Better to be lucky than good

Day 6 – Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Last night was an interesting night.  We got into our tent just in time as the weather got progressively worse.  Tons of thunder, incredibly heavy rain, strong winds, and a ridiculous amount of lightening.  The tent held up pretty well, but we did get some dripping in the tent.  We woke up early and got all packed up.  Packing up after a rain storm is not fun.  Everything was wet and muddy, and the mosquitoes were out in force. 

We got going at about 5 knowing we had a long drive ahead of us.  However, we almost had a much longer drive than anticipated.  We stopped for gas in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, which is where highway 212, which goes to Little Big Horn, splits from I-90.  The gas station attendant (luckily) asked us where we were heading.  Apparently, the wildfires had burned down some of the bridges on 212.  If we had continued on that way, we would have had to backtrack, head north, loop around to Billings, and then come back towards Little Bighorn, adding about 200 miles to the trip.  Instead, we were able to just stay on I-90 the whole way which was less direct, but only added about 50 minutes to the drive instead of what might have been 3+ hours.  Despite all the planning I had done for this trip, that was something I had missed.  Lucky break.

The ride through eastern Wyoming and southeaster Montana was, well, I don’t know.  I slept and Amy drove.   It seemed very flat, very open, and not too interesting.  I woke up just before Buffalo, Wyoming and the Bighorn Mountains had just come into view.  Some of these peaks top 13,200 feet, so it was an impressive site.  The rest of the drive to Little Big Horn went without incident, although I did get a kick out of looking at the inside of our car (and that’s beyond the piles of stuff we’re lugging around with us).  In the rear cigarette lighter, our laptop was charging.  In the front cigarette lighter, we were charging the digital camera.   The iPod was charging on our solar powered battery pack.  The GPS was mounted to our front windshield telling us where to go.  And I was sitting there, checking e-mails and facebook on my Blackberry.  Definitely not Kerouac’s roadtrip.

Our guide Darcy explaining the history of Little Big Horn.

Little Big Horn was another unexpected gem on our trip.  We hadn’t expected much from a huge open expanse of land on western Montana where a division of soldiers met an ugly ending almost 150 years ago.  And while the land itself wasn’t that exciting (hillier than pictured, but still brown and open), the tour was fantastic.  We started by walking through the museum and then listening in on a talk by one of the rangers out on the patio.  After this, we went on a tour run by the college on the neighboring Crow reservation.  Our tour guide was a young Crow man named Darcy who was a student at the school and grew up on land bordering the battlefield.

A sculpture commemorating the Native Americans killed
at the battle.

The monument and mass grave for the men
of the 7th Cavalry.

 To put it simply, the tour was phenomenal.  Instead of simply describing what happened, he also described why things happened.  And by this, I don’t mean he said “this battle happened because the white man was taking the Native Americans’ lands.”  He described the history and traditions of both sides with such incredible detail that it made it clear all the factors that contributed to the conflict.  He described the personality conflicts within Custer’s 7^th Calvary Division.  He explained why the crow decided to work as scouts for the U.S. troops.  He described why the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne,  traditional rivals, had formed such a huge settlement together.  He explained the different dresses and markings of all participants, views on life/death and how that influenced battle strategy, the role of key players like Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse.  I’ve watched plenty of shows about Little Big Horn, but being there and having this incredible guide as we went along really brought it to life.  A side trip that had been an afterthought turned out to be something we won’t forget.

We then headed towards Yellowstone.  The Aussie Lady (our GPS) wanted us to head south to Cody, WY and then over.  But since we were already going to do that drive when we headed to Cody for the rodeo, we decided to take an alternate route.  Amy read that Route 212 from just outside Billings, MT to Yellowstone had been described as the most beautiful road in America, so we decided to take it.  Due to the high elevations and the snow that comes with it, this route is often closed.  However, we got lucky and it was open.

the view from the top of Beartooth Pass (Route 212)

Amy dipping her toes in a frigid alpine pond at 10,000 feet.

As we climbed, the views got more and more stunning.  I don’t have the adjectives to describe all we saw, and I realize that I will be overusing words a lot on this trip, but the sites were absolutely amazing.  Route 212 is also known as Beartooth Pass, after the pass it follows.  We climbed to a peak altitude of over 11,000 feet.  When we began, the snow was only way above us.  By the end, we had snow below us.  Amy was even able to dip her toes in a pristine alpine pond, created from recently melted snow and ice.  The road added about two hours to the trip, but they were worth it for the views we got on the way up and down.

The northeast enterance to Yellowstone.

The whole time we were doing this, the Aussie Lady was yelling at us to make U-turns and go back towards Cody.  Each time, she made our ETA later and later.  We started to get nervous, but the road eventually dumped us off right at the gates of Yellowstone; apparently she did not realize that what we were on connected to Yellowstone. 

We spent the next hour driving through the park to get to our campsite.  The views were simply breathtaking.  Mountains rising majestically all around, huge open meadows and plains, thick forests of Lodge Pole Pines, rivers and streams meandering through the landscape, with giant Yellowstone Lake off in the distance.  What an incredible sight.  We also saw more wildlife: elk, whitetail deer, beaver, geese, ducks, and foxes.  And if we were excited by bison in South Dakota, all we needed to do was wait a few days to get as many bison as our hearts desired.  Here we saw multiple herds of bison that must have numbered close to 100.  They are everywhere in the park.  No wolves or bears yet, but hopefully before we leave (and while we’re in our car).

We got to our site, set up the tent, and got ready for our big day tomorrow – horses and kayaks!