Diary of our trip to Wyoming and Montana

(Polly and Jon's EXCELLENT Adventure-Now Read On!)

This is my journal of our trip; it describes what I saw and what I felt about it plus whatever else came to mind. I have included some photographs that can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate places. When you've seen the picture, just click the "back" icon on your browser and return to your place in the narrative. I will begin with a map of the route we took. Later on you can return to it by clicking where necessary, to refresh your memory of where the heck we are when I say whatever it is I'm saying. I have put numbers on it to help find key places more quickly. Click on Back to return to your place in the narrative.

To get oriented, view this overall map of the trip.

Wed May 20, 1998.

We get up at the insane hour of 4 AM and fly to Denver's new airport. We have to ride a train from where we land to the "baggage terminal". Then we take a bus ride to the rent-a-car land. We rent a Toyota Corolla and drive into Denver where we have lunch with Polly's brother Matt. He gives us a tour of his apartment and much of downtown Denver - on foot. It is clearly a happening place, although smog is noticeable. Part is due to fires in Mexico which also brought a smoke plume to Austin. The climate is mild and 16" of rain annually keeps the humidity low. That night we have dinner with Polly's step-mother Ann, her sisters M.E. and Jane, and brothers Matt and John at John and his wife Peg's home. Exhausted, we drive north to our hotel and collapse.

Thursday 21.

We drive north on IH-25 past Ft. Collins through the north end of Colorado. The landscape initially is agricultural but gets more dramatically severe as we approach Wyoming. At the visitor center just inside the Wyoming State line, we pick up brochures and marvel at the strength of the wind. The Rockies are visible to the west. We shoot past Cheyenne and continue north. The Laramie range is visible to the west and the land is quite dramatic. Big bald hills and thin grass and sage. Big vistas. As we climb one hill, signs warn of high winds, and a wind sock, bulging and taut, confirms this is a VERY windy place indeed!.

We can see Mt. Laramie as we head north. This was the first of the Rockies visible to the explorers and pioneers who came this way. Some of the valleys have nice little creeks or "rivers" in them with cottonwoods and cattle. It looks idyllic but a bit lonely out here. At highway 26 we go east toward old Ft. Laramie. On the way we stop to see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts carved into stone near the town of Guernsey. This is very impressive because in some places the ruts are several feet deep. This is near the place marked 1 on the trip map. To see a picture of the ruts, click here.

We stop, too, at Registry Cliff, where immigrants carved their names. Cliffs flank the south side of the North Platte River and form about as beautiful a little valley as you could hope to see. An old trading post was here and the place later served as a pony express station. This watered valley must have been a great camping spot for the immigrants, who I'm sure spent a few days here if they could. (The trip took 5 months and if you left in summer you had to hustle to clear the western mountains before snow set in.) To see a picture of the valley with a small monument to the Pony Express in front, click here.

A few miles further east, Ft. Laramie proves quite wonderful. The fort is about 600 miles from St. Joseph, MO, the main starting point of the Oregon Trail. The ParkService folks have done their usual superb job redoing the place authentically. The fort lies at confluence of the North Platte and Laramie rivers and was one of the biggest supply depots for the US military and for the tens of thousands of immigrants who took the Oregon Trail. Unstockaded, it never faced any serious threats from Indians. The temperature is in mid-80's and wind is gentle. Towards late afternoon the sky threatens to storm -- quite breath taking! To see Fort Larmie against a stormy evening sky, click here.

We leave the fort about 5 PM and head to Casper. The landscape remains intriguing: no giant mountains but cliffs, bluffs, hills ravines and draws. A few pines growing from rocky outcrops, etc. A few miles east of Casper we see some magnificent vistas-I can't guess how far you could see from some of those ridges but maybe 50 miles. Lots of cattle grazing on the open range. The land was surprisingly green (more than Polly remembers having lived there from 1958-1961) and the cattle looked happy, though this is not grass but mainly sagebrush and pretty rough stuff. From the sand peeking through ruts in various little draws, it is clear this is not farming land. Seeing it, though, is well worth the trip. When we get to Casper the state track meet is in session and we can't find a room in any of the big hotels and motels along the highway. Forced into town by chance we find a motel, old but nice (and run by a Hindu couple!). Amazingly enough it turns out this where Polly had spent her last night in Casper before she and her family left for San Diego in December of 1961. We drive around town, passing her elementary school and the two houses she lived in (including the "haunted" one); she has no trouble finding them. Casper is at site 2 on the map; to view the trip map, click here.

To see Polly standing before her childhood home, click here.

The morning of Friday the 22^nd is cool, clear and clean. Lots of mourning doves cooing away. We eat at the diner attached to the motel - walls covered with movie posters and movie star photos - and then drive west along highway 20/26 out towards Shoshoni. About half way there we come to "Hell's Half Acre," an impressive little badland canyon with lots of colors and exotic rock formations. This is near 3 on the map. To see this natural wonder, click here. The weather gets cold and windy enough for us to change into long pants. Leaving this dramatic setting, we find the general lay of the land a bit boring by Wyoming standards. Big vistas, though, with the Big Horn mountains to the north. The land is rough and only a few cattle graze the rugged hills and gullies. To see this local landscape, click here.

We reach the town of Shoshoni; the mighty Wind River Mountains are ahead and to the left. In town we go north toward Thermopolis. We can see both the Big Horn and Wind Rivers. The Big Horn river has been backed up behind a dam in this arid landscape and the color is surreal. It is the bluest blue I've ever seen. Clearly the mountain sky is weaving its magic. Shortly thereafter we enter the 30-mile-long Wind River Canyon. The cliffs rise at least 1,000 feet over the narrow river valley. These ancient rocks, some over 600 million years old, are exposed in layers. The river moves at a clip through here and drops from about 5,600 feet at Shoshoni to about 4,300 in Thermopolis. We take a load of pictures but feel they will never catch the feeling of being in this magnificent natural wonder. The canyon is at 4 on the map. To review the trip map, click here. Are you all oriented? We took some photos with a double wide camera; you may need to scan some of these with the scroll bar. To see one shot of the canyon along the Bighorn River, click here. Pretty deep hole 'eh?

