Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Independence Rock, friends old and new
September 30, 2023
It’s so lovely to be back home!! We drove to Great Falls, Montana, and parked there for a few days while enjoying the opportunity to shop, change our phone plans as we no longer need Canada access, talk to friends about upcoming visits, receive packages, pay bills, and tend to chores. Gotta say—Walmart in the lower 48 not only has better selection than Canada but very cheerful people!!
We took the time to visit the Lewis and Clark Museum nearby, which has a rotating selection of movies and several exhibits about their expedition. We then headed southeast for a quick lunch with our daughter’s in-laws before camping in Bozeman at the fairgrounds. After a quick oil change (Larry is getting good at these), we headed towards the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park. Before we moved again into the land of no cell service, we chatted with our daughter and were delighted to hear she is pregnant with our second grandchild!
We had been to Yellowstone earlier in our travels but not to the Lamar Valley, called Yellowstone’s Serengeti, for the bison herds, pronghorn, elk, deer, and wolves. I had been lucky enough to get reservations for three nights at Slough Creek campground right at the start of the Lamar Valley, so it was easy to arise before dawn and park at an overlook where we hiked the Specimen Ridge Trail. There were bear tracks along the way, a busy badger, tufts of bison fur everywhere, and even scattered bones from a large animal.
Can you see the chipmunk—he does!!
Neighbors
The following day, before dawn, we parked at another pullout where an elk carcass had attracted some wolves. We did spot a lone wolf scavenging and were sad to see that its lower jaw was broken on both sides and hanging uselessly. Some “wolf watchers,” easily located by looking for groups of people with immense spotting scopes, opined that the park rangers likely would be sure it didn’t suffer.
On Wednesday, September 27, we drove to a pullout overlooking the Hayden Valley just north of the MudPots. We watched the fog lift and some geysers steam in the river in solitude until after lunch, when we drove south around Yellowstone Lake toward the Tetons.
We boondocked for free at Sheffield Creek campground off a forest road just south of Headwaters campground. One site nestled back by a little creek near some of the horse corrals was open, and the next campsite even had a few horses in their corral!
On Saturday morning, we drove through Grand Teton National Park to the National Museum of Wildlife Art just north of Jackson. Dave and Cindy had recommended it, and we wanted to stop in before seeing them that evening. We enjoyed the sculptures outside as well as the realistic portraits.
In Jackson, we rinsed Marvin off and got groceries and fuel, and Google Maps was kind (& creepy) enough to remind us that we were here three years ago! We had a great time catching up with Dave and Cindy (MyTripJournal.com Albino Rhino) over pizza at Dormans, and then stayed on their work camper site in Gros Ventre campground.
It was hard to say goodbye the following day, but we headed southwest to Lander, Wyoming, through the gorgeous Wind River Range. We stopped at the Tie Hack memorial to those who cut the necessary railroad ties as the railroads moved west, and then we went to Sacajawea’s Gravesite just north of Lander.
At the Museum of the American West in Lander, there were several floors of local history, preserved outbuildings and cabins, and a friendly docent. A bearskin rug and rocking chair by a wood burning stove—I’m in!!
The Lander City Park was our free campsite for the night, and although it was a bit busier than usual due to a soccer tournament, we had a quiet night alongside the creek.
On the last day of September, we had a splendid day driving to Independence Rock.
This rock was especially significant as emigrants knew if they reached it by July 4, they should get to Oregon and beyond before the winter snows of the Rockies.
In the 1850s, many thousands scribed, painted, or carved their name on the rock to mark their passage, and you can still see some of them, especially in areas protected from the wind, sun, and blowing sand.
One hundred eighty years later, time is erasing their signatures as slowly as those who came before them.
Larry climbed to the top, where there was more recent “historical graffiti” from the 1930s.
We drove to Devil’s Gate and Martin’s Cove nearby, where a group of Mormons with handcarts traveled too late in November of 1856 towards Salt Lake City and got caught in a blizzard. 145 of the 600 perished before rescuers arrived to help them. There appears to be a campground, hiking trails, and a Mormon museum, so this would be a neat area to return to with more time to hike, bike, explore, and immerse ourselves in the history.
In nearby Rawlins, Wyoming, we spent the night in a Walmart parking lot where our Alaska tag made us friends with our neighboring campers from Kasilof, Alaska. After chatting well into the evening, we exchanged numbers and hope to catch up with them again in 2025. It is a small world, and adventurous travelers through the ages have always found they share much in common!
Pumpernickel turned 15 this month! He is such a great traveler and companion—what a life he leads ❤️