Epic RoadTrip - Day 20
Day 20 of our RoadTrip started out with adventure in mind. Being rockhounds, we check the area for different rocks and minerals on this map from RockHoundResource. We saw a spot "not far" from where we were and went to check it out.
Crystal Park Montana
The map said it was only 1hr 45min South and we'd be there. Here goes nothing! The drive started off slow and scenic.
When we got to Wise River, things started to get interesting. The road from there was called the Pioneer Mountains Scenic By-Way and it lived up to it's name.
As we headed further up the mountain we noticed that there was nothing. No other cars, no towns, no houses...NOTHING! It was absolutely beautiful. I'm sure this road sign someone moved is fine too. 😄
A few miles up the mountain we came across something very unexpected. 2 Dogs laying in the middle of the road?!?! What are they doing out here? We haven't seen another person in miles.
We slowly drove by and they didn't seem aggressive. In fact, they didn't seem bothered at all. Both were well fed and weren't injured just looked like they were relaxing.
Then came the feels. 😢😢😢 We continued past them but the whole time talked about them. Our truck was loaded to the roof. How could we fit a Great Pyrenees and Shepherd in with us. They needed to come home with us!
If we put X into X and strap that to the roof we could fold the seat up. Or if we got rid of some stuff. Over and over with different plans on taking these dogs with us. While not paying attention we started climbing higher into the mountains. The roads turned to solid ice with a layer of slush on top. Sketchy at best.
I had no doubt in my mind we could make it up the road, but I wasn't sure we could safely make it back down. No guard rails and very steep cliffs, helped make the decision to turn around. Oh no. We have to pass the dogs again.
We came back down the mountain and sure enough, there they were. This time sitting up and the Shepherd approached the vehicle.
I opened my window and we talked to them. They seemed happy and didn't try to jump up at the vehicle. We gave them our lunch and some of our snacks. They sniffed around the food and slowly began to eat it.
Knowing they weren't starving we headed back down the mountain. We felt horrible and had to do something. Before getting back to Wise River we ran across the first vehicle we'd seen since the dogs. it was a Ranger out doing surveys of the area.
We stopped and let him know about the dogs. We asked if someone abandoned them out there. He told us, in this area, when people abandon their pets they do it near the city where they can be found. He assured us he would let someone know about them but the mountain just opened for the summer and the dogs were probably someone up on the mountain.
It's been nearly 6hrs and we're now back where we started. Butte. LOL What should we do now. Oh look at what is right around the corner...
YellowStone!!!
Please keep in mind this part of our trip was just weeks prior to the historic flooding that closed Yellowstone and the city we stayed Gardiner. A good deal of the roads we were on are now gone. We're blessed to have all these photos and videos of our trip!
Heading South on highway 89 you come to a road. Google told us to take said road. It's called Old Yellowstone Trail Rd. The scenery is breath taking, but the road is horrible.
We're always up for adventure but this was a little much. Miles and miles of teeth chattering washboard road that shook us to the soul. I'm sure this contributed to our post-trip repair bill. 😂
Finally made it!
It was later in the day and the gates were empty. Literally we rolled into Yellowstone for Free with no one at the Kiosk and the gates open. We didn't make it far from Gardiner on our first night.
Norris Geyser Basin
It was a straight shot down to the Norris Geyser Basin from our hotel. Most of the other stops and roads along the way were still closed. The snow was still melting up here and not ready for visitors yet. Not having done much research, we didn't know what to expect.
WOAH!!!
Much like the Grand Canyon and Palo Duro, words can't describe this. Just from our Hotel to the Basin we were blown away. It had everything. Snow Capped mountains as far as the eye could see and untouched landscapes to your left and right.
We saw Bison and Elk roaming freely among the tourists.
Even caught a Grizzly Bear waking up from hibernation. My phone was zoomed all the way and is pretty grainy.
Now for some Geysers. The Travertine cliffs here are incredible. The minerals coming from the springs help bring some color to the landscape. There are so many different formations in this little area it's hard to get them all. Here we go!
Devil's Thumb
Mound Spring
Mound Terrace
Jupiter Spring
Some of our views
Emerald Spring
So many things to see I can't begin to describe it all. This is already way too long and so much other stuff happened. One notable thing is a strange sound we heard on our way back out for the night. We'll have that YouTube video up soon. Maybe a Squatch?!?!?!?
It shows our trip for the day taking almost 6hrs. You can easily double that. We're guessing between 12-13hrs for the day.
Thanks for following along on our trip and we hope to hear from you in the comments. Stay tuned for that YouTube Video!
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The places you visited is really make my eyes tantalize. What I love the most is The Mud Spring.
If you like the Mud Springs, you'll like my next post. We spent 3 days at Yellowstone. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Awesome @outdoorlife! I'll do that.
Hiya, @choogirl here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1625.
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OMG, all that travertine is incredible! Especially in those shots around Mound Spring, the geography and variation in the deposits is spectacular! Super-duper-WOW! 💜
We have some more cool travertine coming up soon! A place I've never even heard of until we stopped there.
Amaizing nature😍
It was really beautiful! Thanks for stopping by.
PS: Did you know that we recently launched the truvvl app? With truvvl, you can create travel stories on the go from your phone and swipe through nearby stories from other TravelFeed users. It is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
I will check it out Travelfeed. Thanks for the heads up!