Heading Back to the Plains

Oct. 2-3, 2003

Upon leaving the Tetons, we drove through Yellowstone National Park on our way back to the plains.

Our first stop was at Old Faithful, where we happened upon a very interesting tour of the Old Faithful Inn. The Inn was opened in 1904 and was the first rustic first class hotel in the national parks. It was so successful that other rustic hotels followed, such as the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite and the hotels in Waterton-Glacier. The photo shows the immense fireplace (actually 8 fireplaces) in the lobby.

A herd of buffalo in Yellowstone. The rangers have managed to move most of the bears into the backcountry, so it is very rare to see a bear today. Now the primary wildlife attraction is the buffalo.

We exited Yellowstone through the northeast entrance and headed over the Beartooth pass into Montana. The pass is at an altitude of almost 11,000 feet so it is above tree-line and the landscape is very barren.  We saw very little snow on our drive over the pass, even though it will be closed for the winter in about 2 weeks.
 

Descending into Montana we found a very nice Forest Service campground about 10 miles south of Red Lodge, MT. The campground was "closed" for the winter. which means they don't provide any services, but they still allow you to camp there. It was on a pretty little stream and only two other families were camping there, so it was very quiet. The price was also right - it was free.

The next stop was Pompey's Pillar, which is about 25 miles east of Billings, MT. The Lewis and Clark expedition, after crossing the Bitterroot mountains in Idaho on their way back east, split into three groups. Clark headed down the Yellowstone River and stopped at this sandstone rock and named it after Sacagawea's son, who was nicknamed Pompey.

Clark wrote his signature and the date (July 25, 1806) in the sandstone rock of Pompey's Pillar. The rock is now a national monument and his signature is protected behind a glass case. I guess you could call it a 200-year old piece of graffitti.

The Yellowstone River near Pompey's Pillar. The river is essentially flat water - fast moving, but only a few riffles were to be seen. Clark went down this river to its confluence with the Missouri, while Lewis was getting into trouble with the Blackfeet Indians in northern Montana.