Category: Travel posts

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
― Abraham Lincoln

Springfield , IL was a trove of historical treasures where we had the thrill of crossing Historic route 66 as it passes right through this city. We travelled a little tiny bit of it and visited some iconic features with the intention of completing the Route end to end in the future.

The city has both Abraham Lincoln’s House and his Tomb, and beautiful example of Frank Lloyd Wrights’ work in the Dana Thomas house.

This was our first stay at a KOA....to be honest we had been avoiding them….we had heard that they are expensive, crowded and corporate ‘cookie cutter’. Springfield was a logical stop for a few days, and it was the best option……and one can’t truly be critical of something never tried….!!

It was the best option in Springfield……and it was waaaay out of the way. We drove down back country roads onto smaller and smaller roads before we got there.

The owner and his family had taken possession of the campground just three weeks prior. Super family….the campground itself had been a KOA since the 70’s and it was in need of some updating…(!!!) but the bones were great…..easy level …long pull through sites with beautiful big old shade trees. It was a good choice..and we were very happy there.!!!

Scott did the searching on the iconic things to see locally…so we hit Motorheads,

…….. and the Cozy Dog Diner….

A Cozy Dog was consumed, and a thumbs up verdict delivered…!!

Springfield has its very own Frank Lloyd Wright building…the Dana-Thomas house and because it’s owned by the state of Illinois the tour is no-fee. The whole story of they house involves most of its original furniture and fixtures being intact… it’s an amazing FLW house to visit. It was a 1903 build hence it has a lot of similar characteristics to the Darwin Martin house in Buffalo NY.

The website has a wonderful gallery of pictures of the inside which you can check out at the link since visitors are not allowed to photograph inside.

After our tour we took a wander…we could see Lincolns house on the map not far away so it seemed like a good idea to saunter in that direction….this included a fortuitous lunch stop at the Springfield Carriage Restaurant …another good choice and conveniently across the road from the National Historic site, which provided a very impressive view as we fueled up.

What a treat. The whole area around the house has been preserved as a National Historic site with the gravel streets and the boardwalk sidewalks all maintained as original. Some of the houses on the street are offices for the National Parks, but others have become a series of small museums that you can wander in and out of, which we did..!!!..

I have to say we were a bit taken aback by the firearm policy signs tho….!!

I really liked this quote from Mary Lincoln.

Wandering back up to the truck took us past some other historic buildings……

The day rounded out with a drive out to Oak Ridge Cemetery and a visit to The Lincoln Tomb. It’s a beautiful old cemetery.

We took a wander over to the Korean, Vietnam and World War monuments while we were there. It is a very serene setting. This cemetery also has some Revolutionary War graves.

They are always sobering places to visit and like our trip to Little Big Horn, a time for reflection.

Springfield is wrapped around a lake…..a man made lake. The reservoir was dammed in 1935 and it creates a multitude of very beautiful waterfront properties in the southern part of the city….and a longish, winding pretty drive to get anywhere. I think we were also seeing it at an ideal time as we have been following the spring season eastward across the country.

It was a fun packed stop……time to move on for a rest…!!!

_{(All pictures are clickable for clearer view. All clickable links are underlined )}

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Time to pack up and move again. We are making our way back across, consciously headed back Ontario-wards but still smelling some roses along the way.

On our way out of the Badlands we made a stop at the Big Prairie dog.

_{(All pictures are clickable for clearer view. All clickable links are underlined )}

I did not know until after we left that for 50 cents you can actually buy peanuts at the store there and the Prairie dogs are tame enough to feed. I was a bit upset at that lost opportunity..!! 😞

The next big stop was going to be in Springfield, Illinois so we broke that almost 870 miles up with a couple of one night Harvest Host and Boondockers Welcome stops.

Our first destination this time was Pfannys Farm in Nebraska, a Harvest Host.

Driving in through that top corner of Nebraska we were seeing lots of stripped off metal barn roofs, silos collapsed in on themselves….. Wow……there were some messy farms. When we arrived at Pfannys’ Julie ( the host) explained that we had only just missed a massive windstorm phenomenon , a derecho . Much like the deadly storm that hit Ontario just a week later. It ripped barns apart and flipped over some rv’s apparently….Scary. (We totally missed it…we were behind it..!!)

