On approach to Denver. The Rockies are bordering the vast and dry Great Plains- Denver to Rapid City
- Rapid City to Sheridan
From Rapid City, we first headed East to visit Badlands National Parks. As the name implies, Badlands Natl. Park is an area where the soil is of so poor quality that it cannot be used for any farming activity.
Truth of the matter is that this soil is so weak that water and wind erosion prevent any type of exploitation. Irregular erosion due to nonuniform erosion through the different ground layers results in colourful shapes that are similar to the “Demoiselles Coiffées” or “Cheminées de Fées” found in Southern France.
Next stop was South-West of Rapid City in Mount Rushmore National Park where I got a chance to view the huge faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln carved in the rock. Those huge tikis designed during the thirties required fourteen years of blasting, carving and sculpting and were home to one of the most famous movies ever, North by Northwest.
Later in the day, we headed further West to Sheridan. Blistering winds and pouring rains were of the party during the entire journey across Wyoming…
- Sheridan to Yellowstone
The next leg consisted in reaching Yellowstone through Billings, Montana. On the way, I stopped in Little Big Horn where the infamous General Custer got defeated by a rather noteworthy and uncommon alliance of Indian tribes trying to protect their homeland.
Fallen American soldiers
In a desperate attempt to contain the spread of White people over their hunting grounds Cheyennes, Lakotas and Sioux tribes teamed up together under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and defeated Custer.
Later in the day, I reached Yellowstone National Park through the Mammoth Springs where some very smelly sulphur springs offer a very colourful show. I was greeted very close to the northern entrance of the park by herds of deers and buffaloes also known as bisons.
Wanna wash your feet sir ?
- Yellowstone
I spent two days in Yellowstone during which I encountered both heavy snow storms and brilliant sunny weather. During this time, I had some very nice encounters with wildlife amongst which I can count marmots, bison, eagles, black bears and grizzlies.
A huge male grizzli is passing by...
I was delighted with the bears as seeing some in their natural habitat was one of my main purposes for visiting Yellowstone and I got treated. The first encounter was a mom black bear with her two newly born cubs. The second one was a very close view on a huge male grizzly that walked just a few feet from the car. The third one was another male grizzly eating a morning catch. The bear was surrounded by a dozen crows but did not pay attention as he was busy eating the bison.
Next came the geysers which have been the main attraction of the Park since its opening in the late nineteenth century. These geological landmarks are a testimony to the volcanic activity that once took place in Yellowstone. Yellowstone is home to the caldeira of a gigantic volcano that existed long ago. The caldeira collapsed after an explosion and gave place to relatively flat lands in the middle of the park.
Old Faithful is one of the most popular geysers due to its size and regularity : eruptions are ninety feet high and occur every forty to fifty minutes.
Old Faithful during its hourly-show...
Yellowstone Lake is a vast area of water in the Southern portion of the Park. At the time of our visit, it was completely frozen giving place to a gigantic flat frozen surface.
Yellowstone Lake
- Yellowstone to Idaho Falls
During the last day in the Park, we slowly headed South towards Rockfeller Parkway and towards Grand Teton National Park that borders the Southern part of Yellowstone.
The majestic Grand Tetons dominate the surrounding mountains
A small Chapel in the middle of nowhere
Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming preserves a spectacular landscape rich with majestic mountains reaching more than thirteen thousand feet, pristine lakes and extraordinary wildlife. The abrupt vertical rise of the jagged Teton Range contrasts with the horizontal sage-covered valley and glacial lakes at their base and create a beautiful scenery home to a sizable population of moose. While in Grand Teton, I got the chance to see some : not the most elegant creatures I have seen but there is definitely something funny about them...
- Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City
The road between Idaho Falls in Idaho and salt Lake City in Utah is not very exciting. It simply follows the Rockies to the Great Basins. Just before reaching Salt Lake City, I stopped at the Golden Spike Historical Site where the Westbound railroad construction coming from Sacramento, California and led by the Union Pacific company met the Eastbound railroad construction coming from Omaha, Nebraska and led by the Central Pacific company.
West meets East
The junction occurred in May of 1869 and marks the completion of the first transcontinental railway closing the gap between the East and West and essentially putting in the backyard of History what used to be the Last Frontier.
Salt Lake City lies on the eastern shores of the Great Salt Lake and is home to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and obviously there is a lot about this church in the city.
The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young as Mormons were fleeing persecution in the East. During their journey West, they established camps in Ohio, in Wisconsion and finally in Utah. Utah is now mostly inhabited by Mormons.
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Mormon temple in Salt Lake City
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- Salt Lake City to Cheyenne
The last major leg of the journey was another crossing of the Rockies from Salt Lake City to Cheyenne through Flaming Gorge National Monument and Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado.
As one explores the craggy hills, one may discover fragments of a long ago world where the largest land creatures of all times once roamed and died.
I say ‘may’ because besides a diplodocus leg fossil, I was not able to find anything else. There were supposed to be other fossils but I guess they were not that apparent or maybe I just visited the place too hastily...
Anyways, after a short stop there, we headed East again climbing passes, some of them over nine thousand feet high to reach Cheyenne and the Great Plains again.
- Cheyenne to Denver
This was the very last leg of the roadtrip and I reached the Mile High City in Colorado early in the morning in time for my mid-afternoon flight. The flight home was a short three-hour hop on an AirTran Boeing 737-700. It does feel even shorter when it’s in a nice roomy and wide business class seat…
A short movie about the roadtrip is available here. Enjoy!
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