Headin’ East

It’s not completely over, but now there is no denying that we are firmly heading East. I guess technically the minute we left Yellowstone we were heading East, but it didn’t feel like vacation was over. Today it does. I even thought about work today for the first time since leaving back on the 7th.

Last night we stopped in Spearfish, SD. This morning we drove down toward the Badlands and did one of the hikes we missed earlier in the trip because of the tire trials. It was a short, four-mile flat trek through prairie and the floor of the Badlands.

Last week when we were here it would have been bliss in the 70-degree temperatures. Today however, it was in the 90s and … “difficult” is the adjective that comes to mind . (I think I used “brutal” as we were walking.) I’m really glad I took so many pics of the Badlands last week, because it was hazy today and everything looked very one-dimensional. Also, the few flowers we saw today were beginning to whither in the heat – nothing like the colors we saw last week.

After the walk: back in the car, across the rest of South Dakota, then Minnesota, over the river and up to Menomonie, WI (back to Will’s bro’s). Tomorrow we will be on the road heading back to Jersey.

It occurred to me today that it may have been unclear in this travel log who was on this trip and when. Just to clarify, most of the trip was just me and Will. Our trip intersected with Will’s bro, mom, sister Linda and nephew Scott just that one day - the Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, Rushmore, Devil’s Tower day. They were all on a different trip, ultimately heading up to ND where – just to confuse things even more – they met up with Judy and GP3 for GP3’s two-day college orientation.

That's it for today.

Saying Goodbye to Yellowstone

Ed note: We were in Yellowstone without internet access the past few days (no access anywhere in the park... something silly about wanting visitors to enjoy the wildlife and scenery and whatnot... whatever!). So in addition to today, I've just posted the last few days too.

Today we hiked along the south rim of the Yellowstone Canyon. Pretty much vista, vista, vista.



We then followed another trail down though an active geothermic field – the stinkiest yet. We learned from a film at a visitor’s center this morning that more stink = more acidic elements, which = bubbling mud (vs. water), because the acidic stuff breaks down the clay in the soil.



After that, we wandered through an open meadow and walked right past a grazing buffalo. He turned his butt to us just as we were going by, so no photos.

Before leaving the park, we stopped by the Mud Volcano area. (It erupted long ago and is just a gurgling pool of mud now.) I have a video of this, but I'm struggling with You Tube from this connection. I actually plan on putting up a lot more videos when I have a better connection and will provide links in a future post.

Leaving the East gate of the park we then went to Cody, Wyoming and stopped at the Old Trail Town Museum where they have relocated many original old west buildings, including the Hole-in-the-Wall Cabin. (Will doesn’t look much like an outlaw.)





Note to self: Rent Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when you get home.

Mammoth Hot Springs to Yellowstone Canyon

Writing at the end of our third full day in Yellowstone NP.

This morning we walked around the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs. (The white ones are dry and colored by silica and other mineral deposits left when the spring that formed the terrace was active. The orange and other colors are caused by heat-loving living things in the water.)

This is the oldest area of the park and there were some great photos of people in the late 1800s and early 1900s sitting on these terraces – literally in chairs placed on the rock formations. Ladies in full Victorian regalia - parasols, lace, yards of fabric and all. Also some historic buildings there as well. We also drove up to the North Entrance to see the stone gate that was once the only way into the park.

We then found our way over to the Fossil Forest walk. Saw lots of petrified wood.

Non-stop wildflower fiesta on this walk.

Wildlife spotted today included: black bear, moose, trumpeter swans, more marmots, picas and buffalo and – my personal favorite of the day - big horn sheep.

Other interesting sights from today:

45th parallel.

Cool bear sculpture outside the Yellowstone post office.

Geyseriffic! (and) Close Encounters of the Buffalo Kind

I think I’ve hit my geothermal limit. We walked more than five miles today in and out of various geothermic phenomena. Geysers, bubbling mud, boiling pools and springs… we saw it all!!

grotto geyser


marmot pokes his head out to enjoy a geothermal facial in the steam


flowers and steam


In addition to all the steaming holes in the ground, we also saw two buffalo up close today. The first one strolled up to Old Faithful before it went off and stayed for another two hours until the next blast. The next one walked right past us as we were waiting for another geyser to erupt.


Buffalo grazing in front of Old Faithful (pre-eruption).



Buffalo passing across from Riverside Geyser.

