The Trip West (and a Thank-You! to the TDR Group)

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 12

Day 12 was spent hiking in the Black Elk Wilderness of the Black Hills NF. They took a trail to Mt. Harney - there is a really cool stone fire tower at the peak. This is a very popular trail; saw lots of people out. There are chipmunk at the top who are accustomed to humans - my son fed them off his hand. Pretty nice country. My wife says she likes it more than Yellowstone/Grand Teton. Don't see that myself, but looks great to me.

 

[GAmes]

We are planning our next excursion to Glacier Natl. Park in MT. I wasn't aware of the Wind Cave Park until now. Thanks for the side trip idea. Since you are going to Yellowstone I suggest a day at the Thermopolis, WY dinosaur museum if you are into that sort of thing. There are several campgrounds in the area.

 

[BarryG]

Russell5000
Looking like a great trip with good weather, jealous as could be, great trip with the family. As far as the mountain goats I have pictures of goats licking my truck and actually chewing on my floor mat in the truck. My son and I took a little excursion to some old mining ruins up above Georgetown and you get up high and overlook the valley below Greys and Torreys peaks on a cliff edge. So we stop to get out and check out the view and down just below us are some 1/2 dozen kids (baby goats) and a few adults on the cliff side with a 1000 foot sheer drop. While we are checking out the view and oogling over the goats we stumbled on unbeknownst to us another band of goats had ambled up to the truck which was behind us. We turn around and there they are about 20 of them all around the truck and the immediate area. Mind you we are only about 30 feet away and at times they walked within 10 feet of us and I had left the door open as we were only going to be there a couple minutes. A few licked the truck and one even stuck his head in the door and was licking/chewing my floor mat. While cool as heck it was a bit unsettling as we had no place to escape them as I parked on a little bump out of the cliff edge and they sort of had us penned in with no where to go except over the cliff which was a no go. Cliffs may be fine for goats but not me. Their spikes look awfully long, sharp and dangerous up close. They appear to be nothing but slabs of muscle and white hair with black spikes, eyes and nose. I have since gone up several more times over the years looking for them and they have appeared again a few times close but not that close.
Enjoy the rest of your trip it is looking awesome

 

[RUSSELL5000]

GAmes, I enjoy exploring caves. Wind Cave sounds quite unique and worth a look. I looked at the map for Thermopolis, WY; quite a jog out of the way of the planned path. However, quite a bit of time in the Yellowstone area.

BarryG, I am kind of envious as I have never had an opportunity to see mountain goats myself. But, yes, I think being surrounded by that many so close would be intimidating. I was on a trail once and came around a giant boulder to find a bull moose standing there - talk about intimidated! I would still like to see the goats.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 13

Day 13 was spent with a nice bicycle ride on the George S. Mickelson trail; the part near Custer, SD. My wife was proud of herself as she changed the tube in one of her bike tires by herself - I have shown her a number of times but I always ended up doing it. She had told me it was flat and I said to just put a new tube in; she said she was going to patch. She got the tube out and there was a two inch long split along the seam. No patching that!

The Mickelson trail is an old railroad bed converted to a trail; roughly 110 miles long; looks beautiful. Said the weather was in the middle 70s and sunny - a perfect day.

The last day in the Black Hills and the last day in South Dakota. Not quite two weeks and 2,200 miles on the truck.

An odd thing: filled up the truck in anticipation of travel the next day; diesel fuel was $2.69 and gas was $2.94. Here in northwestern Pennsylvania diesel fuel is $3.09 and gas is $2.95. My experience is that diesel is more expensive; obviously, that varies around the country.

The stay at the Black Hills was at Big Pine Campground just outside Custer, SD. My wife said she loved the campground - not a big place, but a great campsite and the folks running the place were super.

 

[Jim W]

Russell;
I have been filling up my truck and my wife's VW TDI between $2.54 and $2.79 a gallon since Jan 2015 of this year in the Chicago land area. With gas being almost $0.30 to $0.40 a gallon more than diesel.

Jim

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Jim W., that is interesting. Sounds like it is more common than I thought. More capability, better fuel economy, and lower fuel cost. Makes the payback period on a diesel versus gasoline cost difference short. I need to see why diesel costs more around my area. I am guessing taxes.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 14

Day 14 was a travel day - leaving the Black Hills behind and continuing west. A short travel day, as the stop for the night is Devil's Tower. I want to see this some time. They spent the morning on the road - straightforward two lane highway - and the afternoon hiking around.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 15

Day 15 was a travel day from Devil's Tower to Billings, MT. We decided to take the long way on I-90 up through Montana rather than crossing the Big Horn mountain range and approaching Yellowstone from the east.

The plan was to stop at the Little Big Horn Battlefield as it was right along the way. My wife said the parking lot was completely full and people had parked everywhere, almost blocking the road. They tried to drive around on the loop road, and it was clogged with traffic. My wife said it was a bad experience driving.

It turns out that this weekend is a reenactment. There were all kinds of folks there preparing. We did not even know about it. Here is a cavalry group practicing.

Wish we had more flexibility in travel - something to think of for the future.

An easy drive on the interstate up to Billings.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 16

Day 16 was a travel day from Billings, MT to West Yellowstone. West on I-90 and then south on US 191 in Bozeman, MT. Beautiful drive south from Bozeman. Easy route. Had to stop for about twenty minutes while a helicopter carried a cable from one peak to another across the gorge. Arrived and set up camp. The first half of travel is complete. So far just short of 3,000 miles, truck and trailer have worked great.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 17

Day 17 was the first day to explore Yellowstone. My son was really looking forward to seeing elk, and so they went up to Mammoth Hot Springs. Did an afternoon hike and a lot of stopping and looking at things along the way.

Here are some elk relaxing in the shade at Mammoth.

Here is a thermal pool.

I am not sure when I would get tired of Yellowstone. The NPS website says there is 1,100 miles of developed trail alone - at my preferred ten miles a day that would be whole summer for me. I am thankful that those who came before sought to set it aside. I am encouraging my wife and son to hike consistently.

 

[RUSSELL5000]

Day 18

Day 18 was a nice hiking day. The weather was clear and warm - high in the middle 80s. My wife and son did the ten miles. Went on a trail that bordered a river and saw some trumpeter swans. Stopped for lunch at this cool waterfall.

The trail curved around a rock face and into an open field. They had their "dinner bells" on their staff and were not quiet. I am sure this fellow out in the field about 100 feet away heard them - he just didn't care. My son said he thought it was an odd boulder out in a field by itself - and then the tail twitched. I have seen video of people walking up to bison. I think i"ll give a couple thousand pounds of hide, born, bone, and muscle plenty of space.

Let me know if this is too much as far as pictures go - I could look at a lot more of Yellowstone before I get tired of them.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Russ I for one would not get tired of them. Keep 'em coming