06/05/02:
Camped at Wal-Mart's in Sheridan last night and a trucker came in and let his truck idle all night. That made me ready for an early start. Headed up I-90 towards Montana and picked up US-14 a few miles before the border. I thought it was 50 miles to Yellowstone but its more like 200+, at least the way I went.
US-14 climbs for several miles from 4000 feet to over 7500 feet before it levels off. It passes through heavily forested, steep slopes with great views of valleys below. Some of the rock along this section dates back billions, not millions, but billions of years. Sibley Lake looked like a nice place for a couple of hours of paddling. Quite a few deer out and about. Snow covered mountains loomed up ahead and snow patches varied from infrequent to quite often. At 9000 feet there was quite a bit.
Stopped off at Shell Falls which had an impressive little stretch of white water before dropping 20 feet into a self creating mist. Descended into 1000 foot canyon to valley floor, followed by 100 miles of flatlands before I reached Cody.
Starting to fall asleep at the wheel so pulled into the Cody Super Wal-Mart. I don't have to sleep or nap, just close my eyes and doze a little. That seems to fool my body and I can go another 30 minutes or more before feeling drowsy again.
50 more miles to the east entrance of Yellowstone. Buffalo Bill Reservoir has a short stretch of great looking cliffs and would seem to offer a couple of pleasant hours of paddling. After 30 miles flatlands give way to peaks and the scenery becomes more interesting. During the last 20 miles campgrounds appear. Stopped off at one and it was only $5/night. The last one I tried was $10 and for RV's and trailers only, no tents or pop-ups?
Inside the park rock walls towered overhead as we inched our way through some road construction. It's supposed to be much worse on US-16 from Buffalo. Speaking of which, I passed 8-10 of them but they're old hat now (buffalo, that is).
But not the griz! Can you believe, 10 miles inside the park I see a few cars pulled to the side of the road and people standing near the edge of the forest with cameras in hand. I stop too but since my zoom isn't working I just got out of the truck... and then I saw the grizzly bear.
It was pawing at the ground and I guess, looking for grubs. Not finding any it wandered towards the road, directly at me. No kidding, first the buffalo the other day, now a grizzly bear. I wonder if its the way I smell or something?
Anyway, its wandering towards me so I back off and get behind the truck. I had gone back for the camera when I saw him coming in my direction and fired off a shot at 30-40 feet so I know I got something good. It kept coming in my direction and I got by the door and opened it as it passed right in front of the truck, not 10 feet from me. I saw a car coming and they couldn't see the griz behind the car in front of me so I jumped out in the road and played traffic cop. The bear crossed the road and disappeared into the forest on the other side. Cars started moving then. A woman leaned out of her car and said "Wasn't that awesome?". Yup, it was.
I drove the 20 miles or so to the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center for hiking information but they had absolutely no handouts. 1200 miles of trails and its for sale only. I'll fall back on the Delorme Atlas and TopoUSA to pick some hikes. I was feeling pretty tired so I backtracked and found a free camping spot in the Shoshone National Forest a few miles outside the park.
06/06/02:
Quite a day, quite a day... and a long one too. Saw moose, grizzly bears, buffalo, elk, tundra swans, Canadian geese, white pelicans, mud volcanoes, geysers and Old Faithful.
Wanted to get an early start. The Fishing Bridge/Canyon Village/Norris/Madison/Old Faithful/West Thumb/Bridge Bay loop is 142 miles long plus 26 miles to get to it. That's 2-3 hours in driving alone.
I didn't even get into the park before I saw a moose drinking from the North Fork of the Shoshone Creek. A little farther on I got a good shot of a buffalo with a set of rapids for a backdrop. Inside the park I got a close up of a buffalo walking down the road without a care in the world. It was no more than 5 feet away. That's the way to do it when you're zoom is broken.
Lots of small waterfalls and cascades and just plain trickles tumble down during the first 10 miles or so inside the East Entrance. And there, by the side of the road I saw a grizzly sow and two large cubs. As large as they were they must have been in their second year. I watched them cross the road from a small lake and wander off into the forest. Talking to a guy (works for the Discovery Channel) he said he'd been watching them for an hour with the cubs rolling around and playing.
Swung north from Fishing Bridge and soon came to a mud volcano area. Boiling water is forcing itself up through old lava creating a thin, gray, muddy mess as the water percolates and bubbles to the surface at almost 200 degrees. That and all the steam makes it look like a giant witch's cauldron. The sulfur gases released make it smell like rotten eggs or a septic system overflowing.
