The Drive, part 2

Hello Beautiful & Yellowstone National Park

            Days two and three were possibly my favorite part of this drive. About midday we finished our time in North Dakota driving through Painted Canyons park. Parts of the trip like this make my dad and I wish we had two weeks to make it so we could have time to stop and explore. It had started to sprinkle and generally be cloudy and dark kind of day, so my photos couldn’t pick out the colors as they actually were. However, we did manage to see a Dall’s (?) sheep! Going 75mph down the road allowed us only a glimpse but it was enough.

            We learned why Montana is called Big Sky Country. On top of some of the hills the horizon dips below and all you can see is sky and the ground immediately surrounding your location. Here we started seeing pronghorn antelope dotting the edges of the roads. There were some low fences put up, so they may have been farmed (do they even do that?) or were being discouraged from crossing the roads.

            Our plan was to crash in Billings for the night and after passing through one or two mountain passes- which thankfully in good shape, but I was glad I had chains in my car just in case- which were lovely. There was sage brush and yucca everywhere and the Yellowstone River would loop beside the road occasionally.

            Leaving the hotel we stayed at in Billings was… interesting. This was the worst weather of our trip at this point. It had started snowing around 5 in the morning, and there was some build up on the high way. In less than ten miles we saw two accidents and several other tire tracks going off the road. In only and hour and a half however this cleared up and we had sunshine the rest of the day.

            My dad and I wanted to have one special side-trip off the main road; either Yellowstone or Glacier National Parks, and because Yellowstone was only 30 some odd miles off our path this was the ultimate decision.

            It was a good decision.

            We hit real mountains heading into Wyoming and there were more wild bison than you could shake a stick at! Here was where we had the most traffic- and naturally not involving any other vehicles at all.

            While we were only able to take the road that drops down from 89 to Mammoth Hot Springs and then across to The Tower, only about two hours round trip, it was well worth every penny for the entrance fee. Bison ambled freely along the road ways and took their sweet time crossing (they appear to be some of the most docile creatures I have ever met), and we saw a group of bighorn sheep just outside the park who crossed the road in front of us. Here we saw more pronghorn antelope as well and the random elk; unfortunately I forgot I had my elk call in the glovebox…

            After leaving Yellowstone we headed back north to continue on into Idaho where we arrived at a friend’s house just in time for fresh sockeye salmon. Apparently the secret is curry powder! Side note- I just received an awesome fold-up camping woodstove that I cannot wait to try this on ;)