Thermopolis is a lovely little town (its 5 on the map), not all prettied up for tourists, in a spectacular setting. We see signs for the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, which doesn't appear in our guidebooks. This turns out to be a private institution just outside town, with wonderful exhibits. Some rich German dude bought a 75,000 acre ranch east of town, on the expectation that he would find dinosaur remains in the rock formations (he is an amateur archeologist). They've found dino's and lots of them -- over 50 have been discovered as they've worked their way toward the site he originally aimed for! The mother-lode rock layer is Triassic and the big finding so far is an apparent allosuarous feeding ground. Those bad boys apparently dragged big pieces of their kills into this area, where they became chunky fossils. The bones have been gnawed by both adult and baby dinos suggesting it was a kind of dino day-care center. For fossil dino bones, click here.

Polly and I take a trip up to the dig itself, on a ridge maybe 500 feet up. The road switch-backs up and scares me a tad. There's a wonderful view from there, though, and the dino site is interesting and well-presented by the guide, who explains more than we can take in about rocks. We decide to buy a rock book to remedy our ignorance.

Back in town, we visit the hot spring, gurgling up thousand of gallons of 170 F water per day. It flows toward the Big Horn River and, as it cools, various minerals precipitate out. Also, the temperature gradient supports different algae with an astonishing range of colors. (As usual I take pictures.) The terms of the treaty with the Indians that procured the springs required that some of the water be used for a free pool-and there it is!. Polly and I soak in 105 F water for just less than the maximum 20 minutes allowed for health considerations. A bit too relaxing - and very smelly! Hydrogen sulfide is a major component of the mineral rich waters. To see the source spring, click here.

After a picnic lunch, and recovery, in a nice park under clear skies and 75 temperatures, we drive back up through the valley through Shoshoni to the town of Riverton. It is. a most unprepossessing place, but in a nice sitting below the Wind River range. The evening is cooling, and it is only 59 when we leave the restaurant after supper. I feel like I may be catching a little cold. I wonder if the exhaustion of not sleeping Tuesday night precipitated a bug. The air is thin and dry of late and it tires me out too. I hope an early night will pick me up.

Saturday May 23

We leave Riverton early and drive down to Lander along highway 20. Lander is a pretty little town with lots of genuine charm and we wish we'd pushed on to it last night. The Wind Rivers are in front of you and the view of these stately giants is magnificent. They really rise up fast and in places the layering of rocks shows the nature of the uplift that formed them. Clearly some colossal force drove up under this area, peeling the rock layers upward. Glaciers and subsequent erosion have cut valleys through the uplift so you can easily see the mountains layered guts. It is mild, maybe 55 or so, but the mountains are snow-capped a long way down their sides.

At Lander we turn and head northwest along the spectacular mountains. To the north we can see other mountains, the Owl Creeks I believe. In that direction, the land is pretty harsh with lots of buttes and gullies but also with some nice valleys and crazing cattle. About 40 miles along we see Crowheart Butte where Indian legend says two chiefs, a Shoshoni and Crow, fought to the death in single combat. The Shoshoni chief, Washakie, emerged victorious and ate the other guy's heart. To each his own. A little further along, and again to the north, impressive red rock badlands appear. We note a lot of oil-pumping along here, and a town of Red Rock which I'm sure inspired the movie "Red Rock West."

It is hard to describe the nonstop vistas along here. I take oodles of photos that I'm sure will suggest a mere fraction of the scenes and non of the wrap-around grandeur of the whole 100-mile stint. Anyway, outside of Dubois, we start to climb over the Wind Rivers where that spur of mountains joins the main Rocky chain-called the Absarokas-along here. Togwotee Pass maxes out at over 9000 feet; this is near 6 on the map. To review the trip map, click here. The road is wide and good but as we climb, we hit rain, and then snow. Deep snow stands in the valleys and ravines near the summit and this storm just adds to it. The heavy snowfall is too beautiful for words, the trees decorated -- a fairy land to us Austinites. I am very happy and so is Polly. To see me standing in the snow near the top of Togwotee Pass, click here.

We cross the Continental Divide and start down into the town of Moran, the snow turning back to rain. When we get into Grand Teton National Park the rain is sporadic, but heavy clouds hide the big mountains and we can only see the Tetons' knees, as it were. We drive through the park into the gingerbread town of Jackson and have a late lunch, then on to the Spring Creek Resort for a three-night stay. This is near 7 on the map. To review the trip map, click here

This is a fantastic place! It is built on the edge of east Gros Ventre Butte, which runs roughly parallel to the main line of the Tetons. From just south of Jackson, at 6239 feet, a switchback road climbs to the to the top of the butte, which is at about 7000 feet. The elevation does make for a fabulous view. Over one side is the town of Jackson and over the other are the mighty Teton mountains rising sharply from the valley floor. Our room is one of four in a cabin on the Teton side, right at the edge of the resort so there are no buildings between us and the view of the valley and the Tetons. You walk out on the balcony and for 180 degrees or more-there they are! Snow-capped and broodingly beautiful. The valley between us and the mountains is deep green. The clouds are trying to lift and bright sun alternates with cloud and little sprinkles. It is a bit chilly to me and I walk the grounds with a light jacket on, but some folks are out in short sleeves. "Be prepared for anything" seems a safe bet in the mountains because the weather can change very quickly. To see the outside of our cabin, click here. Pretty fine 'eh? To see Polly standing on our porch, with those big Tetons, click here.

