We had gone to sleep Friday with the rain starting. We awoke to a steady drizzle and clouds hanging on the mountains. Our plan was to visit the Museum of the Rockies but I figured with the poor weather, it might be packed with children. We decided to spend some time catching up on our reading and relaxing, this is a vacation. Then decided to take a drive in the rain.
We had flown through Bozeman pass and now we were going to drive it. The rain was light by Florida standards and the clouds surprisingly high. We drove into Livingston, a small town just East of the pass. Downtown had that classic old Western look with brick storefronts. The rain was still coming down harder than I like so we drove around rather than walking.
The skies to the North looked clearer so we headed North parallel to the Eastern edge of the mountains. This area is more of the rolling flat farmland than mountains. We went as far as Wilsall which has a connection to Lewis and Clarke as Clarke named a local river. There was even a statue commemorating the local Western spirit. They have a bronze Thunder Jack standing proudly by the highway. He is a fictional character but very majestic.
We turned South and headed over the mountains. The rain was lighter and with the clouds hanging over the peaks it made for a picturesque view. I was glad we had flown through in the sunshine. The road also passed by the local ski area and then returned us to Bozeman near our hotel. The rain was waning and after a quick snack break, we headed downtown.
Bozeman has about 60,000 people and an amazing amount of traffic for such few residents. The problem seems to stem from rapid growth, a city which is just a grid of small streets, 25 mph limits, lots of lights and no main arteries. Trips of 2 miles tend to take 10-15 minutes. It is a visually attractive city with great backgrounds but a bit of a pain to get around. The gas station has a mountain views that would be premium in most other locations but here, every direction is beautiful.
We spent about an hour and a half strolling downtown. It too had been gentrified but some older businesses survive to keep some of the character. I did find one that I really liked, they have a Co-op store. It was a mini market that also had hot food that looked good. I helped support the local economy by buying some very tasty chocolate.
Sunday dawned bright and cool. We were headed down to Yellowstone. Last time we visited the parks West Entrance, this time we would use the North. Cecilia made quick work of the drive. The speed limits are higher here with the highway allowing 80 mph and the country roads 70 mph. I had read that the North Gate was not usually backed up but we had no idea if that was really true.
As we neared the gate it looked good except for a few cars by the entrance. As we got closer, we saw those cars were pulled over so we did too. We saw a group of Pronghorns. They are not deer or antelopes but they are wicked fast and quite cute. They are actuallin their own family, Antilocapridae. On the other side of the road we saw some elk. It was an auspicious start. After pictures, we stopped at the gate to show our park pass and had a zero delay entry.
We had an ambitious plan, we stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs and did the climb to the top. The prismatic pools on the other side of the park are better with more colors and bubbling but these were nice. We then headed off to Gibbon Falls and along the way we saw a Bison walking down the highway. Luckily he was in the opposing lanes of traffic and only delayed us long enough to grab a picture.
We made some scenic stops including a really cool or should I say hot hydrothermal feature with a boiling pool and a vent spewing steam forcefully into the air. We did not really hikemuch today, we did a good bit of walking but the paths were mostly paved. The park was not empty but we scored parking without much trouble every place we went. For a while CC was on a roll and kept happening upon the perfectly located spots.
There is a lot of thermal activity in the park. Roaring Mountain for example is huge and impressive. Everywhere you look in the park there is something amazing to see.
Gibbon Falls is nice, it’s a view from a distance but you walk about 1,200’ parallel to the river and get a series of great views. After the Falls we headed to Grandview. Grandview is a series of Falls and an amazing canyon. We drove along the North canyon and enjoyed the views. I am hooked on waterfalls but I think the canyon itself was the most stunning feature.
There were hikes you could take but they all involved huge elevation changes. We looked at them but there was so much to see that if we spent a significant amount of time hiking, we would have had to give up other sights.
We continued along and stopped at Tower falls. A very easy walk and a nice waterfall. After this we saw the Calcite Springs. It had less active thermal features and more great river valley views. We thought our last stop would be a petrified tree but then we ran across another Bison just hanging out by the road and we had also seen several elk.
After that we thought we had finished but as we neared the exit more elk which we stopped to grab some pictures.
A short distance later an even larger group of Elk with a 24 point Stag was just hanging out. It was time to head home, and even though we were outside of Yellowstone, the drive along the Yellowstone river between the mountains is amazing and we saw more Bison and Elk as well as Pronghorns, cows and horses. Yellowstone did not disappoint.
Our final day around Bozeman we headed towards Butte. Our first stop was The Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. The cavern was discovered in the winter of 1892 when the relatively warm cave air escaping a small opening appeared to be smoking and two locals went to see if someone needed help. The Native Americans had seen this before but it was not near a water source so they had ignored it.
In true American fashion the locals decided to sell tours and did so for many years. It's a long story but they didn’t own the land and eventually the US government ended up owning the cave but they just kept selling tours in deffiance of federal law. These days the tours are much easier than the 1800’s. Though the one we took is a bit strenuous.
Back then you took a train from Butte and then trekked several miles and up 1,400’ to then repel down through a hole. The tour also lasted 12 hours and required death defying agility. During the depression the Civilian Conservation Corps improved the cave by adding stairs and railings. This made the cave safer and easier to visit.
Thanks to the CCC we drove down a nicely paved road. They even had several deer cross the road in front of us for that perfect nature effect. We drove up the mountain to the caves parking lot. They have different tours and we chose the strenuous one. It starts with a ¾ mile walk up a steep incline. The climb starts at an elevation of about 5,000' so that makes it special. You must complete this walk within 30 minutes to prove your fitness for the tour. If not, they send you down to get a refund.
We did the climb in around 15 minutes though we were breezing hard. We held our own until the end where we let a young coule pass us but we were second to the top. The tour then takes you through the cave. It includes 600 steps, mostly down though. It has lots of really low passages. I was happy to be on the shorter side as the 6 foot plus tourists had a much harder time. At the cave entrance, we saw the cave bats. The colony is pretty small and we only saw four. They are tiny bats, the size of your fist but pretty cool looking.
The tour takes you from chamber to chamber and the guide explains the cave, its history and you get to see all the natural formations. The cave is in great shape but there is one area where the people in the 1800’s were encouraged to break off the ends of stalagmites as souvenirs. This is totally illegal now.
The tight passageways were actually fun and in one place there was an actual rock slide. It was only about five feet but very cool and it gets you through a very narrow and low section. At the end of the tour you have to walk a half mile back to the parking lot but it is mostly flat which makes it a breeze.
Our next stop was the Old Montana Prison & Auto Museum Complex. We have been on several prison tours and they are always interesting. This prison was built in 1871 and operated until 1979. Yes, 108 years is way too long to run a prison. We have found that the prisons generally started out lousy and then somehow get worse. This prison followed the pattern. The original cell building had been destroyed by an earthquake so the oldest structures were from the early 1900s. The main cell block building was built in 1912.
This museum is not just the prison, though that’s why we came. They also have a car museum, a Western museum, a toy museum and more. I am not into cars but they had an extensive collection starting in the early 1900s through the 1980s. We enjoyed the cars and some of the later models brought back childhood memories. The Western collection was heavy on guns but its focus on the many variations of a few weapons made it less interesting.
We did not stop into all the displays but it was a nice follow-up to what was a really dank prison. The drive back to Bozeman was quick with the 80 mph speed limit. We also got to cross the continental divide on the way to the museum and back. It is sort of an arbitrary landmark but always cool. This was it for Bozeman, we were off to Rapid City in the morning.
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