I had headed north to Wyoming a little too early this year... like a few weeks too early. But the weather finally warmed up and the snow started melting.
Tried hiking the Grand Teton National Park but didn't find any trails I wanted. Most were too short, too long, too easy or too hard. Yellowstone National Park wasn't much better. So I went around to the Jedidiah Smith Wilderness on the back side of the Tetons.
Here I did the Devil's Stairs 3 times. There's a 3 mile hike in, 1 mile and 1000 feet to the base of the stairs and another 200 yards to the top. The 1st 2 times I stopped early and the 3rd time I pushed on to the top. Turns out the 1st 2 times I was less that 1/4 mile from the base of the cliffs.
Then I started doing the 1st part of the Table Mountain Trail. This trail picks up 500 feet or so in the 1st 1/4 mile. I did the 1st part several times... and then it was time to move on.
The Big Horn Mountains are 100 miles east of Cody and I climbed up to 9500 feet. Much colder and quite windy. Temperature in the 30's one night.
One day after a hike I drove around and did some exploring later in the day. In the past I have seen lifelike statues of big horn sheep and moose. When I saw this larger than life moose with a larger than life rack I thought it was a statue... and then it moved. Wow! It was out in a field of flowers just looking in my direction.
It was across a stream from me and when it lowered its head to feed I'd sneak up a few feet and stop when he raised his head again. I was working my way down to the stream for a better photo and was soon out of his sight. As I was working my way forward he decided it was time for a drink. When I peeked through the bushes there he was, not more than 15 feet away. I clicked away with the camera and then backed away and he never even saw me.
Then the Dimwit family from Yahoo City came by and started yelling and screaming. Naturally the moose took off. When the Dimwit family went away I followed in the direction the bull had run. Sure enough, he stopped not too far away upstream and I watched him feed for another 15 minutes.
I thought the Big Horns disappointing. Except for the west entrance of both US14A & US16 the drives were pretty much a drive in the woods with rounded peaks in the background. Hiking wasn't going well for me so off I went to the Charles M. Russel National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Montana.
This is a large (100+ miles) body of water created by damming the Missouri River. I stopped at the west end where the Missouri flows into the reservoir. Gnats were horrendous. I dumped the kayak in the Missouri and paddled upstream against a 1.5-2.0 knot current not expecting to go very far. A whole herd of boy scouts were taking out and they were telling me about bald eagles, big horn sheep, etc. they saw on their 4 day trip. Cool! I struggled against the current for 1/2 hour or so and the gnats drove me off the river.
So I drove way, way around to the east end of the reservoir and the dam. Disappointment. No available camp sites and no where else to camp. Crappy looking, touristy area with flat terrain so I moved on.
I wanted to go west but went east into North Dakota for the first time. Boring drive with nothing but hay fields. Then all of a sudden I was in the north section of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Lots of buttes and canyons and stuff. Nothing spectacular. It popping up after all the flat lands was unusual though. Lots of bison in this section.
The southern section was more of the same except I only saw one buffalo but lots of prairie dog towns.
So I headed west again on I-90. Eventually got to Billings, MT and started looking for a place to camp. I found I wasn't far from the Beartooths so turned that way and climbed to 11000 feet on the Beartooth National Scenic Byway (US212 from Red Lodge, MT). I'd been here before but forgot how rugged and pretty the drive was. Camped at 9500 feet and kept going west.
Followed US212 right into Yellowstone National Park. Hundreds and hundreds of bison off in the distance. Kept going through the park and popped out again on US89 and then back up to I-90.
What's next?
I'm going to check out a few lakes in northern Idaho. Then wander on over into Montana for a couple of lakes there including Glacier National Park. I'd like to get to Glacier after Labor Day and give the families on vaction a chance to get back home. Then start heading south.