We saw a lot of other free-roaming wildlife including elk, a coyote, yellow-bellied marmots, some funky green-winged swallow, and pica (there are some squeaking under our cabin right now). Tonight we arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs, so tomorrow morning we will enjoy yet another amazing geothermal experience, before heading over to the petrified forest walk we mistakenly thought was further south in the park.

Oh yeah: it was really windy and cold today. It even snowed on us a few times.

view out the car window as we waited for things to clear a bit

[There are videos from today too, but can't post now... stay tuned to future posts. ]

We’re at YELLOWSTONE!

Highlights from today:

The stunning Grand Tetons Mountains.

A mediocre hike from which we were chased by a pack of wild Wyoming mosquitoes, menacing dark clouds and threatening thunder.

Crossing the Continental Divide about three times.

Carole’s first-ever viewing of Old Faithful (Will’s sixth or so…)

Note the people in the bottom right-hand corner of this shot for a sense of scale.

Getting hailed on shortly there-after.

(no photos of this, just a highlight from the day, to be sure.)

Lots of other neat geothermal activity.

Devil’s Tower

This has been - officially - my favorite day of the trip so far. I mentioned our cabin in yesterday’s post, and I can’t resist posting two photos – one from the outside showing the cabin in relation to Devil’s Tower, and the other showing the cute inside. We had breakfast –including super yummy biscuits with gravy - at the KOA café, before hiking, so all-in-all a great start to the day.




We then spent most of the morning doing an 8-mile hike around the base of the tower and the surrounding prairie. Including a walk through a prairie dog town. This was too cool for words… so I’ve included a picture below and a video so you can hear them “barking” at us (sorry for the shaky camera... this is really all about the sound).




The walk was so varied – pine forest, prairie, desert/canyon-like terrain – it was just great. And we saw at least 10 different wild flowers in all sorts of colors - purple, blue, white, yellow and orange. It would be really annoying to post them all here so I picked just one. The air temp was hot, but a near-constant, cool wind and the smell of sun-warmed pines made the hike insanely enjoyable. I was definitely on a nature high for most of it… and a few hours after.














Oh – and how can I forget – we met a RED SOCKS fan along the trail at DT who was so devoted to his team he had red socks tattooed on his left ankle (this gentleman appeared to be about my dad’s age). But he said to us, as we were chatting about baseball and of course… the Yankees, “I am a Red Socks fan first, but I am really a baseball fan, and I know which team is number one.” He couldn’t let the name of the team escape his lips, but he pointed to us. Swell fella.

We left DT around 1 or so and drove through some of the most beautiful country I have seen – spectacular rocky gorges, lush green prairie, dramatic sparse desert/canyon-like stuff. It was incredible. Met some nice bikers from SD at Powder River Pass along Highway 16.

We’re now in Riverton, Wyoming, which is within the Wind River Indian Reservation. (Staying at a hotel tonight.) Tomorrow we drive to Yellowstone.


This is for Scott - This board explained about the missing bark - porcupines EAT IT!!

Jewel Cave * Crazy Horse * Rushmore * Devil’s Tower

If you’re thinking that’s too much for one day you're right. But we did it anyway.

Will’s brother George set today’s agenda which began with a 9 a.m. tour of Jewel Cave. The Cave was misnamed by those who discovered it and overestimated the worth of its contents by just about 100 percent. Nothing really valuable inside. At least not in terms of money. No pics worth sharing because… well.. it’s a cave. It’s dark. Not many photos came out well.

Visiting Crazy Horse was very satisfying. I didn’t really know the whole story until we were heading out here and it’s way too much for a blog entry, but I was most excited to learn the artist was Polish, and the entire venture is non-profit and non-government (learn more here). We also were there for a blast, and met the sculptor’s wife who now runs the whole operation with seven of her ten (!!) children.

I’ve always wanted to see Mt. Rushmore. And now I have. We showed up at an inopportune time for photos, with the sun at just the wrong angle. Oh well.


Devil’s Tower is poorly named. It is a sacred and spiritual place to Native Americans and maybe it was because we came here at the end of the day and nearly had the place to ourselves, or because the wind was blowing just enough to make that great swooshing noise in the trees, or because we got to see the sun set on the tower, but it is a place much closer to God than the devil, I am sure.

Tonight we have the most fantastic little cabin at a KOA just outside the park. I can see Devil’s Tower out our cabin door as I type this. Sadly, I have no idea when I will be able to post… no wifi last night or tonight. Bummer.

It's the solididified core of an old volcano.

Native American Prayer Bundle hung on tree near tower.

Thistle (always reminds me of my Grandma Dicton, because of her dishes).