After the shock and awe of seeing grass died down, Paul and I found a followed some meandering country highways to a perfect campsite near a lake in southern Idaho. Quick tip: If you use www.freecampsites.net remember to fill up on gas before you leave the freeway, as some of these sites are a ways from much else. Or check googlemaps for the nearest fill up station. We arrived at a picturesque campsite under some trees that provided the perfect amount of privacy. We popped our tent and began to set up the camp kitchen.
And since we weren’t in a state or national park, we got to have a fire! We pulled up our camp chairs and kept warm as I read some Faulkner and Paul began to whittle me a magic wand. He’s new to whittling, so he made a judicious choice to keep his project stick-shaped.
We only got to see a little of the southeast corner of Idaho, as we made our way to Montana in the town of West Yellowstone and stocked up on butane for our camp stove. If you’re coming in from the west, this is the last stop with reasonably priced stores and restaurants before you enter the park. Having quit our jobs and and being unemployed and all, we had to make our money last. We cooked delicious rice and beans during our four day stay, and saved beaucoup bucks. So here’s what we saw right inside the first gates.
The first scene that greeted us was a breathtaking view of bison grazing in the shadow of a proud and majestic mountain. This is when I first realized I really need to invest in a decent zoom lens.
I had previously camped in Yellowstone when I was about 8, with my family in our pop-up camper. Even at that age, I remember this place being something special. Walking around some of these geysers was just otherworldly.
The wet, hot steam opening my pores as the sulfuric, rotten egg smell wafted into my lungs really gave the impression that an alien plasma was seeping into my person with insidious and sinister intentions as I perambulated the board walk.
The subterranean super volcano lurking just beneath the surface of our entire civilization is busy creating geological wonders before our very eyes. During the four days of our stay, pieces of road melted and bubbled away. Besides the largest concentration of geysers in the world, there are lakes and waterfalls and something breathtaking around every corner.
For all we saw, I was only able to capture a fraction of it. Wildlife photography is an entirely different beast from landscapes and waterfalls that tend not to move. Moose, elk, and a few species of bear eluded our camera, but I was lucky enough to be greeted by this bison early one morning, who was generous enough to pose for this photo op.
Most of Yellowstone can be experienced by a driving tour, and indeed some parts are safer this way. We saw a mama grizzly and her cub gamboling through some tall grasses and quite a few black bears. When it became time to do an actual hike, I was riddled with fear and certain I was about to meet my demise at the hands, or claws, of a bear. The rangers encouraged my anxieties and urged us to bring a can of bear spray. That stuff is about $50! At least inside the park it is. So we decided to go up the mountain unarmed. I sang the entire way to the top, having read in one of the pamphlets (I love informational pamphlets as much as placards) that alerting the bear of your presence deters an attack. To end the suspense, yes, I lived to see another day.
We had to leave Yellowstone early due to an impending snow storm. We had woken up to snow that morning, and it was a light and delightful surprise for a summer day. But the rangers were reporting a few inches coming in that night. As we were going to be living out of our car and sleeping in our tent for the next two months, we had a real interest in keeping our gear dry. We outran the snow storm and got a little cabin in Buffalo, Wyoming and got our first showers of the trip. Our next stop was the Black Hills, South Dakota.
Can you see the president in the distance? Entrance into the park is free, but parking is not. So we parked below and walked to the top. If I could do it over again, I would have skipped Mt. Rushmore entirely and spent money to see and help with the construction of the Crazy Horse Monument. The Sioux Nation rejected any federal financial assistance with the monument, preferring for public interest to finance the project. We were trying to be cheap and were still only on the second week of our 8 week sojourn. So like cheapskates, we took free, white-washed, nationalistic propaganda over responsible, domestic tourism. Which is why I have no photo of the monument, it didn’t feel right snapping a pic if I didn’t pay. Instead I have a picture of some presidents who imposed much of the legislation that Crazy Horse fought against.
South Dakota has some interesting gems, like Dinosaur Park in Rapid City. Most of the park right here in this photo. Except for the gift shop. They sell hotdogs and buffed up rocks.
Much of the great plains is a rather flat drive. You can imagine my dismay when I hoped to break up the journey with an exhilarating visit to the Mitchell Corn Palace, only to find it closed for construction! Just to think of all the fascinating corn knowledge on display in one place, and that I may never learn it, still gives me a pang of regret.
We pretty much took a straight shot to the Badlands after that.
The Badlands are incredibly captivating to look at. There’s not a lot of great hiking, it’s more of a drive-through experience, but you can get out occasionally and walk to lookout places. Those binoculars saw a family of mountain goats, but yet again I was not a quick enough draw with my camera. This is when I began to develop my love-hate relationship with photography. At times I feel like I miss the moment trying to capture it.
We had thus far entered 4 National Parks since leaving New Mexico. A yearly investment in a National Parks Pass is only $80 and we so far had saved $10 with more parks on the agenda.
Stay tuned for the third leg of our Constellation of Adventure! Places of interest include: The Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, The Boundary Waters, The Twin Cities and Chicago.
