we had to take pictures.  We made another stop and this time Sandy got into the water up to her tummy.  She really liked the water.

It was getting close to lunch time and we had packed a picnic lunch but all the picnic areas were full so we ended up pulling into a large pullover with a beautiful view and eating in the truck.  We also stopped at another place in the park that we  had never been.  It was called Sheepeaters  Cliff.  It was a very unusual rock formation.  It was called Sheepeaters because the Shoshonni Indianas lived here and they herded sheep.  Anyway, it was worth a look see.

On the way out of the park, we came upon a small herd of elk and I managed to get a picture of a couple of females beside the road.  About 2:00 pm we left the park for the last time.  We have enjoyed being here but it is time to move on.  When we got back we went into town to do a little more shopping, have a pizza for supper and fill the truck up with gas so we would be ready for the big drive tomorrow.  We aren't sure where we will stop tomorrow but we are going to take two days to get to South Dakota.

One of many unusual rock formations seen on the Firehole Canyon Drive.

Firehole Canyon Falls.

After leaving the canyon, the river becomes quieter.

Gallatin Mountain Range

Shades of fall in the Gallatin Valley.

Day 14 - Going the Grand Circle of Yellowstone

River flowing to Virginia Falls.

Buffalo Jam:  These guys love to slow down visitors in the park.

He must think he is a car!

STOP:  They have the right of way!

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  It's beautiful but doesn't compare to the one and only Grand Canyon.

Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Carol dodged a bullet because he was feeling great today.  I guess he didn't have the dreaded cold that usually gets him down for a week.

 We decided to go into the park first thing this morning.  Of course we saw several traffic tie-ups from people watching elk and buffalo.We didn't stop because we are now veterans of animal watching.   We had been seeing a loop road along the river so we decided to take it.  We did the loop but never again.  You really don't get to see much of the river and it is a very rough road.  After that loop, we took a loop road to Virginia Cascades.  It was very nice and we would definitely do it again.  I am posting a picture or two of the river that the road overlooked and passed right by at times.  We stopped and walked along the river.  It was very peaceful and beautiful.

We then headed for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the upper and lower falls.  While we were at the lower falls, an older Japanese woman asked if we wanted her to take our picture in front of the falls.  We told her yes and gave her the camera.  She snapped one picture but she hadn't pushed the right button so she tried again but this time she handed the camera back to me before the picture was complete so we got a picture of my leg.  Her heart was in the right place!  Carol did take a picture of me in front of the upper falls.  I am posting this one as proof that I am actually on this trip with Carol and Sandy!

  There are big buses of Japanese tourists at the park and they all have cameras.  Today was "Park Visitor Appreciation Day" so anyone could get into any national park free.  We have a Golden Eagle Passport so we don't pay anyway but I thought it was nice for those who would normally have to pay.  We were told that the park service does this twice a year.  I guess they don't advertise it.

We went to the mud volcanoes next and took a short hike but unfortunately the first part of the hike was UP HILL!  It is always fun going back down.  We decided that would be the last hike we take in this park this year.  The rest of the sightseeing would be from the truck or pullouts off the road.

We did get into a big buffalo traffic jam with cars, trucks, campers and buffaloes.  The buffaloes were on both sides of the road and some were crossing the road between cars.  A couple of them crossed right in front of our truck.  Naturally, I had my window down trying to take pictures.  The males seemed upset that the cars were on their road and were bellowing.

We finished driving the entire loop around Yellowstone which is 130 miles.  It took us six hours but we made several stops to hike and look.  Tomorrow we are coming back to take pictures we have wanted to take but couldn't because of traffic.  We won't be taking any trails.

After we got back to camp, we talked to our neighbors.  They work here at Grizzley RV and are from California.  They said this is the first year they have worked as "work campers" and have really loved it.  They work four days on and three days off.  They get paid minimum wage and get a camping spot for $5.00 a night.  On their days off, they go into the Yellowstone and see other sights around the area.  They have already sighed up to come back next year.  Carol and I have talked a lot about doing the same thing but we don't want to be away from our grand kids that long so I guess we will just keep talking about it.

Fall scene in one of the many valleys in Yellowstone.

Day 13 - A Little Work and a Lot of Fun

Another cold night but an electric blanket and furnace helps us stay warm.  We have been busy every day but this morning some laundry and general housekeeping needed to be done.  We decided that we would spend the morning getting these things done and go into the park this afternoon.  After laundry, housekeeping things done, and lunch, we headed into the park.

Our goal was to reach the north entrance of the park because I wanted a picture of the original entrance to the park.  The north end is 50 miles from West Yellowstone.  We also wanted to stop at the Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, and anything else we saw that was worth a stop and look.

The Norris Geyser Basin was nice.  There were several geysers in all stages of eruption.  We took two different trails and on the trails going up, we discovered how out of shape we are.  We had to made frequent stops to catch our breath; but, with much huffing and puffing and taking one step at a time, we made the climbs back to the top.  We also stopped at the Gibbon Waterfall.  I will post a picture.