About 5 PM we decided to drive to Idaho, where I had never been. We took Highway 22 out of Jackson, up over the Tetons, then down into Victor, Idaho. The pass is about 8378 feet, not for the faint-hearted. Near the summit, the view down into Jackson Hole takes your breath away. Driving in as we did, we didn't get the sense of its "holeness" but from up on the pass it is easy to see the valley surrounded by peaks of the various ranges. Coming down the Idaho side, we noted that the Tetons block some rain clouds coming in from the west because that side is more lush. The aspens were out in fine light spring greens on both sides but more strongly on the west slope. Idaho, what little I saw of it, has plenty of impressive peaks. I drive back east, up over the pass. This time the car is in the lane near the edge of the cliffs. It is mostly a good road, but there are some stretches, mostly around curves, with no guard rails or shoulders and some spectacular 1000-foot-plus drops. I conquer my fears, though I drive slowly and let people pass when turnouts are available. I get down in good shape and am able to enjoy many of the vistas like a normal human would. Tonight we have reservations for the Granary restaurant in the resort, which is rumored to be very fine indeed.

The rumors are true! The Grannery rocks out. I had elk in a wild berry sauce and it is certainly in the half dozen most memorable meals I have ever eaten.

Sunday May 24

A rather slow day. After breakfast in the Grannery we go into the Park (number 8 on the map), entering at the Moose station and driving along the Teton Park road. We find the visitor's center full of interesting information that makes us feel more ignorant than ever about rocks. We drive on to the trailhead for a hike to Taggert Lake. The Tetons are America's youngest mountains and are still rising (the valley floor drops about four times as fast as the mountains rise but fills with rubble from the mountains). These upthrust mountains have no foothills, so they are spectacular. They are so rugged because they are new and have been scoured hard by glaciers. (Glaciers are different from snow fields in that they move downhill under their own weight). The glaciers carve huge valleys between peaks and carry rubble downhill. At the leading edge, where melting equals speed, the glacier acts like a conveyer belt, building a "moraine" (like a dike) from the rubble. The valley funnels rivers into these, creating lakes at the foot of the mountains. Eventually these lakes will fill in to create a flat meadow but for now they are beautiful blue lakes. There are several of these "lupine meadows" beyond the modern lakes.

We have to climb the moraine to get to the lake and cross its fast-flowing outlet streams. Taggert is a lovely lake and we see marmots and a moose there. Polly slips into a puddle on the trail back and we return to the resort for a lovely soak in the hot tub. After that we go into Jackson and look around Gingerbread-ville, have a bite to eat, and take in the movie "Bullworth."

Monday, May 25

A big day today. The sky is very clear allowing fantastic views; all the peaks are clear of clouds. I think this is a great time of the year to be here. The weather can be dicey in the spring and, indeed, people we met at the resort tell us it rained the four days before we arrived. However, the new spring growth is especially lovely in its fresh light greens. The presence of snow makes the mountains and the forests more interesting to look at then when it has all melted. The temperatures can be cool but the days are moderate to warm (in the sun). Best of all, there are not a lot of other tourists. I understand that in high summer not only are the parks less colorful but traffic is nearly bumper to bumper.

After a wonderful breakfast at Spring Creek, we drive back into the Park and visit String and Jenny Lakes. String Lake still has snow in large patches on the ground and the shore lined with pine trees. The lake is calm and folks are canoeing gracefully across the lake with the Tetons as a backdrop. We take the scenic loop drive to Jenny Lake. This is bigger and rougher with more wind. The water is clear and, not surprisingly, very cold. As always we record matters on film. The valley feeding into Jenny is large and a massive glacier is visible. A guide tells me these glaciers have been cored and are about 400 feet deep. To see a picture of Jenny Lake, looking toward the Tetons, click here.

Next we head to Moose and catch a float trip down the Snake River. It was a good experience, seeing aspects of the park not so obvious from the roads, though we don't see any wildlife other than birds. We see lots of Beaver work though with knawed trees down along the river. To see our boat getting unloaded, click here. The float takes about an hour and after we land, Polly and I drive back into the park, stopping at the very large Jackson Lake for a picnic lunch. The we decide to drive up into Yellowstone. To review the trip map, click here

As we round Jackson Lake and cross the dam at the north end, the Tetons form an UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous line spread out behind the pure blue of the lake. Words are inadequate to describe the view. The blue of the lake, the dark of the mountains, patterned with snow, and the massive clouds starting to form above simply awes us. This view persists until the road turns north to climb the Rockefeller Parkway toward Yellowstone. To see a fine, but still understated, photo of this scene, click here.

Approaching Yellowstone (number 9 on the map), we start to climb. Snow in patches is obvious even at road level. Soon the surrounding forest floors are covered in snow, not patches but fields of it. Lewis Lake is still largely covered in ice. A lot of the park is very high-for example the Old Faithful area is up around 8200 feet, nearly 2000 feet higher than the Jackson Hole. No doubt this accounts for the snow and ice. Anyway, along this stretch the road skirts the edge of a tremendous valley with cliffs, I don't know, 600 to 1000 feet deep. Time to concentrate. I had not appreciated that a huge fraction of Yellowstone is the caldera of an enormous ancient volcano roughly 40 miles across! It blew out about 600,000 years ago and must have been something for whatever lived then to see. The ground here is still very active and there is evidence everywhere.

The Snake River is born here and it and the Lewis are creating this gorge. We shoot past a turnout to the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake and carry on toward the Old Faithful Geyser Basin. Along the way we see a buffalo ambling along the road. The basin has many more geysers than I had imagined and one is blowing as we get there. The sky is clear and it is comfortable in shirtsleeves although we see patches of snow in the area. I would guess the temperature is around 60 . In the shade or when the wind picks up I slip on my windbreaker, though. We only wait about 10 minutes to see Old Faithful spout, and it was a kick! We wander around the area inspecting a number of hot springs and hot mud spouts. To see our picture of Old Faithful erupting, click here.

