August 2017: Epic "Roadtrip" Part I: Yellowstone/Grand Teton

Rainbow over Upper Mesa Falls

So here's the thing.  When you marry someone, you don't just marry them, you marry their family.  When I married The Hot Chick, I acquired a few more siblings.  I gained some extra brothers and a sister.  For me, I don't really see 'brother-in-law' or 'sister-in-law', I just see brothers and sisters.  We are all part of the family.

In August of 2017 we had a total eclipse of the sun.  My house was right in the path of totality.  Ground zero for eclipse folk.  There are people who spend thousands of dollars and lots of their free time chasing eclipses.  Who knew?  It seemed a bit weird to me, but it seemed like a once in a lifetime deal, so we got excited for it.  We convinced The Hot Chick's sister and her family to come to our house to witness it, then we shamed The Hot Chick's brother into coming here with his family.  He works really hard and is a business owner.  When you are a small business owner, you are never really sure if you own the business or if it owns you.  We convinced him that his children needed to have that experience and that it was a once in a lifetime deal.  So he came and brought his family.  We were glad he did.

Remember what I said about family.  I was only trying to establish the familial relationship.  I have been a member of The Hot Chick's family for a long time, and several of her siblings were young when I joined the family, one of her siblings has almost no memories of life before I was a member of the family.  So her siblings are my siblings.  My siblings are now her siblings.  It's a package deal.

All the news stations were predicting huge crowds of people in our town, at least three times the population coming for the eclipse.  Stores were selling out of lots of goods and there wasn't a hotel room to be had.  People were renting square footage in potato fields for people to tent camp.  It was crazy.

We convinced our family members who were travelling to come a few days early to beat the rush, and in return we'd go see some of the sights around and about.  Our brother hadn't been to Yellowstone since he had been a teenager, his kids had never been here.  We wanted to make sure they had a good time.

Mesa Falls Scenic Byway
The quickest route from our home to Yellowstone is along US 20, as I discovered in an earlier blog post is the longest continuous road in America.  You can dip your feet in the Atlantic and drive all the way to the Pacific and never leave US 20.  At the town of Ashton, Idaho a spur road called Highway 47 takes off to the east.  It might be the old highway to Yellowstone or it might be it's own thing.

HWY 47 dips down into Warm River Canyon where a fish preserve is located.  People feed the fish all summer long and some of the trout get up to two feet long, maybe longer.  Then the byway continues up a pass and descends into Bear Gulch.  Then it continues up to Lower Mesa Falls and then Upper Mesa Falls.  There are other things to see on this byway, but for this post, those are the things that matter

When we got to the trout preserve, the trout weren't feeding, but the only entity allowed to fish there was.  The osprey.  We ended up feeding the ducks instead.  Then we headed up to Lower Mesa Falls and Upper Mesa Falls.  I have written about all of this before, but this was the first visit for our brother and his family.  One of the things The Hot Chick and I love more than just about anything is taking first timers to see the sights.

If you get to Upper Mesa Falls at just the right time there is a magnificent rainbow effect that plays there.  We were able to see it on that day and it was magical.

The Fish Hawk in it's natural habitat.  I learned yesterday that an Osprey is a member of the hawk family.  I had thought
they were their own deal.

Fish hawk again

The only fish pic of the day

But the ducks were fed

Feeding the duckfish

Lower Mesa Falls from the overlook

We asked a stranger to take this group shot.  She took the photo and didn't steal my camera

Bears sometimes pose for tourists
(ok, so these aren't live bears, they are dead bears that have been posed to look like live bears)

Brink of the falls

Rainbow at Upper Mesa Falls

The Hot Chick and the nieces

Turkey vulture flying overhead.  Not sure if he was waiting for me or not

More Mesa Falls

Even more

Just before the Idaho/Montana border on US 20 is a pullout called Howard Spring.  My kids say it is the best water they have ever tasted.  Somewhere along the line the natural spring was tapped and they made a fountain for weary travelers.  There is a picnic area as well.  Sometimes we picnic there.