When we got to the Mammoth Hot Springs, we first took the motor loop around the top of the springs.  Note to self:  it was a waste of time and never take that loop again.  The majority of the active hot springs were not visible from the car.  You have to get out of your car and take a trail!  We stopped near the bottom, parked the truck, and took a very nice broadwalk trail to see some of the hot springs.    The springs were still pumping hot water down the terraces.

It was getting late and the north entrance was still five miles away.  That should have been a short trip but we had to drive through a beautiful canyon with hairpin curves and magnificent views around every curve.  By the time we reached the bottom of the canyon and the north entrance of the park, it was getting late so the picture needed more light but I took it anyway.

The best part of this trip to the north entrance was all the animals we saw.  There were cars stopped along the road to see the animals and to get pictures and we were just like the rest of them, we stopped when we could.  We saw so many elk that we finally kept driving when we came across them.  Although twice, an elk walked right in front of the truck and Carol could have hit them if he hadn't been watching.

It was the same with buffalo although we didn't see any herds.  We only saw single old male buffaloes.  The last time we were at the park, we were told that when the males get old and can no longer defend it's herd of females from younger males, they are forced to leave the herd and wander Yellowstone alone except sometimes they will team up with other old males.  We saw several old guys.  In fact, two were walking right down the middle  of the road causing quite a traffic jam.  I am posting a picture of the pair and I want it known that Carol took that picture.  It is very good!

We also saw several Bighorn Sheep.  We got there just as a fight was going on between two males.  The winner stood at the top of a rocky cliff  while the loser was sent running down the cliff away from the herd.  Again, it was getting dark so the picture isn't the greatest but I'm posting it anyway.

All in all, it was another great day..The only downer is the fact that Carol is getting a cold.  He normally gets a bad cold at least twice a year.  Why did it have to be now???  It usually takes a week to run its course and there are a couple of days when he can barely function.  We are hoping it won't be like that.  Only time will tell.

Tomorrow we plan to see Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the upper and lower falls and the paint and mud pots.  That may not seem like much but it will involve a lot of driving.  You don't get anywhere fast in Yellowstone!

Pictures above and below:  terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs in northern part of park.

The road twists and hangs onto the mountain as it descends to the bottom of the valley.

An elk at dusk

Above and below pictures:  North Geyser Basin.

Gibbon Falls

Day 12 - Earthquake

Today we drove back to the highway we came in on to find out about the earthquake.  We had driven through a valley with the Madison River flowing through.  We saw men fly fishing in the river.  It looked picture perfect but as we drove through the valley we saw a lake named Earthquake Lake and saw signs indicating a disaster had occurred in the peaceful valley.  We spent almost three hours driving and stopping at roadside info signs telling the whole story.

At 11:37 pm on August 17, 1959, one of the severest earthquakes recorded on the North American continent hit this peaceful valley.  Half of a 7,600 foot mountain came crashing down into the valley, bottling up the river, and causing a tidal wave to send a 20 foot wave of water down the valley where vacationers where staying in cabins and campgrounds.  Today one of those campgrounds is 100 feet under the new lake that was formed called Earthquake Lake.  We saw cabins that had been literally picked up and swept along the tidal wave of water and left down river.  With all this devastation, only 27 people were killed.  Most of them were camped at the campground that is under the waters of Earthquake Lake.  Part of that campground was in the direct path of the rock slide that occurred from the earthquake so some life was lost and those people were never recovered.  Now the valley has returned to the tranquility of before the quake.

Yellowstone sets in a earthquake zone and it is not uncommon for them to occur but they aren't the magnitude of the 1959 quake.  The last time we were in Yellowstone, there was an earthquake.  Kara and we were tent camping and we were awakened by the ground shaking.  We didn't realize that it was caused by an earthquake until we heard the news the next morning.

After we left the valley we returned to West Yellowstone by way of a road that cut across the very tiptop of a part of Idaho.  The trees are turning yellow and orange.   I'll post a picture and also of a huge ranch that we passed in Idaho.  The rest of the pictures I will post are from the earthquake.

When we got back to town, we picked up our lunch at McDonalds and ate back at our camper.  The McDonalds doesn't look like a regular one, so I took a picture and will post it as well.  We spent the rest of the afternoon being a tourist and shopping along the main street of West Yellowstone.  If we
saw one tee-shirt shop, we saw a dozen.  We ate supper at a very nice place called Madison
Crossing.  The restaurant along with some very nice shops is in an old school building.  The
atmosphere was great and the food was good as well.

Carol and Sandy overlooking Earthquake Lake.

We didn't go into the park today but will tomorrow.  It didn't rain today either.  The temperature got down to 32 degrees but we obeyed the rules and unhooked our water so the faucet didn't freeze.

West Yellowstone, Montana McDonalds

Beautiful ranch in Montana west of Yellowstone.

Fall trees in Idaho.