Day 2 started with me waking up in Gillette, Wyoming after crashing hard from the night before. I knew it was going to be a long day as Google Maps projected a 10 hour driving day so I made sure I woke up on the right side of the bed to make it a wonderful day. And for the most part it was.
I get on the Interstate and already I know this is going to be a good day (even though I was still having the mountain v. hill argument in my head). The scenery in Wyoming is friggin gorgeous. And after looking at a map, I realized that I drove clear across Wyoming so I got to see a lot of its scenery. From the red dirt near Gillette to all the mountains and forests around Cody, it was awesome. Which kind of surprised me because usually what I love the most about scenery is water - lakes, waterfalls, rivers, etc. Wyoming had none of that (which adds more to the beaches of Cheyenne perplexity). I really don't know how to explain it - hills and valleys of greenness everywhere. It was one of those moments that I didn't think to take pictures or videos because I didn't want to share it with anyone - this was just for me and my prize for surviving the day before. It was my happiness to relish in that moment. 
I start getting closer to Yellowstone National Park as signs start popping up advising which route to take. I will tell you this, when the signs start saying stuff like "Yellowstone National Park Fastest route take Route 16" "Yellowstone National Park Scenic route take Route 16" I start to ask myself what route did I choose and where was I going to end up. But then I saw the sign that says "Yellowstone National Park Safest route take Route 16", I panicked a little. I mean, what route *did* I choose when I made my plan? And the problem with not having gps is if you go off script of a printed off map, getting lost increases in probability. Which is something I did not want to experience as I constantly told myself I was lost. Just telling yourself you are lost is totally different than actually being lost. But I keep plugging along, having faith in my handy map print off and knowing that at some point I will end up where I am supposed to be.
I am so glad I took the route that I did. I do not know what the other 'scenic' route was but mine was pretty friggin scenic. I get off the interstate and start driving, getting closer and closer to mountains and trees. Something that I love. I drive through this town called Dayton and I tell myself that I am going to move to Dayton, Wyoming and work in the Crazy Woman Saloon. HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!!!!!! It seems perfect really. So I keep driving and suddenly I find myself at the entrance of Bighorn National Forest and my car start driving up.
And up. And up. I was driving up a mountain. A very very high mountain. And the road was hair pin turns and twists and SO MUCH FUN!!!! There was little pull outs to take pictures and see how high up you were and it was crazy to look down and see where the road started from and where I was standing. I think at one point in time an elevation sign said something like over 8000 feet. It was nutso. Driving through Bighorn was beautiful and I thought of my brother and how he should go camping here as that would be gloriously wonderful. Getting near the end of driving through the Forest you have to start driving down (cause you know, going up is one thing, but one has to go down as well) and again, some road signs started to give me a little anxiety. The sign said "10% grade over 13 miles" so I think to myself, that is nothing. Then right under that sign is said "sharp curves" and under that one it said "beware falling rocks" and under that one it said "road damaged". I figured that if we weren't on the side of a mountain the next sign would have said "animals crossing everywhere" for good measure.
I get out of the Forest and start plugging along, passing little towns everywhere. And then I hit Cody. And decide this is the town that I want to live in. It is totally based and themed around Buffalo Bill Cody and it looks so much fun!!! I would love to go back and spend a couple of days there alone because you can go on trail rides, I think I saw a stage coach ride or something and the day I was driving through had the rodeo that night (I almost decided to abandon all plans for the day and stay for the rodeo but then figured that hotel rooms were probably pretty scarce). The town is kind of built on a mountain with a crevice/canyon/river flowing through it. It was pretty neat. And right outside of Cody is Buffalo Bill State Park which is gorgeous as well. And I went through 2 mountains. Went through. Not up. Not down. But through. It was awesome!!!!! And passed this huge reservoir/lake and the houses on the hills were magnificent and gorgeous!! Definitely would be an amazing place to live. There weren't that many places to pull over and take pictures but it is definitely a wonderful place to go check out.
I leave Buffalo Bill State Park and find myself in Shoshone National Forest and again, it is gorgeous. I went through so many Parks and Forests but they were all so glorious and beautiful. I am glad for all the signs as I never knew where one Park was ending and another Forest was beginning. But I was thinking to myself that I was making some good timing and that I would be able to spend some time in Yellowstone and actually appreciate that park. Basically Shoshone turned into Yellowstone and before I knew it, I was at the gates of Yellowstone and entering it.
