Go West My Friend

When I first decided to make this "Dakotas' Adventure" road trip, I had always had in the back of my mind that if (1) things back at work were going fine; and (2) the weather was nice . . . I would extend my trip a few days and head further west to Wyoming.  I was blessed that things fell into place allowing me on this day (Tuesday, May 31st) to head to Yellowstone National Park, rather than home to Milwaukee.

As with most nights when I'm camping, I was in bed early the night before and up equally early in the morning.  With a long drive around (roughly 600 miles), that was a good thing as I wanted to be able to get to Yellowstone early enough to get checked into my campground and take a shower before heading deeper into the park to check out Lamar Valley.  Things simply fell into place, perfectly!

But first, I was going to make one last slow roll through Badlands National Park, especially since there was still a chance I would see some interesting wildlife along the way.  But first, check out the early morning selfie of the van!  Sometimes the strangest things catch my eye and the shadow on the rock formations in the park just looked cool.

On this morning, I did see a little bunny right at the entrance/exit to the campground.  As I approached the Prairie Dog Town on the main loop road, I noticed a couple of people driving back and forth along a cross road.  That could only mean one thing . . . they were hoping to see the elusive burrowing owls.

While in Theodore Roosevelt National Park the photographers from Rapid City mentioned that the park had six identified pairs this year.  I had hoped to be able to see and photograph the owls, but my first two days produced no sightings.  In spite of the poor lighting conditions at sunrise, I was able to take a few photos of this young bird.

I find birds to be the most difficult to do a good decent job photographing.  My equipment is simply not fast enough to capture small critters at great distances, particularly in low light.  And more often than not, I'm shooting "hand held" (versus on a tripod) so the longer lenses (in this case my 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6) creates some instability.  But I do the best I can . . . and this is the result (which is super cropped, adding to the lack of sharpness in the image).  You can click on this (and all of the photos in this blog) to see a larger image.

As I exited Badlands National Park at the Pinnacles Entrance, the sheep were all over the road.  None of the ewes or lambs, but dozens of the young males.  I pulled into the scenic overlook parking lot and enjoyed a bowl of cereal before hitting the highway.  By the time I was done, they were moving on to greener pastures, literally. 

The Mountains of Wyoming

The drive across I90 into Wyoming can be rather boring; whizzing through at 80+ MPH makes it difficult to soak in the views around you especially since there's really not much to see.  But once in Wyoming, getting off the interstate and onto Hwy 14 was a welcomed break.    The weather couldn't have been any better!  Whenever you're driving in rural areas, you will see a lot of road signs cautioning drivers about the wildlife that may be on the road.  In the past when driving in Wyoming

I've seen signs about their moose, but ever actually saw one while driving in Wyoming.  Today would be my lucky day!  As I was going through the Bighorn National Forest I was of course hoping to see big horn sheep, but alas on the hillside about 200 yards from the road, I saw a beautiful bull moose.  By the time I was able to safely pull off onto the shoulder of the road, he had made his way even higher, further away from me.  I was able to get a photo or two, although they weren't very crisp.

There were several places along this route that I wanted to stop and explore, but I remained focused to avoid having the shiny objects along the way cause me to get to Yellowstone after dark.  Knowing I could take a more leisurely ride back through this area heading home in a few days, allowed me to keep moving.

The cowboy town of Cody, Wyoming looks to be an interesting little place to spend some time. I  would love to have my drive-through coincide with their Cody Nights Rodeo on a Saturday night, but alas, my timing for this trip wouldn't work out either.  Also when driving out of Cody towards Yellowstone, there are some interesting stops you can make.  Back in 2012 I did make a point of stopping at the Buffalo Bill Dam and adjacent state park, so on this trip, I kept on keeping on.

I arrived at the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park at about 4:00pm . . . I was very happy with the time I had made today.