In 1877, just after the Battle of Camas Meadows, General Howard, in pursuit of the Nez Perce tribe stopped at this natural spring.  I don't know if he named it after himself or if someone else named it for him.  There was a pass through a narrow canyon to the Montana side.  Highway 20 follows along the Nez Perce Trail for a short distance here.  A hundred and forty-three years ago, though this canyon was bustling with hundreds of cavalry soldiers and their mounts as they pursued Chief Joseph and his people.

We just stop for the water.

The nephew and the nieces at Howard Spring, the best water on earth

Lewis Monkeyflower.  Merriweather Lewis is the first scientist to describe this flower in scientific literature.  It is named for him as many things are in the Louisiana Purchase and the Oregon Territory.  William Clark got to name a few things after himself too.

Yellow Monkeyflower.  Both the Lewis Monkeyflower and the Yellow Monkeyflower are found at Howard Spring annually.

Yellowstone:  Entrance to Old Faithful
I grew up in West Yellowstone, Montana.  Because my dad owned a theatre there, we worked at night, so having a long trip into Yellowstone didn't happen very often.  We usually had in and out trips.  That meant we went in to see Old Faithful often.  These days, when we visit the park, we spend most of our time on the upper loop.  We go to Mammoth, Norris, Canyon, Tower and The Lamar Valley.  Thing about it is, there is so much to see and so much to do in Yellowstone that you can literally go in after a thousand times and see something different.

That being said, when we bring newbies along, we start with Old Faithful, because you have to.  You have to see it at least once.

Firehole Falls, which I have photographed ten hundred million, billion times and will photograph it at least that many more times before I take the dirt nap

We always pose for a photo here.  Never gets old

Silex Spring on the Fountain Paint Pots Nature Trail.
This is what Morning Glory Pool used to look like before stupid people

I think this is Spasm Geyser on the Fountain Paint Pots Nature Trail

The Old Faithful Inn, the largest log structure in the world.  Take that, Texas and Russia!

Geo-thermal royalty.  The Big Kahuna, La Grande Fromage!
Old Faithful

Yellowstone:  The Million Dollar Room
So I said you could go to Yellowstone a thousand times and see something new every time.  It's true.  After Old Faithful erupted, we went on an obligatory visit to Hamilton Store because ice cream.  When we were hanging around looking at authentic Yellowstone souvenirs made in China, I saw a sign on the wall that talked about the "Million Dollar Room."  I asked an employee at the register what that was and she asked, "Would you like a tour?"

Hmmmm, let me think, "Uh, Yeah.!"  So Charles Hamilton was an early concessionaire in Yellowstone.  He may have had a monopoly at one time.  Jury's out.  His headquarters were in the upper rooms of the Hamilton Store at Old Faithful.  Hamilton saved every cancelled check he ever wrote for supplies and merchandise and when he had enough, he wallpapered his office with them.  Then he called it "The Million Dollar Room."  He had six rooms in the upstairs, but sadly his office is all that remains.  The National Park Service, though brought in a conservator to clean and stabilize the paper of the checks and then covered them with plexi-glass.  Now you may take a tour upon request.  Disclaimer:  The total dollars represented on the cancelled checks don't equal a million, more like 1.9 million.

You can always find something new.  Always

Charles Hamilton's original light

Some of the check wallpaper

The lights were low, so the pics are dark

And people in motion are fuzzy

I finally decided to use a flash

The final tally

Yellowstone to the South Entrance:  Waterfalls
When we planned this trip, we only planned up to Old Faithful.  We didn't have an exit strategy.  I don't know the reason, but we decided if one national park was good, then two would be infinitely better.  I did ask the nieces, "Which of your other uncles have taken you to TWO national parks in one day?"  Of course the answer was, "None."  Favorite uncle, right here.

We really just stopped at waterfalls from Old Faithful to the Southern Entrance.  First we stopped at Kepler Cascades.  Then we stopped at Lewis Falls and finally Moose Falls.  I have blogged about all of these waterfalls before.  Really, this trip was all about showing our family things they had never seen before.