Pfannys Farm a wonderful place with lovely people who run their farm based on sustainable agriculture.

They grow lemons and limes in greenhouses warmed by geothermal. There are many chickens running around. They have a storybook walk through the property, which is open to school children, and a most fantastic view. Very cool place…very lovely people

Harvest host sites are a one night stopover…so up the next morning and packed up for the next chunk of miles. Julie very kindly offered me fresh cut asparagus and rhubarb….which I gratefully received.

The next big drive was to Stewartsville, Missouri. This was our first experience of Boondockers welcome, and I have to say we were instant fans. The difference with BW is the possibility of more than one night and often the hosts have power hook-ups and water available. Most importantly…they are people who want to meet people…so the whole experience is quite different. Ken and Robin at ‘Home from Home’ in Missouri were a terrific introduction to the organisation. They have a lovely rural property, a level parking spot….a hook-up for power and best of all…they are seasoned travelers with lots of tales to share. We had a wonderful night sitting out in their outdoor room watching the lightening storm in the distance and just having a darn good visit..!!!

We really wished we could have stayed a little longer….but we will just have to plan traveling back through this way.

So…back on the road we go….this time to Springfield ,Illinois. The town where Abraham Lincoln lived before he was elected President. We are bound for our first KOA campground and looking for another adventure.

Badlands National Park. Castle Trail and Medicine Loop.

Castle trail is one of the very few marked trails through this section of the Badlands. Self navigating in this area would be foolhardy as it is a maze of canyons. It would be a coin flip between getting hopelessly lost, or plunging down a crevasse.

It was also the one that fit the bill for the distance we wanted to stretch our legs on.

(There is another trail that involves climbing a 20ft ladder up a rock face……not me..!!Nope..!!)

Having spent a stormy day doing blog work in the trailer whilst watching everyone else’s tents be flattened or blown away by the wind (who needs tv..!! ?) The next day was a nice sun/cloud day in the low 20’s (Celsius) so the Castle Trail it was….

We were very glad for our timing again. This early in the season, with the temperatures only around 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit ) meant that we were not going to be baked alive on this one.

We met this little guy who was digging a little hole right in the middle of the path. I have not been able to find out any more about him than he is a Carabus Serratus, a ground beetle. He was pretty cool to watch for a bit though.

…and then on with the walk……

Its such an incredibly different landscape that its like walking on the moon…(or how I imagine walking on the moon might be….but with breathable air……and normal gravity obviously..!!)

I have read many mixed reviews about this place…many from people who were quite underwhelmed…..I must be easily entertained because I found it endlessly fascinating…!!!

It was one of the most level hikes we have done……but between the heat from the sun and the wind…..it was more challenging than you might expect….

Because of all the rain the surface was smooth clay, which meant not only was is much greener than usual but also there were several areas where the runoff had left grooves that looked like lovely little Zen gardens in the middle of nowhere…….

You can see all the layers……each layer being eroded away gradually by water, creating another shelf level……and then the process begins again….like I said….its fascinating…..

This little blue (bright shiny blue..!!) bird tried valiantly to lead me away from his family….I was just trying to creep close enough to see him ….He was such a beautiful vivid colour…..

I’m not sure which one of the rock formations was supposed to be the ‘Castle”…or if its because so many of them look like castles…….

There were a couple of spots on the Medicine loop where the water was still pooling from the rain. There were planks laid across to walk across some of the boggier patches….but they sank right in when you stepped on them……funnily enough wet feet is not the same kind of problem when its warm that it is in the snow…!!!

Across some of the more open patches, the mud crust had many shiny clean rocks just sitting on the surface as if someone had placed them there….it added to the whole ‘lunar landscape’ feel.

It was not the longest hike we had ever done. Its surprising to find that a hike like the high prairies hike we did, which was 25km, was not nearly as taxing as this 12 km hike under the sun. I don’t know if I could do this one in July or August…!!!

It was such a beautiful, different landscape and another one that I am so very grateful to have done.

