Liz and Ed: Glad you’re back in good health. Best of luck next Sunday in your ten mile race.
APRIL 20, 2008
Friday April 18, was mostly a travel day across the state of Idaho. We left Ontario OR and continued on the Oregon Trail, Route 20, to Sun Valley ID. Again we followed snow covered peaks and farmland in the valleys. The Saw Tooth Range is beautiful but desolate. We didn’t see many vehicles at all and actually saw a lot more cows than people. We saw another golden eagle perched atop a fence post; it’s always exciting to spot an eagle. We had to take a slight detour up Rt. 75 to go to Sun Valley. The approach to the resort area is full of new luxurious homes and beautiful farms. .Sun Valley is obviously a winter/summer resort, very upscale and lots of between season construction happening. The town of Hailey, just before Sun Valley, impressed us as a small town with appeal.
Back on Route 20 we had a “first:” a guy hiking along the road with hiking poles pulling a small trailer with all of his gear. Wonder if he was hiking the Oregon Trail. The road to Crater of the Moons National Monument was more of the same but the farms were definitely large ranches. As we approached Craters of the Moon we could see huge black lava fields in the distance. These lava fields were caused not by a volcano but by a fissure in the earth’s surface which spewed lava at certain hot spots. It was a unique sight with the black fields dotted with snow, unlike anything we’ve seen so far. The loop around the park usually opens in mid-April but was still closed because of the amount of snow that fell this year. It was cold and the wind was blowing at 40+ miles per hour. Uncomfortable but awesome. We spent the night at nearby Idaho Falls, a decent sized city on the approach to Yellowstone National Park.
We left Idaho Falls Saturday morning with a little trepidation. The weather report called for a spring snow storm in Wyoming and Montana so we weren’t sure what we’d be up against. But, onward!! Our goal was to see Yellowstone National Park and, hopefully, also Grand Tetons. We knew that some of the roads were not yet open so we headed for Yellowstone with hopes of then going south into the Grand Tetons. Route 20 out of Idaho Falls was a little dismal but we soon got back into the beautiful countryside we were used to. We headed up to the Targhee Pass and there was snow everywhere but the sky seemed to brighten a bit as we approached West Yellowstone MT. The snow on the side of the road got deeper and deeper until it was car high but the road itself was dry. We noticed replantings of lodge pole pines, each section had the year the trees were planted; it was interesting to observe the annual growth. At 7000 feet we once again crossed the Continental Divide just before the west entrance to Yellowstone.
Upon entering the park we learned that the southern entrance was not yet opened so that fact limited our access to the Grand Tetons. At that point, we had no idea that Yellowstone would take all day to traverse the limited number of opened roads. Even the roads we were on had only been opened the previous day. Obviously, there had been a lot of snow this season; as a matter of fact, there hadn’t been a winter like this one since 1995. Almost immediately we were amazed at the still evident effects of the 1988 fire that burned most of the western section of Yellowstone, the first established national park and the largest next to Alaska. Since the park was completely covered with snow, it was still breathtaking in spite of the devestation left by the fire. The park is definitely regenerating; there are lots of 1-2 foot trees poking up through the snow.
At the entrance, the ranger had told us that there had been numerous sightings of wildlife in the one day the road had been opened so we were anticipating various wild animals. All of a sudden, we came around a corner and encountered four huge bison in the middle of the road! Man, are they enormous! With large eyes and backs! As we slowly passed them, one of them was a foot from the car and totally unimpressed with us and was totally focused on eating whatever he could find! This was not the only time we had to stop the car for bison either standing in the middle of the road or loping down the center of the road. Next we saw some mule deer grazing at the side of the river which ran along the road and right after that a large animal with huge antlers; we’re not sure what it was! Then we started seeing large herds of bison grazing on flat plains with steam vents and hot pools of water.
When we got to Old Faithful, we waited about an hour and were treated to a classic eruption (it erupts about every 93 minutes). The steam and hot water shoot about 150 feet into the air for 2 to 3 minutes. An entertaining ranger gave an interactive talk about the formation of geysers and the history of Yellowstone. Under Yellowstone Park lies one of only 5 mega-volcanoes in the world. The last eruption was about 650,000 years ago and it erupts about every 700,000 years so if you want to see the park, go some time in the next 50,000 years!
The park ranger who spoke at Old Faithful told us that since there were 5 or 6 bison carcasses in the area, the bears had come out of hibernation….at this time of year they’re very hungry! Just after we left Old Faithful we saw another ranger pulled over to the side of the road and other people also stopped. So we stopped, took out the binoculars and, lo and behold, there, off in the woods, was a grizzly feeding on a carcass. He was hard to see with the naked eye but he WAS there!!! We were ecstatic to have had a sighting of a grizzly!
