Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks...

Road Trip - Day 5

Ryan and I left the KOA in Buffalo, Wyoming, still sleepy, yet excited to see the wonders that Yellowstone National Park might present. Our trip to Yellowstone might have been even more impressive than the park itself. We drove through Bighorn Mountain, up its serpentine road, past free grazing cattle. At one point, I decided to run into the field and chase after the cattle. It was a little unnerving as every cow in the whole field got up and looked right at me. It was as if I was staring death in the face. After moo-ing at the cows for several minutes, I got bored and Ryan and I got back on the road. We passed some "purple" mountains (mountains covered with dead trees) and then came upon Yellowstone's east entrance.

The road was under construction, so Ryan and I were forced to wait on the side of the road for twenty minutes. We used that time as an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the Yellowstone map. There are plenty of things to see and do in Yellowstone. Sadly, Ryan and I didn't get to do too much. We drove on a mountain road into the park, past Yellowstone Lake (which is HUGE) and into the gas station. While at the gas station, we were fortunate enough to meet a fellow Michigander who happened to work at the park. She told us that we could guarantee that we'd see grizzly bears if we were to hike 4 miles on the Pelican Bay trail. Ryan almost convinced me to go on the trail, but my better judgment prevailed.

Instead we did the safe thing and visited Old Faithful. On the plus side, we got to the geyser just as it was about to erupt, so at least we didn't have to sit there like idiots waiting for it to go off. After the Old Faithful went off (whee!), we walked along the boardwalk to see several other nearby geysers. Ryan threw a stick into one geyser and some crazy chemical reaction occured and the thing almost blew up. After nearly destroying some ancient geyser, we decided to get the hell out of there and move on down the road.

Our next stop was the "Paint Pots," which basically consisted of some boiling mud. After sitting in awe of some bubbling dirt, we decided to move on yet again. We wanted to go to Grand Prysmatic pool, which was supposed to be a beautiful deep blue pool that is ringed in orange. While this description proved true, the path was about 20 feet away from the pool and the path ran at the same level as the pool, so we had a terrible view. Thanks Yellowstone!

Fearing that we were about to waste the rest of our day seeing fairly boring natural wonders, we decided to speed through the park to an area where the Buffalo roam and the Elk wander around too. We got there just as the sun was setting and were able to see some Buffalo up close; several were literally grazing about two feet away from our car as we crept along in our car. I think Buffalo are pretty much the coolest thing one can see in Yellowstone, and luckly, they're pretty easy to spot. The Elk were ok too, but basically, they're just giant deer. Sadly we were unable to spot any Moose, but hopefully we'll be able to find some in Glacier National Park.

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Road Trip - Day 6

We left Yellowstone this morning and drove through the park up towards Glacier National Park. We saw Mammoth Springs, which look like giant marshmallows, but smell more like crap (it's the sulfer). On the way out of the park there was a big traffic jam and Ryan got out of the car to take a look at what the hold up was. He got to see a grizzly bear from 50 feet away while I slept in the car.

The drive from Yellowstone to Glacier is long, about 8 hours. For the most part, Montanta is a beautiful place with mountains everywhere. Unfortunately, about 3 hours outside Glacier we began to smell smoke. Within 30 minutes everything was hazy and it seemed like we were driving through pea soup. It turns out there is a massive 1000 acre forest fire just below Glacier. All was not lost however, because the last 30 minutes on the drive up to the east side of Glacier was probably some of the best driving i've ever done. As we passed through the Indian reservation, the smoke thinned and the mountains jutted up through the sky like jagged teeth on an angry dog. While that sounds terrible, what I mean to communicate, is that this site was breath-taking and totally badass. It was unlike anything Ryan and I had ever seen before. Seriously... go to Google images and see for yourself. It was unreal.

Lastly, I want to give props to the bulgarian dude who made us our dinner at the St. Mary's KOA outside of the east gate of Glacier National Park. He cooked us up a BBQ cheeseburger and that was probably the highlight of my trip thus far. Seriously, I'm calling the guy up to get the recipe.

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Road Trip - Day 7

Ryan and I entered Glacier National Park, not knowing exactly what to expect. The park was about 10 million times more epic than Yellowstone. While Glacier Park connotes that the park is filled with glaciers, I believe it was named so due to the fact that it was created by slow moving slabs of ice that formed one of the most scenic mountainscapes in the world. THe mountains do not have the soft edges that most mountains have. Instead, each summit was sharp and jagged. This created a very unique landscape. Ryan and I had never been to Glacier before, so we weren't exactly sure what to do while we were there. While driving on the "Going to the Sun" road, we saw some snow about 100 feet below the road. We pulled our car off on the shoulder, and climbed down a steep grassy grade and crossed over loose rocks to get to the snow. We took a few pictures, and then proceeded to pee our names in the snow. After we finished, Ryan decided that we should climb up a sheer cliff face, rather than waste time walking around and going back the way we came. Ryan convinced me that his idea was a good one because it would shave off precious minutes, which could be used later to do other cool stuff in the park. As usual, Ryan's idea was terrible. We managed to climb up the cliff face, using nothing but our feeble muscles, and while we nearly fell off five or six times because the rocks gave way beneath our feet, we managed to climb to the top without dying. Glacier, zero. Dudes, one.

Our next stop at the park was "Logan's Pass." For some reason, this place smelled putrid. We never figured out why, but the fact remains that it is a very smelly place. While waiting around to use the bathroom, we encountered the friendliest squirrel in the park. He was fearless, running up to people, pulling on their pant leg, begging for food. Clearly, he had lost his wild ways. After wasting 10 minutes starring at a squirrel, we decided to go hiking. The ranger recommended that we try the "Hidden Lake" trail. We started walking, and within minutes I was winded. Man, am I ever out of shape. Anyway, we kept on moving and after a few more minutes we came across some beautiful scenery. The hike entailed walking up a boardwalk, up into the mountains, past bighorn sheep and mountain goats. We passed within five feet of a mother mountain goat and her calf(?). We got to the lookout point above hidden lake after roughly an hour and a half of hiking. Ryan decided it would be a good idea to walk another mile and half down to the lake. Once again, this proved to be a terrible idea. While I must admit that the lake was probably one of the most beautiful spots I've ever spent fifteen minutes at, the walk back up was sheer hell. But I can't complain. I probably burned a ton of calories, so now I'll look at least a little bit more buff for the ladies. Glacier, zero. Dudes, two.

After leaving the Hidden Lake trail, we slowly crawled back into our car, dusty and withered, and we drove down the rest of the "Going to the Sun" road. This is probably one of the most scenic drives in America, so if you ever get an opportunity to make the trip, I highly suggest you do. Unfortunately, the forest fire somewhat hindered our efforts to get a clear view of the landscape, but I can't complain. A hazy view of Glacier National Park is better than no view!

Prepare for some truly amazing footage in the coming days!

-The Guys