Day 12 (Saturday May 23) West Yellowstone

Today we explored the northern loop through Yellowstone. Mountains, waterfalls, all kinds of geothermal activity and wildlife makes it easy to see why this is such a special place. It also lived up to my expectations of being pretty crowded due to the long weekend. Of course, after pre-season Glacier anything would be crowded.

We took our first hike around Mammoth Hot Springs, which had some intricately layered shelf-like deposits.

There were signs up near all the geothermal areas warning to stay on the marked trails because you could step through a thin layer of crust into scalding hot water or steam. I found the illustration hilarious.

We saw lots of wildlife: geese, bison, elk, pronghorn, and two bears. Of course, at Glacier our bear sighting was very intimate, only us and eventually another 2 cars. Here, it was a zoo. You knew there was a bear because the road was clogged, people were all lined up, rangers were yelling through the PA for people to move their cars out of the road, etc.

One of the campers in the next cabin had come out for the long weekend because it was her birthday, and had not been there in 15 years.  She said it was very noticeable how many fewer animals there were.  

We saw the trunk of a petrified redwood tree from back when this was a more tropical climate. There apparently used to be 3 of them but souvenir hunters chiseled little pieces off the other 2 until they were all gone.



We finished our day off with a mile-long hike around Norris Geyser Basin. This area had LOTS of geothermal activity. There was a storm coming in from the South but I accurately judged that it would pass us by, which greatly reduced the number of people in the basin. Here Max got to check out some of the geothermal vents, hot springs, and geysers up close. As we were leaving, one of the rangers informed me that dogs were not allowed in the geothermal areas. We were already on the way back to the Jeep so it didn't really matter. Of course, I did not see any signs to that effect, nor did it state that on the map, so technically we do not get credit for barging this one.

Minute Geyser is another example of how the multitude of visitors destroyed an amazing natural phenomenon. This geyser used to go off almost every 60 seconds until visitors threw rocks, coins, etc into it and clogged the opening.

We were in the park only about 6 hours but saw quite a large bit of it (the northern half, at least). We were both wiped out, I think from the altitude as much as the two longish hikes. We came back to camp, cooked some red beans and rice for dinner, then hung out with some of our neighbors. The ones in the cabin right next door have a tan and white Beagle named Tucker, and further down the row there is a year-old Beagle as well. I guess the other dogs around woke Max up because then he wanted to go on a long walk around the campground. He did not go to bed until almost 9pm Mountain Time, which was the first day he seemed to have adjusted to the time change. Of course, he slept quite a bit of the day on the ride as well.

Sunday: Through the southern half of Yellowstone to Jackson, WY for a couple of nights.

Day 4 (Friday May 15) North Platte NE to Hill City SD

We awoke in North Platte, Nebraska after a comfortable night in back of the Jeep, had breakfast, went for a walk, and hit the road. We only had a 6-hour drive to our cabin in South Dakota and we had some sights to see. Once we got off I-80 at Ogallala to go North on US-26, the landscape changed rapidly into rolling green hills and lakes. A powerful wind had swung around and was coming out of the north, blowing through the fields. The birds had to fly incredibly fast to make any progress against the wind, building up speed then closing their wings and darting ahead like little bullets. We also passed trains seemingly as often as cars. Not surprising, since North Platte is the largest railroad yard in the world, handling over 10,000 railroad cars per day. As I was letting my mind wander back to the original settlers who had come into this area without roads or bridges, thinking about how difficult that journey must be in comparison to my own, I passed a guy on a bicycle loaded with camping gear heading south. That is definitely a different experience from my own, but I don't know that I'm up for that challenge just yet. I think it's safe to say that Max would have to sit that one out.





After a very scenic 4-hour or so drive, we arrived in Alliance, NE, the home of CarHenge.  This is one of those can't miss sights on a cross-country trip.  Max loved it.  It is a reproduction of Stonehenge created from vintage American automobiles, with some other "sculptures" having been erected since it's creation in 1987.  It was a great place to stop and walk around. A very cold wind was blowing across the field. At one point Max looked at me and we took off running to check out another sculpture. He seemed very curious about the whole site.



Off to one side, a small 80's Japanese care was planted like a tombstone, and in fading letters on cracking paint was inscribed: "Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served their purpose while detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America is great!" I guess that falls under "Irony".

After a quick lunch in downtown Alliance (Taco John's eaten by the little courthouse in downtown), we were back heading North. We passed through Chadron; that was the site of a store Wallace's had and now NBC runs. I remember Jeff Wright hated to go there because it was so remote. Into South Dakota, stopping at a roadside park in Buffalo Gap National Grassland for a quick walk and break.



In Hot Springs, we stopped at the Mammoth Dig Site. In 1974 they were building a housing development there and stopped when they noticed something the bulldozer had turned up. I didn't really know what to expect, but was glad I stopped. This was a sinkhole where the warm spring (90 degree water) drew these huge animals, but the slippery mud and their large flat feet prevented them from escaping. They have drilled down 67 feet and found evidence of fossils all the way down. The area that has been excavated contains many nearly complete skeletons, which have been left in place with the building erected over them. I did a very quick tour then back on the road.



Heading North, we entered Wind Cave National Park, which boasted signs stating "Large Wildlife on Road". Just after that, we spotted our first Bison, then around the next bend there were many of them. At a couple of points they were very close to the road. I slowed down at a couple of places where they were close for Max to check them out. He got pretty agitated, snorting and huffing and shifting around, letting out long low whines. We moved on through Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest and went right by Crazy Horse Monument before arriving at the Crooked Creek Resort campground in Hill City, SD. Crazy Horse is a work in progress but the next big blast is not scheduled for another couple of weeks so we will miss that.

We had a camp cabin reserved for the next 3 nights that was pretty basic (but nicer than I imagined).  It did have electric and heat, which was fortunate (and well planned) since it was supposed to get down to 31* that night. For the first time we unloaded the car and settled in to our new accomodations. This campground was not very crowded and looked very new. We had dinner, had a walk around the area, then I started blogging and Max slept. It was a very enjoyable day.