On the road in, through Badlands National Park to the Cedar Pass campground, you pass through the main town in the area…Interior. Looks like it probably has not changed since the early 1800’s…and not because its got any kind of Victorian grandeur…….we stopped at the grocery store…..

Really nice lady in the store. We bought a pack of ‘Indian Fry Bread mix……it’s a feature of the area. We had been reading about it and were curious.

Indian Fry bread is a local thing. The story goes that “when the buffalo were all gone from the prairies, and the plains tribes were confined to the reservations, the starving Indians were issued ‘commodities’ to survive. That’s history. But here’s an interesting twist, out of the wheat flour that was so alien to their cook fires, these ingenious people created a wonderful new concept for bread. No yeast, no shortening, and no salt; its delicious, versatile and easy to make. Every Indian mother has her own special recipe for ‘Indian Fry Bread’

(ref. the above is the story from the back of the packet…..)

We HAD to go out for breakfast to the cafe at Cedar Pass Lodge one morning. ( They have an Indian Fry Bread taco on the menu.) It was interesting and quite tasty. Definitely one to try……now I just need to see if I can manage to make some…!!!

(All the pictures are clickable if you desire a more detailed view. Underlined text appears where I have added a clickable link for more information )

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We were a little sad to leave Broken Arrow. It was a lovely campground and we had a lot of fun there. One of the RVers we met there had recommended we head East across the top of Custer State Park instead of up through the mountains to Rapid City. We are learning to follow recommendations from people who know stuff…!!! (This was another laundry room tip…😅)

We had driven the mountain road to get to Deadwood and there were some tough grades on it…so how bad could the park road be. It was beautiful. Less open than our experience of the neighbouring Wind Cave National Park. A winding road that is definitely descending out of the mountains. The fuel economy on that part of the drive was phenomenal..!!

The road then took us up past Rapid city and east through the Badlands and the Grasslands.

We passed a large bison herd…but there were many cars stopped for pix…so we drove on. The road is pretty lumpy…which makes for interesting driving as the trailer porpoise bounces along…!!

Cedar Pass campground, where we were booked to stay is at the far eastern side of the park.

Finally we made it to the eastern end of the park and Cedar Pass campgrounds. Our first stay in an American National park.

It had really neat sunshades over the picnic tables…..its pretty exposed out in the middle of nowhere..!!)

The asphalt was so hot and soft…that as I reversed the trailer up on to the levelling blocks…they sank in…we went over the back and it jammed into the pavement….😂. Nothing like a little bit of drama to spice up the day.

It was so green…..not how it normally looks ..but there had been a huge storm and a deluge of rain. They were cutting the grass every day (the days it did not rain that is..!!) while we were there.

After that rain, (the Badlands apparently get 16 inches per year…….4 of them happened while we were there..!!) the whole place turns to mud…and thick sticky clay mud at that…….so we did the short scenic walks , all on boardwalks, to let everything drain a bit more before doing a longer hike.

Now we were in to the familiar stripey landscape……is similar but distinctly different to the badlands in Alberta. For one thing there’s a bunch of red stripes. The first loop was 5 minutes from the campground. Cliff shelf trail.

The whole landscape is of carved mountains…….like some one has carved them as models out of layers of styrofoam……

With the rain over the previous few days so the grass was veritably verdant.

Next one was a sunset lookout. Scott found a link on the park website with all the best spots for sunrises and sunsets…..So we checked out the times for sunset and headed up to Big Badlands Overlook. Of course we arrived early…..

….and it was cold up there……

And the sunset did not disappoint. The fading light changes the definition of the coulees……and really brings up the red stripe.

The Door trail, and the Window trail..

These are another couple of boardwalk trails, the door trail takes you out to a lookout and then there is a marked trail off into the coulees. Its such an incredible landscape. Without the trail markers you would very quickly be lost.

….and the Window trail.

Those little boardwalks were great little demonstrations of the very extreme environment. A chance to see quite a range…..and a preparation for the longer hike and how hot and dry it was going to be.

