Yellowstone National Park (North Entrance 7/5-7/13, West Entrance 7/13-7/20) Part 1

Well I haven't posted in a minute because we have been so busy I just haven't had a chance.  In our original trip plan, I had booked one week at the North entrance of Yellowstone.  Upon further discussion with people who had been to the park before, we modified and added a second week at the West entrance.  Now that we have completed that part of our trip, I am so glad we did. 

Our drive from Buffalo, WY to Yellowstone was enjoyable and uneventful.  We arrived at Yellowstone's Edge RV campground located about halfway between Livingston and Gardiner, MT and about 35 minutes from the North (original) entrance to Yellowstone.  Yellowstone's Edge was in a beautiful spot right along the Yellowstone river.  We had a great spot with a clear view of the river from our dining table, just lovely.

View from our dining table

Unfortunately, our site was right near the road, but it wasn't any traffic noise that bothered us upon our arrival, but a regular swarm of gnat type insects that loved to gather in the shade in large numbers and a very strong whiff of something in a stage of decomposition.  We tucked in for the night and the next morning ventured to the office to inquire about the insects and the smell.  We were told that the insects were especially bad this year, but a recurring annual phenomenon, they would be with us our whole week there.  The smell was identified as a dead deer off the side of the road near our RV.  They could do nothing to remove it.  You can't control nature....we made the best of it and killed a lot of bugs over the course of the week. 

Due to the expectations of large crowds in the park, we left Ruth at o'dark thirty for the North entrance.  There were less than 5 cars in line to enter and we zoomed right in, first stop Mammoth Hot Springs. I had read about a phone app called GyPsy Guide.  It uses your phone's GPS to narrate information about the park while you drive.  It does not require cell connection to work so it is great for a remote location.  I purchased the Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and West Glacier tours for our trip.  We really enjoyed it during our Yellowstone trip, it gave us a heads up on some of the smaller and less known pull outs and sites that aren't on the main tourist trail as well as some of the history of this geothermal wonder. 

As we explored Mammoth Hot Springs early, there was plenty of parking and a relatively small number of other tourists on the exploration platforms.  As this was our first glimpse of the park, we were in awe of this site, we would soon learn over our two weeks there that Yellowstone is just awe-inspiring place overall.   I've literally never seen anything like it. We saw two elk munching on the grass right near the springs.  

By late morning, we headed to Canyon Village and bypassed Norris Basin Geyser (parking was impossible), the hottest, oldest, and most dynamic of Yellowstone's thermal areas. We stopped for a quick lunch and Canyon Village, while the lunch was fine, the crowds not so much.  We decided that going forward we would just pack our own lunch and find much more scenic picnic areas along our way.   We stopped for several viewing hikes on both the North and South rims of the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone", stunning is a word that doesn't even do it justice nor do my pictures.

We had been in the park since 7am and my Fitbit was on tilt for the day.  We headed back to our campground about 3pm, BIG MISTAKE!  We were caught in two 40 minute traffic jams on the way back out of the park.  We never saw the reason for it, but we also decided we would avoid these times on our next trips. We did however see a group of elk relaxing our our way out which was a nice treat.

Of course, we found some pickleball friends in Livingston, MT.  They played in an old indoor rec center with a terrible wood gym floor, but they were very welcoming.  They had an unorthodox method of game rotation but it worked for them and we adapted to their local custom. 

It just so happened that the Livingston Farmer's market was on Wednesday afternoon right after we played pickleball.  There were 15-20 tents and even live music set up in the bandstand. We were looking forward to enjoying the festivities.  However, there were some very dark skies rolling in.  Unfortunately, just as the market was to begin, a deluge of rain and lightening put an end to the potential fun.  We ended up eating a local Thai restaurant instead in Livingston where we had a terrific meal and waited out the storm to drive back to the RV.