After a cafeteria dinner at the lodge we drive down to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is a true wonder, more impressive than Old Faithful. The land is thin here, over molten rock, and there are numerous boiling fountains and pools. The so-called "Black Pool" used to be black from algae, but recently has been heating up, and even erupted in 1991, which sterilized it. The water is now blue and so clear it is spooky. The rocks and ridges deep in this hole, maybe 30 feet across, are easy to see. It reminds you of a clear blue-green tropical lagoon, but the water is nearly boiling! Steam rises from the surface and you can feel waves of heat hit you as you lean over to see into the pool. This basin is right on the bay of the lake called the West Thumb. In fact, the bay itself is a caldera of a volcano (within the bigger, more ancient volcano) that blew out about 125,000 years ago. Spouting pots steam right out in the lake. Polly and I are both truly moved by the beauty and mystery of this enchanting place. To see a photo of the Geyser Basin as dusk settles in, click here.

In addition to this, as evening descends a herd of elk comes right down to graze among the steaming holes. I could whack 'em with a stick! We also see several ravens so big they make crows look like hummingbirds. One big old boy walking near the parking lot had a body the size of a cat. He strutted and rolled as walked around, cock-o-the walk, and projected real attitude. Yo mamma!

On the way home we see a moose grazing in the wetlands of the Lewis River just below the lake. I get out of the car, scramble down the river bank and out onto a snowfield to take a picture. The view down this valley may be the most breathtaking I have ever seen: mountains flanking the river, a storm to the south that has turned the sky a deep blue, and the setting sun behind the distant Tetons mixing in a subtle light. And the moose in the foreground! I hope this photo comes out, but I don't think anything but being there could capture the moment. I have since learned this shot did not turn out, but one of Lewis Lake, still mostly frozen, can be seen at dusk by clicking here.

Once we get back to the north end of Teton Park we swing east to take highway 191 back to Jackson. Along the road we see another moose grazing. Later on we see several herds of elk on both sides of 191. We arrive home tired but content after a wonderfully full day.

Tuesday May 26

Another BIG day. We check out of the Spring Creek Resort, drive through Teton Park and back into the south end of Yellowstone. At West Thumb we take the road around that bay of lovely Yellowstone Lake, lined with pine forests, the Absaroka Mountains snow-capped across the water. The Yellowstone River flows out of the north end of the lake and moves pretty fast. We stop at LeHardy Rapids. This is an example of how to become immortal: the rapids are named for a guy who lost his buckskin jacket crossing the rapids, which I guess amused his colleagues immensely. For ever after its his rapids.

Later on we come to an area of thermal activity (surprise) with several interesting sites. The Mud Volcano emits sulfurous gases to stir buckets of mud and make a most unpleasant looking hole. Dragon's Mouth cave, nearby, pours out near boiling water, belches hydrogen sulfide gas, and slams water against the inner cave walls to make an impressive roaring sound.

After passing this site, the Yellowstone River flows through a serenely beautiful valley called Hayden Valley after the leader of the expedition that triggered acquisition of the park land. Although you can see mountains in the distance and forests too, this large valley is mostly grass and hills. It is mysterious looking, at least given its surroundings, but very moving.

The river looks good all along here, moving swiftly through valleys of varying drama, but soon it starts to cut the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The colored walls are due largely to the effects of thermal action that bring a range of minerals to stain the rocks. Yellow is predominant, though, and suggests the name of the park.

The canyon begins with the "Upper Falls," maybe 100 feet high, and quite impressive. Downstream a mile or so the Lower Falls, 385 feet high, move a truly impressive amount of water. At Artists Point we photograph Lower Falls and the spectacular canyon (24 miles long). To see the Lower Falls looking up the canyon, click here.

Next we inspect the Upper Falls, then take "Uncle Tom's Trail." This switches back down the wall of the south face of the cliff just below the Lower Falls, dropping 600 feet or more - and giving me some queasy moments on the mesh stairway! At the bottom the view is worth the trip. To see Polly and I on the lowest deck before the Falls, click here. Other minor falls splash down the canyon walls and rainbows form in the spray. The walk up is an effort, 600 feet, including 392 steps, at an altitude of around 8000 feet! A nice photo across the canyon, catching a bit of the rainbow can be seen by clicking here.

Driving around to the north face of the canyon, we saw a grizzly bear in a field about 100 yards off the road! Our photo won't compare to watching him through the binoculars as he digs away at the side of a rise. We also see numerous bison sauntering around.

As evening begins, we drive south to the Fishing Bridge area and turn east to leave the park. As we cross the Yellowstone River, the valley is very lovely. Next we drive along the north end of the lake which looks great with the mountains in the background, and see more bison grazing. The east road is under construction and causes some delay, but eventually starts to climb toward Sylvan Pass (about 8400 feet). This beautiful road proves very exciting because it's narrow, in poor shape, and often without rails or other protection. Some of the wire guard rails are slanted out over the cliff because the road is too darn narrow to put them in the shoulder! Also, some have broken which is unsettling. Once over the pass the road, still narrow and windy, starts to drop. The cliff is still deep even after miles of winding road, but eventually we hit the floor and leave the park at the east entrance (exit) which is at about 6900 feet.

At the bottom we become aware of a fast-flowing river draining the east side of the mountains. This is the Shoshone, and it becomes my favorite river as it accompanies us the 60 miles to Cody. Cody is number 10 on the map, to review the map click here. After leaving the park we are in the adjoining Shoshone National Forest and this area, called the Wapiti Valley, is so beautiful it makes you want to weep. It is every bit as striking as anything in the park. To see the landscape just east of Yellowstone Park, click here.

