The Bear Tooth Highway and Yellowstone

We got a bit of a late start, but we were soon off and headed north to Billings. The landscape was beautiful, constantly changing, but always something new and lovely to look at. It took us about five hours to get to Billings. We stopped along the way for a picnic lunch in a small town on the Crow Indian Reservation.



When we got to Billings, we headed back south again, to the Bear Tooth Highway. The Bear Tooth is a road that goes over the mountains into Yellowstone. It has been called the most scenic drive in America. It is closed for much of the year because of snow; indeed, we saw snow banks along the side of the road that were taller than me! The road twists and turns up the side of the mountains.


The elevation in Billings was about 3000 feet, and we climbed to over 11000 feet before starting our descent. When we got to the top, we were literally in the clouds.

And then, finally, we arrived in Yellowstone. We had the most marvelous welcome - we were barely 1/4 of a mile into the park, when we saw a moose, grazing on the banks of a river. Now, we were really fortunate - moose are hard to spot in Yellowstone. We've talked to other people who have been here for three days and haven't seen one!


Just a bit further down the road, we saw our first bison. Two of them. Then we saw a few more - and then we saw huge herds of them! And we got caught in a "Yellowstone Traffic Jam". A Yellowstone Traffic Jam is when traffic stops because the wildlife decide to cross the road. And a whole herd of bison decided it was time to cross, and they did it right in front of our car.










It was the most glorious traffic jam I've ever been in.

This has been the most wonderful day of our trip so far. It's hard to describe all the sights, and the sounds, and the smells. I've lived in the city for so long, I forgot what fresh air smells like.


Today (I'm writing this on Thursday the 3rd) we're off to see the hot springs and the geysers. I'm sure we'll have more to tell!