We retraced our steps on one of open roads and made our way to the Yellowstone River Canyon. We stopped at Grand View and, a short walk from the car, we came upon one of the most spectacular views of the trip. We did experience a little vertigo as we looked straight down over a thousand feet to the Yellowstone River flowing through the bottom of the canyon.. The colors were magnificent. As we drove along the Canyon Loop, we stopped at various lookouts but the best was at Uncle Tom’s view where we saw the Yellowstone falls roaring over the rocks.
The weather had turned very nice, sunny and warm, but we were still a little anxious about the impending snow storm and decided to leave Yellowstone by the North Entrance and make our way north to the closest interstate. On our way out, we passed more steam vents and surface hot water right next to the road. The sulphur odor was overwhelming! This section of the park had a different look, not as much snow, more mountainous and rocky. Even as we were leaving Yellowstone we had one last wildlife sighting by the side of the road; a trio of pronghorn was grazing in a field along the side of the road.
Yellowstone was utterly magnificent! We were fortunate to be there before the summer crowds even though some of the roads were still closed. It is a HUGE park with so much to see and do! If we were to recommend a national park for a week’s vacation, Yellowstone would be it! Hiking, wildlife viewing, rafting, fishing are all available. We tried, once again, to capture it all in photos but you have to be there in person to really appreciate the wonders of Yellowstone National Park.
After leaving Yellowstone, we proceeded north on Route 89 following the Yellowstone River. Gardiner MT, just at the North Entrance, looked like a nice little town and a great place to enter Yellowstone. Along Rt. 89 we were still treated to wildlife sightings and at one point we came to a complete stop because of mule deer in the middle of the road. What a beautiful road! Lots of cattle and horses along the valley surrounded in the distance by snow-capped mountains. Beautiful homes dot the hillsides! A bald eagle spread its wings and landed fifty feet from the car just as we drove by.
We turned east on Interstate 90 to head towards Billings MT. It had been a long day and, when we saw the Crazy Mountains and the town of Big Timber, we decided to stop and check it out. In the travel book “Road Food” there was a restaurant listed for Big Timber and it had a glowing report (it was Robert Redford’s favorite restaurant while shooting “The Horse Whisperer”). We decided to stay there, at the Grand Hotel, built in 1890, restored in the 1970s and located downtown. Our room was small but nicely redone, clean and modern. Dinner was downstairs and we were lucky to be there on prom night! What a view! There’s one high school in Sweet Water County, an area the size of Rhode Island, with 1700 residents. The kids looked and acted like any high schoolers; the girls were mature and well-mannered and the boys were just immature. We knew it was going to be a good local place to eat because the mayor of Big Timber and her family were seated at the table next to us! We both ate the local fare; Peter had local lamb and Connie had Montana buffalo tenderloin. Our meals were delicious1
Sunday morning we awoke to a dusting of snow and a temperature of 16 degrees! We went back down to the dining room, chatted with the owner, and, before we knew it, “Chef” (as the owner referred to her!) served us bacon, eggs and pancakes. We were offered just about every juice imaginable! Peter asked, kiddingly, if there were any more juices available and the owner replied that there was also Clamato juice which Peter thought was unusual for Montana. We left the Grand Hotel very pleased to have a chance to experience something other than a chain hotel. We’d return in a heart beat!
On the way to the Little Bighorn Battle National Memorial, still following the Yellowstone River, our fears were realized as we headed into a blinding snowstorm. Fortunately, we outran the storm and continued to Little Bighorn. When we got out of the car, we noticed that the car was covered with ice and we were VERY glad to be finished with that part of the trip. The area surrounding the battlefield is hauntingly beautiful with rolling prairies and rugged foothills. We drove through the Battlefield Park and stopped to view the landscape where the battle was fought. It was particularly somber because there are small white gravestones spread over a four mile area showing the exact spot where each soldier and Indian had died.
