Monday, June 2: Stopped

This morning started out as a beautiful day to drive through Wyoming en route to South Dakota. I took a path that led through the Bighorn National Forest – I drove through a cloud and then found a secluded place to watch a creek and eat lunch.  I was at a steady clip towards Mt. Rushmore until a severe thunderstorm, hail and finally a tornado foiled my plans. Tomorrow morning I start out from Gillette, Wyoming.

Cody Nite Rodeo

It was opening night of the Cody Nite Rodeo. I set up the tent, grabbed some barbeque and took off for the rodeo. I had a blast — if I wasn’t so scared of horses and lived in the West, I’d consider working at a rodeo. Or at least hanging out there….all the time. I met a miniature horse (not a pony) and a few bulls before the show started.  The show kicked off with a miniature cowboy on a stuffed pony….he rode that thing until it threw him off, got up, and kept going! There were rodeo clowns, a funny-man (not really funny, but had some great one-liners), cowboys, broncos, cowgirls, bulls, cowboys, cowboys, cowboys…I learned that bull-riding is the most dangerous sport in North America, and how to score a calf-roping.  I might need to invest in some boots….and a hat.

Sunday, June 1st: Yellowstone

I did Yellowstone in three parts — North to West, West to South (through the Grand Tetons) and yesterday South (again through the Grand Tetons) to East.  First stop – the Mud Volcano.  History tells us that in 1870, Mud Volcano blew itself apart and turned into this gurgling pool of mud.  Tasty.  Next to Mud Volcano was the Dragon’s Mouth Spring — a previous home to Puff, I believe.

Following a few more bison encounters and I found myself at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  It was breathtaking — I should visit the Grand Canyon some day to see how it compares. I managed to find a place to eat lunch while overlooking the Upper Falls.

Then off to Cody, Wyoming….

Yellowstone Fire of 1988

I think I was too young to really remember this, but a huge portion of Yellowstone burnt in 1988.  The Parks Department has a philosophy of letting natural fires burn as long as they don’t threaten life, property or natural treasures (ie. Old Faithful).  The fires burnt for months and months during a really dry summer scorching hundreds of thousands of acres of land.  Most of the fires were caused by lightning strikes but there was definitely some human-help for a few of them.  There was an epic firefighting force that protected towns like West Yellowstone (where I stayed the other night) and the old historic Old Faithful lodge.  Despite the mass firefighting, important properties were only really saved by  a shift in wind and the eventual rain that came in the fall.

From what I learned, at the time, people around the world were devastated that the park would be destroyed for good — except the naturalists.   Fires are a natural part of the forest life cycle and lodge pole pine (which consitute more than 80% of Yellowstone’s tree population) pinecones glue their seeds in with a substance that can only be released with the heat from a fire. Twenty years later it is remarkable to see the contrast of the scorched trees and the small pine seedlings.