Kepler Cascades

The family at Kepler Cascades

Lewis Falls.  Named for Meriwether Lewis of the famous Lewis & Clark expedition.  Contrary to popular belief, Lewis & Clark (or was it Clark and Lewis?) never explored Yellowstone.  If they had, they would have never left.

Stone bridge near Moose Falls

Moose Falls, one of my favorites

The family at the brink of Moose Falls

Grand Teton National Park
The Teton Range in Wyoming has often been called, America's alps.  There is a whole range of mountains that are over 11,000 feet above sea level.  They aren't the tallest mountains in the United States, but they may be the prettiest.  There is an Idaho side and a Wyoming side to the Tetons.  That doesn't mean the mountains are half in and half out, it means that when you view them from Idaho they are very different than if you view them from Wyoming.  The classical view is from the Idaho side, but most people who really experience them see them from the Wyoming side.  I am pretty sure the lonely Frenchman who named them was looking at them from the Idaho side.  It's the only side that makes sense.

Story goes, a lonely French trapper saw the mountains and proclaimed les trois tétons (which means the three teats).  What can I say, the west has some interesting place names.  There is a town in Idaho named Malad.  Story goes, a French trapper got sick while camping there.  Was it the same French trapper?  I don't know.  Food poisoning, and the whole camp got sick in ways that are unspeakable in polite company.  They complained about their malady at that location and then an English speaker shortened it to Malad.  So the story goes.  In fact, when I lived in Buffalo, New York I was told that a French trapper looked out over the Niagara River and proclaimed "Beau fleuve!"  Which means beautiful river.  Someone passing by thought he said Buffalo, even though there were no buffalo in what would be called Buffalo, New York.

Grand Teton is directly south of Yellowstone National Park and is connected to it via the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.  The parkway is managed by the National Park Service (NPS).  Really, the whole area is managed by them, but there are divisions of responsibility within the park service so they all do different things.  It doesn't make sense on the one hand, but the two parks are very different so I guess it's okay.  Grand Teton was carved and sculpted by glaciation whereas Yellowstone was born of fire.  Two vastly different landscapes separated by a mere 27 miles.

Grand Teton was established in 1929, the same year the stock market crashed and ushered in The Great Depression.  We still cared about beauty during that period.  From the north, coming from Yellowstone, the first body of water a traveler encounters is Jackson Lake.  It is a natural lake but a dam was built at one end before it became a park which raised the water level by 40 feet.  My understanding is that after the original park was created, lands were added to it when they became available.

For our trip, it was late in the day and we were headed home over Jackson Pass, so we just enjoyed the drive and didn't hike.  We stopped at Jenny Lake for the sunset because there may not be a more picturesque lake anywhere in the world.  There may be lakes that are equal but I've never encountered one that is superior.  At Jenny Lake, we ate a small picnic dinner and headed for home as the sun went down.

Jackson Lake almost at the golden hour

The marshlands

Our family

I've had something to say about place names in the last few blog posts.  This area I live in was discovered by and settled by creative, colorful, maverick people.  There was a trapper in the area named Andrew Henry who named everything he could in this area after himself.  Fort Henry I, II, and III, Henry's Lake, Henry's Fork of the Snake River.  Almost like a retirement plan.  The French guys who named things after body parts and functions.  Lewis & Clark named all kinds of stuff after themselves.  When you drive up to Northern Idaho, through Montana, you will cross over the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River at least ten times.

Then there was this other guy.  Richard Leigh.  Richard Leigh was a trapper and a relative latecomer to Idaho toward the end of the fur trade.  Leigh was a colorful character who trapped all over the area that is southeast Idaho and northwest Wyoming.  He especially liked the Tetons.  Leigh was an Englishman who came to the west to seek a fortune.  He was well liked in the trapping community and with the local settlers.  He married a Shoshone woman who had converted to Christianity, and her Christian name was Jenny.  There are two lakes in Grand Teton that are connected by a smaller narrow lake.  The northern lake is Leigh Lake which is connected to the southern lake called Jenny Lake by way of a small body of water called String Lake.  They are joined together for eternity.  All over the Tetons there are features named for Leigh and Jenny.  In southeast Idaho, near where I live there is a park named for Richard Leigh.  For this park, though they did not name it for his Christian name but rather his nickname.  It is called "Beaver Dick Park."

