Day 3: Sheriden, WY: 331.5 miles; 6:45 drive time

We had a big decision this morning: whether to go to Yellowstone or not.  We have a history with Yellowstone.  On one of our trips back from Kansas, I insisted we go through Yellowstone (because we were so close).  Only problem was we ended up going through the park on the 4th of July--very bad idea. Traffic was slow, bumper to bumper, and Jim was very unhappy.  I had to beg to stop at Old Faithful.  On the road north, one of the cars in front of us suddenly stopped in the middle of the road,  blocking traffic in both lanes and jumped out to take a photo of an elk that Jim thought was definitely anorexic. Jim has never let me forget this trip.  So...  Well here we were again - so close.  And it wasn't the 4th of July, so I thought I could redeem myself.  Jim unenthused  finally said OK.  So at 8:30 we headed south on highway 89 to Yellowstone, North Entrance.

Things started out fine.  There was hardly any traffic and the road was good.  When we got to Gardiner, however, we ended up in a caravan including several large RV's heading towards the entrance.  At the entrance we chose a separate line from the RV's, but happened to be behind a traveler who got out of his car and wanted to talk to the ranger.  An RV slipped in front of us and Jim began to grumble.  Fortunately the RV soon turned off at the RV campground.

We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs to take a walk.  They had a lot of boardwalk paths.  You couldn't walk on the ground because of the scalding water close to the surface.  Signs warning you to stay on the paths mentioned the number of people who were scalded to death.  It was effective.

 We walked for about an hour and Jim made it to the top.  Very impressive.  Steamy water everywhere.  The park itself reminded me of the Pacific Northwest, only difference was that wherever there was water, there was steam somewhere - even around the large Yellowstone Lake.  Jim had seen a documentary that said that essentially the whole park is really the caldron of an ancient gigantic volcano and if it ever erupted again it could take out the entire West.  Somewhat mind blowing to think that we were driving around  inside a volcano.

We decided to forgo Old Faithful this time and take a short cut to the East exit hoping to avoid some traffic.  So we turned left onto Norris Road and immediately began to climb.  The roadmap did not indicate that we would be going over a pass, but we noticed a sign that warned of an 8% grade.  And up we went.  We ended up at 8291 feet (according to Miss Direction) and snow coated trees.  It was very pretty - and practically no traffic.

On the other side of the pass, we joined the circle road and headed south.  Then we sited our first wild life, a bison grazing on the golden grass.  Jim couldn't stop (memories of the anorexic elk), so no pictures.  Then around the bend (where there was a place to park)  we saw another one.  So I quickly jumped out with my camera to join a small group of folks taking pictures.

We later passed several groups of people stopped, pointing, and taking pictures.  I told Jim we should stop at an empty spot and just point our cameras in some direction and see how many people would stop too.  We also ran across another area of pointing that had several park rangers involved.  I caught a glimpse of a black bear in the distance.

We passed several fields that had a number of bison grazing in the distance.  We ended up at Fishing Bridge and Yellowstone Lake.  It is a beautiful and large lake with steam rising up from the beach.



We headed toward the East exit and found ourselves in a narrow winding road in an area that had obviously been devoured by a recent forest fire.  Snow was clinging to the burned out tree trunks and it was very picturesque. There was a lot of evidence of previous fires, most was recovering nicely.



  As we were traveling down the windy road, Jim said, "Look!"  Lumbering down the other side of the road, going in our direction was a huge buffalo.  Jim slowed the car and rode for a while along side the animal as I grabbed my camera.

As Jim drove away, we spotted a car coming the other way (on the same side of the road as the bison).  The woman had her camera positioned on top of the steering wheel as she drove toward the animal.  When we got to the entrance, Jim mentioned to a ranger that there was a bison on the road, but he didn't seem interested.  Must be common here.

We headed east out of the park on Highway 14 to Cody.  Cody has a population of 9520, and elevation of 5095 ft. It was founded in 1896 by Co. William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.  The highway we were on (14/16/20) is called the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway.  It is billed as the most scenic 52 miles in America.  It was pretty, but I don't think the person who coined that had ever been to Arizona or Utah.  The landscape was similar, but without the color.  Sort of the black and white version.


There were numerous signs telling us to "Watch for Falling Rock."  Jim wondered why it wasn't "rocks."  He thought it sounded like there was just one rock in all of Wyoming that would fall on you.  We did see multiple rocks along the road that had obviously fallen.  Cody has a "dug-up-gun" museum (old civil war guns), a famous rodeo, and a bustling downtown that is very western and very metro we thought for a town this remote.

After Cody the country flattens out and as Jim said, "Looks like the Wyoming that we remember."  That is, south Wyoming -- we have never traveled north Wyoming before.  Shortly after leaving Cody, we passed an Amish  horse and buggy along the road.

In about 50 miles we were in Greybull (population 1847; elevation 3788)  Greybull is named after an Indian legend about a great albino bison that inhabited the area.  After Greybull we headed up scenic highway 14 which would take us over the Big Horn Mountains.  We could see the mountains rising up on the horizon.  The road is nice, but slow as there are many switch backs as the road goes up to over 9000 feet to get over the mountains.  The scenery is fantastic.  It reminded me of Zion National Park in Utah.

We made good time until the last 15 miles when we found ourselves behind a horse trailer that wouldn't pull over -- but he eventually turned off.  So all in all it was a great drive.

We stopped in Sheriden (with an "s") (population 17,404; elevation 3724) for the night.  Sheriden is half way between Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore.  In 1866 the area was an unreserved National Native American Territory.  A number of tribes occupied the area and fought to keep the white man out of their hunting lands.  This culminated in the battle at the Little Big Horn which was fought just outside the current city.  After the wars ended, Sheriden was incorporated and became a prominent cattle ranching, farming, and coal mining area.

We are staying in a hotel that was originally an old mill.  Got the last downstairs room.  I asked for a good place to eat and was directed to an establishment on Main Street.  As we headed that way, we noticed a sign that said Main Street was closed due to the Third Thursday Event.  So we parked and took our walk down Main Street.  It was quite the affair, with a band and a number of booths in the middle of the road.  Looked like all of Sheriden were there.  One thing of note about downtown is the number of bronze statues they have on display.  They have a number that were donated and some that are on loan and "for sale" (none under $10,000).  A very nice town.  We couldn't find the restaurant, so asked Miss Direction to find one for us. Ended up at a grill inside the Best Western Hotel.  Jim has had bad experiences with restaurants in hotels, but to our delight, the food was really good.

We are back at the hotel, but Jim is having bandwidth problems with the DishAnywhere.  So he will have to wait to see his football till tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will head for Mount Rushmore and hope the presidents are out of the fog this time.  Then on towards Iowa.