The Yellowstone Grand Loop

Yellowstone





Smoke from the fire



A helicopter just after getting a load of water from Yellowstone Lake



Marsha at Mammoth Hot Springs



Sasha and I watching the buffalo



Larry looking at a bubbling hot spring



Black Bear



Shasha wanted to know, "Is that bambi?"



Yeah, just another buffalo.




Grizzly Bear


Date: Monday, July 19th
Day: 66
RV Miles: 6,009
Location: Gardiner, Montana (about 600 feet from the Roosevelt Arch)
Elevation: 5,403

It was a long but interesting day; we completed the circuit all the way around the outside of the Yellowstone “figure-eight.” A total of about 160 miles that took us about eight and a half hours. On the way we saw a grizzly bear, a black bear and dozens of buffalo. Before we left, I warned Sasha about the wildlife here: It’s big, it’s mean, and it’s fast – so no barking. As a result, Sasha and I sat quietly in the back seat the entire trip. Sasha did bark at another dog once but that was it. Nonetheless, I think Sasha and I landed in the doghouse for the day.

We were at Old Faithful and while Larry and Marsha were getting Sasha and me hooked up just enough craziness ensued for us to miss the Old Faithful gusher. Larry seemed a bit miffed and was not about to wait another 90 minutes for next “show.” I have a sneaky suspicion that for the remaining trips to Yellowstone, us dogs will be sentenced to doggie-day-care.

Much of Yellowstone appears to be recovering from past forest fires and as we made our way around the loop we got a bit worried about smoke we were seeing from time to time. Once on the Southeastern portion of the loop near Yellowstone Lake we could see the smoke clearly. Then we saw a helicopter dipping for water and later we saw fixed wing aircraft bombing the fire. I think they had it under control. I do believe that also means that the fire was started by some human, since the policy is to let natural fires take their course unless the fire is endangering human life or property.

Tomorrow, we are going to go to the “Top of the World” over Beartooth Pass to the town of Red Lodge. From here, Red Lodge is about 116 miles. Marsha did some research on Beartooth Pass. What she learned is that the ascent and decent over the pass was about 30 to 40 miles of 6% to 8% grade, on a narrow road with no guardrails and constant 20 MPH hairpin turns around hairpin swithbacks. This seemed to dampen her enthusiasm a bit.

Larry wants to go directly to Red Lodge, turn around, and come back over the pass. This makes the round trip about 230 miles. Marsha has taken a firm stance that she does not want to go over that pass twice. (She has a lot of spunk and is game for about anything, but I guess she has her limits especially when it comes to roads with no shoulders, no guardrails and huge drop-offs. I think she may have some issues with heights.)

Anyway, what Marsha wants to do is make a loop and drive 60 miles north to I90 and head back that way. That makes the entire trip about 360 miles. Both Larry and Marsha have taken firm immovable positions on this. Let me give you a hint: don’t bet on Larry. Larry hasn’t learned yet: he isn’t going to win, he never has and he never will. Stay tuned, I let you know what happened tomorrow.