8/12/08 - Glacier National Park, Montana

We drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road which goes through the middle of the park from our campground on the west side at Apgar to the east side at St. Mary. The road goes through spectacular scenery of glacier carved mountains. This is one of the most famous scenic drives in the world. We hiked to Baring Falls and hiked to a really windy spot called Sun Point overlooking St. Mary Lake. We couldn’t stop at the Logan Pass visitor center because the parking lot was full. We did see a really cute mountain goat and a hoary marmot. We saw lots of Columbian Ground Squirrels and chipmunks.

Animals we saw at Glacier National Park

Bighorn Sheep, Columbian Squirrel, Mountain Goat, Hoary Marmot, Grizzly Bear.

8/13/08 - Glacier National Park, Montana

We got up really early and drove back through the park to Logan’s Pass. This time the parking lot was virtually empty as we arrived before the visitor center even opened. We walked part way on a long trail that is right on the edge of a cliff. On this trail we saw Big Horn Sheep. Logan’s Pass is on the Continental Divide. We continued on and drove into Canada’s Waterton-Glacier National Park. It is also called the International Peace Park and adjoins the U.S. Glacier Park. We visited the Prince of Wales Hotel in their park that sits on a point at the lake and you can see both directions. We took a picnic lunch and ate by the lake next to Waterton Townsite then drove the 2 roads into the interior of the park. One led to a lake and hiking and on that drive we saw a grizzly bear. The other road led to a red canyon. We left and drove to the one road on the far side of our park that we hadn’t seen. There was an old hotel built by a railroad from the 30’s at this area also. All of these have a Swiss design.

8/14/08 - Anaconda, Montana

We drove all day. We stopped at two breweries -- Big Sky Brewing which brews Moose Drool, and Bayern Brewing. We stayed at an RV park in Anaconda to recharge our battery and catch up on the blog. (Also, for showers!)

Didn't take any pictures today.

8/15/08 - Hardin, Montana

We left Anaconda and drove all day (288 miles) , stopping by Bozemen Brewing in Bozeman, Montana. We stayed at an RV park in Hardin, Montana, near the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We didn't take any pictures today, either. They are having a big Indian pow-wow nearby (the Crow Festival), and the RV park was full of Indians. Tribes from all over the U.S. come here for this annual event.

8/16/08 - Custer National Forest, near Red Lodge, Montana

We got up and left the trailer in the RV park until we could go see Little Bighorn Battlefield. This is where Custer and his 220 or so troops met their demise at the hand of about 1,500 -2,000 Indian warriors. There were about 20,000 Indians from several tribes camping in the vicinity to hunt buffalo. Among them were Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. At the battlefield there are white crosses marking the places where the cavalry fell. They are buried in a mass grave at the site. All were burned beyond recognition when the Indians left after the battle. Custer’s body was removed and buried at West Point. A few other officers that they could identify were also buried in other places. We listened to a Ranger talk about the battle and then walked around the battlefield. They even have a mass grave for all the soldiers’ horses. There is a big circular monument for the Indians who were killed. Their markers in the fields are red. We went through the museum that housed artifacts of the battle. There were some of Custer’s personal effects there also. We hooked up the trailer and drove through Billings where we stopped off and had lunch at Montana Brewing. We stayed the night in Custer National Forest just south of Red Lodge, Montana. We made a campfire from dead wood in the area. There is an old Indian saying -- “white man make big fire, sit way back – Indian make small fire, sit close in.”

8/17/08 - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We drove the scenic highway 212 from Red Lodge into Yellowstone National Park and got a site at Canyon Campground. There were no hookups but the campground had pay showers, laundry, gas, restaurants and a grocery store. (We paid $3.25 for a shower.) We arrived late because of the slow going on the scenic drive and we hung around camp and went to the visitor’s center for information and maps.

8/18/08 - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We got up and took off to see part of the park. The park is kind of laid out in a figure 8. We drove the lower part -- this is where Old Faithful is. This is a huge park. We left at 9 am and drove 125 miles and didn’t return back to camp until 7 pm. There is a lot to see and you stop often. We went to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We went on the south part of the canyon rim drive because the north part of the drive was under construction for the summer of 2008 (of course). We saw the upper and lower falls on the Yellowstone River through the canyon. These are really massive waterfalls. Then we continued south on the way to Old Faithful and drove through a herd of bison. They were on the road and on both sides. Traffic had come to a standstill because of having to dodge the bison. It made me think of the old Roger Miller song, “You Can’t Roller Skate Through a Buffalo Herd.” We stopped at several locations that had mud pots, steam vents, pools, waterfalls and geysers. We finally made it to Old Faithful and only had to wait 30 minutes until it blew. After Old Faithful we saw more mud pots, steam vents, geysers, waterfalls and pools. The entire Yellowstone area is geothermal and is the remnant of a gigantic volcano that erupted 600,000 years ago. Yellowstone has thousands of small earthquakes each year -- most can’t be felt. One of these days it’s going to erupt again like Mt. St. Helens. Only a whole lot bigger.

8/19/08 - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We drove the top part of the park. This part doesn’t have as much to stop and see as the lower part. We made the circle in less time. Much of this area was burned by the huge forest fires of 1988. Small trees have sprouted in the midst of the burned trees. The main sights on this loop are Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs. There was also a large petrified redwood tree trunk. Since we arrived back at camp early, we put steaks on the grill.

8/20/08 - Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

We drove back to the Old Faithful part of Yellowstone because we didn’t see the thermal area behind Old Faithful a couple of days before and it was on the way out of the park going to Grand Teton. There are many geysers in this area. A few erupt every day and some sporadically, but they are not as predictable as Old Faithful. One we saw was Lion, it didn’t go as high but it lasted longer. Then we saw Bee Hive -- it was fantastic, it was much higher than Old Faithful and lasted about 5 minutes. Old Faithful lasts about 1 minute. Jim said he thought when he was here 45 years ago that Old Faithful was much higher. Then we drove on to Grand Teton National Park. The road passes through John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway after it leaves Yellowstone and before Grand Teton. Rockefeller donated some of the land for the parks. After we unhooked at the Coulter Bay campground (again no hookups, the hookup area was $55.00 per night versus the $9.00 we paid), we drove some of the park. It was getting late and the sun was going down behind the Grand Tetons.

8/21/08 - Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

These are some of the most magnificent mountains in the world. There are really jagged and they rise abruptly out of the Snake River valley floor with no foothills. We got up at 4:45 am and drove to the Oxbow turnout to see the sunrise and take pictures. This is where Ansel Adams took some of his famous photos. We drove up to a lookout point on Signal Mountain Summit to see a view of the Teton Mountain Range and valley. We visited the historic area of the park where the first settlers made their homes. The historic church was great. It has a window behind the pulpit with a view of the Tetons. We visited the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve. This was land the Rockefellers lived on and was donated to the park system. This preserve opened only two months ago. We went on a hike to a nearby lake. We saw two moose today walking along the Snake River.