We had the notion that we did not really want to do Jewel Cave on the weekend so (it was 20 mins from the campground) we drove over and tried to book the scenic tour…..but they were fully booked …they only take 20 people at a time. So…doing it on a Saturday made sense again…we booked it for the Sat…and the Ranger in the office recommended Hells Canyon for a hike.

Its the surface part of the park…..so off we jolly well went. We did it anticlockwise…. a winding path up the canyon, then a steep hike up to the ridge and following the edge of the ridge back to the start again. This park had the biggest wildfire on record , the Jasper Fire, in 2000…the damage is absolutely incredible…even 22 years later….

As we are finding with the U.S National Parks, they don’t remove the trees…it’s so dry in the Blackhills that burning actually releases the nutrients back to the soil faster than rotting. It makes for a very dramatic scene up the aptly named Hells Canyon. We were definitely glad that it was so early in the year….later in the summer this trail would be a cauldron.

…and Yes Bill…I did end up in the water…!!!

The trail weaves up the canyon floor……it’s very …….dramatic…!!

Hells Canyon it is indeed.!! It is absolutely incredible how slow the breakdown of the burned trees is here…it demonstrates just how dry the environment of the Blackhills is…even tho it was relatively green while we were there.

…and then there are the little signs of spring pushing through…there was a multitude of Pasque flowers around…..

The climb was not too strenuous…certainly compared to some of the grades that we have tackled…

The trail back along the ridge was….well interesting….for anyone who remembers the cliff edge path that I refused to cross in Skaha Bluffs last year..!!! This path was multiple kilometers of path along the cliff edge. I have learned to look ahead of me, not overthink it…and just go…!!!

My photographer was up to his usual antics….wandering out onto some of the craggy edges “to get pictures for the blog..!!” (argh)

To emphasise the scale here…again WaldMho is in all of the next three pictures….can you spot me?

Even scarier…their were horse tracks along the path….I was bad enough on my own pins…I cannot imagine riding that path on something a bit taller…..

I was pretty pleased with myself trucking along on this one…..

Up on the ridge, as you get closer to the little trees that are starting to take hold…its another lesson on this arid place. The new trees are small…..but looking at the trunks….they are not that young. With the limited moisture around here…it just takes them many many years to become big trees.

Once we got past the ‘rock ledge along the cliff’ phase……it was the ‘walk out across the open rock ridge’ bit…….

…and the long descent down the loooong switchbacks……it looks like you are done about 2km before you are…..because of the switchbacks getting down…….we made a good choice going up the other way…!!!!

It was spectacular tho….

Another successful day out following the Park Rangers’ recommendation. They really are a wonderfully knowledgeable lot and delighted to share their expertise.

Jewel Cave.

I’m not any more a fan of caves than I am of precarious high places. We opted to do the ‘Scenic Tour’ its about an hour and a half. It was one amazing experience. The walkway is well done…and the tour guide was great.

The caves were like entering another planet…..and quite spectacularly alien.

The formations and features have to be seen to be believed. I have attached the link for the NP website…..it has some great explanations of the various formations in this particular cave system.

Our favourite was the Cave Bacon……..it really has to be seen with your eyes…..photos really don’t tell you the whole story here.….Its very difficult to get pictures…..its dark down there. The first picture was Scott’s of the bacon…the next is from the web.

You can do four day cave tours here.…(not me..!!!) but to go deeper in to the caves you have to fit through this block………Neither of us fit…..!!!! (Not disappointed…!!)

We took a short drive up the road to the historic entrance to Jewel Cave. Interesting history to the whole thing….click ..if you are interested.

Some mountain sheep made an appearance at the entrance….

Please note that if you want to see any of the pictures more clearly, they are all clickable. Any additional links for more information will appear as underlined text.

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Who can resist the promise of puppies..!!

( All of the pictures are clickable if you wish a clearer view. Embedded clickable links for more information will be underlined)

It was marked as the most challenging hike in the park…so we immediately put it on the agenda for the next day. It was a bit of a drive out to the other side of the park for this back country hike but a perfect day for it. Lots of bison but not too close.

Its more of the extremely open high plains landscape. It really is quite breathtaking…and I don’t think the pictures do it justice at all..