I will have to admit, I was a little let down at first when going through Yellowstone. I felt like Bighorn, Buffalo Bill and Shoshone were all more foresty than Yellowstone but then when I looked at the map of Yellowstone I realized that there were a lot of little things to look at in Yellowstone, like the geyers, water falls, rapids and stuff like that. Not so much treed areas but other areas. So I was content. For the time being. My first stop was to hit Old Faithful (which I kept wanting to call Old Yeller). Traffic was a little busy and finding parking was close to impossible but I finally got there, got out and stretched my legs and walked down to see Old Faithful. And I made it in good timing as I got there about 10 minutes before it went off. It was kind of cool to watch and something that I have never seen
before so that was cool. However, I will say this - Yellowstone has a lot of geysers and if you seen one, you have seen them all. If the Park was smart, they would put food coloring in all the geysers and make it a game for people to mark off and find all the different colors and when they leave the Park they get a prize for participating. That would make the geysers a little more interesting. Don't get me wrong, they are cool but kind of boring.
After Old Faithful I head up to other places of Yellowstone - saw some natural hot springs, some falls, lots of trees. There was one point that I was driving down a mountain, with no guardrails, hair pins curves and I thought to myself 'do they not put up guardrails so that people have to be vigilant drivers? Does the lack of guardrails make for less accidents??" I also saw yet another sign that made my heart stop for a moment. This sign said 'falling rock'. Not rocks plural. Just rock. Single rock. Does that mean that the entire friggin mountain is coming down in one swoop, in one mass?? Cause that would suck big time.
I decide that I wanted to hit all the junctions at Yellowstone since I was there and making good timing. I got up to Tower Falls (WHICH WERE AMAZING) and I hear the thunder in the distance and think to myself 'cool I get to see a rain storm on a mountain'. Don't ever think this. Ever. You may think it would be pretty cool. But kind of isn't. At all. But I still think I can make it up to the last junction which is further up the mountain and on the other side. So I start treking that way. And it starts raining. So I just think to myself that I will slow down but all will be well. Right when I think to myself that I am driving right into the storm the wind picks up (remember - on a side of a mountain with no guardrails), the rain increases to the point that my wipers can't really keep up (and I am on the side of a mountain with no guardrails) and then it starts to
hail. That is when I say to myself 'I don't need to see ALL the junctions. I have seen enough. All is good' and I turn around. And drive for a bit but then come up to a road that has a gate and that gate is closed. With a sign that says 'severe weather - road closed'. So now I am stranded on the side of the mountain with no guardrail while a storm is coming through. The park rangers were directing traffic to get as far into the mountain as we could and then we just had to sit and wait for the storm to lighten up enough for us to continue on down/up the mountain. Thankfully I brought a book as we sat there for about 1 hour. And since I was one of the first ones who got to the gate, I was lucky enough to be parked under some trees (lucky in that no hail was really hitting my car but then I thought that if a tree or branch fell on my car how would that insurance claim go). It was really pretty but also kind of scary. And another thought I had was 'my mama would be so proud that I didn't continue on into the storm and actually had the common sense to turn around'. Once the storm lessened up enough for the roads to be open again, I thought it best to just get out before another storm hits. And that is when I got stuck behind a car from California who was doing 15mph going UP a mountain. UP. Not because that is all the car could do. No. Because it was raining. Which I understand. But do you how hard it is on a car and one's patience to go UP a mountain at 15mph. It sucks. Big time. I took another hour just to get from the junction I was at to the exit I needed to continue on my way to Helena. But I finally got out of the park and kept going my merry way. Which I thought was only going to be another hour or so. I was wrong. So wrong.
Helena was another 2.5 hours away. And by this time it was already 8pm. But I figured, what the hell, enjoy it while I can and I did. I drove through yet another forest (can't remember the name of this one) and enjoyed a gorgeous Montana sunset. It was so pretty. But then it got dark. And animals started coming out. That last hour of driving was kind of nerve wracking as it was pitch black, I was driving on unknown roads and I was getting tired. Thankfully I made it to my hotel and just conked out.
Overall it was a gorgeous day of driving. Saw so many mountains/hills, forests, water falls and lakes. I would definitely do that drive again. I was in heaven. And up in the clouds. And just not caring what was happening in life and being in that moment. It was a marvellous feeling.
No comments:
Post a Comment