Yellowstone

Sam said it very well: It's over-run, over-rated and over-managed. Yellowstone is absolutely swarmed with people. Seriously, it was like the Mall of America. We heard multiple languages, saw who-knows-what ethnicities wearing all kinds of clothes imaginable, drove past every kind of camper, motorcycle, car, and bicycle known to ply the roads. There were traffic jams! There were lines! There were shoulder-to-shoulder people on the boardwalks through the hotsprings!

What we didn't see were many animals. I have more wildlife in my yard back in Duluth. I expect that the animals are long gone back into the bush by early summer. I know I would, if I were faced with the throngs of humans. We did, as Charlie mentioned, get caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic as a large buffalo herd crossed the road. They obviously get right-of-way, and are quite leisurely in their efforts. Sometimes, apparently, they decide to retrace their steps, crossing back and forth a few times, pausing on the road to contemplate their next heading, or to snort a blob of buffalo snot onto a bumper. We were there for a long, long time. (See the picture at the right.) When this happens, all the buffalo awe wears right off, and you begin sighing profanities and making idle threats, just as if caught in rush hour. It's embarassing.

Yellowstone is very much a car event. In America's favorite national park, and you have to be in a car to experience it--your feet are not nearly as useful as your driver's license. There are very few places to go, without a real jaunt into the backcountry, that aren't completely overrun. Yesterday afternoon, we took a six-mile "wildlife loop" road, which was badly-maintained gravel road, in hopes of seeing some animals. We pulled over half way thru, grabbed our lunch stuff, and walked down a hill to sit under an old tree to eat. Spread out a nice blanket, had a great view of a meadow and a mountain range, ate some great food. I was thinking, "Aren't we the smart ones? Getting off the beaten trail!" Within minutes, a ranger tracked us down and made us pack up and leave. "Bear management area," she tells us. How would we know that, I asked? Apparently, if it's not a posted site, you can't be there. Period. You can drive thru, with your car kicking up mushrooms of dust and making all sorts of motor noise, but you can't get out to walk the land. Annoying as hell. My traveling companions, non-conformists and generally unafraid of bears given our intimate experiences bears in our Duluth neighborhood, were skeptical of Ms. Ranger's authority and bear expertise. I was able, via Mom Threats, to get them all back in the car politely and without incident.

We got what I really think is one of the best campsites in all of Yellowstone. The campgrounds are compact and seemingly designed to manage the gazoodles of humans that must be a real challenge, both in numbers and behavior, for the Park Service folks (note the above paragraph). They keep campers corralled in just a handful of campgrounds in the park, and these few facilities are not exactly posh as campgrounds go. Ours, for example, did not have showers.

But I found a sweet spot on the edge the campground, right next to Gibbon Creek, with a view of the valley and mountains behind. As it turns out, this was the best part of our trip to Yellowstone! We spent most of our afternoon yesterday playing in the creek, which was just a blast. Sam cooked up great food, we had fires in the evening listening to someone down creek playing their fiddle (the whole campground would errupt in applause at the end of each song), And, as Ben mentioned in his blog, our bear box (a big metal box alongside our site in which to keep food, stoves, etc...) had already been mauled a bit. The nights were COLD, down into the low 30s. I would pull my whole head into my sleeping bag to keep warm, and then begin to feel as if I couldn't get a whole breath. The campsite was at about 7800 feet, and combined with my re-breathing in the sleeping bag--ack!

Stopped at Old Faithful on our way out of the park today. The crowds made Sam pathological, but we managed to see one unexpected geyser, Beehive, do it's thing. And one geyser is really all you really need, turns out. I think my favorite part of the trip, aside from hanging with my boys in the creek, was seeing Old Faithful Lodge. Ohmygod so magnificent and elegant and it just makes you ache for the true old west adventures, when people would arrive by stagecoach, and the ladies would wear white linen traveling suits and wide-brimmed straw hats. Beautiful maple writing tables with leaded stained glass and copper lamps adorn the second floor lobby. No one sits at them to write letters and postcards anymore--they sit empty, but it's like there are ghosts in the leather-backed chairs. The whole place, which is beyond enormous, smells of that wonderful smokey, cabin smell. The boys and I ate a few sandwiches and iced tea on the second floor deck that overlooks the geyser field, where the benches are deep and comfortable and 100 years old. Sam and I decided that if we were to ever come back, we would simply blow a wad of cash and stay at the Inn and be elegant travellers. Also, the bathrooms! They are the most beautiful I've ever, ever seen in a public place. All art deco tile, marble dividers, with alabaster lamp shades and curved silver sink spigots. I could have stayed in the bathroom happily all day!

We had some lunch in West Yellowstone (think Wall Drug covering an eight-block area), which is just west of the park and about a 45-minute drive from Sam's Big Sky home. We drove down the Gallatin River Valley to his town, which is everything Montana should be, and got a hotel room for the night. The boys and I boiled off some dirt in the hot tub, ate more peanut butter for supper, and I got the laundry done. Sam happened to have double company this weekend--his friends from Duluth came for the weekend. He showed us around Big Sky a bit, and then we let him get back to his life with his friends. We'll hang out a big tomorrow, and then we're heading down the road and aiming for Minnesota.