There were bison around , but a bit more distant …..there was some talk of walking back closer to them……but I managed to avoid that scenario…!!!!

You can see the herd through the trees in this next picture. Remember….objects in the photos are closer than they appear…!!!

It was such a perfect day, and such a beautiful landscape that we kind of regretted not bringing sandwiches and stopping for lunch out there…

You can see forever………

The trail was vey well marked with the same big heavy posts that were on the Centennial trail the day before. Most of them had big clumps of wool on them as the bison are really getting into dropping their winter wool. A couple of little pieces might have accidentally fallen into my pocket.( I have a vision of a little needle felted bison!)

There are many signs warning “Don’t pet the fluffy cows…!!” ( Not a chance I’m getting that close..!!)

The trail went up over the ridge to another high plain and then down in to the next valley. There was not another soul around……it was lovely…

We were starting to see the greening of spring…and the appearance of some blossoming wildflowers…

Just to give an idea of the scale of the landscape……if you zoom in on either of the next two pictures….can you find me Find WaldMho…!!)

As we walked back down to the truck, wee could see a lone young bison walk up beside the road…right up to the truck ( please dont stop….please dont stop…!!). He , fortunately, carried right on past the truck and was off in the distance by the time we got back down. ( Phfewff…!!)

Once we were back down we could see a huge prairie dog town…so when we were done we drove up the road a bit and sat in the truck. We sat long enough that all the babies came out and started to flirt and play.

I’m making no apologies for the number of pictures of prairie puppies…they were adorable…!!!

We also managed to catch a decent bird picture.

Overloaded with cuteness we continued along the outer edge of the park and up along the edge of Custer State Park. We had to stop for these handsome fellows grazing by the roadside.

More spectacular views…and then….marching down the road came a group of bulls……striding along with intent……you can see they are really starting to moult that winter wool…!!!

What a day…….!!!

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Wind Cave National Park South Dakota.

From the map of the park, and from Alltrails it is really hard to tell whether the trails are easy to follow or not. A lot of the trail through the park is not marked on the map. The park has numbered trails 1 to 8 with descriptions …and it was hard to tell what would align with Alltrails, so the most sensible option seemed to be to hit the visitor centre first. (That also gives me the chance to pick up a badge or a token for my collection…!!!😁 )

Chatting to the ranger we picked a trail that I think is in Alltrails…but of course…I now had no signal to download it…..so we went in ‘navigate a new trail’ mode……up to the high plains…where the buffalo….and the pronghorn antelope roam….!!!!

The trail starts out on a road around behind the visitor centre as the Canyon Trail…..the first few kms wind up along the canyon with some quite spectacular rock formations…….and the first example of the National parks philosophy of not interfering with the landscape.

Once onto the Centennial trail, the one we intended to follow, with a short climb up and the land opens up into the incredible vista of the high plains. Like many spectacular places, even when you know it’s going to be impressive….you are never quite prepared for the sheer majesty of it.

It just goes on forever, in all directions, amazing to imagine pioneers in covered wagons hauling all their worldly goods across these plains.

It’s quite a hike…..we ran into small groups of bulls.

Photographer…” Move over there a bit…..get closer..!!”

(Editor….but it’s for the blog )

Me…”NO……as in NOT A CHANCE….!!!”

The other creatures in abundance in the park are the Prairie Dogs. Now these guys…well…they are just hilarious…!!!

They live in towns, where the landscape is dotted with their burrows and the grass is chewed down, both to eat it and to open up the landscape so they can see predators coming. This behaviour also opens up the ground for other plants to get established….things that are tastier and more nutritious for the bison. It appears they have a fairly symbiotic relationship with the bison who drop their manure in the town, reinforcing the nutritious plants. Most of the bison we came across were in or around prairie dog towns.

As you approach them at first you see them scurry and run back to their burrows. As you get closer they start barking/squeaking and stand up like little sentries watching…..as you get closer still they drop down to four feet over the entrance….and when you are too close they disappear…and the next lot start…..

Then an eagle flew over…and they all turned towards the bird….clearly a bigger threat than we were. As it flew in towards them…they stood up and flapped their arms, screaming at it…then dived down the holes…!!!!

