Road Trip 2015: Leg One – Calgary to Billings - 874 kilometers
We left on a Saturday morning. The expected travel duration
was 8 hours, so we thought we would have plenty of time to make it in to
Billings before nightfall. Unfortunately, we seemed to have made too many stops
along the way. It was puzzling though that we were late into Billings because our stops were of the shorter variety. You just can’t see
everything you want to see and still make a hotel reservation that is 8+ hours
away. Mrs. Gym and I should have given ourselves more time. This would be a
recurring issue.
From Calgary, we drove down through southern Alberta to the border. After an uneventful border crossing we ran down the I-15 through the least inspiring part of Montana, to Great Falls, now home to about 60,000 Montanans. For small city, Great Falls has traffic issues. Mrs. Gym and I are city folks though and we persevered through it and took a left-hand turn there coming out of that city headed east. Leaving Great Falls we zig-zagged in a south-easterly
direction towards Billings.
We made four stops on the day. There was a brief stop in Lethbridge, Alberta to gather some provisions and then we had lunch in Shelby, Montana. Our third stop was after Great Falls, along Belt Creek, at Armington Junction, to stretch our legs before the final push to Billings. Armington Junction turned out to be the point at which we started a huge loop and we would come back to this point on the return trip. Our final stop was the exploration of Moore, Montana (we just had to see it) and then we didn't stop again until Billings.
We made four stops on the day. There was a brief stop in Lethbridge, Alberta to gather some provisions and then we had lunch in Shelby, Montana. Our third stop was after Great Falls, along Belt Creek, at Armington Junction, to stretch our legs before the final push to Billings. Armington Junction turned out to be the point at which we started a huge loop and we would come back to this point on the return trip. Our final stop was the exploration of Moore, Montana (we just had to see it) and then we didn't stop again until Billings.
Billings is the largest city between Calgary and Denver with
some 150,000 inhabitants and today it services a huge area that includes parts
of the Dakotas, northern Wyoming and all of Montana. Lately, it has proved to
be recession proof and has grown significantly. This buoyancy is thanks in part to the shale oil boom in the Williston basin of northern Montana and North Dakota.
Billings is nestled in the Yellowstone River Valley near where part of the Lewis and Clark expedition passed by in 1806. The town itself did not come into existence though until 1882. It was that year that a railroad town was established in the name of Frederick H. Billings, President of the Northern Pacific Railroad.We made it to Billings just as it was getting dark.
Billings is a well laid out city that is easy to navigate and it was particularly beautiful to see it at dusk the day we arrived from the north. With no real warning, we were heading down the highway, when all of a sudden, we found ourselves peering over the escarpment of the river valley, looking down on the well-treed suburbs of the city, as the street lights were coming on. We descended into the valley and with the help of the iPhone 6, we found our hotel without any problems. The Northern Hotel is a 100-year old establishment, but the building we stayed in was built in 1940 because the original hotel building had burnt down. The hotel has all the amenities including two great dining establishments. The dining room ("TEN") is grand. The restaurant is comprised of a dining room that is open to a great bar and I highly recommend it. It has the most comfortable barstools that I have ever sat in and the bar itself is a masterpiece. TEN has a Mad Men kind of 60’s feel to it. The bartenders serve upscale handmade, custom cocktails and they have a decent wine list there as well. Bernie’s Diner is also part of the hotel and is a great place for breakfast. Bernie's has a real 50’s soda-fountain feel. If you stay in the Northern, try the north side of the building because the trains are on the south side.
One of the key places we missed on the first leg was Fort Benton, on the Missouri River. Fort Benton is interesting because it was the furthest inland port of any place in the world. Before the railroads came to this part of the continent, you could get on a Paddle Wheeler in New Orleans and travel all the way to Fort Benton by boat. This port served Montana and Alberta very well until the railroads came in the 1880s. The boats moved buffalo robes and beaver pelts from the Great Plains in Canada and the U.S., to other ports along the Mississippi and all the way down to the Gulf Coast. In the other direction, miners came who would get off in Montana and seek their fortune in the mines of Idaho and British Columbia. This port caused traffic to flow both ways along the Benton - Whoop-up trail that is now basically the same route as the No. 4 Highway in Canada that connects into the I-15 in the U.S. And that of course was the route that we drove from Calgary to Great Falls.
During the climax of Fort Benton’s usefulness as a port, the 49th parallel was an unprotected border and people from both sides ignored the arbitrary dividing line. It was two Montana men that built the fort near Lethbridge, Alberta that would become known as Fort Whoop-up. Today there is a well guarded border between Canada and the U.S. but it is obvious from history that the area was not always separated by a fence and Albertans and Montanans have much in common including some genes.
Leg Two - Billings, Montana to Hill City, South Dakota - 616 km
Much to the chagrin of my dear Mrs. Gym, our first stop after leaving Billings was not one that she wanted to make. The Little Bighorn Memorial was not on her bucket list. However, I had been there before and I knew how well laid out the site was and that this would impress her.
