Day Eight
April 29, 2016
Arco, Idaho
The coffee was hot
and fresh at 0700 and I was happy! We loaded up the truck and headed out. In
all honesty, most of the morning is a complete blur to my memory. I remember
miles upon miles of empty land. Atomic City, a nuclear boomtown that became a
ghost town roughly 66 years ago. There was once 50 nuclear reactors in the
nearby National Reactor Testing Station, but after a string of deadly
accidents, the town emptied out and at least three employees had to be buried
in lead coffins. Makes you wonder.
There was a number
of things that would definitely feed numerous conspiracy theories. Huge fences,
stay out or regret it themed signs, a small mountain top stuck with so many
antennas it looked like a foreign object itself. It wasn’t exactly the most
comfortable of places to drive through and for the first time since we left
Alberta, I really didn’t want to be somewhere.
Crys wanted to go to
Idaho Falls as we were looking for a branch of a US Bank that would work with
her bank back in Canada. I’m sure most of you know how this goes, some branches
offer access to accounts at other institutions which is helpful when you are
travelling. Well, we looked, but apparently it had been closed for some time.
The benefit of this detour was a Sizzler Restaurant! Steak and a salad bar to
beat all, and I hadn’t seen one since I was a kid!
It was about this
time that I started feeling off, or perhaps I had been all day and it had been
mild enough that I just hadn’t noticed. I wonder in retrospect if the area had
anything to do with it; electrical impulses etc., etc. All that stuff works on
the body and epilepsy is an electrical phenomena of its own. Anyhow, long story
short, my steak as amazingly delicious and melted in my mouth, but I couldn’t
finish it all. We went out to the truck, where I sadly placed the take out
container on the roof and then forgot to grab it. My steak didn’t make it out
of the parking lot; a waste.
From Idaho Falls we
headed north once again, taking hwy 20 and passing through a small town called
Rigby. It is fairly nondescript, and you’d not really think twice, except for
the sign that caught my eye: "RIGBY IDAHO - THE BIRTHPLACE OF TELEVISION."
Apparently, Rigby was the boyhood home of the inventor of television, Philo T.
Farnsworth. Just one of those things that make you go ‘hmmmm.’
We continued on hwy
20, which would eventually lead us to the West entrance of Yellowstone National
Park. Old Faithful was the next mandatory highlight on our list and we were
both filled with excitement at wandering throughout the attraction within the
areas of Yellowstone that are open before the roads are all opened, as the
number of tourists would be at a minimum.
Say farewell to
Idaho and hello to Wyoming, which is where the majority of Yellowstone National
Park is located. We were both completely jazzed as we drove through the park, a
lone bison walked down the edge of the road giving everyone a great view of a
magnificent beast. A brief blast of hail caused a minor accident on the road on
the way into Old Faithful and the Visitor Centre, luckily nobody appeared to be
hurt. We notified a pair of Rangers who were just finishing up some business at
a small parking lot; with the narrow roads in the park there isn’t a lot you can do in any abnormal situation, just notify the Rangers
and don't block the roads.
We reached the
Visitor Education Center at Canyon Village without any more excitement and were
overjoyed to find out we only had a 45 minute wait, roughly, until Old Faithful
was due to explode once again. That allowed me to get the passport stamped and
both of us to learn a few things. Sadly, the Grand Loop Road was closed due to
winter, so we would have to backtrack as far as Madison and then head north to
Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance to Yellowstone. It was all good,
though.
The air was bitterly
cold and we were well bundled up as we went outside to join the small crowd
waiting for the geyser to erupt. As it finally blasted, there were a number of
disappointed remarks and sounds. It was freezing out. When hot water meets cold
air you get steam. Naturally, it wasn’t as impressive as it is in the summer,
but it was still pretty grand! After all, not just every area has geysers
galore, and one that runs on a pretty steady schedule is very amazing in my
mind. So nothing to be disappointed in, still beautiful, still impressive and
well worth the freezing wait!
 |
| "OLD FAITHFUL" |
I have now seen it
in summer and in spring (although it was acting like winter it was spring!),
and I hope I can come back and see Old Faithful again, and explore the park
fully. Perhaps try to camp around it for a week, or so. I don’t even know if
that would be enough time to take it all in.
