Wow, I slept like a king! While KC was sitting in his camper with the heater on making his coffee, I went out birding. I found a peregrine nest right above our camp on the cliff, maybe a 100 meters up. Along the river I saw several American Dippers feeding. Great birds to start the day!
I went to find out what the hell was in those tents, but not until I had my rig packed and ready. Had I found something, I’d want to roll like right then. I didn’t want to meet the guy with the air piston thing if I did happen to find his 2 million (gotta see the movie). But, the tent was full of crap, nothing of value that I could find, and no blood that I could see. I wonder why they left three good tents to ruin in the winter??
After breakfast we headed out to run the famous Beartooth Highway and hopefully make it over the pass. The highway was set to open this very morning and the weather was still rainy/snowy, but not all that bad. The plan was to get some lunch on the other side and come back over and head into the Park. As we drove I scrolled ahead on my GPS and marvels at the switchbacks coming up. This is going to be SWEET!! Take a look at the road on Google Maps and check out the wild switchbacks.
We got up to the gate and it was open, we were good to go! The snow was really deep and the drifts on the side of the road were damn tall. There is a lone store way up high and they had some serious snow plows parked there and I had to get a picture. Great, another vehicle I want to drive… <sigh>
Anyway, we keep moving and somehow we manage to get a tag-along mini-van behind us. I hope the road stays clear I thought to myself because it was slowly turning to snowpack conditions. I went into 4high when I saw the next set of switchbacks. The wind was now HOWLING and drifts are coming across the road and only one lane of the highway was open with an occasional vehicle coming down. With our mini-van in tow, we continue on. I stopped shooting pictures because as we climbed, conditions really deteriorated. The pucker factor for me was getting up there as I had both hands on the wheel in a white-knuckle grip, seat belt tight, and 110% attention focused on my driving. My Maxxis tires are pretty worn down, plus mud terrains are not that great in snow pack anyway, so I was slipping more than I liked.
Near the top of the pass we meet one of the snow plows and he was blocking the road. The driver talked to KC and then he told me on the CB that we were going to turn around. I was rather pleased to be honest. The front wheel drive mini-van was able to turn around thanks to the large area that the snow plow had cleared. Once we got back down below the gate we found an area to stop and take a few pictures. There were several trucks with snowmobile trailers parked in the area. I need to try that sport someday. It looks like fun.
Time for some lunch in Cooke City Montana. I’ve never been to Montana before so this was a real treat to get to add another state to my list of places visited. We stopped into the Ore House Saloon and had some great bacon cheeseburgers. Afterward we both drove around the small town in a slow circle until we found some free wireless and we checked in. Yup, we can geek out even in the middle of nowhere!
So, we ramble on down the road and enter Yellowstone through the lesser used northeast entrance.
The next 20 miles or so in Yellowstone take you through the Lamar Valley and I was awestruck the whole time. It was like a movie set with elk, deer, bighorn, pronghorn, and bison in every direction. One advantage we had with the rainy weather was more wildlife. They like the cooler daytime temps.
We turned off to the Slough Creek campground to find a spot since it was early in the day. The creek running through the campground was swollen and was threatening to flood half of the campground, so many sites were blocked off by the Park Service. Still, the bad weather had kept a lot of people home and we have several spots to choose from.
We found a spot and dropped off KC’s truck to hold the site and then he jumped into mine and off we went. He wanted to drive the Tacoma, which was cool because this gave me a chance to really take in the scenery and watch out for critters. Unfortunately the bad weather had closed the route over Dunraven Pass so we drove west to Mammoth Hot Springs, taking in the sights and sounds of the park.
The bison were really numerous and it is interesting that you won’t find them outside the Yellowstone or Teton boundaries. They get shot by ranchers who fear the brucellosis that many of the bison carry, though the elk are carriers too and they get a pass.
We also drove through some areas that have seen some pretty high intensity burns. All of the snowpack and this rain should make the 2008 fire season not as devastating.
Once we were back at camp, we had to deal with the bison. I’ve ran into bison while working on a ranch in central New Mexico and they are not to be taken lightly. They cannot see all that well and they get mad easily! We let them do their thing around camp and we stayed out of their way!
