6/16 Riverton, WY to Livingston, MT

Within a mile or two from our departure, we could see in the distance the snow capped Rocky Mountains – a sure sign that we’re making progress in our journey across the country. A little further down the road from Riverton we spotted a small spillway in the distance, and found a road leading to it. It was a mile or two off the main highway, and our little service road took us right across it. The dam is a diversionary dam built on the Wind River back in the early 1920’s to provide irrigation water through a series of canals. It is still in service, along with several other irrigation projects from that time period. Behind the dam the river was widened into small lake that blended in with the prairie grasses and reeds. It provided a haven for several ducks and geese, and probably fish as well, as we read this was one of the first dams built with a fish ladder. On the other side of the dam, the river continued on its course, but some of its water was also diverted into a canal that headed off in another direction.

Continuing on northwesterly on highway 26, we passed through Crowheart and Dubois, as well as some smaller towns that sometimes didn’t even show up on the map. Many had only vacant stores or gas stations, remnants of a time before much of the cross state traffic traveled via the Interstates. The rolling hills became rockier and more suited to sage brush than pastures as we neared the mountains. Some of the foothills showed varying colors of red and brown in their upheaved strata, and a geologist would probably be able to describe just how they formed that way.

We crossed the Continental Divide at Togwotee Pass, where the elevation was over 9600 feet. The weather was great – sunshine with temperature in the low 70’s, and the road was dry with patches of snow alongside at the summit. After a delay of several minutes waiting for a pilot car through some construction, we descended towards Moran Junction, where we could turn south to Jackson or north to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We did a little of both. We headed into Grand Teton National Park, taking the Teton Park Road from Jackson Lake Junction through some scenic areas and on into the town of Jackson, south of the park. We hadn’t been to Jackson since Erin and I stayed there on one of our first motorcycle rides 18 years ago. We drove by the park in the center of town with the archways built of antlers, and up and down a few streets. It was pretty hectic, with a lot of construction projects going on, as well as a lot of tourists wandering about. We even saw a construction flagger working his flag on crutches.

After checking out the town, we decided to head north into Montana, via Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Since we’d come through the lower part of the park on Teton Park road, we headed north on the “high road”, which also provided us with some majestic views of the Grand Teton Mountains. What a sight! We stopped at several overlooks for photos and to just admire the majesty. We got a different show heading north from Jackson, as some weather had developed, blowing in some clouds. I can report that between Teton and Yellowstone, as well as our other travels for today, we set a new record for photos snapped in a single day – 143. Thank God for digital cameras – sure wouldn’t want to pay for that much film or processing. I’ll have quite an editing job to do for this trip.

We’ve been through Yellowstone several times in the past, but we were treated to some new and outstanding views. Although it was a bright summer day, the park had not completely shed its winter coat, and in the higher elevations we enjoyed seeing snow between the trees and along the marshy areas where elk are sometimes spotted. We took the western side of the loop drives, past Lewis Lake into the West Thumb area.



It’s always a treat to see some wildlife up close, and we weren’t disappointed. We saw many antelope and elk grazing in fields near the road, with some venturing near the shoulders. In several areas, bison sauntered along the road, oblivious to the traffic backup as folks in both directions stopped to watch and take photos. At one point, while in a more remote area taking a landscape photo, we heard some barking and howling in the distance, and spotted a lone wolf in a far meadow, broadcasting to the world. He stood there surveying his domain for the longest time, then turned and headed back into the woods.

We stopped briefly at the Old Faithful area, but I was pretty sure I’d caught a glimpse of the geyser from the road, and we didn’t want to wait around another hour or more for the next eruption. The area was under construction, and we noted that new roads and ramps had been built into the area to accommodate the additional traffic. We continued on to some of the other geyser areas and points north, as we were now hoping to reach the Livingston, Montana area before dark. We did.