I'm looking forward to getting back to the prairie, and a few more nights of camping. Winter is coming, and I'm squeezing the life out of what's left of this time in the sun and with my wonderful boys. Amen.

Ben's thoughts on Yellowstone

Once upon a time there was a boy named Ben. He went to Montana, and on his way there he saw 500 buffalo, 5 elk, a yellow bellied marmot, a big raven, a big huge bear box to keep our food in that had been bear-ified. We were having a nice picnic off a wilderness road and a weirdo lady came and said, "Excuse me, but I need you to pack up and leave because you're in a bear management area." But this is the only place we could find that didn't have people in it! Where we saw the yellow bellied marmot, we were climbing a cliff. Sam made me be really, really careful about the critter that was about 15 feet away from me, because they tend to bite. We went down to our stream and stuck our chairs in the creek. Sam said if I did a bellyflop off the big log going across the stream he'd give me five dollars. He had Charlie do one, and he did it on three trys, but he did a disability one because of his broken arm. Then Sam did one. We got it on tape. I have a big buffalo herd, a big whooping three. They're stuffed. Their names are Charger, Buffalo Bill and Big Bob. Sam took us to a hotel by where he lives that has a waterslide. I wanted to do a 100 slides, but mom only let me do 40. (Mom typed this for me while I dictated.)

From Charlie- The last three days we have been in Yellowstone. It was fun because we could see all of the geysers and the buffalo. On our first day in we hit a massive buffalo herd and we were idling for over 45 minutes. It was annoying because we had to sit there and watch 10 of the many buffalo cross the road again and again, but we got to see 2 buffalo ram each other.

Finally we got through there and got a very nice camp site with two tables and a stream in back. I had lots of fun. Ben and I won 5 dollars from Sam and he won 20 from mom.

Today we saw two elk by our camp. Then we saw Beehive Geyser. It's bigger than Old Faithful and 8th largest in the world.

Wyoming: Cowboys, oil wells, hotsprings and a very messy car

Jana writes: A flurry of getting packed up this morning made all the more interesting by the fact that I lost the car keys. After all my nagging to the kids about putting things back where they belong, I misplaced the car keys after staggering to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning and opening the car to get my medicine. So we tore the entire car apart, looking for the keys, thinking they'd been packed in something by accident. But then we found them tucked under a flap on the tent, which was already half collapsed on its way to being packed down. The boys took great delight in repeating all my mom-isms back at me!

After a magnificent cup (ohmygod it was good) of coffee in Custer, we hit eastern Wyoming. Which is a bleak, bleak place. Trailer homes in the midst of wrecked cars, old farm machinery and broken down everything else made of metal. No trees. Just sage brush and rusted machines. Oil rigs pumping away. Natural gas pumps. An occasional open pit coal mine, with trains loaded with coal (which arrive in Duluth and are then put on ships and sent to electric generating factories out east. How can this be worth it??). Far cry from the wind turbine farms we saw back in MN. Miles of bleak horrible nothing but white man bad behavior evidence. And a few antelope here and there.

The reward for enduring all that is arriving in Buffalo, a lovely small town at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains. This is the second time I've been here--the last time in 1991. I loved it then and I love it now. Just 3000 people, great architecture, a huge city pool and skatepark, a Unitarian Church, a public radio station and another radio station that plays jazz and folk. People drive Priuses with anit-George Bush stickers, the downtown is full of old buildings with outdoor cafes, and a fast-running creek runs right along the edge of the public library, which is on the main corner of the town center. I could live here, I do believe. This must be the only liberal leaning town in this very republican state.

Up and over the Big Horn mountains. My poor little car's gerbils are working their asses off to get up the slopes! When we left Buffalo, it was a broiling 92 where we stopped to eat our peanut butter and banana lunch. When we stopped in the mountains, it was a refreshing 66. We stood and listened to our echos bounce off the rock walls of the mountains--so quiet up there, and so amazing to hear your voice come back to you seconds later.

On the way down, we passed through Ten Sleep Canyon, which was carved out by glaciers 250,000 years ago. Very beautiful. I am convinced that the way to see this country in on a motorcycle. Can you believe I'm saying that?? But who wants to be in a car when you can be out in the open, enjoying the scenery? All the way through the mountains are signs that tell about the geology and age of the exposed rock--Charlie and I really enjoyed that. Real cowboys everywhere around Ten Sleep, in their dusty pick-ups and brown arms hanging out the truck windows.

We arrived in Thermopolis around 6pm, and went straight to the hot springs to swim. These are the largest mineral hotsprings in the world, for those of you who are impressed by these things. They smell something horrible--sulfur. Ben noted that it smells like his farts, except worse. I would beg to differ, having spent the better part of today experiencing both. So we swam and waterslided and sat in the very hot hot tubs--all completely fed by the mineral springs coming out of the mountain side.

