Don & Lori See America

Miles Traveled: 222

Total Traveled: 16,472

Yes, I have pictures to post, and adventures to describe, but they'll have to wait. We left Wall, SD this morning headed for Michigan, and we'll be moving most days until we get there. As of this evening, we're in Mitchell, SD after a 222 mile day, the longest drive we've seen in months. Tomorrow should see us in Minnesota.

Miles Traveled: 89

Total Traveled: 16,250

We'll be in Wall, SD until Monday. Tomorrow or Sunday we'll be driving through Badlands National Park.

Miles Traveled: 181

Total Traveled: 16,161

We're just a few miles from Mt. Rushmore for the next week, between Rapid City, SD and Custer State Park. We'll probably be visiting the park today, and leave Mt. Rushmore for later in the week after the tourists have gone home.

Miles Traveled: 131

Total Traveled: 15,980

Today was one of those days that tax the meaning "good times." We got off to a fairly decent start, but forgot to get gas, so found ourselves headed to Gillette, WY, 70 miles away, with only one chance for gas and less in the tank than we liked. When we got to our one chance for gas, we discovered that the gas station no longer was in service. Fortunately, we still had enough to get us to Gillette, so we headed on down the road, arriving with enough in the tank that we weren't quite sweating.

After a fillup, we took off to finish the last 60 miles of the trip. About 35 miles from Devils Tower, I heard a terrific bang and immediately let off the gas and headed to the shoulder of the expressway. Brandon looked in his side mirror and saw that the right front tire of the camper was completely shredded.

After we got off the road, we discovered that the rear bracket that holds some of the bodywork near the steps had come loose, swinging down and back into the tire, which immediately exploded. Although we have Good Sam Emergency Road Service, Brandon was convinced we could handle the job ourselves.

Actually, Brandon did the work, and I simply stood around and offered moral support and a hand here and there. We dropped the spare and inflated it while Brandon got the camper jacked up using the little bottle jack that came with the truck. Never having planned on changing a tire myself, I haven't added a decent bottle jack to our toolkit. We discovered that the truck jack was about an inch too short to do the job, so poor Brandon got stuck doing it all over again, this time with a nice heavy piece of 2x12 under the jack. Eventually, however, the job was done, and we were back on the road.

Three miles later we abandoned the expressway for the back roads that took us to Devils tower. We're now camped at the foot of the tower. We took a quick drive up yesterday evening to get trail hiking information, and we'll be going back today for a more detailed look.

Miles Traveled: 129

Total Traveled: 15,849

Today's drive took us through the Bighorn Mountains, our last high-altitude travel this trip, via the Cloud Peak Scenic Byway. The Powder River Pass, at 9,666 feet, was over 6,000 feet above where we began and ended the day. Our F-250 diesel proved her worth again today, toting us along through absolutely breathtaking scenery.

Miles Traveled: 131

Total Traveled: 15,720

Not many miles, but all two-lane driving and a drop of over half a mile in elevation made for a long day behind the wheel. We're in a small KOA in Greybull that's won every KOA award possible for the last three years, and it's easy to see why.

The owner met us as we drove in with bottled water for all three of us, walked us to our site, and said come pay when we got settled. When we checked in they gave us a doggie cookie for Baby and a doggie bag in a little plastic capsule in case we didn't have one when we needed it. There's a full restaurant on the premises, and our site is a clean level concrete pad. The pool was heated to a perfect 85 degrees, and the fenced dog park was full of exercises, had automatic clean water, and was well maintained. Overall, one of the nicest parks we've ever stayed in.

Our campsite, like many on our side of the campground, had something novel; its own STOP sign. All the campsites on that side of the park exit directly out of the park, so we even have a little rope we get to lower before we leave.

I'll add the rest of our Yellowstone adventures here soon.

On Wednesday Lori and I decided to take it easy for a day, which gave Brandon a chance to do some serious hiking. He drove north, past Canyon Village, to Mount Washburn.

The starting point for the climb is just up that road that runs behind Brandon in this picture. The 3 mile climb to the summit covers a 1,393 foot rise in elevation, for a six mile round trip. 

Snow showed up early on the trail, and became a constant companion, even at the end of June. 

Breathtaking views were around every corner. 

In some places the snow by the trail made for a tight course to follow. 

In other places, the snow became the trail. Not the best footing in the world when you have a sheer drop on one side. 

Although the views just kept getting better. 

In some places the trail really opened up and got easier. 

On the top of the mountain is one of Yellowstone's lookout towers. 

One really tricky bit of the trail was in snow with a drop off on both sides. 

But finally the summit was reached, making the whole hike worthwhile. 

Tuesday dawned clear and cold, 28 degrees at 5:30 AM, the coldest I've seen in almost 10 years. Lori wanted to take it easy after our long day on Monday, so Brandon and I took off to the Fishing Bridge general store and visitor center. At the store we got two tomatos for 99 cents each, a bargain when you're seventy miles from the nearest real store.

