Day 85 Wyoming 2nd day Yellowstone
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
92
205
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Cody,
Wyoming,
United States
Thursday, July 31, 2008
We set off to travel through Yellowstone and head to Cody in Wyoming. We were instructed at the entry gate about the road closure in place, a result of the fire we encountered yesterday.
This closure forced us to take the route to the North East entrance, towards Wyoming and travel a longer route than planned.
The eagle that created a mini traffic jam yesterday was still causing the same disruption, as of yesterday we moved right on.
We bypassed a few hot pools and hot bubbly bits, stopped for a photo at the Roaring mountain, quite interesting and more "smokes" than the "Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes" in Alaska.
The road became a lot more scenic than the "lower section" of the park
At Last a real herd
. We came around a corner and yeehaaa! A Bison, they are not Mythical, they are real, this guy was by himself and was settling in to rest, we became part of the "bison traffic jam" and managed some shots of this great beast.Roll on the Castle at last feeling that maybe Yellowstone is not too bad after all, we have seen a bison! After a couple of more miles we spotted a large black moving animal out on the plains, quietly walking along, we stopped and tried some zoom photos and we spot a 2nd bison as well, gee we are nearly at herd stage!
Ok moving on, then before long we come around a corner and gee there they go, no kidding the herd we saw was at first glance around 100 -120 animals, we stopped to get photos and spot another herd or possibly a section of the first comprising another 100-150 animals. WOW we have done it! Yellowstone has satisfied our dream, not only that we roll on and have to give way to a single large bison walking down the road, we stop and it meanders along and walks past Karon's window at a distance of about 2 paces. Gee what an experience!
On we go and find a turn out that has a "facility" (we mentioned them yesterday) this is a place to unload horses for those that wish to ride in the park. As Karon prepares lunch Rick heads over the terrain to take some photos of another herd of bison we had spotted as we pulled in,(yes the 3rd) with Karon explaining "loudly" we don't want to see returning at a great rate running ahead of a herd of Bison
Does this Elk NOT realize this is a town
! "be careful"The herd was slowly walking along grazing on the other side of the river and fishermen waiting on the bank for them to settle down and pass. The noise and grunts and just attempting to capture them in a photo, makes it just a wonderful feeling to insert in the senses of being here and enjoying the nature as we are travelling.
We continue on our way and realize that the fire had forced us along this route, without this we would have not had the bison experience, Is it luck or are we fortunately guided on our journey? Interesting question.
We come to the park north eastern entrance, obviously not a popular entrance and the town of Cook City is certainly a small group of buildings gathered around nature but not one that has been commercialised nor "booming nor vibrating with tourists.
We struck some road works as they are upgrading the road in this section; this created a 10 - 15 minute wait for the pilot car to guide us through.
No big deal we have done this before, when we roll again the traffic thins out and the route becomes again something of picture book stuff, the views of the mountains and bluffs and escarpments are certainly something that is etched in our memories (photos will help we reckon)
Earnie on a bridge that is extremely igh above the
.We came across another Bear Jam (outside the park lol) but the tourists had blocked the road, even after being told about the "bear" we didn't make a move for the camera, just waited for a break in the traffic to continue our journey, we did spot a Grizzly and a little cub as we passed.
The road took us through a mountain pass and some switch backs and climbed to a great height, we attempted to capture as much as we could with the photos, and words will also not give justice to the experience. We stopped at the top of the pass and read the information about the native Indians that had been trapped in Yellowstone area by the pursuing US Cavalry but managed to slip the cordon and escape. All interesting history and we accept the journey takes us along pathways and routes we would not experience if we had taken a bus tour of the country.
Eventually we arrive in Cody Wyoming; this town is named after Buffalo Bill Cody. He was in his time the most famous person in the world and his life in the mid 1800's through to his death in the early 1900's was written and recorded and even had a museum in the town he envisaged and began. His exploits are things of movies and books yet his true life experience from early days to his showman days are mostly true.
We booked into the KOA Cody and booked tickets for the nightly Rodeo show that had a free bus pick up at 7pm
Why didnt Karon reach out and pat this animal
. Gee we managed a record set up, shower eat dinner and be ready to catch the bus by 7pm (it took us from 5:40pm until 6:45pm.)Well the "Clown" (literally) that drove the bus was the clown for the show, so the show began early for us.
He gave a a quick rundown of the town and the mountains as well as a brief overview of William Cody (buffalo Bill) as well as explained which were the best seats to grab at the show (the Eagles Roost)
We grabbed seats in the third row overlooking the pens the cowboys mount the bulls or horses.
The show/rodeo was a great experience with genuine cowboys and crazy bulls, bucking broncos and roping as well as steer wrestling.
We left to come home with the clown again tired but satisfied we have had the experience of a rodeo.
Tired we managed bed after a discussion of choosing to spend another day here to take time out for the museum and other Cody western experiences.
