Devils Tower, Mt. Rushmore, and Crazy Horse

Continuing east, our first stop today was at Devils Tower.  We took a few pictures as we drove in, and explored the visitors center before tackling the Red Beds Trail encircling the tower.  This just under 3 mile trail took us about an hour to complete.  Wifey was proud to complete the loop with an average speed of under 20 minutes per mile.  A significant uphill section around the two mile mark almost prevented this but we persevered.  

Where's Wifey!?

There she is!

 

After hiking the trail, we stopped by Prairie Dog town to figure out what is so great about these "Prairie Dogs".  Our pictures were not impressive.  Just you wait, however, (SPOILER WARNING) ... we found more Prairie Dogs later in the trip and became obsessed!!

The Mt. Rushmore National Memorial included access to a pretty cool museum describing the efforts to build the memorial.  Mr. Rushmore itself is huge and the viewing opportunities at such a distance that this visit was a tad disappointing.  Hiking the cliffs or something similar would likely be more worth it, but isn't/wasn't an option. 

We were able to see Crazy Horse from the road, but didn't actually access the site.  It and Mt. Rushmore are on a circular audio tour of the area which we listed to as we drove and enjoyed the scenery.  

 

Wyoming

 We left Yellowstone via the east exit and headed towards our lunch plans in Cody WY at the Irma Restaurant and Grill.  The Irma hotel was famous for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show back in the early 1900's.  Apparently tons of famous folks visited here including British royalty. We were not impressed.

Cherrywood bar - a gift from Queen Victoria

COntinuing from Cody, we headed to Steamboat Point.  The weather did not agree ... check out our awesome visit:

At this point in our vacation, and after a ton of driving, we're pretty worn out. We were super excited to find another local in-grocery starbucks celebrating Friday Love!  

We had a one night stop-over at an AirBNB in Buffalo, WY.   Best parts of this home were there Washer/Dryer and Freezer.  We did all our laundry during our one night stay and re-froze our water bottles that serve to keep our cooler cool! 

Leaving Yellowstone

Before we left the Canyon Village area we found the local US Post Office and sent some postcards back home! If you're ever in the area and looking for it, this is what you can expect.  

From here, we began driving out of the park, slowly and distractedly, catching as many wildlife shots as we could along the way.  

Who you looking at?

 

Yellowstone Day 3 - Mt. Washburn

As our time in Yellowstone was more efficient that initially anticipated, we found ourselves with a whole extra day and no REAL must-do/sees on the list.  We had not yet managed to see the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance, but due to flood damage, doing so would require about an 8 hour drive (out the west entrance, up, around and back south to reach the arch from the north).  We HAD been within a few miles of the north entrance when we were at Mammoth Hot Springs, but the road connecting the two was washed out.

We decided against using a whole day on that drive and will just have to return to Yellowstone (maybe in the Winter when the north entrance is the only place to be) and see the Arch.

Instead we decided to hike to the peak of Mt. Washburn.  There are two ways to access this destination - Dunraven Pass or Chittenden 'Road'.  We checked the recent chatter on AllTrails and learned that there had been several mamma bear and cubs encountered along Dunraven Pass.  Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to move forward and tackle via Chittenden Road.  

We tracked the hike using RunKeeper and it turned out to be 5.63 miles round trip and took us 2:09:59.  

Full Disclosure - we're blogging almost five months in arrears and this next note is from that Runkeeper record and had been blissfully forgotten:

"Tough hike up service road.  Russ carried both backpacks for a bit.  Debated wisdom of bringing zoom lens and DSLR but saw sheep so I guess it was worth it.  Down was much easier."

Yellowstone Day 2 - North Loop

 On our second full day in Yellowstone we ventured NE from our hotel to drive the upper loop, wildlife spotting and visiting Mammoth Hot Springs!  WOW was that successful!  

It's so close selfie!

It's so close photo!

When the Bison come out to play, traffic slows for the day! 

The Horace M Albright Visitor Center is near the north entrance to the park ... which during our visit was closed due to damage from recent flooding.  We accessed it via the in-park northern loop.  

The Visitor center has a ton of interesting displays, and particularly if you aren't participating in a tour or an audio-self-tour should be checked out.  

Across the street (more or less) from the visitors center is Mammoth Hot Springs.  This area is pretty concentrated and can be explored via boardwalk.  There is a drive around at the top of springs with some pull-outs which are HC accessible; but honestly the views there are subpar.  

After exploring Mammoth, we headed south, debating on dinner plans, at this point we have driven all of the material internal routes in Yellowstone and decided to visit the town of West Yellowstone just outside the park boundaries.  As we drove, however, Wifey (who is awesome) spotted a bear off to the side of the road!  This was one animal we had not found yet during out adventures!  

Hubby's superior driving skills came into play next as he pulled a you-turn and 'parked' to the side of the road so we could bear-watch and photograph!

Once the bear left sight, we continued on our way and spotted Elk off the road leaving the park towards West Yellowstone.  The elk were quite a distance away and this as as close up as the zoomy lens would get!