07/20 to 07/23 Billings & Yellowstone Park/West Gate, Montana

07/20 to 07/23

To KOA Billings

Billings, Montana and

Yellowstone Park West/Gate

So I'm on the road once again. Leaving Devils Tower, Wyoming, I am about to visit (and sleep in) state #6 of 9 in my 2024 summer Adventure. Montana. With a fuel stop or two it will be another 5-hour journey through the wide expanse of America I've yet to see.

From Ripley's Believe it Or Not.

As I left the KOA in Devils Tower, WY, I traveled on SR-24 and caught my last glimpse of Devils Tower over my left shoulder. Of course, I had to get that shot. 

And speaking of "shots," my trip to Billings, MT was all about the journey. A journey that provided picturesque scenes suitable for post cards. There were no stops for attractions on this part of the trip; it was all about the journey, my love of driving and snapping photos to share. In this shot, the deep red formation contrasting with the deep green of the pines is just such a view.

With not too much of anything for miles and miles around, I came upon a highly recommended cafe in Hulett, WY. Known for its friendly atmosphere and homestyle cooking, this was just the place to have breakfast before driving to Montana.

My go-to breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, well done, crispy bacon and sourdough toast hit the spot. Hot coffee with refills made my day.

Yes, it was time to reach the horizons...many times. Ranchers here in Wyoming can own anywhere from hundreds to thousands of acres. The Padlock Ranch, one of the biggest owns 500,000 acres. Wyoming has the smallest population of any U.S. state, with fewer than 600,000 residents as of the 2020 census. It has the second-lowest population density, after Alaska.

I've included this shot to show how my photo opportunities were limited through my entire trip by the haze that greyed everything out. The haze, as you may have guessed is the smoke from the many Canadian and US fires that are raging this time of the year. 

Billings, WY, is to the right of my present location...the blue dot.

You saw the horizon in previous shots, yes? Well, can you imagine the trip this fella has before him. 

When you do drive past stretches of "civilization," the debris that lays about in yards, dilapidated and crumbling sheds and barns, you stop and wonder. I've seen it everywhere I've traveled. Old trucks, farm equipment, cars, RVs, name it; they're all strewn about the landscape waiting for the elements and time to make them disappear. Such an eyesore.

Looking at the positive side, I guess if you need a hard to find part for your antique car, here's the place.

This has been another of my drive-by gripes. I've driven through North and South Dakota, Wyoming and now Montana. If there was a sign at all, this is what they show. In those other states, I knew I crossed a state border because my GPS told me so. There are no signs anywhere. Every exit tell you the name of the road and the sign beneath says, "No Services." Very scary for a driver looking to fuel up his vehicle.

Some interesting facts I learned through research about Montana:

•  Montana is one of the few states in the U.S. that does not have a general sales tax.
• The state is home to the largest migratory elk herd in the nation. (I haven't seen any.)
• Yellowstone National Park, which is the first national park in the world, is partly located in Montana.
• The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, took place in Montana in 1876.
• Montana has a significant population of grizzly bears, primarily in and around Glacier National Park
• The Roe River near Great Falls is considered one of the shortest rivers in the world, measuring only about 201 feet long.

The highlight of my day and the trip. After filling up, the red roof caught my eye and the angels began to sing. I ordered THREE personal pan plain cheese to go (future frozen meals for lunch). While waiting, the clean cut, young fella, no more than 21 asked if that RV outside was mine. He was very impressed with my story about how I came to be where I was and where I was going. When my order was ready, he asked if I'd like a small cup or two of marinara sauce to go with the pies. By the way, speaking of "pies," Mel, Dan and I learned back in North Dakota, you have to specify "pizza pie" not just pie. Even though pizza pie is on the menu, so is apple, rhubarb or pecan "pie." 

My chuckle for day. After seeing this, I had to do the research. Here's what I found: One story suggests that the name comes from a Native American woman who went mad with grief after her family was killed by a group of settlers or during a tribal conflict. She lived alone by the creek and was considered "crazy" by those who saw her. Another version involves a white woman whose family was attacked and killed by Native Americans. She survived the attack but lost her sanity due to the traumatic experience and lived by the creek, earning the moniker "Crazy Woman."

