1st day – We started at 11am toward Black Hills, SD, arrived at Custer City at 9pm, and checked into the Days Inn motel at about 10pm. The clerk who tuned out to be the owner asked for the number of guests. I told him that we are party of four. He informed me that would be an upgrade charge of $25 since the reservation was guaranteed for 2 people only. I grudgingly accepted the terms as I was not in the mood of arguing.
2nd day – We visited the Crazy Horse Memorial in which an ambitious project is underway to construct an immense statue in the Black Hills honoring the Lakota leader, Crazy Horse. The scope or the number of initiatives continues to grow with only support from friends throughout the country. The memorial also features the Indian Museum of North America History, Native American Educational and Cultural Center and Korczak’s Studio and Home.
After two hours at Crazy Horse, we traveled to Cody, WY via the Bighorn mountain terrains through rain, lightning and much colder temperature than the scorching heat in Rapid City, SD. We finally arrived at the Rand Creek Cabins located about 30 miles from the East gate of Yellowstone National Park and 22 miles from Cody, Wyoming along the Northfork of the Shoshone River. The ranch is owned by Krystal and Joel. They have three children (2 boys and 1 girl), 14, 11, 9 years of age. Joel, originally from PA, met Krystal in Idaho many years ago and chose Wapiti, Wyoming as their home. As I stepped out of the car, I immediately felt the cold strong wind and ran toward the office. Joel and Krystal were there to greet me as if they were there waiting all night for our arrival.
3rd day – We left the cabin at 10am. The scenery along Highway 14 was incredible with dramatic views of wild flowers, creeks, rivers, streams, and rugged mountains ranges. I couldn’t help but stopped by one of the creeks, listening to the gentle sound of the water flowing over rocks, breathing the fresh mountain air, and seeing abundance of wildflowers and desert plants along the stream.
Nestled among towering pines and clear mountain streams, the Yellowstone Park is home to a diverse array of wildlife, such as deer, elk, buffalo, bighorn sheep, black bear, grizzly bear and many birds. However, the park is known for its Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Yellowstone Lake, which is like an ocean because of its vastness. Our plan of the day was to visit the Old Faithful geyser first since is the most popular attraction in Yellowstone National Park. The Old Faithful releases thousands of gallons of water busting into the sky with each eruption that happens about every 92 minutes. Though the eruption was spectacular, we were not overly impressed by the height of the bursts. Each burst seemed to reach a height of about 100 feet, lasting one to two minutes. After the slight disappointment with the Old Faithful, we spent some time exploring the Upper Geyser Basin and the West Thumb Basin. Both places offer some interesting thermal features, such as hot springs, geysers, mud pots and fumaroles. The West Thumb Basin contains mostly pools: pots bubbling pots and steaming hot springs. The colors (blue-green-brown) and shapes change constantly as the rocks dissolve from the acidic water.
The trail at Upper Geyser Basin, about a mile long, crosses the Firehole River a few times. Along the way you pass the colorful pools and erupting geysers such as the Castle Geyser that creates a rainbow in early morning and late afternoon. Just a short distance north from Castle Geyser is the first of several colorful pools - Crested Pool. Crested Pool is deep blue in color and surrounded by geyserite formations, mostly orange in color.
At the end of the trail is the Morning Glory hot spring, which is considered as one of the most colorful in the park. After a few minutes of rest from the long walk, we decided to head back. The journey back took longer than we had anticipated because of bison crossing. Traffic came to a halt for at least 15 minutes until the ranger herded them out with a SUV. One of the bison disliked being herded started to charge at the SUV. Luckily, it retreated almost immediately. We also stopped for an elk as it fed her baby in the middle of the road, a male deer striking the branches of a pine tree with its antler, and a baby grizzly bear walking along the side of the road. Nevertheless, the sunset along the shore of Yellowstone Lake was beautiful with reddish clouds in the horizon.
As the sky became darker, the full moon gradually appeared over the mountain.
4th day – The weather is significantly warmer (high 70s). We left the cabin late in the morning and arrived at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone at noon. Our first visit was the visiting center, a new building designed to withstand strong earthquakes. The center included relevant info on the physics of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, formation of the canyon and earthquakes in the region.
After spending an hour at the center, we spent most of the time walking along the rim the canyon. As we approached the canyon, we could hear the roaring sound signifying that the waterfall was near. The waterfall was amazing and powerful. The color of the water was light green. The mist caused by the powerful fall mixed the sunlight created a rainbow that can be seen from distance. Once in the Canyon area, we took the Uncle Tom's Trail that starts from the top of the Canyon to the base of the 308-foot-high Lower Falls. The last part of the trail was walking down 327 steel grate steps (about 500ft in elevation). That was not bad at all compared to going back up, which was very strenuous. However, the effort was worth it. The color (dark yellow with streaks of red, green and black) of the rocks of the canyon was truly wonderful.
5th day – The weather again was warm and sunny. The first visit of the day was Mammoth Hot Springs. It turned out to be somewhat disappointing as water circulation seems to decline significantly. Most of the so called hot springs can be classified as dry springs blanketed with white minerals. However, you can still see a tapestry of color (orange, brown and green) from the hot water flowing among the active terraces, albeit not too many.
We spend second part of the day hiking at the Lower Fall of Grand Canyon.
6th day – It’s suppose to be a “lazy” day. We started with a quiet walk along a creek near the cabin and the shore of Yellowstone Lake. We had a lot of fun throwing rocks into the lake. On our way back to the cabin, we stopped at a hill top overlooking the lake. The water of the lake assume a variety of colors, such as light yellow, dark green, deep blue, jadeite, under the sun light because of different water depths and silts on the bottom. The trees surrounding the lake were mostly pine and firs. It was amazing to see a pair of pelicans gliding over the thick forest of pine trees and a mocking bird flying over our heads.
We returned to the cabin in the afternoon. The kids did not want to do anything except to play Nancy Drew video game. My wife and I went fishing in the pond directly in front of our cabin. We enjoy it although only one trout was caught. Since I had never ridden a horse, I though it would be fun to try. The experience of horseback riding turned out to be exciting. The horses took us through some rugged trials of lose rocks and steams, stopping for dry grass every 2-3 minutes. We had to kick them to instruct them to go forward.
We had dinner at Cassie located in Cody, WY. The steaks were big and delicious.
7th day – We left the cabin early in the morning. On the way to Rapid City, SD, we stopped by the Shell Falls, a waterfall located in the Bighorn National Forest on Shell Creek, about half-way down Shell Canyon, The waterfalls, 120 feet in height, tumble over basement rock of granite (Bridle Falls, Wyoming). The scenery of the waterfall and the mountains was breathtaking.
We had dinner at Chile and stayed over for a night at Best Western in Rapid City, SD.
8th day – We stopped by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Geology museum. They had an amazing collection of fossils and minerals. My wife was happy about her purchase of jewelries with genuine rocks. She said the price was very reasonable. We also stopped by Wall Drug. The place had become so commercialized that we only spent an hour there. Most of the stores carried mostly cheap merchandise seemingly made in China.