Our second day in the park was an early rise again to the Lamar Valley, the Serengeti of North America.  We were treated to a large heard of elk in the grasslands even before we got to the park entrance.  We then saw hundreds of bison, a marmot.  If there were cars stopped at the pull out, there was likely something to see.  Some other tourist with high powered viewing scopes said they could see mountain goats on the far away rocks, I could not see them.  Took about a 2 mile hike on the Yellowstone trail, sign indicated "bear frequented area", we were armed with bear spray but had no encounters.  We exited through the famous Roosevelt Arch for home.

Look closely for Mike and Janice Bobbleheads. 

The tiny town of Emigrant, MT was 5 minutes from our campground but hosted Wildflour Bakery, Follow Yer' Nose BBQ and the Old Saloon (established in 1902).  We enjoyed both the bakery and the BBQ during our stay.

Mike and I agreed top 5 BBQ ever. 

I don't think the population of Emigrant MT of 271
is proportional to line for BBQ after we ordered,
must be good.  

We also made a side day trip to Bozeman, MT to run some errands in "the city" and check out main street. It seemed to be a vibrant town coming back to life post Covid. 

We decided to go in early one more time to see Norris Geyser Basin and hit some of the other viewpoints we might have missed on other days.  It was a more leisurely visit and our last before we headed to the West entrance.  While the North entrance is probably less traveled, we thoroughly enjoyed our first experience with Yellowstone from this location.

Lone roadside Bison

One of many beautiful thermal pools

Early morning geyser eruption at Norris Basin

Blowing grasslands

We went through our normal departure checklists and Ruth was ready to exit Yellowstone's Edge for our next stop about 3 hours drive away in Island Park, ID near the West entrance to Yellowstone and then this happened...

When towing a 2 ton vehicle behind your 18 ton RV you need extra braking power so you install an extra braking apparatus when traveling to help with this.  It should always be used, but as we were entering some of the more significant mountainous driving of our trip it is even more critical.  We go to  install the "Brake Buddy" as usual on this fine morning and NOTHING, no power was being supplied.  We tried several things under the hood of the Jeep with fuses to find the problem.  Nothing was working.

We then realized the real root cause of the problem...the power chord that plugs into the cigarette lighter for power has no guts and therefore no power.  All the components of the cigarette lighter plug were gone and no where to be found.  Expletive, Expletive!  After about an hour delay, we decided that we would have to drive separately to Idaho.  That is not ideal, but safer than pulling without the extra braking.  I stopped in Livingston to pick up some possible repair supplies to fix the problem at our next location as Mike and Ruth carried on to our next Yellowstone stop.  

Never a dull moment with Ruth. 

 

 

Buffalo, Wyoming (6/28-7/5)

Local folklore says that in 1880, people in a new town on the banks of Clear Creek were struggling to figure out what to call it. One night, in the bar of the Occidental Hotel, a group of frontier citizens decided that all present should write a proposed name on a piece of paper. ... As luck would have it, Will Hart, from Buffalo, NY put the name of his hometown in the hat and his slip was drawn.  And that's what gave a name to Buffalo, Wyoming, population 4,700. Truth or fiction...we'll never know. 

The stop in Buffalo, WY was not a planned "tourist" stop, but a waypoint to relax a bit on our drive further West.  Back when I was planning, I remember it being difficult to find a week stretch at a nice campground that encompassed the Fourth of July holiday weekend.  Turns out we rolled right in to a little slice of Americana for Independence Day.

We were very pleased with our semi-private campsite for the week.  Mike had an afternoon shady spot for his hammock and a lovely grassy area for us to enjoy. The only issue we noticed right away was the Cottonwood/Aspen cottonballs that floated like snow through the air.  Quickly everything we owned was covered in white fluff. Love the great outdoors.

A roadside sign near the campground indicated "Wildlife Loop".  We took the paved road, which turned into a dirt road that meandered around Lake De Smet.  There were expansive views of grasslands a few mule deer sightings but that was about it.  