As I approached the KOA campground, I had to take this photo. Up until this point I have not seen a house. By house, I'm referring to what you see above. Every dwelling along the highways I've seen were double trailers with tin roofs or old RVs. This was a mansion.

At long last, the big familiar yellow sign for Kampgrounds of America greeted me.

When planning and reserving all my sites (32 campgrounds for this Summer Adventure), I know as a one-nighter, the campground has special areas for these bookings.

My site with just 30-mp service and water is all I ever need. This one, at the end, was actually quite nice and the setting got me into my 'picture post card' photography mode. So enjoy.

Yellowstone Park West/Gate

238 miles and a little more than 4 hour including a fuel stop and lunch.

As I set off from Billings, MT, the destination was going to be another key accomplishment for me but once again, the journey took top billing and one that called for photographic memories. Elevations changed noticeably from about 3,000 feet in Billings to about 5,000. Once in Yellowstone it was around 7,300 feet.

First there were the rugged geological scenes in an everchanging landscape that were breathtaking. When you think that the multi-million year process of erosion is on-going you get a renewed respect and appreciation for this planet.

The journey begins with gently rolling hills that lend themselves to pastures and agriculture.

 

Then the rocky outcrops with forests of pine trees managing to get a grip and take root .

Here you can see the effects of millennia of wind, rain, freezing and thawing has on the erosion process.

This process is the same as seen at the base of Devils Tower

My first glimpse of the Yellowstone River. The Yellowstone River is the longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States. 

It flows for 692 miles from its source in the Absaroka Range in Wyoming to its confluence with the Missouri River in North Dakota without any dams.

As I descend along  I-90 so does the river.

In many places the highway gets up close and personal. I got this lucky shot of a huge boulder that was probably pushed along by a glacier and left there as it receded. How many thousands of years must that have taken.

The river was named by French trappers who called it "Roche Jaune," which translates to "Yellow Rock." This was a translation of the Minnetaree name "Mi tse a-da-zi," which referred to the yellowish sandstone along the river's banks.

Another lucky shot. With eyes riveted on the narrow winding highway, this point and click shot is of one the many white water rafters.

In the slower moving shallow waters, fly fishermen were often seen...alas, no photos of them. Fly fishing stores and outfitters were common along the route.

My nearly level site had just water and electricity. The site backed up to highway SR-20. Because of the heat, the AC provide enough distraction noise such that the traffic was not noticeable at all. 

Because of the enormity of the subject, the link in red above gives the potential visitor a glimpse of how to go about taking in the majestic wonders of our first National Park in the world so named by President Ulysses S. Grant in March of 1872. This KOA Campground's location, near the West Gate, was a pickup point for the Yellowstone Tours  The West Gate brings visitors to "Geyser Paradise."

Precisely at 7:45 a.m., the bus and our guide for the day, "Gypsy" arrived and picked up me and another camper, Elena. Hubby took the tour yesterday so it was his turn to stay home with the baby.

The tour I chose was the Lower Loop Tour. This link does a wonderful job giving the tour, showing and telling more than I could ever. Take a look. We visited the best of the Geyser Basins and the Heart of Yellowstone which includes the Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful Geyser, the Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Upper Falls and Lower Falls. Yellowstone covers over 2.2 million acres, primarily in Wyoming but extending into Montana and Idaho. This tour just about covers 1/3 of it.

Needless to say, of the hundred photos I took, here of just few "postcards" with what I learned/remembered.

First off, a word about the driver/guide, "Gypsy". He picked up that name from when he was a young boy growing up in Chicago, he read kids ride free on Amtrac. When his mother thought he was at the local pool with friends, he was on an Amtrac headed west. With that, he's since traveled 56 countries, been guiding for 37 years and here at Yellowstone for the past seven.  He has guided many of the National Parks tours and claims he was the only one residing at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan as a caretaker during the winter months. He did that for a number of years. With an 81 year old geologist father (who wants to white-water raft the Snake River), his knowledge of the Park was extensive and outstanding. Yellowstone was cited as a National Park, not because of the myriad wildlife that reside within but for the geological features that cannot be found anywhere else on earth. The park contains about 10,000 geothermal features, including geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles. What an incredible amount of knowledge he shared in the seven hour tour. His recollection of dates of forest fires and earthquakes that left their mark on the Park were shared as we past each area. He not only explained the geology but also the interaction of wildlife; their life cycles and their ecological interdependence with each other. What an incredible living laboratory this park is.  