Jenny Lake at dusk.  There are a few days of the year that you can photograph the sun going down between the two
Mountains.  When there is smoke in the air or dust, the sunbeams through the gap are amazing.  Professional photographers
will camp in Grand Teton on those predictable days just to try to get that shot.  I've never taken that photo.  Some day maybe

See what I have to deal with?  I can't handle this much beauty

Mount Teewinot in the golden hour

So, I have titled this Epic "Roadtrip" even though our home was our homebase.  We didn't camp, we didn't stay in hotels, we stayed in our home.  We did set up a tent in the backyard and the kids slept back there.  So why call this a roadtrip?  I think I'm calling it that because of the epic nature of our staycation.  Our family certainly made a roadtrip to see us, but then we basically camped at our house and went all around the area waiting for the eclipse.  Everything about this felt like a roadtrip except the accommodations.  In the end, I guess I'm calling it an Epic "Roadtrip" because it's my blog and I can.


Epic "Roadtrip" Part II:  Lewis & Clark Caverns

Epic "Roadtrip" Part III:  Teton Dam

Epic "Roadtrip" Part IV:  Total Eclipse of the Sun

August 2019: Epic Roadtrip Part III: America's Stonehenge, Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming

Final approach to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel

Buffalo, Wyoming
Just before the Denver trip, I read a book by Louis L'Amour called, Bendigo Shafter.  The book took place in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.  Near the end of the book, the hero, Bendigo helped an elderly native man reach the Medicine Wheel, which was an ancient stone circle made by pre-historic native peoples.  The wheel itself has been dated at over 3000 years old but archaeological evidence suggests that this has been a sacred site for over 7000 years.

When our plans changed in Denver, I looked up the Medicine Wheel and realized that with only a slight detour, we could visit there.  I think we added an hour or maybe two to our trip to get to the site.  The detour took us through Buffalo, Wyoming.  We figured we would need to spend the night there.  When I was looking up accommodations I saw that there was a quaint little cabin motel left over from that wonderful time of motor travel after World War II.  Our country had spent a decade in The Great Depression and then half a decade in World War II.  When the war ended, American industry had boomed during the war and an era of unprecedented prosperity for almost all Americans followed.  Little cabin motels sprang up all over the west and especially near tourist sites.  The Blue Gables Motel was one of those.

When I was a boy, my parents bought a cabin motel in West Yellowstone, Montana called The Yelo-Pine Motel.  For me, staying in an old cabin motel was nostalgic.  The Hot Chick had never stayed in one before.  We are an adventurous lot and enjoy unique experiences.  If you like creature comforts and insist on staying in a five star hotel, then this is not for you.  If you enjoy having unique experiences and don't mind a little rustic living, then you should try it out.  As for me, I enjoyed the whole experience there.

We ate at The Bozeman Trail Steakhouse which felt pretty authentic, since this part of Wyoming was an historic area for cattle barons and rustlers and land wars of the old west.  More on that later.  After dinner, we went back to the motel and the proprietor had a fire going in the firepit in the common area.  I sat out with other guests for awhile and enjoyed the fire and the company.

The room wasn't anything special, other than being a cabin motel.  The floor was uneven and the bed was okay.  The bathroom was small.  And I was in nostalgia heaven.  It hearkened back to a more relaxed time, both for me and the country. I would stay there again.  Five Stars

The Blue Gables Motel.  Motel stands for Motor Hotel.  Didn't know if you knew that or not

Pretty rustic

And small.  I love the knotty pine paneling.  I had that same kind of paneling in my bedroom when I lived in the Yelo-Pine Motel

The Hot Chick in front of our cabin

They knew I was coming

The half round knotty pine logs added to the ambiance 

It was really enjoyable.  Virtually no creature comforts.  DID NOT CARE.  I really enjoyed staying there

Johnson County War
From 1889 to 1893, Buffalo, Wyoming and the surrounding area was part of a legendary range war.  In fact it was the last range war in the waning years of the old way, the old west.  There were cattle barons and poor settlers.  The cattle barons believed they had all the range rights and all the water rights.  The settlers also had claims on the range and the water.  The cattle barons decided that the settlers (squatters) were rustling their cattle.  That was a hangin' offense in the old west.  The barons hanged a man and a wife and accused them of thievery and prostitution.  That sent shockwaves through the community.