Mule deer hiding in plain sight in the grasslands

We also saw an advertisement for ATV/UTV rental store just outside of town.  I had read several reviews of their tours of Crazy Woman Canyon and the Big Horn Mountains.  We drove out to their store to check it out.  Unfortunately they were not doing tours at this time, but would rent a UTV and trailer for you to use in the mountain trails.  Raylene at Ultimate Outdoors was super helpful and we scheduled a rental for later in the week.  

I had read that Mountain Meadow Wool gave self-guided tours of their spinning mill.  The mill showed a very informative video of the sheep ranching and shearing operation that occurs in the grasslands of Wyoming.  You then were able to view the various processes they use to turn the sheep wool into yarns and final products. A very enjoyable hour stop.  Located next door to the wool mill was the local livestock auction house...more on that later.

Production floor

Raw wool to be dyed.

Brightly dyed wool on spools

We hit pay dirt that afternoon as we stopped in the Buffalo Visitors Center.  The woman at the counter was absolutely the most helpful person we encountered and her suggestions and information filled up our days in Buffalo with interesting and enjoyable activities. 

We took the Jeep on the drive through Crazy Woman Canyon and opted to use the UTV for the drive up to Sheep Mountain in the Big Horns on Thursday.  The canyon drive was full of natural beauty from beginning to the end.  The drive follows Crazy Woman Creek throughout rocks and forested areas.  We had a sunny afternoon and it was hot so we were happy to have the air conditioning in the Jeep on this ride. 

Headed toward the canyon

No turning back now

We drove to Sheridan, the big city, to take care of some errands and made it back in time for the local livestock auction in the afternoon.  The sites, sounds and smells brought back some memories from my childhood attending similar auctions with my dad.  We stayed for a few presentations of cattle.  I think this was Mike's first livestock auction, probably his last. 

The local fairgrounds was hosting its midweek Longmire Rodeo.  Longmire is a Netflix show that is loosely based on Buffalo, WY and its author Craig Johnson is from the area and quite a local celebrity and philanthropist.  I suspect this is a big claim to fame for such a small town. The rodeo was a 12 event affair that was mostly local cowboys and cowgirls with a range of ages.  It was a lovely evening and an entertaining local event.

Bronc and bull riding gates

Our full day exploring the Big Horn mountains on a UTV was awesome.  We trailered the rig to the Elgin Park trailhead and took several hours to reach Sheep Mountain at ~11,000 ft.  We took a different route of trails back and it was very rocky and slow going at times.  We made it back in one piece, but my kidneys may never be the same. 

Narrow bridge crossing

Our lunch stop near Merle Creek

At the top of Sheep Mountain lookout

There was a fun little Amish store called Yoder's outside of town.  That stop provided us with a homemade blackberry pie that helped us get through the very hot holiday weekend.  There was also a lovely bike/hike trail that led to downtown Buffalo right near our campground.  We enjoyed the creek and scenery along the way. 

Due to high fire danger, fireworks were banned in the county we were in.  We watched some of the celebrations on television instead.  Not the same, but seeing these wide expanses of grasslands and forests, you totally understand the fire restrictions. 

We very much enjoyed our rustic Buffalo, Wyoming stop.  We saw many campers come and go in our park for only 1 or 2 nights on their way to or from Yellowstone or the Black Hills.  We found plenty to do for our several days there, I think some folks are missing out.    

South Dakota: Where the Buffalo Roam (6/11-6/28) Part 2

Our remaining 10 days in South Dakota did not disappoint. We had hit several of the tourist spots with Mike's sister so we were looking to explore the town of Custer a bit more and other lesser known things to do. 

Custer was kicking off its summer season with some local music in the early afternoons.  It was pretty hot and there was not much shade for the spectators, but we stopped by a couple of times to listen in. We walked through Custer and perused the shops along the main street.  We also caught some live music and a cocktail at the Buglin' Bull, it was an hour and a half wait for dinner.  The town was bustling. 

We might have snuck in some ice cream.

We headed out on Saturday morning to check out the Custer Farmer's Market.  There were only 4 tents, but one was a bakery and a couple of scones jumped in our backpack for breakfast the next day.   