Just like all good things in America this historic site can be a drive-through experience. You can do the whole battlefield without getting out of your car. But you will get out of your car. After you start at the beginning and drive along the ridge you will get into the story. You will find yourself beginning to understand what happened to the 7th Cavalry that fateful day in 1876 and you will want to park your car to visit the hill where the climax of the story played out and Custer and his entourage had their "last stand". That is what happened to me on both my visits and in the end I believe Mrs. Gym agreed that it was a worthwhile stop.
As the Little Bighorn National Monument was only an hour out of Billings and we spent an hour there, we had to put the peddle to the medal again. We had another aggressive target set and wanted to spend some daylight time in South Dakota, when we eventually got there. We would spend most of the afternoon driving down the I-90 and climbing into higher elevations in northeastern Wyoming. We would basically cut across the corner of that state to get to the Black Hills where we would be spending the night. Unfortunately, we whipped by some cool parts of Wyoming. One interesting place is Sundance, Wyoming, which is where the "kid got his name". The "kid" of course was the Sundance Kid whose real name was Harry Longabaugh and that moniker was given to him after he was let out of the Sundance jail in 1888. The other notable thing that we whipped by and I just have to see someday, is the famed Devil's Tower. We saw it in the distance, north of the I-90 but like I told you before you have to get off of the Interstates to really check stuff out. When you do see it up close you will remember that it has a movie connection too. This geomorphological super-star was featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These places will have to be explored on my next trip.
The good news was that by avoiding the aforementioned sites in Wyoming, we made it to Deadwood, South Dakota with plenty of light left to check out that very historic town. An added bonus is that we finally got off the I-90 and onto the most scenic route of the day. Just east of Spearfish, South Dakota we went south on Highway 85. This 2-lane highway rises up out of the scrubland and into the Ponderosa Pine forests of the Black Hills. As you travel up into the hills you gain almost a thousand feet of elevation when you hit the edge of town. Deadwood is famous for many reasons but it is probably most well known as the place where Wild Bill Hickock was murdered. Wild Bill, Calamity Jane and Charlie Utter are all buried there. The town is a National Historic Landmark but it is marred in my opinion by a bit of overzealous commercialization. Kitschiness notwithstanding, Deadwood is a one-of-a-kind town that still has an undeniable western feel to it and in defense of the town planners, they needed some commercialization to draw the tourists and keep the businesses profitable. In fact, gambling was legalized in 1989 as a way to help keep drawing tourists to the area. At the time, one could only gamble in Atlantic City and Nevada.
Leaving Deadwood on Highway 85 and continuing to the south you pass some beautiful country in the forested areas that surround Pactola Reservoir. We were on our way to the Black Forest Inn Bed & Breakfast, located in Hill City, South Dakota. It was there we checked in and were told to try out the Horse Creek Inn for dinner. We had an excellent meal at that establishment.
Leg Three - Hill City, South Dakota to Greeley, Colorado - 553.12 km
We woke up in proprietor, Ron Moore's B & B on the third day. Our brief stay at the Black Forest Inn was restful and the proprietor was very accommodating. We were minutes away from our first stop. Mount Rushmore was just down the road. This famous National Monument was easy to find and because of the time of year of our visit, there were no crowds at the site. We had beaten the summer rush. Initially, we didn't know what to expect but when we arrived, we found that the monument was a very well laid-out facility. A good view of the mountainside meant turning into the entrance of the massive parking facility run by the National Park Service who collected a nominal $11 per vehicle. Once parked you simply stroll through the promenade leading you past the bookstore. museum, ice cream kiosk and gift shop, and onto the Avenue of the Presidents. Next thing you know, you are underneath the iconic sculptures. We took a few pictures and contemplated the amazing piece of art on the side of the mountain. Then we had to retreat and check out one more thing before leaving the Black Hills, another colossal piece of artwork.
Just down the road from Mount Rushmore is the unfinished Crazy Horse Memorial. This sculpture has been in the works since 1948 and when it is finished it will dwarf the images carved into Mount Rushmore. Today, one can only see the face is finished but eventually Crazy Horse is to be sitting on his horse and pointing off into the distance with a massive outstretched arm. Much controversy surrounds this project because the descendants of Crazy Horse's Oglala Lakota Nation are not all sold on the idea of this sculpture.
After leaving the memorial we drove through Custer, South Dakota and subsequently started to climb down out of the Black Hills. We would leave the beautiful Ponderosa pine trees and eventually cross back over into Wyoming and the sparsely-populated, southwestern portion of the state. The route through the ranch-lands of southeastern Wyoming was to cut through the county of Niobrara. To help describe this part of high plains country, the county of Niobrara is the most sparsely-populated county in the most sparsely-populated state in the U.S.A. We did not see many dwellings on this part of the drive until we got to the county seat of Lusk, Wyoming. Lusk sprang out of its empty surroundings in about the the middle of the county. We stopped there to get gas and a sandwich at one of the local truck stops. I triumphed in beating the temptation to buy a camouflaged skinning knife or any of the delicious-looking fried chicken that lay under the powerful UV light near the checkout counter. After gassing up, we left Lusk, that very odd collection of buildings that was kind of cool because of where it was, in a town that materialized out of the high plains as if by magic.
