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I flew into Bozeman, MT on Saturday night, 6/26/04. That night was spent sharing a hotel room with Holly's
family (Karl and Nicklas were supposed to be camping but gave up). It was uneventful except for Nicklas getting
his head stuck under the bed (he was sleeping on the floor, and somehow got his head under the bed... don't ask me how).
Saturday we had a very nice brunch at the Main Street Overeasy then headed south down to Big Sky, where we had rented a three-bedroom condo. The drive to Big Sky was
lovely, meandering through the mountains, with lots of trees and rivers and brooks visible from the road. The condo
itself was up at the Mountain Village condos, a good ten-minute drive up into the mountains from the base road. Really
a lovely location. We unpacked the cars, went back down to grocery shop (or their version of grocery shopping -- the
nearest real grocery store was in Bozeman!), and generally settled in. After dinner (a chicken cacciatore-type thing
-- my usual "I have no idea what I'm cooking but hope it's good" type of meal), we went on a short hike along a stream.
On Monday morning, we headed down to Yellowstone. The Big Sky literature says it's only a short
drive to Yellowstone, but what they mean is that it's a short drive to the Yellowstone BORDER, so it was a bit longer than
we would have liked. Still, we eventually arrived in the park itself.
Our first destination was the Two Ribbons Trail, a short hike through the woods near the Madison
River that was designed to show off some of the results of the 1988 fire. (Here's some photos I took on the trail.) I was impressed by both the fire damage and the flexibility of nature in recovering from that damage.
You see, lodgepole pinecones only open and release their seeds in the presence of heat, so they don't really reproduce without
fire. And local wildflowers are adapted extremely well to the soil that results from the fire. The fire damage
was extensive, but so was the recovery. Here's some photos of the fire damage and nature's rebounding from it.
Another thing that amazed me about Yellowstone were the animals. We saw them everywhere! It
was quite obvious that we were merely visitors in their homes. Several big bison were so unconcerned with our cars that
they either lazed about right next to the road, or sauntered right in front of our vehicle! They were obviously a lot
more active in the early evening, when photos were difficult, but I did manage some daylight photos.
Our next stop was the Madison Information Station, where we looked at exhibits on animals and visited the gift shop. (Artistic hand-drawn bookmarks for
Greg, a nifty-but-not-tacky Yellowstone magnet and bookmark for Barnes.) Again, we were amazed by the wildlife around
us. We spotted some trumpeter swans, and lots of deer, and fishermen were everywhere in the rivers and streams.
Once you hit Madison, you can start along one of the loops that comprises the roads in Yellowstone.
The "tour" is roughly a figure 8; on Monday, we took the upper loop. Leaving Madison, we drove along the Gibbon
River and stopped at our first waterfall: Gibbon Falls (here's some photos). I admit I'm a sucker for waterfalls! We then headed on to Norris Geyser Basin.
Norris was ... wow (of course I took photos!). It was like visiting an alien planet. There weren't any large regular geysers (the tallest one
in the park is there, but it doesn't erupt regularly), but there were many places with bubbling mud and boiling rainbow-colored
water. It was quite a contrast to the tree-covered mountains surrounding it. And the museum did a great job of covering
the geothermal activity in the area. (If you're interested, the Yellowstone website has a nice online tour of Norris Geyser Basin.)
The scenery all along our drive was tremendous, but our next stop wasn't until Mammoth Hot Springs.
Although the area we saw of it didn't have any springs left -- it was just the mineral aftermath. Interesting, though,
and another contrast to the green hills behind. Plus, cute pictures of Nicklas! Click here to see all my Mammoth photos.
Except for a brief halt at Undine Falls (you know -- sucker for waterfalls!) we didn't really make any stops driving from Mammoth to Tower-Roosevelt.
The day was getting long, and our feet were tired from hiking a bit more than usual. (That Mammoth trail was a LOT of
steps!) Our next real stop was Tower Falls, a very attractive waterfall at the start of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.
That pretty much ended our day. By that point, it was getting late, and dark. Unfortunately,
the next leg of the circle was closed, so we had to drive all the way back around, and didn't make it back to Big Sky until
very late. Fortunately, we were greeted by friendly faces: Aunt Karen and Uncle Milo had arrived from Seattle!
The next day, I joined Karen and Milo in their car, and we followed Holly and Karl and the boys around the
lower loop of the Yellowstone driving tour. Our first real stop was at Inspiration Point, to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We'd seen one end of it the previous evening, but this end was the more spectacular and rocky.
We also stopped at the area's Artist Point to view Yellowstone Falls. Apparently, we missed a
turnoff that would have put us right on top of the falls, but I'm glad we got to see the more long-distance shots.
Our next few stops were at Yellowstone Lake, which allowed me to take some lovely photos of the lake with mountains behind it. It's always such a beautiful contrast -- the lake water with the snow-covered peaks behind. Great
photo opportunities for both me and Milo!
There was a lot we didn't see over the next couple legs of the trip, but we were tired, and it had started
to rain very heavily. We decided to make Old Faithful our last stop, and we arrived just in time to watch it erupt!
Unfortunately, it was pouring rain, and so we didn't walk around the area, just watched it erupt. Still, I managed to take some dramatic photos! The rain definitely helped with the atmosphere.
That concluded our tour of Yellowstone - we headed back to Big Sky and spent a comfortable evening at the
condo. On Wednesday, we all headed back to Bozeman, where we had breakfast together at the Cateye Cafe (yum!). Then Holly's family headed off to a family reunion in North Dakota, while I joined Karen and Milo
for an afternoon at the Museum of the Rockies. A wonderful place, with exhibits on landforms and the geology of mountains, an interesting collection
of fossils, illustrations on the effect of the ice age on the area, the life and art of the local native peoples, and exhibits
on the changing lives of pioneers and settlers in Montana. Definitely a quality museum! As always, the museum
was an ever-present battle between my desire to learn and my aching feet, and unfortunately, my feet eventually won.
Thursday 7/1 was a travel day. I checked out of my hotel, returned my rental car, and flew back to
Pittsburgh, with a stop in Denver. Everything went smoothly, and I returned just in time to spend a nice four-day weekend
recovering from my vacation!
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