We headed across the
parking lot to the souvenir shop where we looked for reasonably priced items of
clothing and other items of interest. There was a great deal that caught my eye
here, but the prices were also typical of tourist mecca’s. We didn’t stay too
long as the light was fading and we wanted to enjoy a few more sites before we
left the park.
The Lower Geyser
Basin wasn’t too far away, where we would find the Fountain Paint Pot Nature
Trail, and the Fountain Paint Pot. Crys wanted to revisit this incredible
place, and I hadn’t seen it the last time I was at Yellowstone. I am SO glad that we
stopped. This trail was filled with wonder after wonder and I couldn’t believe
my eyes. In some ways this is so much MORE than Old Faithful, numerous smaller
geysers of varying kinds that impress and amaze. This was just as alien a
landscape as the Craters of the Moon, but it wasn’t ‘dead’ it was burgeoning
with life.
 | |
| TRAIL MAP |
 | |
| PAINT POTS |
Silence reigned
supreme as we both momentarily froze. I lifted the camera and with my heart in
my mouth, took a photo as Crys quietly and carefully began walking again. Only
a few feet away and there were trees to protect us if we needed. He kept
eating, one eye on us rather disinterestedly, and a few steps later another one
was seen up behind him, grazing quietly. Camouflage is amazing on these big
plains giants. They blended in so well, that we wouldn’t have seen them if we
hadn’t known exactly where to look.
 | |
| LORD OF THE REALM |
By the time we were
to the farther trees and what we thought might provide a little safety, our
heart beats had slowed down to something more akin to normal. I’m not certain
about Crys, but the writer in me was capturing every detail of the moment, and
I was astounded that we had been so close we could touch him, and he couldn’t
have cared less. Wild in the wilderness…
We were giddy with
the leftovers of the adrenaline as we continued on our journey. I saw a timber
wolf trotting down an access road, and was struck positively dumb. Such a
gorgeous creature, and doing well since reintroduced to the park. A little
further on and there was a bear just below the treeline. The one and only bear
I would see the entire trip, I welcomed the brief glimpse.
The sky had been
growing more menacing and the temperature dropped like a bomb, but truly
neither of us was prepared for what hit next - SNOW! Okay, so perhaps there’s a
reason the roads are closed in April. Maybe the States have a reason for having
a slightly different time frame for their season. Perhaps we had been too harsh
in our judgement. No, I still don’t think so. The flakes were huge and wet, and
they kept falling thicker and thicker. This was insane and completely
unexpected, and of course, exciting.
 | |
| SPRING IN YELLOWSTONE |
Crys handled the
drive through the park like a trooper, past some pretty harsh and steep;
Obsidian Cliff (7383 feet or 2250 metres), Sheepeater Cliff (unknown), that
ought to give you the idea. The road had only been opened for two weeks, and
here it was snowing. We finally reached the North Gate and were back into
Montana. The road through Roosevelt Arch was closed, but that was ok, we went
around it and stopped a little ways down the road in Gardiner for a hot coffee
and an “oh my god we made it” moment.
Heading North on Hwy
89, we turned West when we reached the I-90 and set our hopes on Bozeman for
the night. Camping was out of the question for this night. Snow, nerves, and a
harrowing drive called for a comfortable bed and a hot shower. Checking through
TripAdvisor and Trivago we located the Rainbow Motel in Bozeman, it looked
promising. Mid-price, mid-ratings and free WiFi. It would do, provided they had
a room for us.
After checking and
getting comfortable we discovered that the Internet wasn’t exactly all it was
supposed to be. I couldn’t get a connection for the life of me. Crys managed to
get one, but it was fairly sketchy. I was once again thankful for the Travel
Pass I picked up before leaving, it allowed me to do a lot I wouldn’t have
dared otherwise.
We were both nerved
up and tired, so it took a little while to pass out. I was able to reheat my
coffee in the nuker, so I was happy with that. Also, the cup was salvageable
for another cuppa when I wanted! TV reception was great, there was enough empty
plug-ins to accommodate all of our electronic gear. It was definitely nice to
be warm.
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