Going-to-the-Sun-Road - 11 August 2012

This romantically named road was carved out of the mountainsides in the 1930s and is now a National Civil Engineering Landmark, a National Historic Landmark and is on the Register of Historic Places, the only road in the US with all three designations.

The name comes from 2939m high Going-to-the-Sun Mountain which dominates the central part of the drive.

Apparently referred to as the Mt Everest of routes for motorcyclists, it is not really a patch on the alpine passes of Europe for driving fun, but a great drive, nevertheless.

There are ample pull-off places for photography stops but only one major carpark at Logan Pass.  The info says that the carpark is full by 10:30 and that was certainly our experience. Within 15 minutes of our arrival, there was not a park to be had and 2 hours later when we were about to leave the

"vultures" were circling ready to pounce on anyone looking like they were heading for a vehicle.  I considered offering our park on eBay but there was no 3G signal, scuppering a fantastic money-making proposition.

It is only 50 miles from end to end but photo stops and walks extend the trip to fill the bulk of the day quite easily.  To round off the day we drove north from St Mary to the booming metropolis of Babb (Pop. 1 horse) and then up to Many Glacier where we went bear hunting and if we had been lucky enough to capture a shot of

Goldilocks we could have completed the set as we were privileged enough to see a big old daddy grizzly and a mother black bear with a cub. Because we spent too long snapping the grizzly we missed the spectacle of a moose ambling over the road and swimming across the lake to the other side.  When we arrived the moose was still distinguishable on the far shore, about a kilometre away..

The bears were totally oblivious to their furiously snapping adoring public as they occupied themselves working their way through their quota of 100,000 huckleberries per day that they eat during the summer to prepare for the winter hibernation.

107 miles today, total trip 4833  States: Montana

Glacier National Park - 10 August 2012

Almost due north of Missoula is Glacier (or Glayshah, as the locals call it) National Park and the skies got bluer and the hills got clearer as we got nearer. Leaving Missoula there was a distinct change in the scenery almost immediately as the foothills had a slight tinge of green about them rather than the very dry brown of yesterday.

The first feature of note was Flathead Lake, the shores of which are the source of Flathead cherries, and which is the biggest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.  That is quite surprising as it is not really that large.

Following advice from the park Visitor Centre we took the free 12-seater shuttle bus up to the Avalanche Lake stop arriving about 1600 and set off on the 2.5m walk to Avalanche Lake.

Mindful of the time that the last shuttle left (1800) we romped past all the other walkers on the track - and there were plenty, stopped briefly to photograph and Elk (?) and got to the lake in time for a short rest and a few photos before making the downhill return trip.

Back at the shuttle bus stop at 1745 we were a little dismayed to see a queue of 24 people ahead of us.  Three shuttle buses arrived, already full and one actually added people to the queue.  It looked as though a situation was developing.  However, the bus organisers are obviously used to this problem and a 40-seater bus turned up to take us all back to base.

166 miles today, total trip 4726. States: Montana

Between fire and ice - 9 August 2012

"In a gorgeous locale surrounded by rolling green hills and pine forests and framed by snowcapped peaks, Bozeman is the coolest town in Montana"  Lonely Planet, USA

With a write-up like that why would you not detour to visit?   Reality was: In a fugg filled valley surrounded by mirky skies that completely obliterated any hills or forests that might exist, Bozeman was the most disappointing sight in Montana.

In fact, Montana all told has been disappointing.  We were promised exciting vistas and big skies but when the sky is full of smoke from local forest fires and the hills are burnt brown from the summer sun, the pallette is distictly uniformly boring drab.

However, before we got to Bozeman we had a delightful run up the Gallatin River valley where the hills were pine-clad and the river was crystal clear and the road was not too busy.  Although we started and ended in Montana, we briefly dipped back into Wyoming and back into Yellowstone National Park as we motored north.

Yesterday we crossed and re-crossed the Continental Divide as we motored the Grand Loop Road, but today we crossed it permanently and are now officially on the western, Pacific, side, just that little bit closer to home.

From Bozeman it was drab brown all the way to Missoula our stop between the fire of Yellowstone National Park and the ice of Glacier National Park and where we were introduced to Huckleberries in the form of Huckleberrry ice-cream.

310 miles today, total trip 4560. States Montana, Wyoming.

Yellowstone South Loop - 8 August 2012

Between the Park entrance and the loop road we saw two Golden Eagles down by the river, Even at that distance we could appreciate what huge birds these are. As we left the Park late in the afternoon,they were still there, still creating a traffic jam.

Heading south from Madison we took the Firehole Canyon Drive up beside the Firehole River, presumably along what used to be the main road. There were some attractive falls along the way to catch our attention and then it was on to the Lower Geyser Basin where the Clepsydra Geyser obliged with a display, not surprising as it is a fairly constant performer.

The Firehole Lake Drive is next, where the White Dome geyser played just as we arrived. Back on the main route our next stop was Midway Geyser Basin where one of the Yellowstone .jewels is to be found; the Grand Prismatic Spring. The colours here are quite stunning, just as well digital cameras have been invented otherwise the film cost would be ruinous!

The Biscuit Basin and Black Sand Basin provided a few more geothermal delights before we headed East to re-visit West Thumb in the sunshine rather than the rain we had on our last visit.

Passing Lake Village we entered the only section of the park roads that we had not covered and stopped at Mud Volcano where the star of the show was a lone buffalo right beside the road, less than two metres from the car, and it was possibly the same bison that came wandering up through the geothermal field that we were looking at later, nonchalantly crossing the boardwalk as it meandered off into the pines.

All the excitement at seeing a lone bison close-up pailed rather a few bends further on when there was an enormous traffic jam caused by bison crossing the road. There were hundreds in the valley as well providing a terrific spectacle for the hundreds of snapping cameras, smartphones, iPads and so forth. Eventually a Park Ranger had to arrive, lights flashing, to get the traffic moving again.

148 miles today, total trip 4250. States: Wyoming; Montana

Yellowstone North Loop -7 August 2012

Our first stop on our exploration of the north loop road was the Gibbon Falls which were more  a nearly vertical set of rapids as the water cascades down a series of rocks steps.   Just a little north of that was a 1/3 mile walk off the road to see the Artists Paintpots. For someone having grown up on the NZ Volcanic Plateau they were distinctly ho-hum, not really all that colourful but the best "boiling mud" we have seen in Yellowstone.

The next major feature is the Norris geyser basin where not a single geyser bothered to bestir itself for our viewing pleasure.  There was one feature spouting hot water a few metres into the air but as it never stops, it is not a geyser and as it spouts water, it is not a fummerole, it is sort of a non-entity.

There were some attractively coloured pools and the runoff areas are striking with the differently coloured thermophile organisms that inhabit these hot and/or acidic waters.

The northernmost point on the loop is Mammoth Hot Springs where the star attractions are silica terraces, mostly white but some stained a burnt orange colour.  From here the scenery changed quite dramatically and as we had now travelled outside the extent of the old caldera there was no significant geothermal activity.

This canyon is really quite spectacular with the Upper (30m) and Lower (90m) Falls crashing through a narrow eroded valley with wonderful colours on the valley walls resulting from the geothermal activity.

After climbing 150m down into the canyon on the Uncle Tom's Trail we were surprised to see that we were still around 50m above a largish patch of ice.  It is amazing, even though we are over 2600m above sea level, given the daytime temperatures that some winter ice could still last through the summer.  Wandering along beside the ice was a lone beaver.

Finished with the southern rim of the canyon, we explored the same views from the northern rim enjoying the colours created by the late afternoon sun.

160 miles today, total trip 4103. States:Wyoming