So, Montana, I was unkind to you yesterday. After having supper at Applebee's the night before (and watching a storm roll through), we went to bed at the shockingly early time of 9 p.m. And yes, I woke refreshed and much happier at 6:30 a.m. It helped that the Boot Hill Inn had an awesome free breakfast. Read the local paper, and discovered that Billings is a bit like Saskatoon: their pedestrians want sidewalks, their cyclists want biking lanes. And, once we got driving, we see their road crews also block off roads when they aren't even working on them. Ah! - just like home.
After filling the X-Terra up with gas, we were back on the road and on the way to Yellowstone.
Instead of entering the park by Gardiner, Stephen wanted to take the north-east entrance into Yellowstone, because it's a scenic route that goes up into the mountains - high point is Beartooth Pass (I think) at 10,947 ft. It was a spectacular drive, slowly winding up and up into the mountains. The road is closed in winter - no surprise. Lots of switchbacks and hairpin turns, and it's a long way down. The wind up there was quite chilly, but fabulous views.
Once on top of the mountains, the road led into Wyoming, then blipped back into Montana for a short time, then back into Wyoming again. Gorgeous mountain scenery, and we're nowhere near the park yet. I laughed when I saw the sign that said 35 miles to Yellowstone. Seriously? Felt like it should be part of the park.
Stephen also thought that, since we were now descending the mountain roads, it would be a good time to teach me how to use the engine braking so that I wasn't riding the brakes the whole way down. I'm not sure if everyone else appreciated me practicing - just try to envision the big X-Terra as it comes barrelling downhill towards the little VW bug - but hey, that's the price of learning. (Sometimes you've just gotta squish a bug.) ;-)
So... long distance to actually arrive at the park, little bit of road construction, lots of slow drivers, and no passing lanes. It was about 11:30 a.m. by the time we reached Yellowstone's Silver Gate. We were also surprised to see that we'd already burned half a tank of gas (darn those mountains!). But we're in Yellowstone now, so it's all good, right?
Um... Yellowstone is BIG. After we entered the Silver Gate, we were still over 100 miles away from Old Faithful. =:-O
Driving and driving, and more driving. The north-east corner seems to be filled with people who are fly-fishing in the rivers below. When a bison or a deer appears, there's a traffic jam as people slow down to see it.
On our to the other end of the park, we did stop at the Painted Pots and a few other geyser spots - steaming craters that are not only steaming hot, but also... fragrant. Sulphur? I'm not sure. But stinky! Did you know that Yellowstone is actually a massive, active volcano? Now you know why everything's bubbling and percolating.
So, finally, at 3 p.m., we reach Old Faithful. We pull into the massive parking lot, and walk forever towards Old Faithful. Do you see that spray just dissipating in the distance? Dammit, we just missed it. Now it's a 90-minute wait for the next eruption. Grr-aargh.
Because we're stupid, we forget our hats in the car. But we still go walking around the boardwalks to look at some of the other geysers. I would like to go on a longer hike, but we afraid of going too far and missing the next eruption, plus we're spending way more time in Yellowstone than we were expecting. We buy some ice cream and park our butts at the viewing area to wait for Old Faithful to go off. Yes, it's still Faithful: it cooperates, and even arrives a little bit early, at 4:25 instead of 4:32 as anticipated. We have now seen about 1/25th of the park, but we're on our way out.
Grand Tetons was also on our list for today, but we're at a quarter-tank of gas and we don't have a place to stay, so we make a beeline for Jackson, which is maybe a half-hour outside the Grand Tetons. Found a room at a reasonable price just outside of town. Jackson (aka Jackson Hole) is a tourist trap. Reminds me of the main streets in Banff and Jasper. We walked around for a bit, then had a super-spicy meal at Thai Plate (my mouth is burning, but yum!).
Now it's research time. What are tomorrow's plans? Backtrack to the Grand Tetons, and then we may be diverting into Colorado. There's another mountain that Stephen wants to drive up.
After filling the X-Terra up with gas, we were back on the road and on the way to Yellowstone.
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| The view from the top of Beartooth Pass |
Once on top of the mountains, the road led into Wyoming, then blipped back into Montana for a short time, then back into Wyoming again. Gorgeous mountain scenery, and we're nowhere near the park yet. I laughed when I saw the sign that said 35 miles to Yellowstone. Seriously? Felt like it should be part of the park.
Stephen also thought that, since we were now descending the mountain roads, it would be a good time to teach me how to use the engine braking so that I wasn't riding the brakes the whole way down. I'm not sure if everyone else appreciated me practicing - just try to envision the big X-Terra as it comes barrelling downhill towards the little VW bug - but hey, that's the price of learning. (Sometimes you've just gotta squish a bug.) ;-)
So... long distance to actually arrive at the park, little bit of road construction, lots of slow drivers, and no passing lanes. It was about 11:30 a.m. by the time we reached Yellowstone's Silver Gate. We were also surprised to see that we'd already burned half a tank of gas (darn those mountains!). But we're in Yellowstone now, so it's all good, right?
Um... Yellowstone is BIG. After we entered the Silver Gate, we were still over 100 miles away from Old Faithful. =:-O
Driving and driving, and more driving. The north-east corner seems to be filled with people who are fly-fishing in the rivers below. When a bison or a deer appears, there's a traffic jam as people slow down to see it.
On our to the other end of the park, we did stop at the Painted Pots and a few other geyser spots - steaming craters that are not only steaming hot, but also... fragrant. Sulphur? I'm not sure. But stinky! Did you know that Yellowstone is actually a massive, active volcano? Now you know why everything's bubbling and percolating.
So, finally, at 3 p.m., we reach Old Faithful. We pull into the massive parking lot, and walk forever towards Old Faithful. Do you see that spray just dissipating in the distance? Dammit, we just missed it. Now it's a 90-minute wait for the next eruption. Grr-aargh.
Because we're stupid, we forget our hats in the car. But we still go walking around the boardwalks to look at some of the other geysers. I would like to go on a longer hike, but we afraid of going too far and missing the next eruption, plus we're spending way more time in Yellowstone than we were expecting. We buy some ice cream and park our butts at the viewing area to wait for Old Faithful to go off. Yes, it's still Faithful: it cooperates, and even arrives a little bit early, at 4:25 instead of 4:32 as anticipated. We have now seen about 1/25th of the park, but we're on our way out.
Grand Tetons was also on our list for today, but we're at a quarter-tank of gas and we don't have a place to stay, so we make a beeline for Jackson, which is maybe a half-hour outside the Grand Tetons. Found a room at a reasonable price just outside of town. Jackson (aka Jackson Hole) is a tourist trap. Reminds me of the main streets in Banff and Jasper. We walked around for a bit, then had a super-spicy meal at Thai Plate (my mouth is burning, but yum!).
Now it's research time. What are tomorrow's plans? Backtrack to the Grand Tetons, and then we may be diverting into Colorado. There's another mountain that Stephen wants to drive up.
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