The Badlands – Beautiful Dry Hotness

We got out of Yellowstone ahead of the storm, passing familiar scenery for a little while before entering new territory.

Yellowstone – Round 2

On the first half of our big adventure, we skipped a few planned stops due to weather and vehicle repairs, and other stops were shortened due to weather as well.  Yellowstone was one of those, and a place we wanted to return to.  This put us far ahead of our original schedule, and the resulting “surplus” of time prompted our decision to see Yellowstone again on our way south.  We went back to the campground near Gardiner which was quite full, but we found a site and set up.  The campground host recognized the Jeep and came over to chat for a bit, and let us know where he’d seen a couple of bears, as well as where to get free drinking water – very nice and helpful of him.  We finished situating things and headed off for the park.  After negotiating the elk-induced traffic jam at Mammoth Hot Springs, we took the road east.

Hot Spot Hopping: Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Craters of the Moon, Yellowstone

The time had come for us to leave Mt. Rainier and set out for Mt. St. Helens.  While finishing packing the Jeep, we were graced with a brief visit from this Clark’s Nutcracker.

Weathering the Storm

We arrived in Great Falls with dampened gear and spirits.  While we holed up in a hotel for three nights, it rained pretty much the entire time.  We were scouring the internet for anything and everything related to RV campers, and second guessing our plans for the remainder of the trip.  If we were experiencing this kind of weather in Montana, what would Canada and Alaska bring us?  Although this weather isn’t normal for this time of year, anything is possible.  We are not properly equipped to deal with snow or persistent freezing wet conditions.  Should we head back south and cut the trip short by a month or two, or should we try to purchase a camper to tow behind the Jeep?  Should we go back to Arizona or Texas where we knew it would be warm and dry for the rest of the time and skip Alaska until we had a camper?  Then it hit us both at the same time:  Don’t wimp out!!!  We will press on and take our chances as planned, and deal with whatever comes our way when it happens.  It’s all part of the adventure.

Glacier National Park - The Evil Temptress

After driving through miles upon endless miles of farm country, fields, and rolling hills, the mountains of Glacier National Park became visible on the horizon, and grew bigger with each mile.  So, too, did our excitement, as this place was one of our must-see, more highly anticipated stops on our journey.  We were teased by patches of blue sky peeking through the thick puffy clouds overhead.

Yellowstone Day 3: Sightseeing, Gale-force Winds, Early Departure

Our third day at Yellowstone started out as beautiful and picturesque, although windy.  Mammoth Hot Springs is a center of activity with lodges, stores, campgrounds and hiking trails.  We decided to visit a spot with several geothermal features, which can be viewed on foot via a boardwalk, or in a vehicle on a paved loop.  We did a little of both, getting the best of both worlds.

Yellowstone Day 2 - Geothermals, Grizzlies & Wolves!

Day two at Yellowstone was a busy one!  The first bit of awesomeness was on our way out of the campground… we got to see a family of magpies!  The others took off before I could get the camera, though.

Yellowstone National Park Day 1

Our first day in Yellowstone did not disappoint!  We got stuck in two or three “buffalo jams” which are a very frequent occurrence, some of which can take an hour or more to get through, depending on how much traffic has been backed up.  It turns out that the buffalo – or bison – like to travel on the roads as much as we do, and a whole herd of them will just take their sweet time walking down the middle of the road, leaving it for the grass only when they’re good and ready!