The weather was too “iffy” to take any back roads so we got back on the interstate and headed for Deadwood SD. Sure enough, within a few miles, we were again in the middle of a brief but blinding snowstorm. Eventually the weather became sunny and warmer as we headed through Wyoming, where the interstate is paved in red asphalt, and toward Deadwood SD, our destination for the day
APRIL 20, 2008
Friday April 18, was mostly a travel day across the state of Idaho. We left Ontario OR and continued on the Oregon Trail, Route 20, to Sun Valley ID. Again we followed snow covered peaks and farmland in the valleys. The Saw Tooth Range is beautiful but desolate. We didn’t see many vehicles at all and actually saw a lot more cows than people. We saw another golden eagle perched atop a fence post; it’s always exciting to spot an eagle. We had to take a slight detour up Rt. 75 to go to Sun Valley. The approach to the resort area is full of new luxurious homes and beautiful farms. .Sun Valley is obviously a winter/summer resort, very upscale and lots of between season construction happening. The town of Hailey, just before Sun Valley, impressed us as a small town with appeal.
Back on Route 20 we had a “first:” a guy hiking along the road with hiking poles pulling a small trailer with all of his gear. Wonder if he was hiking the Oregon Trail. The road to Crater of the Moons National Monument was more of the same but the farms were definitely large ranches. As we approached Craters of the Moon we could see huge black lava fields in the distance. These lava fields were caused not by a volcano but by a fissure in the earth’s surface which spewed lava at certain hot spots. It was a unique sight with the black fields dotted with snow, unlike anything we’ve seen so far. The loop around the park usually opens in mid-April but was still closed because of the amount of snow that fell this year. It was cold and the wind was blowing at 40+ miles per hour. Uncomfortable but awesome. We spent the night at nearby Idaho Falls, a decent sized city on the approach to Yellowstone National Park.
We left Idaho Falls Saturday morning with a little trepidation. The weather report called for a spring snow storm in Wyoming and Montana so we weren’t sure what we’d be up against. But, onward!! Our goal was to see Yellowstone National Park and, hopefully, also Grand Tetons. We knew that some of the roads were not yet open so we headed for Yellowstone with hopes of then going south into the Grand Tetons. Route 20 out of Idaho Falls was a little dismal but we soon got back into the beautiful countryside we were used to. We headed up to the Targhee Pass and there was snow everywhere but the sky seemed to brighten a bit as we approached West Yellowstone MT. The snow on the side of the road got deeper and deeper until it was car high but the road itself was dry. We noticed replantings of lodge pole pines, each section had the year the trees were planted; it was interesting to observe the annual growth. At 7000 feet we once again crossed the Continental Divide just before the west entrance to Yellowstone.
Upon entering the park we learned that the southern entrance was not yet opened so that fact limited our access to the Grand Tetons. At that point, we had no idea that Yellowstone would take all day to traverse the limited number of opened roads. Even the roads we were on had only been opened the previous day. Obviously, there had been a lot of snow this season; as a matter of fact, there hadn’t been a winter like this one since 1995. Almost immediately we were amazed at the still evident effects of the 1988 fire that burned most of the western section of Yellowstone, the first established national park and the largest next to Alaska. Since the park was completely covered with snow, it was still breathtaking in spite of the devestation left by the fire. The park is definitely regenerating; there are lots of 1-2 foot trees poking up through the snow.
At the entrance, the ranger had told us that there had been numerous sightings of wildlife in the one day the road had been opened so we were anticipating various wild animals. All of a sudden, we came around a corner and encountered four huge bison in the middle of the road! Man, are they enormous! With large eyes and backs! As we slowly passed them, one of them was a foot from the car and totally unimpressed with us and was totally focused on eating whatever he could find! This was not the only time we had to stop the car for bison either standing in the middle of the road or loping down the center of the road. Next we saw some mule deer grazing at the side of the river which ran along the road and right after that a large animal with huge antlers; we’re not sure what it was! Then we started seeing large herds of bison grazing on flat plains with steam vents and hot pools of water.
When we got to Old Faithful, we waited about an hour and were treated to a classic eruption (it erupts about every 93 minutes). The steam and hot water shoot about 150 feet into the air for 2 to 3 minutes. An entertaining ranger gave an interactive talk about the formation of geysers and the history of Yellowstone. Under Yellowstone Park lies one of only 5 mega-volcanoes in the world. The last eruption was about 650,000 years ago and it erupts about every 700,000 years so if you want to see the park, go some time in the next 50,000 years!
The park ranger who spoke at Old Faithful told us that since there were 5 or 6 bison carcasses in the area, the bears had come out of hibernation….at this time of year they’re very hungry! Just after we left Old Faithful we saw another ranger pulled over to the side of the road and other people also stopped. So we stopped, took out the binoculars and, lo and behold, there, off in the woods, was a grizzly feeding on a carcass. He was hard to see with the naked eye but he WAS there!!! We were ecstatic to have had a sighting of a grizzly!