Part of the tour package that I'm glad I took advantage of was the packaged lunch. Mine consisted of turkey and cheese of a soft hero but the baggie it came with contained lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard and mayo. Also included was an apple, a bag of potato chips, a huge chocolate chip cookie, water in a reusable aluminum container and a mint.  Very impressive and delicious.

Knowing the timing of Ol' Faithful, the crowds and traffic entering the Park. He made it his first stop. And he was right. This park attracts over 4 million visitors a year. I had to give him my Senior National Park Pass and license that he presented to the Ranger at the entrance...this after waiting about ten minutes in one of five entrance lanes for traffic to creep up to enter.  Yellowstone sits atop a super volcano, one of the largest active volcanic systems in the world. The Yellowstone Caldera is about 30 by 45 miles wide. Hopefully, these pictures will speak their thousand words.

Even before arriving at Ol' Faithful, left and right were the other-worldly fumaroles venting their gases which could be water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide. Our elevation now is about 7,365 feet above sea level.

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The predicted eruption was to be 10:49± a.m. give or take ten minutes. Gypsy dropped us off at the Visitor's Center and after the spectacle it was back to the bus and onward to the next site. 

A very impressive structure with loads of information for sale and as exhibits. Through the rear entrance, you followed the path that led to the boardwalk with benches surrounding the now dormant geyser. 

An "Interpretive Ranger" was giving a talk on his experience here at the park.

I arrived early but decided to sit on one of the benches and wait the forty minutes knowing these benches would be filled very soon. Here, the powerhouse is at rest, not impressive at all. The name "Old Faithful" was given by the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in 1870. The geyser was named for its consistent performance, which impressed the explorers.

A closer look. While Old Faithful is renowned for its regularity, the interval between eruptions isn't constant. It can range from about 60 to 110 minutes. 

The most and recent notable event that changed the eruption interval was the earthquake of 1959, the Hebgen Lake earthquake. This earthquake, which struck on August 17, near Hebgen Lake in Montana, had a magnitude of 7.3. It caused significant geological changes in the region, including within Yellowstone National Park. The earthquake also caused other geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone to change their behavior, with some becoming more active and others less so.

 

And before I knew it, the crowds grew...to the left of me and...

...to the right, every seat was taken.

At 11:02 a.m., in the moments preceding the eruption, with camera in my right hand and my iPhone in my left, I was ready.

Old Faithful is not the tallest geyser in Yellowstone. Steamboat Geyser holds that title, capable of shooting water up to 300 feet high, whereas Old Faithful typically reaches heights of 100 to 180 feet.

 Eruptions last between 1.5 to 5 minutes. During this time, Old Faithful expels between 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water.

 

The water expelled from Old Faithful is around 204°F, and the steam can reach temperatures of up to 350°F.

The underground reservoir that feeds Old Faithful is estimated to be about 180 feet deep. The water that erupts is thought to take hundreds of years to filter through the underground system before being heated and expelled. As Gypsy described it, the rock formation below the surface and above the reservoir of heated water has a hole about 4½ inches wide through which the heated water is expelled explaining the force behind the eruption.

The National Park Service and geologists use sophisticated monitoring equipment to predict Old Faithful's eruptions. These predictions are usually accurate within a 10-minute window.

As the crowds dispersed, it was back to the bus for the next stop, the Grand Prismatic Spring. Again, there's so much, follow the link for photos and details. 

Does this scene on the boardwalk remind you of recent events? The next day, at Biscuit Basin, the unexpected hydrothermal explosion made the news. 

From the Internet, it looks so much better from above. Next, Mudpots...

At another mudpot nearby

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A boiling mud lake

The park is home to a wide range of wildlife, including bison, elk, grizzly bears, wolves, and trumpeter swans. It’s one of the few places in the U.S. where all the major predators that roamed the land before European settlement still exist. This is one of only two bison I saw on the trip. As a matter of fact, they're the only TWO  wildlife I saw on my entire trip west.