The river starts to cut some impressive canyons and also splashes through some heavily forested mountain areas. The idyllic area around the town of Wapiti is lush with forests. Howver, as we move east it is evident that the rainfall is much less on the east side of the Absaroka -- because the vegetation changes. It is still green, but there is more sagebrush on the lower hills and valley floor.

Then the road enters the most astonishing valley, which the potent little Shoshone River must have carved. The ancient red rock walls are cut into amazing shapes. Many resemble cathedrals and spires, including the magnificent "Holy City" formation. Intricate, monumental spires run along rocky ridges hundreds of feet over the floor of the valley. Furthermore, this goes on for tens of miles while the river keeps boiling along. To review the trip map, click here. To see this area at dusk as we head to Cody, click here.

Within 10 -15 miles of Cody the landscape becomes very dry, although snow-capped mountains are visible on the horizon. The Shoshone has been dammed by the Buffalo Bill Cody Dam to make a huge deep blue lake that sits very strangely in this moonscape. A view of the semi arid landscape, together with the lake, is seen by clicking here. Those are the Carter Mountains on the sky line. The dam itself sits in an amazing location where the Shoshone has cut a deep narrow canyon through ancient (two BILLION year old!) rocks. The road runs through one very long and two little tunnels where you can get an appreciation of what the river did on a parallel path about 30 feet to the right! Both Polly and I are amazed that so little in the guide books had been made about the Shoshone River basin. This stretch of country from the edge of the park to Cody is scenery as fine as anything we saw in Yellowstone or Tetons. The Tetons viewed over Lake Jackson are pretty special, I must admit, but the Shoshone basin is every bit as interesting and as moving as even the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

In Cody, we check into a lovely old hotel called the Irma, built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902 and named for his youngest daughter. The old cherrywood bar is still there - a gift from Queen Victoria for Cody's making a command performance. The dining room also has a tin ceiling, many mounted animal heads, and the booths have small cast buffalo heads. Our room, suite really, is named after a local friend of Bill Cody's called Agnes Chamberlin. Like all of the old hotel it has 10-foot ceilings and oodles of ornaments.

Wednesday May 27

A slower day in Cody. We decide to go to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which has four museums together in the "Smithsonian of the West". These include the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Whitney Museum of Western Art, a firearms museum, and a marvelous Museum of Plains Indians. We end up staying all day and loving the place. It enhances my appreciation of the Old West myth and certainly of old Bill who I didn't really know about until now. He really was a hero in his youth, fighting for the Union and scouting for the Army, rescuing captive ladies, riding for the Pony Express, guiding royalty on Buffalo hunts and establishing the Wild West show, which increased interest in the West. He was politically quite progressive and championed women's right to vote and conservation of the the wilderness. I also reconfirm my feeling that, as Western artists go, Remington had ten times the talent of Russell in his wildest dreams. The Indian Museum exhibited artifacts from a cave near the Shoshone River that had been used for 9500 years. Hunters dropped stuff and layers formed, probably aided by flooding that created a new floor from time to time -- and then a new group arrived, etc. The arrowheads uncovered from the differing layers were particularly interesting as they became more sophisticated.

I spend a fair bit of time in the firearms museum because I find these things fascinating and because firearms played a big role in the taming of the west. I learn a lot about the development of "fire" in the fire arms. The first guns were "match locks" which had a fuse to ignite the main propellant charge. Clearly this was not a rapid-fire weapon. Later flintlocks had a flint hammer to strike steel, creating a spark that fell into gun powder in the primer pan which then ignited the main charge. Again real slow. Later shock-sensitive charges in the form of mercury fulminates were placed in primer buttons. This sped things up and improved reliability. The hammer hit this thing which ignited the main charge. Many Civil War rifles were of this form; the bullet and powder rammed down the barrel and the primer placed in the breech for the hammer to strike. Later this system was altered to loading the bullet and main charge through the breech, which speeded the rate of fire a bit but it was still slow. Finally, the fulminate primer was incorporated into a full-metal-jacketed bullet. This self-contained, stable unit made repeating guns possible. The revolver had been put into operation back at the primer stage in the form of the Colt Walker 44, but it was improved with the jacketed bullet. Repeating rifles with tube magazines like the Henry and Winchester greatly enhanced fire power; for example the Henry held sixteen .44 bullets and clearly could sweep a field more effectively than the single shot Spencers initially used by the Cavalry. More on this later.

Thursday May 28

Big day here. After breakfast the drive back west into Yellowstone is as beautiful as when we came in. We stop at the Buffalo Bill dam and photograph the spectacular canyon cut through granite by the Shoshone. This can be seen by clicking here. The rock formations along the road, the Holy City, etc., still amaze us by morning light. They can be seen by clicking here.

We re-enter Yellowstone Park (back to 9 on the map) and drive back over the Sylvan pass; Sylvan Lake is still frozen over although the air is a pleasant 55-60 . At Canyon we head north around the top loop of the park. This is spectacular country but some of the roads are mighty scary. In particular, the Dunraven pass (8859 feet) has a breathtaking view over the Yellowstone Canyon, but could be a lot wider and better protected. To see a view of the Canyon in this area of the Park, click here. A roadside turnout plaque describes that the north end of this ridge is part of the ancient caldera of the big Yellowstone blowout of 650,000 years ago. As we come down, the valleys are lovely in the morning light, with a long, long view from that height.

Tower Junction is where the Tower River joins the Yellowstone, and that, too, is marvelous. Eventually we get to Mammoth Hot Springs near the north entrance to the park. It is lower here, about 5400 feet (quite a drop from Dunraven!), and it is about 70 degrees or so - shorts weather. Here a series of hot springs have been depositing minerals in terraced layers of truly impressive size. The Minerva Terrace is the best. Its actively flowing water over stepped terraces creates lots of steam and lovely colors. To see a photo of Minera Terrace, click here.