We thoroughly enjoyed them…..

The bison like to scratch and rub on the trail marker posts….so some of them are laying down beside the path, and most of them have whisps of bison wool on them….

The trail went down into Curly Canyon….a steep path down…therefore a steep path back up the other side……and past some more bones….!!

The rock formations in the canyon were something else.

We almost walked right into a much larger group of bison, about 60 cows with little tiny copper coloured calves……and a couple of big mean looking bulls that gave us the hard stares as we gingerly circled around them. (Still not getting any closer despite the photographer…!!)

The trail passes into some ponderosa pine….which, according to the literature in the visitor centre, is not the natural landscape. Wind Caves National park do regular controlled burns in the park to remove them in patches, to restore the grassland habitat for the bison herd.

We only saw one other couple out on the plains…and that was from a distance as they seemed to be on another trail.

The prairie dog towns were hilarious. ( They make a return visit in spectacular style in the next blog )

The bull Bison…..impressive but not so hilarious…!!!

We cut the trail short…but still ended up doing a 25km hike. Tired feet at the end ..but a brilliant day out.

You can totally see the landscape those pioneers must have dragged those covered wagons over…..however hard you imagine it was to do that…….I’m willing to bet it was 100 times harder.

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Another couple of bucket list stops ticked off on this day. 😁

(As with all previous posts all of the pictures are clickable if you desire a closer look and anything underlined is a clickable link to more information)

Broken Arrow Horsecamp is such a great spot….it was 34 minutes drive to Mount Rushmore. Our plan for the day was to get there before any kind of ‘rush’ that there might be at this time of year……and then carry on up the road to Deadwood.

Rushmore is …well its spectacular. Its one of those things you just have to go and see at some point. There were a few people there but it could not be described as busy by any means.

We followed the boardwalk around . It is an interesting path…at different points on the walk you can see the monument up through the trees…but each point gives you a view of just one of them with the information boards on the trail.

The best view is from the sculptors studio. From there ( it had been raining in the morning)…..you can see Washington crying ( as I’m quite sure he would be today..!!)

We had a scout about trying to decide where the shots were taken for the movie North by Northwest (Hitchcock/Cary Grant movie…!!!….we have had it confirmed since that the flags were not there at that time….!!)

A quick stop was made at the gift shop for my Rushmore token. ( I started collecting the National Parks tokens…..and decided I should probably have a pin from each place too…!!)

Next stop, on up the road to Deadwood. It’s the place where history meets myth and legend. We had been told the town was quite commercialized and ruined. We had visions of a Niagara Falls type town…it really was not that bad….other than the plethora of gambling establishments….(wowser…every second store..!!) but there is still a lot of the historic town.

We just had to go up to the historic cemetery at Moriah. Burial place of Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock. It was a bit of a bucket list thing also….

Seth Bullocks grave is on up the hill away from the rest of the cemetery.

We stopped off in the gift shop on the way back to ask about it. Why was he not in the regular cemetery with everyone else. The guy in there grew up in the town and told us it was at Mr Bullocks request that he be up on the hill…high enough to be able to see the Friendship Monument on the next hill. It was a monument that he had been instrumental in erecting to the honour of Teddy Roosevelt ( with whom he had become good friends with in life.)

Unfortunately the path to that one was still snow covered so we could not go up there…..maybe next time.

We stopped of at a lovely little craft brewer, Jacobs Brewery and Grocer, in town for coffee. We looked at the menu and ended up staying for a delicious lunch.

Then the very scenic drive back home…..to watch North by Northwest again (as excited as little kids…LOL…!!!)

After all of that excitement from that last trip from Bozeman (Yellowstone National Park) it was time to move on again. Bozeman was forecast snow in the morning we were pulling out..so we hitched up the night before (after our last wallowing session) and were all ready to go. True to its promise the snowflakes were a-flying as we pulled out.

We drove through the downtown on the way out….nice looking town, lots of old interesting looking buildings….ah well….next time.

(please note:- all of the pictures are clickable for a clearer view, clickable links for more information appear underlined)

We were headed to South Dakota, but with a couple of Harvest Host nights along the way.