The barons are referred to in history as the WSGA (Wyoming Stock Growers Association).  The smaller ranchers formed their own organization called the NWFSGA (Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers Association.)  Their leader was a man called Nate Champion.  His story is the stuff of legend.

The WSGA identified about seventy people who needed to die and hired 45 or 50 gunmen from Texas and other places.  Nate Champion was on the hitlist.  The gunmen are known to history as "The Invaders."  Champion had survived an assassination attempt five months earlier.  He was the first target for the Invaders.  Champion and three other men were holed up at the KC ranch when the invaders arrived.  Two of the men were captured as they emerged to get water in the morning.  The third was shot as he emerged and Champion dragged him back into the building.  He died several hours later.

Champion kept a running diary of his ordeal that is poignant and sad.  He couldn't cover every angle all the time, and the bullets hitting his cabin sounded like hail.  One of his last entries mentioned that they were getting ready to fire the house.  He put his diary in his pocket, and with the house engulfed in flames, ran out with a pistol in one hand and a rifle in the other.  The invaders mercilessly gunned him down.  They left a note pinned to his bullet riddled chest as a warning to the other people on the hitlist.

One of the other people on the hitlist had passed by the KC ranch and saw what was happening, was fired upon by the invaders and led some of them on a merry chase.  When he got to Buffalo, he raised a posse of 200 men, most of whom were veterans of the United States Civil War or the more recent Indian Wars.  These were not simple farmers who cowered in fear of flashy gunmen in silk shirts.  These were hard men who had survived hard times.  The posse cornered the Invaders and the WSGA at the TA Ranch.  Those silk shirts didn't help The Invaders.  Several of them decided that the hazard pay wasn't enough and tried to flee.  They were shot to death as they did.  A local blacksmith quickly made a bullet proof covering for a wagon, dubbed the "Ark of Safety", and they were preparing to roll the wagon close to the farmhouse and throw dynamite into it.

One of The Invaders escaped and went to the fort and wired the governor for help.  The governor wired President Benjamin Harrison.  President Harrison sent the sixth cavalry to end the siege.  They arrived just in time because the "Ark of Safety" was just about to have it's maiden voyage.  The cavalry negotiated an end to the siege and took The Invaders into custody.  In the end, almost none of The Invaders nor any of the WSGA faced justice for their crimes.

As a side note, one of The Invaders dropped his gun from his bucking horse, and the rifle discharged, striking him in the leg.  He made it to the safety of the fort but died a few days later from gangrene.  Another of The Invaders died after his gun accidentally discharged and struck him in the groin.  I'm pretty sure they don't let you into heaven if you die that way.

In Buffalo, Wyoming there is a local museum that has many artifacts from the range war.  We went, and we enjoyed our time there, but I will not write a review, as they wouldn't allow pictures to be taken on the inside.  It's worth seeing.  It's interesting to spend a couple of hours reviewing the local history.  Buffalo, Wyoming has had a colorful history.  The TV series Longmire is set there.  Less talk, more rock.  Picture time.  These are all the photos I was allowed to take.

Nate Champion

Base of the statue

Looks heroic like this

On the museum grounds

The old apothecary which became the museum

Original school yard fence and gate from Buffalo, Wyoming.

Medicine Wheel Passage Scenic Byway
Between Burgess Junction and Lovell, Wyoming is a 47 mile scenic byway.  The byway travels up over mountain passes, and in the middle of the route is a turnoff for The Bighorn Medicine Wheel.  I will talk about the road in this section and will devote the last section to the Medicine Wheel, since it is the main event.  I will do it this way even though the Medicine Wheel is in the middle of the route.

