Devil's Tower National Monument to Yellowstone National Park

This was another high mileage day (392). There were many things we wanted to see along the way. As easterners, we'd only seen the middle of the country, including the Rockies, from airplane windows, and we didn't know when we'd get this chance again, so ... drive. We'll slow down the pace a bit after this.

I did a lot of plotting and planning using various mapping aids. One thing lacking, though is an appreciation or display of how high the routes might go. This day was another pleasant driving day for us although the truck might have broken a sweat (the temperature gauge never varied from normal; we took it easy).  We did encounter some high points along the way - up and down a mile or so in elevation peaking out over 9000'. 

Flat for a while, but in the distance is the first glimpse of The Big Horn Mountains, a spur of The Rockies.

Climbing in The Big Horn Mountains. In the background is the road we came in on.

Lots of smoke, but we never got close to the fire. There were signs along the road warning of reduced visibility due to smoke.

Not much farther along, we ran into plenty of snow (none on the roads, though).

What goes up, must come down - the start of a ~5000' descent.

We stopped in Cody, WY for a few groceries before heading into Yellowstone Park.  A woman in the market mentioned to watch for mom and cubs grizzlies along the way. We didn't see them, but there was a group pulled off the road to watch a moose in the river - our first moose sighting of the trip.

As we drove through the gates of Yellowstone (unmanned at that time of day) we immediately saw our first bison. We are so used to seeing a fake moose profile on a hillside in Vermont that we thought this was a carved bison. Then it moved. Oh.

We spent the night at Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone Park, arriving at 7:30 pm. The facilities were nice, but the price was the highest we encountered.

This was the view out our rear window. There were holes showing that various bottles had been stuck in the snowbank for cooling.

We were in the Yellowstone Caldera (volcano) having climbed over the ridge, then settling down at ~7700 feet. This is the highest we've been for any length of time outside of an airplane. I did something simple the next morning, like take a walk, and realized I felt different. There's not as much air in the air here (~25% less than we're used to at home as it turns out) - nothing bad, but noticeable.

The campground warned against leaving food outside because of a bear migration. We planned to cook outside, but the lack of picnic table, and the thought of bears around the grill led to cooking in the kitchen.

Recap, today's miles 392, total so far, 1093.