Day Thirty Nine
Back to sunshine for the drive out of Yellowstone. Packed up the wet tents and headed out the east gate of the park. We traveled on another part of the ring road out of the park. We first passed the mud volcanoes with the Green Dragon. Most interesting is that the Bison really like to be near these hot springs as you can see by the picture. As we drove by the St Mary's meadow we finally saw a herd of Bison. Along Yellowstone lake which is at a very high elevation and the top of the lake is cold, but the bottom of the lake has some hot springs so is most likely warm, a great habitat for trout. Fly fishing in Yellowstone and area is very popular and is the only type of fishing that is allowed. Yellowstone is not a place to bring your dog. In any of the Geothermal areas, dogs are not allowed and basically you have to stay on the path as a hot spot can come up over night. The prairie areas with the prickly pear cactus would not be good on the paws.
Most of Yellowstone is in Wyoming and out the east gate we arrive in the Shoshone National Forest of Wyoming. Beautiful Rocky type mountains make way quickly to red rock chiselled mountains. Lots of guest ranches in this area and would be a great place to go trail riding. Wyoming is the 9th largest state in area, but has the least population not much more than 500,000 people. The state sport is Rodeo, and boy you really know that you are in cowboy country. We stopped in Cody on the other side of the Buffalo Bill Dam and had lunch at Bubba's BBQ. A great spot for lunch; the ribs, steak, potato salad were fantastic. We went downtown and did some window shopping. They have a nightly rodeo in Cody so next time we have to spend the night. We also did a Geocache on the way out. We left our Geocoin that we picked up in Dinosaur park and picked up a travelbug that wants to go to Maryland so we will take it to Chicago.
We travelled in Wyoming through their oil patch, ranch and prarie lands. A hot day for sure. He wanted to stay in the Big Horn National Forest which is in another highland area. We stopped at a lovely campground called Sitting Bull. Our site backed on to a mountain meadow. In the distance we could hear something making noise and it was hard to figure out. Our neighbours a few sites down were sitting on their lawn chairs staring out into the meadow. Margot spotted what looked like a sheep and a couple of lambs in the middle of the meadow. A few minutes later we finally discovered the cause of the noise as a large herd of sheep came around the corner at the top of the meadow. Our next door neighbours explained that the herd arrived last week and there were about 800 sheep. They had 3 very friendly sheepdogs and a shepherd that lived in a trailer at the top of the road. They were usually brought later in the summer, but because of the wet spring and the grass was high they came early. They told us that by the morning the sheep and dogs would most likely be right in camp. The girls went off to watch them while Stewart and Margot set up camp and made dinner. After dinner the four of us went for a walk and on our way back to camp one of the dogs came running over barking, tail going a mile a minute. He slunk up to us and immediately dropped and rolled over for a belly rub. The next two came over shortly. It looked like two young brothers with a older more disiplined leader. Back to camp we stopped by the neighbours. The girls went to bed and Stewart and Margot stayed up talking way too late with our neighbours. When we went to bed it was a beautiful starry night but one of the most cold nights that we had.
Yellowstone National Park (morning)
Bison by a hot spring (Yellowstone National Park)
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone Lake (Yellowstone National Park)
On the way through Wyoming
View from our campsite in the Big Horn National Forest
Most of Yellowstone is in Wyoming and out the east gate we arrive in the Shoshone National Forest of Wyoming. Beautiful Rocky type mountains make way quickly to red rock chiselled mountains. Lots of guest ranches in this area and would be a great place to go trail riding. Wyoming is the 9th largest state in area, but has the least population not much more than 500,000 people. The state sport is Rodeo, and boy you really know that you are in cowboy country. We stopped in Cody on the other side of the Buffalo Bill Dam and had lunch at Bubba's BBQ. A great spot for lunch; the ribs, steak, potato salad were fantastic. We went downtown and did some window shopping. They have a nightly rodeo in Cody so next time we have to spend the night. We also did a Geocache on the way out. We left our Geocoin that we picked up in Dinosaur park and picked up a travelbug that wants to go to Maryland so we will take it to Chicago.
We travelled in Wyoming through their oil patch, ranch and prarie lands. A hot day for sure. He wanted to stay in the Big Horn National Forest which is in another highland area. We stopped at a lovely campground called Sitting Bull. Our site backed on to a mountain meadow. In the distance we could hear something making noise and it was hard to figure out. Our neighbours a few sites down were sitting on their lawn chairs staring out into the meadow. Margot spotted what looked like a sheep and a couple of lambs in the middle of the meadow. A few minutes later we finally discovered the cause of the noise as a large herd of sheep came around the corner at the top of the meadow. Our next door neighbours explained that the herd arrived last week and there were about 800 sheep. They had 3 very friendly sheepdogs and a shepherd that lived in a trailer at the top of the road. They were usually brought later in the summer, but because of the wet spring and the grass was high they came early. They told us that by the morning the sheep and dogs would most likely be right in camp. The girls went off to watch them while Stewart and Margot set up camp and made dinner. After dinner the four of us went for a walk and on our way back to camp one of the dogs came running over barking, tail going a mile a minute. He slunk up to us and immediately dropped and rolled over for a belly rub. The next two came over shortly. It looked like two young brothers with a older more disiplined leader. Back to camp we stopped by the neighbours. The girls went to bed and Stewart and Margot stayed up talking way too late with our neighbours. When we went to bed it was a beautiful starry night but one of the most cold nights that we had.
Yellowstone National Park (morning)
Bison by a hot spring (Yellowstone National Park)
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone Lake (Yellowstone National Park)
On the way through Wyoming
View from our campsite in the Big Horn National Forest
posted by Winter Family Web Logs at 3:39 PM
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