There isn't much to say about the route except that it is quite pretty.  The road follows traditional migration paths of the early Native Americans.  The elevation of the road is between 9000 and 10,000 feet above sea level.  The air is thin and the scenery is beautiful.  I think I'm just going to show pictures and talk about them in the captions

Note the red rock layers in the center of the picture.  I am pretty sure this is a syncline 

The road gained elevation rapidly with switchbacks

More of the same

This is close to the 9000 foot level

Next time when we come, I think I'll hike up to that

Up above the tree line, tundra

The air was thin

Cairns on the mountain

I did hike over to these

Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran

Right at tree level

Somewhere close to Medicine Wheel

This is at a park past Medicine Wheel, heading west

Close to the end of the scenic byway

Bighorn Medicine Wheel
At about the halfway mark on the scenic byway, there is a dirt side road to a parking area for the Bighorn Medicine Wheel.  There is a small ranger station there.  This site is administered by the USDA and the National Forest Service rather than the National Park Service.  The site is sacred to many of the Native Tribes, especially the northern plains tribes.  When you visit, there is a possibility that a Native American ceremony could be taking place.  If that is the case, you are asked to stay back, to be respectful, and let the people worship and to not take photographs.  This is a reasonable request.

The hike is about a mile and a half round trip.  There is very little elevation gain, but if you are not acclimated to 9000 feet of elevation above sea level, it can be a little taxing.  The air is thin at that elevation.  When you get to the circle, you will see pits or quarries where the limestone was dug up for the creation of the circle.  This is by far the most famous of the thousands of such circles all across the plains and the mountains of the west.

There is a fence all around the Medicine Circle and a paved walkway around that.  There is access to the actual circle, but that is reserved for native peoples when they are worshiping.  There is no access for other people.  That is a good thing, because in the early part of the 20th century the circle was vandalized.  The central hub of the circle had been about six feet tall at that time.  Now it is about a foot to a foot and a half tall.  Something that had stood in place for 3000 years knocked over and destroyed by stupid people.  I guess you can tell how I feel about vandalism.

For me, at a site like this, I find it easy to feel reverent.  Even though I do not share all the same beliefs with the native peoples, I respect them and honor those who understand their place in the cosmos.  I hope other people would give me the same respect for my beliefs.  We are asked not to disturb offerings that are left at these sacred sites.  I have a friend who is a member of the Lakota tribe and I asked him once if it was okay to photograph the offerings left by the people in their worship.  He said it was fine if I were to be respectful.  I hope I have never broken that trust.  Here are the photos.

Interpretive materials

Interpretive materials

The trail over to the Medicine Wheel

Rock formations along the way

Looking out over the valley

More rock formations

The Hot Chick at the final stop before the ascent to the Medicine Wheel.  This is where you are asked to wait in the event
that people are performing ceremonies at the Bighorn Medicine Wheel

Interpretive materials

Interpretive materials

My totem animal

One of the quarries

Another of the quarries

The Medicine Wheel

Smaller rings around the outside of the wheel with offerings inside

Another small ring

Another small ring

This image gives the context of the smaller rings along the outside

More offerings

This place feels sacred to me

Prayer offerings out on the edge of this rock outcropping.  The drop is about a thousand feet on the other side

I was thankful we took the northern route instead of the southern route on this trip.  Seeing the Medicine Wheel was a very solemn experience for me.  I felt the same reverence her that I feel when I visit a church of a different denomination than my own.  I felt the same kind of sanctity here that I felt when I walked around the Via Dolorosa in a Catholic cathedral.  People trying to be better people through belief.  I have a hard time finding any fault with that.

We left the Medicine Wheel and headed to Lovell and then to Cody, and finally through Yellowstone to Highway 20 and ultimately to our home.  We didn't stop after the scenic byway, it had been a long trip and we were anxious to be home to sleep in our own bed.  We gauge our level of tired at the end of a trip by what it would take for us to stop and take pictures.  I would have stopped for Bighorn Sheep butting heads.  That's about it.  This was a wonderful trip, from the beginning to the end.  Epic.


August 2019:  Epic Roadtrip Part I:  Denver and The Rolling Stones

August 2019:  Epic Roadtrip Part II:  Rocky Mountain National Park