Day 5 - Montana Roadtrip
Another beautiful day in Big Sky. It took awhile to decide which way or what mode of transportation we would be using (bike or truck). After a few "what if's" we chose the truck and back to Yellowstone then South to the Grand Tetons.
We enjoyed our quick trip through Yellowstone and out the South Gate and then we hit the dreaded road construction, known in Montana as "pavement preservation". I figure if you travel 30 miles on a mud slick, pot holed, rocky patch of mountain pass, it cannot be considered "pavement". Afterall, don't you first need to HAVE pavement in order to PRESERVE pavement? Anyway, in this version of "mud bogging" we got to meet "Mary, the Flagger" and her co-worker "Mr. Giggles" who looked like a member of ZZ Top rather than a construction worker. He also thought it was hilarious when a Mercedes or Audi had to go slip-sliding past his section of road work. He did tell us, however, that the cheapest gas was in Colter Bay - a whole .32 cheaper than everywhere else (that made it $2.64 for regular)!
When we finally broke through to actual paved highway, we were excited to see a moose feeding in the river! People were pulling off the side of the road, pulling out binoculars and spotting scopes to watch her. By the way she was acting, we all assumed she had a calf near by. So exciting to see her!
We arrived at Moose, Wyoming and turned into the Tetons National Park entrance. We wanted to pick up a map so we took a break and went into the new Visitor's Center. A ranger told us about a dirt road we could take, virtually no traffic, and a great opportunity to view some wildlife. Hey, that's why we brought the truck! He highlighted the road, told us where the 5 wolf packs were known to be and off we went!
The dirt road was in great shape and it followed close to the Snake River. We watched antelope in the meadows and lots of geese and ducks along the river. We stopped in one area and while Keith was scoping the trees, we heard howling (Keith says coyote, I say wolf). It was pretty eerie but exciting to hear!
We continued along the dirt road and eventually joined back into the main highway through the Tetons National Park. Traveled along past Jackson Lake then back into "Pavement Preservation Hell"!
As we waited for the third of six stops, we checked the GPS to see if there was a detour around this madness. Well, lookie here- a route that cuts along the south border of Yellowstone! This is probably a good place to say "GPS units LIE"!! Yes, we saw some fantastic mountain country. Yes, we passed some great streams and lakes (Tillery Lake was beautiful). Yes, it was fewer miles, but it added about 2 hours to our return trip to Big Sky! We got home about 11:30 p.m., tired, hungry but certainly happy with all we got to see and do during the day!
We enjoyed our quick trip through Yellowstone and out the South Gate and then we hit the dreaded road construction, known in Montana as "pavement preservation". I figure if you travel 30 miles on a mud slick, pot holed, rocky patch of mountain pass, it cannot be considered "pavement". Afterall, don't you first need to HAVE pavement in order to PRESERVE pavement? Anyway, in this version of "mud bogging" we got to meet "Mary, the Flagger" and her co-worker "Mr. Giggles" who looked like a member of ZZ Top rather than a construction worker. He also thought it was hilarious when a Mercedes or Audi had to go slip-sliding past his section of road work. He did tell us, however, that the cheapest gas was in Colter Bay - a whole .32 cheaper than everywhere else (that made it $2.64 for regular)!
When we finally broke through to actual paved highway, we were excited to see a moose feeding in the river! People were pulling off the side of the road, pulling out binoculars and spotting scopes to watch her. By the way she was acting, we all assumed she had a calf near by. So exciting to see her!
We arrived at Moose, Wyoming and turned into the Tetons National Park entrance. We wanted to pick up a map so we took a break and went into the new Visitor's Center. A ranger told us about a dirt road we could take, virtually no traffic, and a great opportunity to view some wildlife. Hey, that's why we brought the truck! He highlighted the road, told us where the 5 wolf packs were known to be and off we went!
The dirt road was in great shape and it followed close to the Snake River. We watched antelope in the meadows and lots of geese and ducks along the river. We stopped in one area and while Keith was scoping the trees, we heard howling (Keith says coyote, I say wolf). It was pretty eerie but exciting to hear!
We continued along the dirt road and eventually joined back into the main highway through the Tetons National Park. Traveled along past Jackson Lake then back into "Pavement Preservation Hell"!
As we waited for the third of six stops, we checked the GPS to see if there was a detour around this madness. Well, lookie here- a route that cuts along the south border of Yellowstone! This is probably a good place to say "GPS units LIE"!! Yes, we saw some fantastic mountain country. Yes, we passed some great streams and lakes (Tillery Lake was beautiful). Yes, it was fewer miles, but it added about 2 hours to our return trip to Big Sky! We got home about 11:30 p.m., tired, hungry but certainly happy with all we got to see and do during the day!
Critter Count: Moose, Elk with calves, Geese, Ducks, Osprey, Pelican, Antelope
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