Tonite, we have a hotel room. Time for a good hot shower and a bed. Watch the Olympics a bit, charge up the computer, the camp light and the camera batteries, and get some wi-fi access. We needed another book downloaded onto the ipod--just got done listening to "Hoot" by Carl Hiasson. We loved it! I downloaded "The Outsiders" for our next day of driving.

The car is a disaster. Maps, wrappers, water bottles, wet shoes, books, gameboys, binoculars, pillows, plastic grocery bags Charlie insists we keep because they have buffalo all over them, Ben's accumulating pile of rocks...I can hardly take it. But the boys don't seem to mind, so I'm trying not to, either. I just keep buying ice for the cooler and watch the gas gauge.

Hoping to make Yellowstone tomorrow, with plans to meet up with Sam in the late afternoon.

car rides are the bets

Today we are camping in Custer Sate Prk just south of Rapid City,South Dakota.

Its really cool compared to the other park in Minnesota. Today we went swimming at the beach, gold panning, and we went on a animal safari/big long boring trip. It was cool because we saw jackalopes and the corral were they do the annual buffalo auction. Towards the end of the trip we saw a prairie dog town. To keep them from taking more ground they move them from place to place. to do that they dig up there holes and use padded vacuums to capture them.:(

buffalo yay

Custer and wind cave national park both have two separate buffalo herds. Wind cave have more genetic pure buffalo then Custer. Wind cave has a rule that says you have one hour to get there buffalo to there park or they shoot it.:(

We've Crossed The Wide Missouri

Jana writes: We cut across Minnesota on the two-lane hiways, per Charlie's sense of adventure and navigational willingness. It was satisfying to finally see so many of the small towns I hear mentioned on severe weather alerts: St. Cloud, Willmar, Marshall, Clara City, and finally Luverne. The boys definately noticed the changes in trees and landscape as we left the pine forests, passed thru the hardwoods and then into the prairie. This is their first trip west of Duluth environs, so they were noticing everything. Note: There is a very cool city swimming pool/waterpark and skateboard park in Mora. Why doesn't Duluth have this??
On the way, we saw all the amazing wind turbines that are shipped into Duluth and sent out on big trucks. I LOVE IT!

We spent our first night at Blue Mounds State Park, at the very southwest tip of the state. I've always wanted to see the park, but we didn't stay nearly long enough to explore. Just spent the evening next to a pond where we camped, listening to the blackbirds, crows and ducks. We found cactus growing in Minnesota!

Unexpectedly, it rained the first night, and we had to pack up a very wet tent after waiting until nearly 9am for it to quit enough to go out to pee. I hate that.

Then, it was a long day of driving across South Dakota. I love the prairies, so it is no hardship for me. The boys enjoyed it as well; they've grown up in the woods and are quite unused to wide open spaces. Of course, as soon as we crossed the border into South Dakota, we began seeing signs for Wall Drug. Ah, the anticipation...

We like taking pictures of tacky tourist things along the way. The opportunities are plentiful on I-90. We listened to a book I downloaded onto the ipod, and ate goodies out of the cooler as we went.

We stopped at an overlook at the Missouri River for a picnic lunch--the wide Missouri. Francis Case Lake, now that the river is dammed up. I wrote all about these Missouri River lakes for Sportsmans Connection a few years back, and so I felt a bit of a homecoming to lay eyes on the water I wrote so much about. The overlook rest stop has a great museum about Lewis & Clark's voyage in 1804--the kids and I spent too much time lingering there.

Then finally the prairie rises and rises and the Badlands appear to the south. Now the boys feel like they're out west. The many oohs and ahhs from them was so great--I love trips like this! Wishing we had time to stop in the Badlands, but we have many miles to go. Charlie is making a list of all the things we should go see next time we're out here (next year they think). We also ahve a long list of lisence plates from other states we've seen. Road fun.

Wall Drug was everything it promised to be, and Ben could hardly take it. So much kitch to choose from! We got ice cream, a few silly tokens (including a bumper sticker for the cookstove) and we were on our way.

My friend Val in Ely, who goes on a roadtrip out this way every year, suggested a campground in the Black Hills. We were able to get in the campgroup, get set up and eat a bit of supper before dark set in. And we saw our first buffalo as soon as we got in the park. Soon thereafter, we found out that Charlie misplaced the stoppers for the blow-up mattresses. After a bit of lecturing from the camp mom who was not pleased, we rigged up a couple of plugs with duct tape. The mattresses stayed inflated most of the night.

Being here brings up lots of mixed feelings for me. But mostly I'm keenly aware that this land was stolen in such a horrible way from the Sioux, and then the heads of the white guys got carved on their mountain. What an insult. The boys are learning a lot from my history lectures.

I found the exact campsite where my family stayed when we came here in 1976--I remembered it as clear as day. Called mom to tell her about it.

Today, we went wildlife looping with the ranger, then panning for gold. Spent the late afternoon at the lake swimming. Tomorrow, we head to Wyoming.

getting ready

Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Montana.the last few days have been really busy because we have gone to see people like our aunt who is camping in Wisconsin and visiting my moms friend and going swimming. today we have friends who live in Ely who are coming back from Massachusetts and spending the night before the return home.

-Charlie