The first night was a brewery in Billings Montana. Canyon Creek Brewing. It was conveniently located 10 minutes walk from Joannes fabrics…so we walked up to purchase some sock making material..( woo hoo..!!)

Canyon Creek Brewery

The Brewery site was level, the people were nice and the beer was decent…..!!! …It poured with rain overnight and the ground turned to sticky clay..!!

Next stop had me a bit more excited…..Sageridge Mill and Critters….a 700 acre Alpaca farm in Eastern Wyoming.

The I-90 took us right by the Little Bighorn battlefield. It’s a National Historic site……and it was a 2 minute detour off the main highway. I have to admit that I did not know it was there…but we saw the signs so verily pulled over.

The Battlefield of Little Bighorn.

We were very glad we stopped. The NP website describes it as ‘a place for reflection’…..and indeed it is…on many levels.

Its a very sobering place…so many young lives lost over money……or more accurately gold….terrible and tragic.

The site also served as a military cemetery up until the Vietnam war. Its a very beautiful and profoundly sad place.

The last 40 miles of the journey to Sageridge were off the main highway. The very last bit of Montana and into Wyoming. The dirt , the road and the gravel driveways turned red. Presumably iron rich soil. The landscape has an almost badland/coulee stripiness to it.

Weaving along the canyons, further and further into the middle of nowhere, eventually led us to the farm.

Sage Ridge Mill and Critters.

Linda , the host, was lovely. The farmyard was full of creatures, emus, dogs, cats, peacocks, alpacas. The dogs were very well behaved…….one of the dogs, Buddy the border collie, is everybody’s buddy…especially if it involves throwing sticks…!!

Harvest host requirement is making a purchase….so I HAD to buy some alpaca yarn..(Shocker..!!) Linda also gave me a couple of peacock tail feathers…the ones without the eyes……best cat toy ever…..!!!!

Next day we did a hike around the farm perimeter. Buddy came with us as a guide, his fee being a bit of stick throwing……!!!

….and of course….the alpacas……. (…and alpaca babies……🥰)

We met the emus on the way back down…what strange creatures they are…!!!

It was a great stop. The best places are the ones that you are a little it sad to leave….I was a little bit sad to leave….!!!

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop in the world famous town of Upton. Population 989 it says on the sign. 😮 (Don’t believe everything you read on a sign….!!!!)

I would have to say tho…….it was a nice rest stop……!!!

The last part of this particular journey was to the Blackhills , which meant more diabolical roads with scary corners and horrifying grades……

……..and Custer South Dakota. For how popular a tourist spot this is its a remarkably small town…….but warm and friendly.

Broken Arrow Horsecamp…this was a great find…what a lovely campground….and again…super friendly owners……. We were the second rig to pull in as this was their first day open. So peacefully quiet as well….!!!

This was to be the perfect jump off point for the next bunch of adventures.

This was another box ticked on the bucket list. We were expecting to bypass Yellowstone on this trip because we had decided that most of the roads within the park were still closed and it was a long drive to side track down there. The same guy ( campground laundries are the best place for tourist information…LOL…!!) that recommended Drinking Horse also pointed out that Yellowstone in the summer time is mobbed. In the summer there are hundreds of people at Old Faithful…but this time of year there might be a handful. Also, the West gate and the road down to Old Faithful is open…..so…last minute as it was…we decided to go.

(Please note…that all the pictures are clickable if you have any desire to see them larger or more clearly…!!)

The drive south from Bozeman to the West Gate is quite beautiful in itself. The journey down did not hold back on the wildlife….we saw deer, sheep, wolves and bison……the bison were the only ones that were moving slow enough….and close enough to take recognizable pictures……

We got to the West gate just a little after 8am…excited….!!!!😆

So now we have another hour to drive to get to Old Faithful. But there’s lots of entertainment along the way. It was still early on a cool crisp but sunny morning so the warm waters of the river and various hot pools had a veil of mist rising.

…….then we came to a halt in a line of traffic. We slow crawled for about 40 minutes following a herd of bison up the road……it was wonderful…..!!!!