After finishing our viewing of the park we head out the north entrance to the town of Gardiner. The Gardiner River is fast-flowing and impressive before it joins the Yellowstone. The area on the extreme north of the park is pretty dry and has lots of sagebrush along with some pines. We pick up Highway 89 and head toward Livingston, through the Paradise Valley. At first the land is dry and harsh, like the interior basins of Wyoming and I can't see why everyone said it was so beautiful. After a few miles though, the road parallels the Yellowstone River, which is surprisingly broad by now. Irrigation begins in the valley floor. The mountains to the west are low, dry and barren, but across the river valley to the east loom the snow capped and VERY impressive peaks of the Absaroka range (number 11 on the map). To review the trip map, click here. To see the Absaroka range across the Yellowstone River, click here. After Chico Hot Springs, the area called Paradise Valley exhibits some development. I gather a number of movie stars, etc., live here for privacy. It is a wonderful place, impressive mountains, the broad green valley, and lots of cattle grazing contentedly. I gather Robert Redford has a house here and shot lots of the "Horse Wisper" near by. Also "A River Runs Through It " was partly shot here.

We hit I-90 at Livingston and head 23 miles west to Bozeman. The road side is initially not so impressive - a bit sparse and the strong head wind adds to a sense of desolation. After 10 miles or so, it greens up, the mountains to the south are rugged and a few are snow-capped. The freeway winds down some lovely hills into town. We are impressed with Bozeman (population about 25,000). It is a college town and there seems to be a lot to do. We drive all over its lovely old neighborhoods. There are a few big and distinguished houses but most are modest, but well-kept. The grass is green and most streets are tree-lined. MSU itself is prosaic in its architecture but still looks like a school where students can learn about life and perhaps a few academic subjects as well. It seems a town of this size, at least one with a good-sized college, could supply most of the necessities of life as I see it. (You need access to a range of movies, book stores, and indoor activities as well as the obvious outdoor opportunities of a place like this.) Later we actually check out real-estate prices. However, these lovely mountain places suffer from a couple of things, in my opinion. One is a lack of air; I find myself huffing and puffing around. The other is the dryness. I can hardly get a decent night's sleep any place up here because my nose and throat are so crispy I can hardly breath. I love to get in the steamy shower until my tissues plump back up.

Friday May 29

This morning we visit the Museum of the Rockies on the campus of MSU. This is a wonderful institution, set up to be very interactive and informative without being at all condescending. A number of school groups are present and it was easy to tell that they are having a good time, learning a lot, and getting positive feedback about themselves. The museum is world-famous for its paleontology group. A lady who owns a ranch up on the Peck Reservoir discovered a bone, took it to the curator at the Museum and he instantly recognized it as the arm of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. They excavated the thing around 1990 and discovered the most complete skeleton of T Rex in the world. (In fact, I saw a Nova program about this very dig.) In any case, they have several dinosaur casts (the real stuff is in the basement lockup) and they are wonderfully displayed with clear and informative narratives. There is also a room with many fine exhibits about the formation of the earth and geology. A number are set up to teach the viewer how to "read" the kind of rocks they are likely to see on their very own highway road cuts. In the museum planetarium we saw a very professional and quite moving show they produced themselves about the formation of planets and then of continents, etc. It began with a sympathetic description of several mythologies as efforts to understand the universe, and then fit science into that persective. The show had a very heroic message about the striving of man to understand the universe and made an excellent case for the nobility and practicality of continuing to try to understand the universe. Finally, we take in a pretty good exhibit of Montana history and another about Plains Indian life and culture. We stay until about 1:30 and then hit the road eastward down I-90.

As I drive I wonder how a resource like the Museum might effect educational battles in the area. I don't know how religiously conservative this area is; certainly there is a lot of conservative political action in the Mountain states. Our river guide down in Jackson gave us a very intelligent narrative of the river and mountains and gave the scientific data about the age of the Teton uplift and so forth. Then he confessed to being a creationist who believes the world is about 4400 years old! The meteorologist and I sitting beside one another in the raft rolled our eyes but kept our peace. Anyway, it seems to me that the lure of the geology and especially the dinosaur finds must work its influence on the kids taking these tours. It seems to me that no matter what your minister says, the logic and elegance of the exhibits must make a strong statement that you better temper your faith with reason. I think the kids come to believe T Rex did live 65 million yeas ago and they now understand how his bones got buried so deep in the rocks around their very own homes.

As we approach Livingston, the land had gotten more dry but was still nice. It is interesting that even where it is getting dry you don't see sagebrush as was common in the semi arid regions of Wyoming. Here there is short grass and low shrub trees (Russian Olive?) At higher elevation there are pines. The Absarokas are still strong to the south and a range called the Crazy Mountains, with a few 10-11,000 foot peaks, is off to the north. To see a photo of this range, looking north across I90,click here.

Further along, the country takes on a rugged yet gentle appearance. The Yellowstone River valley follows the highway and the ranches in these valley are lovely. They have a lot of irrigated land with lots of agricultural green, grazing cattle, and mountains in the distance. With the miles passing, the land, especially to the north, get more arid. About 30 miles out of Billings, the Beartooth Mountains make a strong appearance. These bad boys run northeast out of the Absarokas and are just as mighty. They face north and show snow fields of colossal size, even this late in May.

As we approach Billings, the land dries out. This is not mountain country per se, but we see lots of rugged hills and buttes all along the horizon, especially to the north. Billings is the largest city in the state, with about 85,000 people. We cross the Yellowstone for the last time here; it is a pretty big river now and flows on up to join the Missouri in North Dakota, just across the state line with Montana near Williston. Just outside Billings, I90 spawns I94. The latter continues on eastward and goes to Minneapolis.