At the visitor's center, Brandon got the scoop on hiking in Yellowstone, as well as some timeless tips. (Don't jog, it makes the bears think you're food.) From there we headed to the Elephant Back trailhead, where Brandon took off uphill and took the following pictures. The first two show Yellowstone Lake with mountains in the distance, while the last shows the famous Fishing Bridge, which spans Yellowstone River shortly after it exits from Yellowstone Lake. The first mile of Yellowstone River is restricted from fishing year-round because it's a primary spawning ground for cutthroat trout, and the whole river is off-limits for fishing until July 15 for the same reason.

Although it's hidden by the trees in this picture, Yellowstone River flows out of Yellowstone Lake on the right side, and the river flows away to the left.

After Brandon got back from his hike, we returned to the Fishing Bridge area to take a few pictures to claim some geocaches, and so that Brandon and Lori could get their temporary fishing licenses. Here's the stone outhouse that sets on the bank of the Yellowstone River just downstream from Fishing Bridge, as well as a picture of Brandon and me on the famous bridge.

A bit later in the afternoon, Lori and Brandon took off to Yellowstone Lake to see if they could have any luck fishing. Unfortunately, we're still waiting on our first dinner of lake trout.

After they returned from fishing, we headed for Hayden Valley to watch for animals feeding as evening approached. On the way we stopped at LeHardy's Rapids. A short walk along a boardwalk brought us to the edge of the rapids.

After LeHardy's Rapids, we headed north into Hayden Valley, found a nice pullout up on a hillside, and settled in to watch for the evening animals.

Our luck was soon rewarded by view of a large herd of elk across the river, near the treeline.

We also saw Bison throughout the valley. By now, we have seen so many Bison that they almost seem like seagulls at the beach... although they would make a much bigger mess if they pooted on your car.

A little later in the evening, as we were moving upstream toward camp, we saw these two elk closer to the road, and were lucky enough to capture one crossing the Yellowstone River.

Monday we took a tour of the lower half of Yellowstone's Grand Loop, the large figure-eight road system that provides the primary access to Yellowstone's features.

From our campground at Fishing Bridge, our 105 mile trip took us past Fishing Bridge, Lake Village, West Thumb, Old Faithful, Madison, Norris, Canyon Village, and back to Fishing Bridge. Our first stop was at the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Here's Brandon by the map to the basin. We walked the boardwalks and saw the geysers bubbling, although we walked fast since it was early in the morning and we were all freezing. The temperature was in the low 40's by the time we got there, although it was in the mid-30's when we got up.

Here's a shot across the geyser basin.

Our next stop was at one of the two locations where we crossed the Continental Divide between West Thumb and Old Faithful. After Lori found out how cold it was (note the expression on her face) she decided she only needed a picture at one of the crossings.

Our next stop was at Kepler Cascades, shortly before reaching the Old Faithful area.

After leaving Kepler, we headed for the most famous spot in Yellowstone, Old Faithful.

When we arrived we found we had just over an hour before the next eruption, at 12:03, so we went to the lodge where we had an early lunch. I had a great bowl of buffalo chili and hot chocolate. Brandon went for the buffalo meatloaf, mashed potatos and corn, and Lori had a barbque chicken sandwich. After lunch we went out and settled on the porch on some comfy wooden chairs until time for the eruption. As the eruption neared, we saw our first real crowds in Yellowstone, as people came from everywhere to line the boardwalk in front of the lodge. Luckily we'd gotten good seats early.

After we'd been waiting a while, Brandon checked his phone. 12:03 on the dot, and we started seeing spurts of steam. Old Faithful once again proved its name.

After watching Old Faithful, we decided that since it was early, we'd head north instead of returning directly to camp. This added less than 20 miles to the trip and would take us through the thermal feature area between Old Faithful and Madison, then on to Norris and Canyon Village before returning to Fishing Bridge. Thus our jaunt out to see Old Faithful turned into a trip around the lower half of Yellowstone's Grand Loop.

Not far up the road from Old Faithful, the road ran through a rather large herd of buffalo. We were fortunate enough to watch one cow walk her kid to kindergarten, which happened to be on the other side of the road from where they started. Nobody was brave enough to get out of the truck, so we shot these pics through the windshield.

As you can tell from the car in the second picture, these animals are huge. They are also very protective of their young, so staying in the car was an excellent idea.

The calf greeted one of its friends, then trotted off to join the others in kindergarten. It was interesting to see all the calves resting inside the circle of protection provided by a few attentive parents.

Although we passed some interesting paint pots and geysers on the rest of our drive back to camp, mostly it was just one gorgeous mountain scene after another. We will be returning to the Canyon Village area on other days.