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Published: August 8th 2007
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Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. Wyoming As we left South Dakota and entered Wyoming we came across a new type of landscape, gone were the flat never ending corn fields and prairies and we began to climb into high country. We were both very excited about this part of our trip, looking forward to seeing national parks and being amongst mountains again.
We also noticed that we left behind the ubiquitous clusters of strip malls and gargantuan stores that we saw throughout the mid west. The Walmarts, Targets, chain supermarkets and drug stores were replaced by small town businesses in town centres.
Our first adventure in the mountains was spending 2 nights in Yellowstone National Park (by the time we got there my Jellystone and Yogi Bear jokes had worn a bit thin!). Yellowstone is a huge national park comprising of massive mountains, separated by gorgeous steep sided canyons and crystal blue rivers and lakes. It is picture perfect and around every turn in the road we felt like we had driven right into another postcard. The Southern area of the part holds a natural array of thermal wonders. Bubbling pools of
Fly Fishing
Flathead River, Montana mud and hot springs give off huge farts of sulphur smells and geysers of super heated steam and water erupt around you. Of course we joined the mass of fellow tourists to sit patiently and wait for the famous ‘Old Faithful’ geyser to erupt. It was all very impressive, more geysers than a trip down the market in London on the weekend! The height of the park at 8000ft also became obvious to us as the intense heat of the days flipped to freezing cold nights.
In the two days we were lucky enough to see a Grizzly Bear with her cub (see separate blog for more bear necessities), a coyote, herds of bison, elk, moose, deer and prairie dogs. Bizarrely though, we saw all these beasties from the car as we drove through the park. It all felt very surreal and almost like a theme park, or something out of The Truman Show.
Our only true brush with nature came on the second evening as we sat cooking dinner in a stunning little campsite by a river. As the sun fell, a moose and her calf came down to drink at the river. These beasts are huge
Skimming
Lake McDonald and graceful to watch. Unfortunately they have massive heads and enormous noses so the picture of beauty is spoiled a wee bit by the fear that they may topple over at any time.
We were very impressed by Yellowstone but a little surprised; it is a perfect piece of wilderness being toured by thousands of tourists (and us included) who never leave their cars. Just bizarre!
Montana We entered Montana, and again noticed a change in scenery. Montana is known as the big sky country and it’s true - the sky here is huge! Driving through wide planes surrounded by mountains in the distance, the blue sky seems to stretch forever until you swear you can see the curve of the earth.
The highway winds past and through small sleepy mountain towns and goes by mile after mile of scattered trees on rolling light green scrub. The signs by the side of the road are in native Indian languages as well as English reminding us of the North West of Scotland, where the native Gaelic shares equal billing with English. It’s also true cowboy country, huge horse ranches with typical wooden fences dot the landscape.
On
the way to Flathead Lake we passed through an area of cherry orchards with tiny white stands selling fresh cherries and huckleberries at the side of the road. Huckleberries are a small juicy berry unique to this area.
The small town of Whitefish would be our destination for a few days of fun and luxury for my birthday. We stayed at a fancy lodge on Whitefish Lake and splurged on gorgeous meals and a cocktail or two. Wendy took this opportunity to propose here (see separate blog). The best day of our lives!
At Whitefish we also tried out wakeboarding - like waterskiing but with a snowboard strapped to your feet . Wendy took to it as a natural and flitted about like a water nymph with perfect style. On the two occasions that I managed to get out the water however, I had all the grace of a creature from The Black Lagoon.
We then headed into Glacier National Park. This park is smaller than Yellowstone but wilder and it crosses the border into Southern Canada. It is also less visited than Yellowstone so you get the feeling it is more real somehow. We loved Glacier
and had some very scary bear adventures here (see separate blog for the bear tales).
During our stay we had a great time camping and cooking for ourselves each night. We relied on swims in lakes instead of showers and really felt a little closer to nature.
We did a couple of hikes, including one up to a stunning lookout point over Lake McDonald. We tried a few more hikes but were not allowed on the trails due to bear activity closures.
As we left the park I fulfilled an ambition and we spent the morning fly fishing for trout on a beautiful Montana mountain river. I was too busy doing my brad Pitt impersonation from 'A River Runs Through It' to catch any fish so Wendy had a shot and pulled out a beauty! Her first time fly fishing …
We moved on feeling refreshed and in love with Montana.
Idaho After Montana we had an unexpected treat. We drove through a small part of Idaho on our way west and were really impressed. It is a gorgeous state full of mountains and massive forests. Indeed one blaze back in the early 1900s consumed 2
million acres, the smoke from it blanketed London and interrupted shipping in the North Atlantic. Scary!
Turtles on Tour Smoked Tadpole As we left Yellowstone we had built up a fairly healthy odour. A combination of a swim in a river, a wood fire by our tent and no shower for 3 days, left us with an air of … smoked tadpole. Nice!
Turtle Speed To dispel the myth that turtles are as slow as tortoises, I picked up a speeding ticket in Glacier National Park. Travelling 45 mph in a 25mph zone. Grrrrrrr.
It’s all in a Name In Montana we loved passing through town where roads are called things like ‘Hickory Tree Lane’, ‘Huckleberry Hill’ or ‘Little Foot Road’. How sweet. One place near Flathead Lake must have been where angry settlers settled. Their names were more like ‘Grizzly Attack Way’, ‘Murder Road’ and ‘Hatchet Lane’. Scary!!!
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