Buffaloed … and More!

It’s our second day (first full day) in Yellowstone and we headed out fairly early in order to cross through the park (from the West Entrance to the East Entrance) to visit the town of Cody, Wyoming because the weather was predicted to be "crappy".  We had a number of people who had already visited Wyoming tell us that we had to get to Cody.  So, off we went.  We didn’t waste that drive, though.  We were also on the lookout for more wildlife because we were going through the park earlier in the day which meant we should get some good photos.  Here we are at the park entrance.  Love those National Park signs!

We were NOT disappointed with our assumption about our wildlife viewing opportunities!  These are the only two bulls we saw our whole time in the park.  The first one must be much younger because his antlers are fuzzy and not fully developed yet.  But how about that second bull?  Check out the rack on him!  When we pulled up to the area in which this big bull was holding court, there must have been 30 to 40 “professional” photographers there with their humungous telescopic lenses.  We’ve heard this is rutting season which means the bulls should be fighting for their prized possessions!

Now that you’ve seen the bull, here’s the bevy of beauties he is protecting.

Not too long after the elk sighting we came across some buffalo, BUT this one was amazing!  We drove right up alongside it off the side of the road.  This big buff was only about four feet from me (yes, I stayed in the car) when I took this picture.  Wow!  We were pretty excited about that photo opp!  I don't think it can get much better than that, but you be the judge in later blogs!

Next we drove by some geothermal areas … and there are more geothermal areas in the park than you can even imagine.  The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.  The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000 and 200 to 250 geysers erupt in Yellowstone each year, making it the place with the highest concentration of active geysers in the world.  Here’s what this particular area looked like.

 

Continuing our drive through the park, we stopped at Kepler Cascades.  The cascades are located on the Firehole River in the southwestern part of the park.  They drop over 150 feet over multiple drops with the longest drop at 50 feet.  A beautiful sight to be sure.

We were definitely driving up the mountain to get to the east side of the park and here we are at the Continental Divide at 8,262 feet.  But this is NOT the first time we passed the Continental Divide.  On our way to Yellowstone, we passed the CD twice--once going into Montana from Idaho, and then shortly afterwards going from Montana into Idaho again.  So this is our third passing of the Continental Divide!  For your edification, the CD does not run in a straight line!

“What is the Continental Divide?”  I thought you’d never ask!  It’s basically a mountain ridge, and water flow is sometimes the only clue you have to distinguish it from any other ridge.  Where we are here, this snow-fed hollow, Isa Lake drains in two different directions—from directly astride the Divide. Isa’s west arm feeds the Firehole River on its way to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and Gulf of Mexico.  The lake’s east outlet leads to the Snake and Columbia Rivers and the Pacific Ocean via Yellowstone’s Shoshone Lake and Lewis River.

I took the next picture of this very large area on the east side of the park that has been devastated by fire.  So much of the east side of the park has been hit hard by a number of fires.  I can't even imagine the blazing, burning infernos they must have created based on the number of acres that are scarred.  One fire, in particular, burned all the way to the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake which is probably the only thing that stopped the firestorm.

This is Yellowstone Lake.  The clouds are gathering for a storm and the lake was quite choppy because of the wind.  Check out that wave on the shoreline.  Remember this photo because later in our week, we came by here again and I want you to think about the difference!

I’m not even sure what mountain or lake this is (because I can't remember!).  It was such a beautiful, scenic site I decided to include the photo even though I couldn't "explain" it!

We finally made it to the east entrance to the park (about four hours later) and are on our way to Cody.  The landscape here just knocked our socks off.  It was a cross between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. 

This one place was so stunning, I took a video so I could pan the entire scene in front of me.  Pictures just wouldn’t show you how amazing it looked.

Finally, we arrived in Cody and headed straight for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West which is really about five museums under one roof – all out the wild, wild west!  That’s a statue of Buffalo Bill Cody in case you hadn’t figured that out yet!

One whole exhibition areas was on firearms.  I didn’t take any pictures, but just to give you an idea of what’s in this place, the area we perused had over 1,500 firearms on display.  But wait!  There’s more!  If you are really into guns, you can go upstairs and view another 1,200 firearms on display!  It is an absolutely astounding assortment of armaments dating as far back as the 1800s. They even had an original Gatling gun on display … which really amazed Gary.

Here’s Gary in front of an old stone cabin display in another exhibition area of the museum.

There was a lot of stuffed wildlife on display, and here’s a just sampling of some of what they had.  Man-oh-man, those bears are big!

This next photo is what Buffalo Bill's camp looked like, but it is also representative of a hunter or woodsman's camp as well.  I think they did an outstanding job in creating the exhibit so that it looked very authentic and realistic.

Have you ever read any Western novels?  Well, I have.  I love the author Louis L’Amour who was a prolific Western novelist and then some!  Well, every ranch had their chuck wagon which was used on both cattle drives and roundups.  It was basically a kitchen on wheels and the chuck box on the back contained (among other things) flour, coffee, baking powder, sugar, bacon, canned tomatoes, canned and dried fruit, beans, and molasses.  This chuck wagon was used on Muddy Creek (or Mill Iron) Ranch near Hardin, MT until 1967.

Then, there was also the “red wagon”.  This wagon carried the cowboy’s bed rolls, gear, firewood, and extra water.  This red wagon also came from Muddy Creek.

Nose-to-nose with a horse … that’s my man!

There’s so much more in this museum that we didn’t photograph.  It is truly an outstanding place to learn about the old west, and specifically Buffalo Bill Cody.  They have a lot of history about him and his colorful life.  Both the town of Cody and the museum are definitely worth the side trip!

In the next blog, we’ll tell you about our drive home … there’s more to that story than meets the eye!

Isaiah 43:2-3 // "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior ..."