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| Lawful Bison |
Wow....what can I say about the last 3 days? Let's see, where do I start? The plan for Thursday was to leave our "Teepee" lodge and head back into Yellowstone and see a few last sites at Yellowstone Lake and West Thumb before heading back south to the Tetons for the rest of our day. As we are heading back into the park, it begins to rain and we are warned by the ranger that snow is coming (and to watch out for wildlife on the road). We knew that it was expected to come later in the afternoon by which time we'd already be back in Jackson....or that was what we thought. On our way to Yellowstone Lake, we have a bison walking in the opposite lane in our direction (at least he was following the rules of the road). We see some beautiful scenery around the lake despite the rain. Yellowstone Lake is the largest high altitude lake in North America (20 miles by 14 miles). We see a few more geysers and decide to hit the south entrance for the drive to the Tetons. As we approach the road that would head to the south entrance, there is a line of about 10 cars sitting there with a ranger and a closed gate that read, "Road Closed." I believe my heart dropped right about then as I knew what this probably meant. It wasn't snowing yet but you could tell that the drops on the windshield were beginning to turn. As we sat there, I got a head start on my gut feeling that we were going to be exiting the park a different way and explored the atlas looking for the best possible way to get out of the park and back to Jackson. It looked like heading back to the west entrance, up to West Yellowstone, Montana and then hitting major roads down through Idaho and back around to Jackson. Everyone was just sitting there as I decided to drive up to the ranger, ask what was going on, and what would be a good course of action. He said that the road was at least closed temporarily due to accidents on the road and that the snow was already falling there with an expectation of a foot of snow. In his opinion, that entrance was probably closed for good. If you know anything about Yellowstone, you know that there are only 4 entrances (north, south, east, and west and they aren't close together). He agreed that the best thing to do was to get out of the park somehow and find major roads where the DOT would be better equipped to handle clearing the roads. So I drive back up to Old Faithful for some gas and some confirmation of our idea to get back into Jackson. By now the snow is really coming down. We hit West Yellowstone, Montana and begin our trek to Idaho Falls. Snow is still coming down and the roads are horrible. Turns out we were now in the Targhee National Forest and the roads are just two tire tracks in front of me and a visibility of about 1/4 of a mile, going 30 mph. I keep praying to God to keep me safe, keep the car on the road, and to keep the idiots away from me. :-) After taking about 4-5 hours to travel less than 200 miles, we finally hit Idaho Falls. Now we have a decision to make. Without having a clue as to what was going on in and around Jackson and uncertain if we could even get through there, we decide to head south to Park City, Utah to see Ben and do something for the day. Back to the car again! Finally the snow turns to rain and eventually it turns to.....nothing. No precipitation, or at least not much. I pull into Park City, tired and sore from all the intense driving and spend the night at Ben's.
Our Day at Park City
We wake up Friday morning and decide to go see the Olympic Park, one of the sites for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. (Guess what? It's snowing again.) Spent a few hours in the museum reliving the moments of the 2002 Olympics. Afterwards, we drive on into the historic part of the city. It's a very neat quaint town. Definitely full of the western motif and every building and house is unique in both style and color. I saw houses of bright blue, yellow, purple, and everything in between. Utah is a very "environmentally friendly" place and that was also evident everywhere. And in the words of one (new) local-everybody's fit, everybody has a dog, and everyone has either bike rack or ski rack on their vehicle. :-) We walk down main street and head to Park City Mountain Resort to hike a few trails on the now dormant ski slopes. We use a mountain biking trail and begin the trek up and once again, feel the altitude change. Once we entered into the forest, the view was absolutely gorgeous. Snow on the trees, snow falling from the sky, and a layer of autumn leaves on the ground provided an absolutely beautiful quiet scene. Only wish the pictures captured it. Almost a mile up and then a mile down gave us the exercise we needed after a day in the car.
We met up with Kenton and headed to Squatters Pub for our evening meal and good conversation. Then we headed back to Ben's place for the evening and to prepare for the long haul back. If only we knew that our snow adventures were not over yet.
After waking up and packing up our stuff, we head out from Park City, UT on I80 headed to Cheyenne, WY. Our destination? Just past the Nebraska border. It was supposed to be our "easier" day of driving. I drove in mostly snow up through Rawlins, WY but it wasn't too bad. Had to be careful going over bridges with the temperature hovering around freezing but otherwise I could go mostly the speed limit. Keith took over driving around 100 miles from Cheyenne. So close to our goal....or not. About 34 miles west of Cheyenne the snow picks up but the traffic does not. Traffic on I80 has come to a stand still. The reason? They've CLOSED I80 due to the snow so after sitting in traffic awhile we are turned around back to Laramie. A quick check of the atlas reveals that the only way around is to take 287 down to Ft. Collins, hop on over to 76 which will take us back up north to 80 west of North Platte, NE. So on we go. Snowing like crazy. Seeing a tractor trailer jackknifed on the road. Thinking to ourselves, "What more?" Tired and sore from being in the car a lot longer than anticipated, we decided to make our stop for the night Ft. Morgan, CO...about 2.5 hours away. It puts us 11 hours away from Iowa City. Definitely not making our next day of driving any easier. We've encountered 4 unplanned states and two detours off our intended path. After sleeping on a concrete floor the last two nights and needing a shower, the Days Inn off of I76 is a welcoming sight. A good nights sleep and it'll be back in the car. I know tomorrow will be long for both of us as Keith will head back to IN and I will turn around and go back to Nebraska. I can't believe where our adventures have taken us. It's been a crazy ride. Can't complain too much, although I think my body is complaining about the hours in the car and sleeping on the floor. We've been kept safe throughout all of this and everything has eventually worked out. Thanks to the Lord for the protection and we pray for continued protection across a few more states. :-)
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