Day 14-ONE DAY LATE-I apologize in getting this day posted, but as you’ll read, we had some delays on our travels today, and didn’t get into our hotel in Hill City, SD until 11pm on Wednesday night.
We left the comfort of our accommodations (Three Bears Lodge) in West Yellowstone, MT this morning to head down through Yellowstone NP, and begin the great journey back east. However, every good plan has its setbacks, and we certainly had our share today! As we stopped to enjoy the views of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone Falls and a couple last geysers and mud pots, we came to a sudden stop-stuck in an hour long traffic jam. Since we couldn’t see ahead of us what the problem might be, we began taking turns trying to offer our ideas as to what might be causing it. The guesses covered road construction (a lot was going on throughout the park), though there were no warning signs. Maybe an accident, but we saw no emergency vehicles come by us. A forest fire, but we saw no smoke, maybe a Sasquatch sighting? Most likely it was probably caused by uncommon animal sighting (photo opps)-probably a bear, since they cause most of Yellowstone’s long back-ups. After an hour, many of the driver’s simply turned around and returned from the direction they came from. However, we could not. The road we were on was the only road that was open, to get out us out of the East Entrance, so we had to stay the course. Well, we were kinda right. As we came around the last bend we saw flashing lights of a Park Ranger vehicle, another Park Ranger out of her vehicle standing alongside the road waving cars cautiously on by, and 100 Bison slowly, stubbornly, walking up the middle of the road, and on both shoulders. They were literally in front of Big Blue and on both sides-large, hairy, agitated beasts (and many calves) being slowly “pushed” up toward a nearby meadow by the Park Ranger in his car. He would drive to the end of the herd and drive by them slowly, forcing them to one side, then as the leading animals would wander back into the middle of the road he would whip his cruiser around and attempt to do the same with the front critters. We sat there and watched him do this 3-4 times as the large Buffalo would strut on by our windows, barely giving us a glance. If we wanted to, we could have reached out and swatted them on the butt to get them moving a bit quicker, but all I could think about was the State Farm commercial! I told Darby to give this one particular, large bull a pet on his oversized head, but she rolled up the window, and said, “You first!”
Our last photos of Yellowstone-the lower falls, 10,000′ Avalanche Peak and the Dragon’s Breath geyser.
After finally leaving the park boundaries, we traveled down through the Wapiti Valley, toward Cody, WY, a place I knew well since I worked here in 1983.The ride was going well, with stunning mountain peaks on both sides, when I came around a curve and once again had to come to a complete stop. Why? Yep, you guessed it, more wildlife delays, except this time it was a small heard of Bighorn Sheep that decided they were done grazing along the road and wanted to return to the rocky cliffs on the other side. These critters were in no hurry to move out of the way. Maybe they liked the feel of asphalt on their hooves, maybe they were tired, or maybe they just wanted piss off the tourists traveling along “their stretch of highway.” In any case, one determined young ram made it clear he was not going to be rushed, and he stopped right on the centerline-deciding not to take another step forward and follow the herd to the right shoulder. That is, until a tractor-trailer truck came around me and simply encouraged him to move off the road by literally nudging him with the cattle guard that was mounted on the front of his cab. The young sheep was no match for the Mack truck and trotted off to join the others-a bit surprised, but proud of his actions nonetheless!
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Big Blue took us 40 miles up through some amazing scenery of the Bighorn Mountains, and over 9,400’ Granite Pass, as we turned toward Eastern Wyoming, and on to South Dakota. It had been a long, but interesting day of traveling, and as the sun began to set, we knew we still had 2 hours to drive to get to our hotel in Hill City, SD (near Mount Rushmore). But, there was one last site we wanted to hit, even though we were pretty tired-Devil’s Tower. We had to, were only 27 miles away! Now, I visited this National Monument back in 1981 with my sister Cathy, Ma and Pa (as part of an earlier Big West Trip), four years after Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfus made this large rock in the Black Hills one of America’s most famous natural landmarks in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. As the sun quickly began to fade in the western sky, we raced up the back roads to the site, stopping quickly for a few spectacular sunset photos from afar, before screeching into the parking lot as the last rays of sunlight barely illuminated this unique formation. The paved path up to the observation area was short, but steep. The three of us leaped from the barely-parked truck, grabbed our cameras and cell phones and began to sprint up the hill toward “The Tower.” It was nearly dark. Darby jogged to the top with ease, showing off her new found Mountain Goat skills, but me and the wife weakened pretty quick. We both went from an Olympic sprint, to an awkwardly-looking speed walk, and finally to a slow, heavy-breathing, bring in the oxygen, “go ahead I’ll be right there,” sluggish crawl. Boy, it didn’t look that steep when we parked! By the time we arrived at the bench at the top, I had accomplished my target heart rate, sweating and gasping for water, but couldn’t quite hold the camera for a steady shot. I announced that I would just sleep on the bench and get ready for some sunrise photos. After a much-needed rest, we did manage to get some cool pictures to end our long, but adventurous day. As we left in the darkness, we were briefly “wildlife-stalled” one last time as a new born Red Fox pup got confused by my headlights and was running down the middle of the road, while another was sitting on the shoulder. Both made it safely off to the side where mama was probably waiting to lecture them about playing in the street. All I had to do was drive the 2 hours down to the hotel, in the dark, on unfamiliar roads, dodging wildlife running across the highway every mile, and we would be fine. The fact that I’m typing this blog is evidence we made it safely. NOTE: Many thanks Darby and Theresa for alerting me to the Elk that crossed in front of me. I was so tired I wasn’t sure if it was just another giant reflector, or that I was hallucinating!