Yellowstone also started to introduce the idea that wildfires are not such a bad thing.

…and so the journey to the middle of the park continues….

Until we reached the visitor centre for Old Faithful ....

…..with lots of time to investigate the boardwalk around the various geysers and hot pools…..it’s an astonishing sight.

We keenly headed down the path towards Castle geyser as it was blowing some pretty impressive jets up in the air. I did not realise at the time it was not a constant display….we were just lucky to be there at the right time to get the display and the steam bath.

It’s a vast site, with boardwalks set up all around the vent holes and geysers. The walkways protect people from the potentially scalding and acidic crust, but more importantly, protect the bacterial mats from people. The mats create all the colours in and around the pools. It has to be seen to be believed. We have not retouched any of the pictures in this post. ( Editor. I used a polarising filter to cut the reflections on the surface, hence you can see the true colours below)

One of the cool parts of all of this…is the bison footprints through the mud, the bacterial mats and the edges of a lot of the pools. They come and go as they please..and seem to suffer no ill effects.!!

As time was winging on we made a last minute decision to go to the high lookout for Old Faithful 11.02 + or- 10 minutes…!!! We had just enough time to scoot up the, what turned out to be, snow covered path….!!!

We made it with a minute to spare if it was ten minutes early….but Old Faithful…..she was right on time at 11.02…!!

Forgive me but I’m still going to add a few more pictures from the boardwalks. It was just soooooo cool…!!

It’s a fascinating place. Its hard to imagine how it must have seemed to the first people that stumbled across it.

At the visitors centre the lovely staff warned us there would be snow after lunch. Conscious that we had a long drive back to the campground, on a road we did not know well enough to drive in the dark, we reluctantly set off back up the road. The mission on the return journey was to hit all the hot pool spots along the way.

The first one was Black Sand basin. We arrived there to find a couple of bison bulls grazing off to one side.

There was a lady walking the boardwalk and her hat blew off onto the mat…just out of reach…!!!

Again that last bright green photo has bison prints if you look closely.

The next stop was Biscuit basin

The sapphire pool was soooo blue …and so clear. You could stand and stare in to it all day….Well….I could…!!!

There was a hiking trail at the back of this basin…..and a big recently posted warning sign for bears….so we did not go there…!!

On our way back out of the parking lot, another fluffy cow came over to pose with a large crow..!!

Then Grand Prismatic Spring …..

Excelsior is the first pool/geyser…and it’s huge….those last two pictures are Excelsior.

At the Grand Prismatic spring……which is incredible..!! , there was a girl next to us who exclaimed that she thought it was so cool that we could only see glimpses of the deep blue colour of the pool. It gave you hints of how much more there was….a little bit of mystery and promise. I liked that perspective….!!!

The last set of pools was the Paint Pot springs.. Before we got there it started to snow. Great big flakes of snow covering the ground very quickly.. Bigger flakes than we have EVER seen anywhere else. How quickly the landscape changes….

Hard to imagine it’s the same day…!!!

Paint pots in the snow……Out in the distance there sounded like many geysers going strong but due to the cold air, plentiful steam and thick snow they remained only soundscapes.

The three paint pots are right next to each other and they are bubbling spluttering clay/mud. Each of them is a distinctly different colour. Grey, pink and caramel. The other pool at this site is the Celestial pool……which benefitted greatly from the addition of snowflakes…!!!

The snow was growing heavier by the minute so we made a dash for the truck to head home

Then, a little further up the road, all of a sudden, again lots of cars pulling off to the side. Cardinal sign that there’s something to see…..the bison herd were gathered in the high valley…in the snow. Picture perfect….!!!

….and then, slightly further down again….a lone cow with a new little copper calf passed right up by the side of us.

A truly magnificent sight to finish our first little visit to Yellowstone…..because….OF COURSE….we are coming back. ( Editor .Yellowstone was a revelation, I was ready for it to be one of the most incredible places we’ve been. That did not even come close and after a day of glorious sights to watch the bison travel up the valley in the snow was very moving.)

If you have not had enough yet….here are some extra pictures….

Extra Pix