Yellowstone Park

After my Sundance Pass backpacking trip was over on Monday August 27, I planned to return all the way home by the end of the day.

Consulting the maps before I left the Sundance Pass parking lot, I felt a route over Beartooth Pass and then through part of Yellowstone Park (between Cooke City and Gardiner) didn't seem too much longer than the route I used to originally drive to Sundance Pass.

The day was moving along. Even though the Beartooth Highway was only about 70 miles long it had taken me over several hours to drive its length and reach Yellowstone Park. I didn't have time to dawdle in Yellowstone Park.

As I approached the Yellowstone Park entrance I drove past the entrance sign. The road here had not been improved. It was rough and narrow. I had to drive a bit to find a place to turn my car around so I could return to the sign. I wanted a photo.

When I reached the entrance sign I found the British Columbia motorcyclists had arrived. They were preparing to get a group photo next to the sign. A few members were changing into their group t-shirts for the photo. I carefully parked my car so as not to knock over any motorcycles. These were nice guys, but there are limits to being nice.

We heartily greeted one another and I ended up taking a photo of them so they could all be in one photo. After we said our farewells and multiple utterings of 'have a good trip', we went our separate ways again.

Just inside the park entrance was the following sign. I know what they mean... but you'd think they could have found another word to use than "molest". It conjures up an image from the second Ace Ventura: Pet Detective movie.

From the Park's NE entrance it was 29 miles to the Tower Falls junction. It was late afternoon and the weather was beautiful. There was not much traffic on the narrow road. In areas where the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creeks were near the road there were men here and there in the middle of nowhere fly fishing. For some reason I associate tree lined river banks with fly fishing. No trees here. Just some men standing in small shallow streams in fields. What do I know? I'm not a fly fisherman.

Occasionally buffalo could be seen nearby. I stopped a few times to take photos. I may be in a hurry, but what's another few minutes?

At the Tower Falls junction I drove a few miles up the road to go see the Petrified Tree. I had seen this tree when I had visited the Park in the early 1990s. The tree was as I remembered it: a big rock tree surrounded by an iron fence. I left my car running and unlocked. Unlocked because I did not have a second key to the car. Again no one disturbed my car.

While the shorter and smarter way home would be to continue on to Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Park entrance, I wanted to see the Tower Falls. It was only a half dozen or so miles back out of my way. What's a few more minutes? Back to the Tower Falls junction I drove, then on to the Falls themselves.

The Tower Falls is a popular place with a large parking lot and lots of people coming and going. Again I left my car running and unlocked - I had no choice. The trail to view the Tower Falls would mean my car would be well out of my eyesight. I hurried along the trail, crossing my fingers that a running and unlocked car would not be an invitation to steal.

I discovered the lower part of the trail was closed.

The final third of the trail running along the Tower Creek on it's way to the lower viewing platform experienced rock and mud slides which caused the destruction of the lower viewing platform and a loss of structural integrity to several portions of the trail in this area. We were forced to close this section of the trail to protect our visitors.

Just as well, as going to see the Falls from the lower part of the trail meant I would be away from my car for an extended period of time. After looking at the Falls and the canyon from the upper viewing platform I returned to my car. Even with all the people milling around, my car had not been 'molested'.

The far off mountains in the first photo below are generally where I came from via the NE entrance.

Hmmm.. what to do? I should turn around and go home via the Mammoth Hot Springs / North entrance. But I wanted to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone again. It wasn't too much further out of the way: Nineteen more miles? What's a few minutes more?

I wonder if, in times like this, it would be good idea to travel with someone else. I am positive that if I was traveling with someone else they would have had common sense and would have talked me into turning around to go home before it got way too late. It was already late for turning around.

I thought "What the heck... I won't be home till late anyway, what's the difference between late and too late?" I continued on.

Right map shows Canyon Village.

The drive from Tower Falls to Canyon Village (19 miles) took longer than I thought as I now had sightseers ahead of me driving slowly on a narrow and winding road.

At the Canyon Village I drove the loop to see Inspiration Point and then over to see the Grand View. Again I left my car running as I wandered from the Grand View along the canyon over to Lookout Point.

Photo 1: view from Inspiration Point.
Photo 2 and 3: walking between the Grand View to Lookout Point.

At Lookout Point I wanted to hike down to see a closer view of the lower Yellowstone Falls, but the estimated time of the hike was 45 minutes: too long to be away from my unlocked and running car and too long to delay my trip home. You'd think this would be an easy decision, but it took me several minutes to decide to leave. I then drove over and saw the lower Yellowstone Falls up close.

Photo 1: the lower Yellowstone Falls as seen from Lookout Point. Notice the "45 minute" trail in the lower left corner of the photo.
Photo 2: Lower Yellowstone Falls up close
Photo 3: Upper Yellowstone Falls from near the lower falls.

I did drive around to the south side of the canyon. It was getting later (surprise ) and the Upper Falls were in shadow so I didn't stay long.

As I drove back to the Canyon Village junction I came across a large buffalo on the side of the road grazing on the grass. I pulled over and took photos from the passenger's window.

From the Canyon Village I drove west over to the Norris junction. Should I go north to Mammoth Hot Springs and the North entrance, or south to the Madison junction and then to West Yellowstone? Going south would be a few miles longer, but through an area I had never been (Madison to West Yellowstone). Again with no one along to argue for common sense I turned and drove south.

