Wyoming and Montana

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Old Faithful ......................Bison everywhere - even in the road

Halfway to the North Pole!

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Strategy Session at Little Big Horn........The Last Stand Hill
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Devil's Thumb...........................................Another World

What beautiful country!
We left Denver the end of last week and stopped first in southern Wyoming at Little Big Horn.
It's quite a setting - you can actually see where the battle took place as well as a little museum that explains the background of the battle.

On Sunday we explored the Big Horn Canyon and then moved on to Yellowstone.

Monday afternoon after we arrived in Gardiner, MT, (the northern entrance to the park), we went to the visitor center and to the Mammoth Hot Springs area. What was supposed to be a quick trip to plan for our trip turned out to be more than 2 hours of exploration.

The hot springs in this area build gorgeous terraces of travertine - and some other-worldly scenery. We spotted a Western Meadowlark.

Tuesday we spent the whole day in Yellowstone. We started out looking for wildlife and saw plent. Elk in the Mammoth Hot Springs area, bison almost everywhere - and where there were no bison visible, you could tell they had been there :-) . We even got to see a wolf thanks to an expert wolf watcher at the side of the road who shared the view through her telescope. On the way we spotted a sandhill crane sitting on the nest and his mate feeding right around the corner.
Next we headed to Old Faithful and the other geysers. It's quite impressive. If you ever go, take binoculars so you can see the the small spurts of water that precede the main eruption.

Finally we drove up to the Grand Canyon of the Rockies and viewed the Lower Falls.

Time just ran out - we spent almost 11 hours in the park! We'll have to come back someday. We definitely will plan our trip either early or late in the season. It was so pleasant without huge crowds.

As we left Gardiner, we are actually more than halfway from the Equator to the North Pole and have pictures to prove it.

Right now, we are in Great Falls, Montana. We are waiting to see if the snow will hold off and allow us a quick glimpse of Glacier National Park near the Canadian border. It's been quite cold, windy and rainy the past day and a half - a contrast with the wonderful weather we've had in the past week. Driving the RV in the wind is a real challenge!

Next we're heading across the border and up to Calgary. For the next few weeks, we may not be able to post often since facilities may be scarce on the road. We should be in Healy, AK by the end of May and we'll catch up any missing posts at that time.

Timeline:
Friday April 27: Left Denver. Stopped at the Sierra Trading Post Outlet in Cheyenne. Spent the night. Stayed in a Walmart parking lot in East Casper, Wyoming
Saturday, April 28: Visited Little Big Horn National Monument. Stayed at the Grandview RV Park in Hardin, MT
Sunday, April 29: Visited Big Horn Canyon Natl Recreation Area. Stayed another night at Grandview in Hardin.
Monday, April 30: Arrived in Gardiner, MT. Visited Mammoth Hot Springs and the Visitor Center in Yellowstone. Stayed at the Yellowstone RV Park on the Yellowstone River in Gardiner.
Tuesday, May 1: Toured Yellowstone. Another night in Gardiner.
Wednesday, May 2: Traveled to Helena, MT and stayed at the Walmart there. Very windy - a hard drive. Windy and wet all night.
Thursday, May 3: Were planning to make it to Cut Bank, but decided on a short day since it was still very windy and difficult driving for the motor home. Everyone was ready for a quiet day. Saying at Dick's RV Park in Great Falls MT.