Reflections of My Travel

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We got an early start this morning so that we could spend the day in North Yellowstone. Once we got off the interstate at Livingston, the landscape was spectacular. Snow dappled rocky mountains with homesteads laced throughout. There was a very grand entrance to Yellowstone and we drove by all of the employee housing. How greath would it be to work and get to live there! At this time, the only part of the park that is open is the road betweeen the North entrance and Cooke City. Mammoth Hot Springs was the first and primary stop. They weren’t really running that well (we were later informed that this was due to a very dry summer) but the calcite formations and flow rock that they make were still worth seeing. Very impressive. We walked the loop of the upper terrace (all uphill in the snow — hey folks, how about some consideration for the florida girl here!). We then drove up the road to Undine Falls. It was so beautiful. Had icicles all around the top and it disappeared into the snow down at the bottom. We didn’t drive all the way to Cooke City, turned around after the Lamar valley which is where most of the wildlife was supposed to be. We saw all kinds of elk, buffalo, coyotes. We hiked the 1/4 mile trail to the petrified tree (uphill in the snow). The tree wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be but the spot was so beautiful and we sat for a while on a rock in the cold solitude. I had four or five handfuls of plain, natural snowcone (no, not the lemon or chocolate). I haven’t eaten snow since grandma’s funeral. When we got back to Mammoth Springs town, there were cow elk all over the place, blocking main street and front doors and everything. On the way out of Yellowstone, we noticed the river next to the road smoking so we went to inspect it. It’s called Boiling River because some of Mammoth’s hot springs dump into it. And in this 20 degree weather, there were people swimming! We really wanted to jump in but that Randal was still sick and I never thought to pack bathing suits for a snowmobiling trip. Silly me. So we made our way back to the highway and found a place to stay in Bozeman.

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Woke up a little cold again, with the thermometer reading a blustery 14 degrees. We had our breakfast and started across Montana toward Little Bighorn Battlefield. We drove through the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation into the Crow Indian Reservation where the battlefield is located. The visitor’s center had some wonderful artifacts. It was very interesting. There were bunnies all over the place too. We went up to the battle hill where Custer fell and where they have the mass grave memorial standing. In the snow it was hard to see the markers around the countryside where the other soldiers fell. They are working on a Memorial for the Indians near the Custer Memorial. It was in the early stages but is supposed to be mostly finished in time for it’s dedication on June 25, 2003. It was really sad to think that these Indians who were attacked and forced into this reservation were also forced to house this memorial to their attacker’s and captors. At least they are finally getting a memorial of their own — 126 years later. From there it was a short drive up to Billings, MT where we were able to find a Best Buy to exchange our week-old camcorder (two days after buying it, it was saying that the heads were contaminated and needed cleaning, and it ruined several of the first clips we shot with it). We found us a hotel and relaxed for the night.

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We woke up this morning and headed over to Wyoming to Devil’s Tower. This was the first national monument in the U.S. It was actually called Bear Lodge by the Indians, to whom it is still a sacred spot. There was a great little story told by the Indians about how it was formed. A story that had nothing to do with molten magma or igneous intrusion. At the start of the trails there were prayer bundles and prayer cloths hanging from some of the trees. We hiked the trail around the base of the tower. It was 1.3 miles, this was a huge structure. The trail was snow-covered which made it a different kind of hike then any I had done before. It was a beautiful area. And of course, on the way out, we stopped to watch the prairie dogs. Along the way we went through some of the tiniest towns. I remarked when we went through Alva, WY and the sign said pop. 50 that it was amazing they were able to afford the sign. A few miles later, I ate my words when we passed through Alladin, WY where the sign read pop. 15 — 15!!! We then crossed back into SD to make our way up through the southwest corner of North Dakota. Saw one of the most beautiful sunset skies I have ever seen. We ended up in Miles City, Montana for the night. The radio station we had been listening to on approach was talking about the strolling holiday festival going on downtown and the tree lighting ceremony, which I just thought was so cute so we hurried to make it in time. There were townspeople gathered all around the tree singing carols and the tree — well, it was so pitiful — but it was so nice and charming to see the little town all holiday-spirited.