The Yellowstone River was named by French trappers who called it "Roche Jaune," which translates to "Yellow Rock." This was a translation of the Minnetaree name "Mi tse a-da-zi," which referred to the yellowish sandstone along the river's banks.

The waters of the Grand Prismatic spring run into the Yellowstone River. 

The color of the banks is due to the algae that cling to the bank

Before moving on, this is the line waiting to use one of three "primitive" bathrooms.

Next on our tour was a stop at Pumice Point to view Yellowstone Lake and then on to the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, Lower Falls and Upper Falls.

A stop at the Continental Divide. Click on the link to learn more about it. The Continental Divide is at the backbone of North America's Rocky Mountains and stretches 3,100 miles across North America. It cuts through the northern section of Yellowstone National Park. It's the boundary separating waters that drain to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

This impressive mountain range governs the routes of significant rivers, including the Colorado River and Columbia River causing them to flow west and the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to flow east.

A large pond behind this waypoint was covered with lily pads...

...many of them ready to bloom. A beautiful sight.

At Yellowstone Lake, we stopped at Pumice Point. It got its name from the abundance of pumice found in the area. Pumice is a type of volcanic rock that forms when volcanic lava cools rapidly and traps gas bubbles, making it light and porous.

Yellowstone Lake is the largest high-elevation lake in North America. The lake sits at an elevation of 7,732 feet and covers 136 square miles. The average depth is about 139 feet, with a maximum depth of about 410 feet.

Pumice Point and the surrounding area have been used by Native American tribes for thousands of years. The region's rich natural resources provided materials for tools and other necessities.

The lake lies within the Yellowstone Caldera, a massive volcanic crater formed by a super volcanic eruption approximately 640,000 years ago. The lake's geothermal activity is a reminder of the ongoing volcanic processes beneath the park.

A glimpse out my window caught a car stopped and the huge brown figure blocking its path. Gypsy expected this. 

He said it was the same bull bison that around this same time seems to enjoy disrupting traffic. Today he was alone. This is the second bison I saw in my travels. 

My position in the bus did not allow for a decent shot.

And the final highlights of the tour. The incredible Lower Falls. My camera was kept busy trying to achieve that picture postcard shot. The zoom lens helped big time. Next to Old Faithful, the Lower Falls is the most photographed feature in the Park.

This is the first glimpse one gets when viewing from Artist's Point.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone: This stunning canyon is approximately 20 miles long and features colorful rock formations as well as the breathtaking Lower Falls, which plunge 308 feet. During peak runoff in late spring and early summer, the flow can reach up to 63,500 gallons per second. This is 1/10 the amount that flows over the Niagara Falls.

Geological Wonder: The river has carved out the stunning Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, a deep and colorful canyon that features the breathtaking Lower and Upper Falls, with the Lower Falls plunging 308 feet.

A member of the Washburn party in 1870, Nathanial P. Langford, used these words to describe his visit to this point:

“The place where I obtained the best and most terrible view of the canyon was a narrow projecting point situated two to three miles below the lower fall. Standing there or rather lying there for greater safety, I thought how utterly impossible it would be to describe to another the sensations inspired by such a presence. As I took in the scene, I realized my own littleness, my helplessness, my dread exposure to destruction, my inability to cope with or even comprehend the mighty architecture of nature.”

We then drove to the top of the Lower Falls to see the Upper Falls. Here the Yellowstone River will give you and an idea of the volume of water cascading down into the Canyon.

And there you have it. Just a scratching of the surface.  It was an excellent educational tour. The timing worked out, the spectacles outstanding and after Gypsy dropped off the ten other passengers, he drove me and Elena back to the KOA campground by 4:;30 p.om. When I got back to Winnie, all I could think of was how to get it all into a short blog. Short? Nope. Thanks for visiting though.

Tomorrow I travel to another KOA with another National Park nearby: Craters of the Moon in Arco, Idaho. See you there.

"There are no words to describe the grandeur of Yellowstone. One is awestruck by the sheer power and beauty of nature." ~Ansel Adams