Then we set up the stream-side alcohol consumption station out of the rain!
We had a heck of a time getting the trucks set up somewhat level because the mud was so nasty and slick. Just parking KCs heavier truck caused some pretty substantial ruts to form right there next to the stream. This was the designated camp-site too. We talked about it and decided to move his truck about fifteen feet onto the grass because the soil under the grass was very solid and we didn’t want to cause any more ruts.
Now about 8:30pm, right before dark, the law shows up. This young man fresh out of college with his puffed up green jacket to protect his 130 pound frame from the cold walks up and tells us that we need to move KC’s truck. I engaged him is some light conversation about what we had tried, the ruts it created, and how it was less of an impact on the grass, but he would have none of it. He insisted that rules are rules and nobody parks on the grass. Hmmm, so I politely ask the young man, “You’d rather us create deep ruts in the mud than bend the rules one night?” He said, “Yeah, the whole park is a mess, don’t worry about it”. Well, that wasn’t the point, we were trying to be good about it, but whatever, we thanked him and said we’d move. KC then packed up and moved to an empty site up the hill, back in the mud… Oh well...
After sunset the sky pretty much opened up. No fire tonight, time for plan B in the Four Wheel Camper. The inside of KC’s humble abode has enough room to fit our chairs with an ice chest between us so we could play some cards. We also had a laptop running with the classic film Joe Dirt. Cool flick for playing cards too. After a couple hours of BSing, card playing, and movie watching, the laptop ran outta juice and then the rain stopped and I decided to call it a night.
I walked back down the hill to my trusty Tacoma. Sleeping in the back has worked out great for me, though the rain really tested things on this trip and I had some leaks in all 4 corners to deal with, but overall it was awesome. I fell asleep thinking back to the abandoned tents the night before and bears…
I woke up at 1:30am on the nose because I looked at my phone. The rain had stopped and it was dead quiet outside. The condensation on the inside of the shell's windows was frozen in places. I laid there wondering why I had woken up. Then I heard it. I sleep with my head next to the tailgate and something was right outside the truck, feet away from me, breathing. I swear, it reminded me of the end of the King Kong movie when you hear Kong breathing. Something with a large body and big lungs was right outside breathing, loudly. It was also sort of snorting, almost coughing gently. My mind was racing with possibilities. Most certainly it was a bison, hell they are like 2000 pounds, they are big and they breathe loud, but there was no moon and they should be bedded down. Did all my worrying about bears bring one right to me? As I lay there motionless, listening to this creature on the other side of my tailgate, I think back to dinner. I had the best ribeye earlier, a big thick one. My kitchen and food were all stored according to bear rules, but wait, I had cooked and eaten that steak wearing the fleece that is now laying on top of my sleeping bag. I’m sure I dripped some fat from the steak on my shirt, I’m pretty much a slob, maybe I wiped my mouth on my sleeve, who knows, but my mind is saying, “What if that really is a grizzly and what if he smells me”? What a cool news headline I remember thinking at that moment, “Bird Biologist Eaten By Bear!”
I’d love to sit here and tell you that I manned-up and opened the rear hatch and looked out to see what the hell was out there, but I didn’t. I sat there about fifteen minutes until it left. Then I waited another fifteen and finally climbed out of the truck for a look around. I walked around with a light looking for tracks. I wanted to see some bison tracks so I could relax and go back to bed, but whatever it was had been on the grass just to the rear of my truck, right by the tailgate, so no tracks. Now I’m pretty worked up as you can imagine and I’m not set on going back to bed yet, so I started the truck and sat up front and listened to some music for a while and warmed up. When I finally calmed down, I did another walk around and crawled back in and went back to bed. I’m sure you’re reading this and thinking I over-reacted, and I did, but what can ya do. I’m a cancer, and we are an emotional bunch…
Here is a little map of the route we took the 24th...
I thought I'd post a few cool vehicles that we saw in the park.
Sweet Sportsmobile that we passed a few times:
And a nice Flip-pac on a Dodge Dakota:
There were also a few Four Wheel Campers spotted during the trip, but I didn't get any photos of them. Dangit...
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