Driving east out of Yellowstone

This morning (Thursday), Terry and I left Mammoth Springs Hotel after avoiding the bison nursery in the front yard and headed east through the park. Although the road through Dunraven Pass was closed and the Route 212 outside the park and heading toward Red Lodge was also still snowed in, we wanted to exit the park via the northeast gate and head down to Cody, Wyoming...and that is what we did. (They are hoping to have those roads open to traffic on Friday.)

The drive along the northern edge of Yellowstone Park was mostly uneventful. The bison and elk were again up and out in large numbers for the morning show and we saw one pronghorn antelope within the park. We also got to see some of the marmots, an osprey on its nest and a few mule deer. Traffic? Non-existent. This may be the ideal time to visit the park. Kids are still in school and the weather is iffy so folks aren't in vacation mode yet. Those who are traveling are retirees, college students (who have just gotten out of school) and couples with out kids.

Anyway...back to the travel. We drove east, as I said, through Yellowstone Park and out into Shoshone National Forest lands, on to Cody and then across the basin to and over the Big Horn Range. Highways 296, 120 and 14 were our friends. We got to see where Chief Joseph and his band of Nez-Pierce escaped Howard's troops...again, before they headed up into Montana. We drove switchback after switchback first coming down out of Yellowstone through Silver Gate and Cooke City then climbing the Big Horn Range and then back down again. And the truck loved every second of it. Especially the downhill runs. It's been averaging 20-21 mpg in the high country. I might just have to ask the mechanic to adjust the engine to run lean.

We stopped frequently to admire the scenery, read the historical and geological markers and even stopped at the falls on the Shell River in the Big Horn Range just to walk around. Even so, we go as far as Gillette, Wyoming by 5:30 PM and decided to crash for the night.

A small herd of bison along the Lamar River valley in Yellowstone.
No rollerskating allowed.

A view in NE Yellowstone (I think)

Geology happened here!
Along the Shell River in Big Horn National Forest

More geology along the Shell

The falls on the Shell River