Lots of buffalo along the way and the elk started to appear between Canyon Village and Madison. First three young bulls with velvety antlers resting in a meadow, then another bull with three cows by a pretty stream, then several small herds here and there. Some of the buffalo herds numbered more than 50. Saw several buffalo grazing near a small river with a bunch of white pelicans swimming nearby. A strange combination of wildlife.
Pulled off at the road to Artists Point and found the famed Upper and Lower Falls. Quite a sight with a LOT of water flowing over them. I walked the 1 mile (1 way) South Rim Trailand got a couple more good views of the Lower Falls and hopefully a couple of good pictures. The camera started acting up again... at Yellowstone National Park of all places.
Nearing Old Faithful, turnouts for other geysers and hot springs began appearing. All had boardwalk trails to keep us off the thermal ground, fragile and treacherous. Midway was the most interesting, including Old Faithful, of them all. Mostly hot springs with a couple tiny geysers. Some of the springs are really blue and others emit various minerals creating brightly colored patterns where they overflow.
Just missed Old Faithful erupting and had to wait more than 90 minutes for the next occurrence. When it did happen water and steam shot up as high a 50 feet and lasted 2-3 minutes altogether. It has shot up 200 feet in the past, but not any more. I'm glad I went but won't do it again by choice.
Stopped by Kepler Cascades and then approached the Yellowstone Lake again. Here more hot springs bubble up right next to the lake. Others have created small volcanic cones right in the lake while still others are under water near the lake's edge.
06/07/02:
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear meeeee, happy birthday to me.
Startled a couple of elk grazing nearby when I got up this morning and they went trotting off into the forest. Saw a few more elk on the way into the park but no bears and just a couple of buffalo.
Today I did the Fishing Bridge/Canyon Village/Towers/Mammoth Hot Springs/Norris loop. My first stop was Mt. Washburn which gave a nice view of snow capped peaks and valleys below. Four more elk on the way to the top.
Then on to Tower Falls. Good view of the falls from above. A .6 mile trail leads sharply downward 400-500 feet or so where you get a look at the falls from below. Wow! The water drops 100 feet or so but the volume is about the same as Upper and Lower Falls... a lot. The sun was just right and a rainbow spread itself across the bottom of the falls... and as I watched, a second rainbow faded in and out a little higher up. Cool stuff.
At Mammoth Hot springs the terraces formed from the hot springs are the main attraction. Mineral Terrace and Minerva Terrace look like multiple tiers of white salt. Both are formed from small blue hot springs that overflow and trickle downward. Canary Spring is something else and I shot at least 10 pictures there. Smaller terraces but multi-colored.
On the way to Norris Geysers I came upon a traffic jam with cars pulled to both sides of the road. I saw flashing lights and thought there must be an accident ahead.. but, no. That was a park ranger who had come to direct traffic. Everyone had left their cars, gone down a short bank to the edge of a narrow meadow.
Across the meadow and across a small river was a 500 pound grizzly bear, big hump and all, busily devouring the carcass of an elk or moose by the edge of the river. I was surprised how well behaved everyone was. For that many people it was very quiet. No one was trying to sneak closer either. Many people brought out their telescopic lenses and tripods and some of those lenses were monsters. My 16X cheapy binoculars were quite adequate and I too sat and watched the griz for 10-15 minutes. One guy was even painting the scene across the river.
Norris Geysers were a disappointment but did provide a couple of miles of walking along the boardwalks. Mostly hot springs spread over a pretty wide area. No special colors or formations. A few bubbling or steaming holes in the ground.
Passed by Yellowstone Lake, 60-70 miles long but wasn't really tempted. Mostly unforested flatlands around it and the mountain ranges were off in the distance.
06/08/02:
Deer instead of elk running around when I got up this morning. Not a good day though. Rain so far but temperatures dropping rapidly. Expecting snow later. I'm outta here.
07/16/02:
While preparing to begin hiking in the Beartooth Wilderness of the Gallatin National Forest in Montana I found myself near the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park... and drove in for a while.
The first 10-15 miles are great with huge, towering mountains sitting back 0.5-1.0 miles from the road. After a while they gave way to steep rolling hills covered with mesquite and topped with pines.
The road follows along Lamar River with tons of fishermen along the way. Saw a couple of buffalos and had to avoid hitting people parked in the middle of the road to get pictures.