We retraced our steps on one of open roads and made our way to the Yellowstone River Canyon. We stopped at Grand View and, a short walk from the car, we came upon one of the most spectacular views of the trip. We did experience a little vertigo as we looked straight down over a thousand feet to the Yellowstone River flowing through the bottom of the canyon.. The colors were magnificent. As we drove along the Canyon Loop, we stopped at various lookouts but the best was at Uncle Tom’s view where we saw the Yellowstone falls roaring over the rocks.
The weather had turned very nice, sunny and warm, but we were still a little anxious about the impending snow storm and decided to leave Yellowstone by the North Entrance and make our way north to the closest interstate. On our way out, we passed more steam vents and surface hot water right next to the road. The sulphur odor was overwhelming! This section of the park had a different look, not as much snow, more mountainous and rocky. Even as we were leaving Yellowstone we had one last wildlife sighting by the side of the road; a trio of pronghorn was grazing in a field along the side of the road.
Yellowstone was utterly magnificent! We were fortunate to be there before the summer crowds even though some of the roads were still closed. It is a HUGE park with so much to see and do! If we were to recommend a national park for a week’s vacation, Yellowstone would be it! Hiking, wildlife viewing, rafting, fishing are all available. We tried, once again, to capture it all in photos but you have to be there in person to really appreciate the wonders of Yellowstone National Park.
After leaving Yellowstone, we proceeded north on Route 89 following the Yellowstone River. Gardiner MT, just at the North Entrance, looked like a nice little town and a great place to enter Yellowstone. Along Rt. 89 we were still treated to wildlife sightings and at one point we came to a complete stop because of mule deer in the middle of the road. What a beautiful road! Lots of cattle and horses along the valley surrounded in the distance by snow-capped mountains. Beautiful homes dot the hillsides! A bald eagle spread its wings and landed fifty feet from the car just as we drove by.
We turned east on Interstate 90 to head towards Billings MT. It had been a long day and, when we saw the Crazy Mountains and the town of Big Timber, we decided to stop and check it out. In the travel book “Road Food” there was a restaurant listed for Big Timber and it had a glowing report (it was Robert Redford’s favorite restaurant while shooting “The Horse Whisperer”). We decided to stay there, at the Grand Hotel, built in 1890, restored in the 1970s and located downtown. Our room was small but nicely redone, clean and modern. Dinner was downstairs and we were lucky to be there on prom night! What a view! There’s one high school in Sweet Water County, an area the size of Rhode Island, with 1700 residents. The kids looked and acted like any high schoolers; the girls were mature and well-mannered and the boys were just immature. We knew it was going to be a good local place to eat because the mayor of Big Timber and her family were seated at the table next to us! We both ate the local fare; Peter had local lamb and Connie had Montana buffalo tenderloin. Our meals were delicious1
Sunday morning we awoke to a dusting of snow and a temperature of 16 degrees! We went back down to the dining room, chatted with the owner, and, before we knew it, “Chef” (as the owner referred to her!) served us bacon, eggs and pancakes. We were offered just about every juice imaginable! Peter asked, kiddingly, if there were any more juices available and the owner replied that there was also Clamato juice which Peter thought was unusual for Montana. We left the Grand Hotel very pleased to have a chance to experience something other than a chain hotel. We’d return in a heart beat!
On the way to the Little Bighorn Battle National Memorial, still following the Yellowstone River, our fears were realized as we headed into a blinding snowstorm. Fortunately, we outran the storm and continued to Little Bighorn. When we got out of the car, we noticed that the car was covered with ice and we were VERY glad to be finished with that part of the trip. The area surrounding the battlefield is hauntingly beautiful with rolling prairies and rugged foothills. We drove through the Battlefield Park and stopped to view the landscape where the battle was fought. It was particularly somber because there are small white gravestones spread over a four mile area showing the exact spot where each soldier and Indian had died.
The weather was too “iffy” to take any back roads so we got back on the interstate and headed for Deadwood SD. Sure enough, within a few miles, we were again in the middle of a brief but blinding snowstorm. Eventually the weather became sunny and warmer as we headed through Wyoming, where the interstate is paved in red asphalt, and toward Deadwood SD, our destination for the day
1 comment:
Sorry, but pronghorn sounds like a great word for Fictionary! And how was it that you were able to identify the 3 creatures grazing by the roadside as pronghorns? Did they have name tags? Can't believe you are on your way home - what is your Harwich estimated date of arrival? Continued safe travels...Pam
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