I-90 turns southeast and we take it down to the Custer Battlefield about 90 miles away. Initially the land seems more lush, with rolling hills and some buttes. The Beartooths can be seen off to the right and though distant, still look good. The hills look like lumpy pool tables, lovely smooth and green. Needless to say, if you inspect them at close range the pool table analogy breaks down quickly. Some of the hills are pretty high and put quite a strain on the Toyota. As the miles fall away though, it gets more and more arid. At last sagebrush joins with the buffalo grass near the road. The distant bluffs and mesas look harsh. In the Crow reservation we turn into the National monument and drive off the freeway into the hinterlands of the Little Bighorn country. This place (around number 12 on the map) is strangely beautiful. To review the trip map, click here. It is harsh, no doubt about it, but the rolling hills and bluffs have a stark and compelling beauty. It is just plain fascinating and you want to suck this strange landscape up with your eyes. To see the landscape around the battlefield, click here.

We listen to the ranger give an interesting and spirited narrative of the battle and then tour the battlefield. The bodies are, generally speaking, buried where they fell. A picture of the graves at the main battle site can be seen clicking here. Custer's grave is the special black one in the middle. The five-mile drive up and up along the bluff overlooking the Little Big Horn valley induces a trancelike state with its strange beauty in the late afternoon light. The story of the battle and various acts of heroism and lunacy is itself quite interesting, but frankly I am more moved by the land. We took a picture from a bluff successfully defended by Reno. It shows the Little Bighorn and the wooded area the Sioux and Cheyenne were camped in. To see the view, click here. Custer ate it about five miles north of here.

We finish up and drive south to Sheridan, Wyoming. On the way we pass the last Montana mile marker along I-90-it read 554 miles within the Big Sky state. That is a lot of miles and most of them, especially those we missed in the west part of the state, are likely to be extravagantly beautiful. I-90 seems to hug bluffs or high ridges over much of the trip and we see lovely valleys off to the west. To add to the splendor and drama, we see a distant thunderstorm develop and dump over the hills. As we move south the Big Horn Mountains loom to the southwest. They are not as high as the Absarokas or the Beartooth, but there is some snow up there and they do look nice. I-90 rolls through here like a ribbon. The views are spectacular and the road just sails over hills and down valleys. It is wide and handsome, so even when the views are elevated, they are not unnerving like some of those swithchbacks in Yellowstone Park! We are traveling in the late evening with the sun behind us. This is a wonderful time of day. The light is low and soft but it makes wonderful shadows off the landscape features and the contrast strengthens their impression. We had a similar situation when driving from Yellowstone to Cody and I remember driving east in the evening in Colorado and New Mexico and thinking how beautiful and mellow it was. I think driving east through rugged land in the evening is pure driving heaven. West might seem OK too but the sun is in your eyes.

Saturday May 30

We spent the night in Sheridan, Wyoming, a pretty town in a valley alongside the Big Horn Mountains. It turns out this is the lowest city in elevation in the entire state, at 3725 feet! We head out down I-90 again; these roads are so fine and you can really make time but the bad thing is, when you see a beautiful view to photograph, you can't stop. We did pull off once though and took a shot toward the Bighorns, click here to see it. Anyway, between Sheridan and Kaycee about 60 miles south is an area of immense importance to the Western myth.

Just south of town we come to the reconstructed site of Fort Phil Kearny. The fort was destroyed by fire (more later) and has only recently been rediscovered and excaveted. To see the landscape as viewed from what was the southwest corner of the fort, click here. This place reinforces the central position of Wyoming in shaping the myth of the American West. A large part of what we believe about the West, as seen in movies, took place here.

Recall several key dates. In 1849 gold was discovered in California ('49'ers) and triggered a huge migration west. Then in 1859 (the '59'ers) gold was discovered in Montana and Colorado and led to another big rush. The Civil War, 1861-1865, disrupted this westward flow a bit, but the whole enterprise was really just put on hold. In 1851, the Ft. Laramie Treaty was forced on the Plains Indians, by which they ceded Nebraska and the eastern Dakotas in return for "perpetual" control of the western Dakotas and a big hunk of Wyoming. In particular they were to control the Powder River, Big Horn River, and Yellowstone river basins. The Powder was very important to the Indians, a place where the plains met the mountains. There was water (at least in the river valleys!), lots of game (buffalo and also deer and antelope in abundance) and wood in the valleys and low hills.

The Gold Rush and also the California and Oregon land rushes brought lots of immigrant traffic, particularly along the Oregon trail. At its peak as many as 50,000 immigrants (US and foreign) moved west along this trail. As discussed earlier, the trail left St. Joseph or Kansas City and headed through Ft. Laramie and then on. It passed largely south of the land ceded to the Indians in 1851-(which is not to say that there were never Indian troubles on the Oregon Trail). However, the gold and land rush into Montana was a different matter. Miners and immigrants moved along the Oregon Trail a bit past Ft. Laramie, but then split off and headed north along what was called the Bozeman Trail (and often the "Bloody Bozeman" because of its colorful history). John Bozeman had pioneered this route in 1863, which ran along the Big Horns and up into Montana, over 500 miles through Indian land, to mining towns like Virginia City. Jim Bridger had tried to convince him to put the trail further west up the Big Horn valley, an area occupied by the Crow who were friendly to whites. The Crow had been pushed there by the Sioux and Cheyenne who took over the Powder River basin (recall that the Crow then got into it with the Shoshone as testified to by Crow Heart Butte described earlier). Anyway, the Sioux Indians didn't care for people trekking through the Powder River and, after the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, just over the Wyoming line in northern Colorado, they had had enough and were set to defend their rights.

To assist the white settlers the US built three forts along the Bozeman: Ft. Reno on the Powder, Ft. Phil Kearny on Piney Creek (well before it feeds into the north flowing Powder), and Ft. Smith in Montana. Ft. Phil Kearny provided the biggest aggravation to the Indians and was engaged in warfare over most of its brief history. This is the archetype for the movie and TV version of western forts. Many western forts didn't even have palisades (often times wood was not available; Ft. Laramie, the center of the western forts, had no walls). It became immediately clear that this would not work here. The area was pretty well forested and they built a walled fort that enclosed 17 acres and went to the creek. Two saw mills were set up here and timber-cutting and lumber-milling were important activities.