In the afternoon we took our bikes for a short trek on the 109 mile George S. Michelson Trail.  The trail is well maintained with quite a few hills.  Mike had the hard part of this outing as I am really beginning to take advantage of having an e-bike. 

The weather on Sunday was cool and forecasted for rain so we planned a second trip to the Wildlife Loop in the park, the Iron Mountain Scenic road and a late lunch at Desparados in Hill City.  We were treated with a convergence of 3 herd of buffalo on a dirt cusp road off the main wildlife loop.  We took almost all dirt roads through the park this time and saw different scenery from the first trip through. Deep down one of the dirt roads with a camping site catering to specifically to horse camping.  It was packed with campers.  The curves and the pigtails on Iron Mountain Scenic road made us miss our Can Am Spyder.

Buffalo being cute!

Buffalo being majestic.

The road ends with a tunnel that looks
out onto Mt. Rushmore.

Even the GPS looked like a Spirograph.

One of the pigtail bridges

Profile of George Washington from outside
Mt. Rushmore

Exiting the loop we stopped by the Custer State Park visitor center and enjoyed a movie about the history narrated by Kevin Costner.  

We planned a couple of hikes to do while still in the area.  The first one was the Sunday Gulch Trail.  The trailhead started at Sylvan Lake.  We started early to beat the heat and the crowds.  Trail guidance suggested doing the trail in a clockwise manner so as to finish with the more difficult rock climbing going up instead of down.  We followed the guidance and were glad we did . The boulder climbing at the end was made possible by an irregular set of metal bannisters.  Even though we were tired by the end of the hike, it was much better going up.  There were large groups starting the trail on the down portion of the boulders and we saw several people turn back and abandon the hike.  

Serenity at Sylvan Lake

A relaxing spot on the rocks

We played  pickleball a couple of times with the local folks.  Under the category of "small world" one of the gentlemen spends his winters in St. Pete and I had played pickleball with him there for the last two years.  Crazy. 

We ate lunch at Alpine Inn, a must stop recommendation.  We had a lovely lunch at this unique little vintage inn and German restaurant in the hills of SD.  

While at lunch, we made an appointment for wine tasting at Prairie Berry Winery, home of Red Ass Rhubarb Wine.  We weren't expecting too much but it had a gitchy name and the building looked beautiful from the outside.  We were pleasantly surprised by their wines. I sampled the black currant wine and thought it was interesting and drinkable. We found we enjoyed all of the Anna Pesä (fifth generation winemaker) wine blends.  The story of its winemaking history is one of grit, determination and craftsmanship.   I just kept thinking of the Moira Rosé episode from Schitt's Creek.

Lovely tasting room

We did take a half a day trip to the "big city" of Rapid City to take care of some errands.  It felt a little strange to be around so many people again.  

That same evening we had reservations for dinner at a place called Skogen Kitchen, maybe 20 seats inside and another 10 seats outside under a semi-enclosed tent.  As luck would have it, a torrential rainstorm began about 6:15pm.  As we were driving to our 7:15pm reservation, they called and said they would be running about 30 minutes behind as they could not seat any tables outside.  The place was fully booked for the rest of the nights we were in Custer so we adjusted and went to the Gold Pan Saloon for a pre-dinner cocktail.  It was a blast from the past, claiming to be the oldest saloon in the Black Hills.  I did not independently confirm this.

We finished our cocktails just as the restaurant called us for our table and we were treated to a fantastic meal with terrific service and we forgot all about the delayed start to the evening as the rain continued to fall. 

Unconfirmed.

Shoshito Pepper Appetizer

My pork chop, cooked to perfection

Our last full day in Custer rounded out with another enjoyable hike on the Lover's Leap trail.  It was a moderately strenuous hike due to the uphill climb from the trailhead.  Once you caught your breath, it was only to be taken away again by the beauty of the Black Hills.  

Agreed.

While we are looking forward to rest of our travels on this western round-up.  The stop in Custer was one that won't soon be forgotten.