Day 3 (Part 2) - Bison, Elk, and Bears...Oh My!

We arrived in Cody, and directed ourselves through town after a fill up, with assistance from Tom, our third companion. On his good days, we call him Tommy, often we want him to shut up because he tells us things we already know when we take a little detour. It’s unfortunate for Tom that he actually has a female voice, but his name tag said Tom (Tom) so we didn’t want to confuse him. Cody is the Rodeo Capital of the World but unfortunately we were passing through around 12:30 and the rodeo isn’t until 8 pm. We headed towards Yellowstone, taking a detour at the Buffalo Bill Dam. Gorgeous. We drove through rock tunnels to get there and the mountain faces were dramatic and awesome. Lindsay suggested a brief detour into the dam visitor center, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I overheard the tourism lady telling a couple that the East Entrance to Yellowstone was closed due to snow run off and melting. I inquired to the best alternate route and she told us to take the north entrance, about 2.5 hours from our current location. She promised a scenic drive, and we decided we were always down for a scenic drive, plus we didn’t have many other options because bypassing Yellowstone was out of the question. We found our way on the Chief Joseph Scenic Drive, a mountain ride. There was snow capped mountains, tree covered mountains, and red rock mountains all in the same view. We made our way through the mountains, stopping once in a while to take in the view. We were not as die hard as the couple of people we saw on the side of the road popping a squat on the pavement. We crossed rivers and up and down and around mountains. We found ourselves crossing into Montana for a brief moment, surrounded by snow piles. We got out of the car, in our shorts, tank tops, and flip flops and played with snow balls. A little bit ahead we saw a slew of trailers and a group of snowmobiles. The thermostat in our car read 71 degrees… now that would be enjoyable riding weather. We drove through the little town of Cooke City, MT, a charming little mountain village. We finally entered Yellowstone…utilizing our America The Beautiful Pass we had bought in the Badlands which gets us free entrance to all National Parks. It cost us $80, and already with Badlands and Yellowstone it’s saved us $40. By the time we make it through the US, it’ll more than pay for itself.

Now Yellowstone, America’s first National Park. Within a few miles, we saw two bison in the distance. Lindsay had yelled at me to stop…”BISON, Brittany”. I informed her that Yellowstone had the largest herd of Bison in the US, so I was sure we’d see more but she made me stop anyway. We’ve gotten a system where I drive through national parks so Lindsay can take pictures… don’t worry, I’ve banned the sun roof photos after our lesson learned in the Badlands. Lindsay was quickly telling me that I was right, since we came upon herds and herds of Buffalo. We kept cruising through the forests, and within 20 minutes Lindsay proclaimed that she loved Yellowstone. Who’s not surprised? Hence why I was in such a hurry to get to this American gem… meanwhile she was dawdling through South Dakota. The key to driving through National Parks is to watch what everyone else is doing. If there’s a bunch of people pulled over, there’s a good chance there is something exciting in the distance. This proved to be the case when we pulled over with everyone and found a mama and two baby black bears in the distance. We had to use binoculars to see them, so they weren’t scary. We learned about the cubs a lot at Bear Country USA, and mostly that they are very physical with one another. It wasn’t surprising to see them wrestling around while their mom watched. We kept a cruising through, headed to Mammoth Hot Springs.

The scenery was picture perfect… kinda felt fake, like we were driving through a desktop background. We got to Mammoth Hot Springs, but before we got to the springs we ran into some elk. ON the road. A bunch of them. And two babies. They looked like baby bambis and we took our share of photos of them. Lindsay also tried to “call” to them, since the babies were talking to each other and she didn’t want to be left out. The elk had taken over the town, sitting next to the hotel, acting like tourists just sauntering around the little village. To Mammoth. Now after our dip in the Hot Springs in Thermapolis, this “just looking” business was just not as exciting. On the bright side, kept our shoes on this time, so no chance of losing them. It was already 6 when we left Mammoth and we still had geysers to see, and Yellowstone’s claim to fame : Old Faithful. Time to speed sightsee. Ofcourse there was another bear sighting in the distance, grizzly mama and cubs, once again needed binoculars. We stopped to see some geysers, bubbling and a brewing. Then a quick detour to see the Prasmatic Springs… another bubbling spring that had a variety of colors in it. Some people had lost their hats in the springs… good thing they didn’t try to go get them, because while it appeared to be solid, definitely liquid. Learned that earlier in the day. We bee-lined it to Old Faithful, but then we learned that nature takes its sweet time as we waited for it to erupt. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to appreciate the glory of Old Faithful, it was more that the sun was going down and the nearest camp was still 17 miles away. I kinda wish we were like the lady next to us, drinking Blue Moons while she waited for Old Faithful to do her thing. Finally, she erupted..blowing water and steam 40 feet into the air. Alright, now to find a place to camp. We ran to the car, we weren’t wasting any time.

According to our map, there was a campsite at the Grant Villages, so we headed south. We drove by Yellowstone Lake. Still frozen. Snow piles began to appear…and we came to the realization that we were going to be camping next to snow. The temperature had dropped to 40 degrees. The sun was almost gone. Road Rule #5: Find a place to camp by 7:30. We got to Grant Villages, and found the visitor center : CLOSED. Road to campgrounds: Area Closed. Problematic. We toyed with the idea of sleeping in our car in a parking lot but we decided to check out the lodging area. Lindsay ran in, while I put a sweatshirt on and changed into gym shoes – flipflops and a tank top aren’t proper 40 degree clothing. Lindsay came back to tell me to keep driving. The lodging was $175 and both the Grant Villages and Lewis Lake Campgrounds were closed. The nearest campground south was about 22 miles and right outside of Yellowstone. We decided to head north and get a picture of Yellowstone Lake (which we were going to do in the morning since our campsite was only 2 miles away). While Lindsay took pictures, I made us sandwiches. Making sandwiches in the car has been a common theme. Usually the co-captain provides lunch. This time I was driving, so while the car was parked, I made sandwiches by the dashboard light. I beat that’s not quite the “paradise” Meatloaf was talking about. The cooler had gotten melty and so our package of turkey was a little waterlodged. When Lindsay returned to the car, she found me shaking the turkey out the window trying to dry it off. That’s something I’ve never done.

We hauled ourselves through the rest of Yellowstone…surrounded by piles of snow. And when I say snow, I mean more snow than I’ve ever seen…drifts like 6 feet tall. Taller than us. We were reminded to watch for animals with a series of signs that read “We saw wildlife… from afar…until we hit them…with our car….slow down!” I swear people in the west are more creative with their signage. We found a campground called Flagg Ranch. The campsite office was closed but it directed us to the lodge. I ran in and got us a place… and the guy at the front desk told me to store all food, “there’s been a few bears roaming around”. Comforting, really. We headed to our campsite… C47, literally the most confusing campground ever. It was 10:30 by the time we pulled into our spot and 38 degrees outside. In perfect teamwork, we got our tent sent up, airmattress inflated, sleeping bags and blankets all in 30 minutes. Not bad for camping rookies. I changed into underarmour and sweatpants and sweatshirts. We searched for the bathroom but it was mysteriously closed so Lindsay just peed on the side of the building. Who locks the bathroom, campground people? We cuddled up in our tent, prepared for cold temperatures since there was patches of snow next to our car, and got to sleep quickly. We roughed it without a heater since we were skeptical that the propane flame wouldn’t light our tent on fire in the middle of the night. All the wildlife had worn us out and this was a wild life we were leading. So much to see tomorrow.