Of the many skirmishes here, the Fetterman Massacre and the Wagon Box Battle were most important. The Fetterman Massacre began in December of 1866, when soldiers were out cutting wood some miles from the fort (since they had cleared most of the close-in stuff to make their stockade). When they were attacked by Indians, one soldier ran for help (although letting him out was probably part of the Sioux battle plan). A cavalry relief column set out, led by an impetuous young officer named Fetterman, plus some infantry. They drove the attackers off the wood-cutting column and then, against explicit orders, Fetterman led his horse soldiers after the Sioux, leaving the infantry behind. The Indians led him into an ambush. About 2,000 were hidden in the grass and jumped up to surround Fettermans troop. They massacred all 79 men and then mutilated the bodies, taunting the infantry, who could see all this from too great a distance to be of help. I remember seeing a movie of this episode when I was a boy, but I can't recall its name.

In any case, the fort felt besieged, and the survivors went catatonic. Women and children were put in the powder magazine so that if the fort was overrun they could be blown up rather than fall into Indian hands. A man named John "Portugee" Phillips rode 230 miles in 30 below weather to Ft. Laramie to get help, arriving during a Christmas ball. (He is immortalized in several places in Wyoming.)

The next spring, under a new and smarter commandant, the tables turned. The soldiers were, again, out cutting wood for the saw mill when they were jumped. However, they had removed their wagon boxes and made a coral for their horses and this served as a makeshift defense line. More importantly, these troopers had the new repeating rifles. The Indians made a charge and, like stoic warriors, absorbed the volley. They thought the soldiers would now be reloading so they rode hard into the boxed circle. The soldiers fired again and again. When the Indians realized this was not going according to plan, they retreated with over 100 dead, compared to three soldiers. This led to a new round of negations and a new treaty moving the Indians again, this time giving them the Black Hills. As part of the deal Ft. Kearny was abandoned and burned to the ground only three years after it was built. (It should also be remembered that the transcontinental railroad reached Wyoming by 1867, running through the southern part of Wyoming, and this rapid transit put an end to the wagon trains and the need to protect them in the same way; perhaps the U.S. was not really giving up too much.) In any case, you will recall that the Black Hills treaty later went by the boards when gold was found there and it was part of that "cultural clash" which found George Custer out looking for Sioux on the Little Big Horn.

In addition to its role in forming the archetype of Indian fights, Wyoming also established another archetype - the range wars. This episode, too, was set right here in the Powder River valley. With the Indians driven out, whites started to colonize the area. A large number of wealthy cattle men showed up, including a fair number of wealthy Europeans getting in on the Western boom. Along with these "cattle barons," a lot of smaller ranchers and farmers and sheepmen moved in. The fences put up by the "grangers" irritated the cattle men. In 1892 about 25 barons and 25 hired guns from Texas invaded the Powder River basin. They had a list of 70 "rustlers," although they were probably pretty liberal with their definition of what constituted a rustler. The cattlemen's army trapped a couple of rustlers in the KC ranch and killed them. The locals mobilized and trapped the invaders in the TA ranch where they besieged the cattlemen. Eventually the Army arrived, separated the combatants and arrested the cattlemen. They were tried and all acquitted. The cattle war has been the inspiration for any number of movies.

Finally, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and their gang hid out in the "Hole in the Wall" just west of Buffalo. Obviously this story has also become part of the Western myth.

The road along this historical route is beautiful with the Big Horns to the west, a series of creeks and rivers running east to the Powder, the green hills rolling on endlessly. The hills and creeks feed and shelter all kinds of game and its easy to see why the nomadic Indians loved it so. It is also good cattle grazing-land if you have enough of it, although it is not farm land. The hills are rocky with only a thin dirt covering to hold some grass and sage. After Kaycee, the hills and landscape gets more sparse and the buttes and ridges get rockier and more barren. I've got to mention the wind, too. The day is clear and the temperature must be near 70 but the wind is steady at about 40 mph. Wyoming is living up to its reputation. By the time we get to Casper the land is pretty arid. We drive through Casper, down to Cheyenne and on to Denver, all against a terrific headwind. We do a brief side trip to Brighton, where Polly's mother grew up and where she lived off-and-on between birth and 9 years. The Front Range mountains outside Denver, the last of the Rockies we will see, are very impressive, consistent with its reputation as what is probably the most famous "mountain" city in the country. However, the air is pretty brown and polluted and compared with, say, the Tetons, you cannot see much detail.

On Sunday, before heading to the airport, we took Polly's aunt Mary Jane (her father's sister) to lunch. She is a most charming lady; to see a nice picture of Polly and Mary Jane , click here. This vacation has surpassed our expectations in every way, and if it weren't for tiredness and a need for clean clothes and a sight of our kids, we could go on and on . . . (Also, there's all that work to go back to!).

OTHER LINKS

Now that I've finsihed rambling on, I will direct you to some other sites that relate to our trip. I didn't want to mix them into the narrative, because I was afraid you'd wander away!

To learn more about Fort Laramie, click here.

There are several good sites about the Oregon Trail. Click here for one from PBS.

To learn more about the Wyoming Dinosauer Museum in Thermopolis, click here.

To get the Park Service story of Grand Teton National Park, click here.

To get the corresponding word on Yellowstone, click here.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody has a nice site.

The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman has a webpage, too.

The National Park Service has info about the Custer Battlefield-click here.

But there seem to be some other enthusiasts around as well-click here.

Finally, to visit the Jon Robertus University of Texas Research Page, click here.

Have Fun!