..and..

I encountered a "moose jam" when numerous cars had stopped and blocked the road to watch the moose. Later I stopped to take a photo of the Ribbon Falls.

Photo 1: moose
Photo 2: Beryl Spring
Photo 3: Gibbon Falls

The sun was setting behind the distant mountains as I drove west towards West Yellowstone. It was so beautiful that when there was an area to pull off the road a string of cars followed me. We all whipped out our cameras and camcorders and took photos while everyone "oohhhed" and "aahhed" at the sight.

I drove on and stopped once again when I had a view of the sun and mountains with a river in the foreground.

It was dusk when I drove through West Yellowstone. It was after 7 pm now. Late, and I had hundreds of miles left to drive. I didn't stop and merely looked at the town as I drove through. It was a tourist town, but still looked kind of nice.

Eight miles north of West Yellowstone the highway split. I was alone on the highway and I pulled over to the side of the highway and tried to decide which highway to take. A line of car headlights from far behind could be seen coming. I decided to go straight and continued on. The other cars must have turned onto the west highway because I only saw a few car headlights after that until I got closer to the interstate many miles away.

In the darkness the mountains closed in on each side. The moon hadn't risen yet. The road was in very good condition but the speed limit was listed as only 55 mph. This is unusually slow for a Montana highway.

Miles later I came to a test section of the highway and learned why the speed limit was slower. Many deer and elk migrate across this highway and have caused lots of traffic accidents. The test section had motion sensors that would trigger warning lights on the side of the highway. Fortunately as I drove along the road no animals were out and about and the lights never were triggered.

Even in the darkness I could see that I was driving in a narrow valley between tall mountain ranges on each side of the highway. The stars were in a narrow long ribbon overhead. National forests were on each side of the road and therefore no houses, or lights from houses, could be seen much of the way until I finally reached a small unnamed town near the Big Sky ski area.

It was hard to pick up any radio stations so I turned the radio off. It was dark and desolate, and while one felt like they were the only person left in the world, it was actually pleasant, peaceful, and kind of romantic to drive.

As I passed through the small unnamed town near the Big Sky ski area, the yellow street lights and lights from the few houses, stores, and bar warmly lit the night. Once I left the national forests and got closer to the interstate I would occasionally see lights from buildings and side roads. The more so the closer I got to the interstate.

It was nice to get on the interstate: there were actually a few cars on the road, and being a wide four lane road, there was less of a chance of meeting any deer.

In Butte, MT I stopped at a gas station just off the interstate. The night had a surreal feel to it. The area was brightly lit which seemed odd after hours of driving through the darkness. Only a few other customers were at the station and only a few drivers were on the road. It all had the memory of a late night in an unfamiliar city away from home and on an adventure. It was both odd and familiar.

Rather than driving to and through Missoula I decided to retrace my original route. I exited the interstate to take a series of highways that would get me to the Swan River Valley.

Once I exited the interstate I was again alone on the road except for a rare another vehicle. As example, having seen no other vehicles since the interstate when I missed my turn to highway 141 I had to wait for the only other vehicle on the road to pass by before I could turn around. Technically I was in the "town" of Avon, but I only remember a few houses along the road.

At the next intersection - a T intersection - with highway 200, there was nothing other than the bridge I had just crossed and a sign indicating the mileage to Helena to the east, and Ovando to the west.

It wasn't too late - only 11 pm - but I was getting tired. I had the radio on loud and spent time trying to find any radio stations, much less a station whose music I liked. There were only a few stations that I could pick up and they changed as I moved towards and away from cities and around mountains.

As I started down highway 200 I saw two brown wisps of fog crossing the road in front of me and moving towards the river which was on my left.

"Wait a minute! That isn't fog; those are two deer in front of me!"

Fortunately I wasn't driving fast as I had just started out from the T intersection. I easily missed the deer. I was more concerned at mistaking them as 'fog'. I was awake now!

As I approached the small town of Seeley Lake I saw the fire fighter control area along the side of the highway was still active. At this late hour only one person was inside a large canvas tent, and his vehicle was parked outside. No other activity. Apparently the big forest fire was winding down.

As I drove along the Swan Highway I saw many deer along, crossing, or running down the highway. These I all avoided. I lost count, but trust me, there were a lot of deer. Many deer eyes shone in my car's headlights.

It was about this time that I realized my understanding of the actual time was off. A radio station finally mentioned the time - and not merely "so many minutes to, or after the hour". I discovered it was exactly an hour later than I had thought it was. It wasn't midnight but 1 am in the morning. When I started my car at the Sundance Pass parking lot my car's bad battery had reset my car's clock to the default setting of noon when actually it had been 1 pm.

I finally got home at 2:30 am. Other than all the deer on the road it had been a quiet drive with little activity outside. Due to the long day and late hour and many miles, I felt I had entered the twilight zone. Once home, I left most everything in the car and fell immediately into bed.

All-in-all, my backpacking trip and drive was a great adventure and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I found that even though I had "ate and ate", I had lost 8 pounds on the trip and now weighed 156 lbs. But I felt great. I've since gained that weight back.