After Lusk, we traveled another 225 kilometres before reaching Cheyenne near the border of Colorado. During this leg of the journey we were able to boogie along at a good clip because you could generally see what was in front of you for ten kilometres down the road. We passed through Cheyenne on the I-25 to learn via texting with our daughter that she was hungry and wanted us to hurry on to Greeley to take her out for dinner. So, the rest of the short trip between Cheyenne and Greeley flew by as we looked forward to the rendezvous with our oldest offspring.
Greeley, Colorado
Our daughter Nicole had finished two years of a 2-year Master's degree in Gerontology at UNC, in Greeley. She graduated with highest honours. However, Greeley left its mark on her and she left her mark on Greeley. One of the ways that Greeley affected her the most was that after studying two years in Greeley, she became a Pescatarian (like a vegan but eats fish). It is uncertain whether it was Greeley's livestock processing industry or the study of Gerontology that prompted this change, but it happened. And, during her time in Greeley, Nicole successfully taught an informal course in Canadiana to a wide audience of fellow students and faculty which included the proper pronunciation of words like "process" and "progress" which the lazy-tongued Americans had somehow corrupted. In addition, she held Thanksgiving celebrations in her flat on the day that Canada celebrates it and all Americans had to play games like "Pin the tail on the Province" and "Canadian Trivial Pursuit" where the winners could enjoys shots of Canadian Rye Whiskey. These events will not soon be forgotten on the campus of UNC.
Greeley is really one of many bedroom communities surrounding Denver. It is about an hour north of the Denver International Airport. During our daughter's time in Colorado we visited Greeley and the surrounding area several times. The campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley is very nice but the town is sort of uninspiring. If you travel to the area I recommend that you spend some time in Denver and then check out Fort Collins as one of the must-see bedroom communities. Fort Collins is a beautiful town about 40 minutes west of Greeley.
Greeley was named after Horace Greeley. If you do some some reading on the man you learn that he was a pretty powerful figure in the 1850s and 1860's. He was the editor of the New York Tribune and was a fierce abolitionist. At times he worked with President Abraham Lincoln when Greeley thought the President's Administration was headed in the right direction. However, when Greeley felt that Lincoln was getting side-tracked, the Tribune's editorials would be critical and chastise Lincoln for not realizing that abolishing slavery was the preliminary goal. And because the Tribune was widely circulated, Greeley had power that Lincoln needed to harness. So in a way, Greeley helped speed up the Emancipation Declaration. Later, he would campaign for President against Ulysses S. Grant, in Grant's bid to win a second term and would lose because Grant had learned how to use a deadly weapon. Grant used very effective attack ads in the form of political cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast. I submit then that Horace Greeley was a great man and Greeley, Colorado needed to be something special to live up to its namesake. It hasn't quite gotten there yet.
Greeley has promise though. If the feed lots could be moved to Kansas and the infrastructure could be tuned up so that there wasn't 20 stop lights on the main highway connecting it to Denver, then you might have something. At least there is a great university there and you can now buy cannabis legally at any number of dispensaries that have been established in the area since the pot was legalized in 2014. So Greeley may still rise up in the years to come and become something that would make my daughter and the ghost of Horace Greeley proud.
It took us a couple of nights in Greeley for Nicole to say her goodbyes and for us to unwind two years of student hoarding. Then on the final morning, we were invited to breakfast with the two professors that Nicole had studied under at UNC. They wanted to buy us all breakfast to say goodbye to their star student. It was a very nice ending to the 2-year stint in Greeley. After a brief stop in Fort Collins to get some provisions we started our journey home.
Leg Four; Greeley, Colorado to Rock Springs, Wyoming - 500 kilometres
Having gotten off to a late start out of Greeley we needed to make up some miles. The author had planned a route through western Wyoming to get into a position to enter Yellowstone National Park from the south on the following day. Our goal was to make it to Rock Springs on the first night of our return journey.We needed to traverse west across the southern part of Wyoming.
We headed north out of Fort Collins and took a left-hand turn onto the I-80 in Cheyenne. The I-80 follows the path of the Overland Trail. This was a very famous stagecoach route used by the Overland Stagecoach Company. There were no less than 20 stagecoach stops between Laramie, a town just west of Cheyenne and our destination of Rock Springs. During the 1860's The Overland Stagecoach company ran mail and any hardy souls that agreed to be passengers on these stagecoaches from Denver to Salt Lake City.
Why did a passenger on this route in the 1860's have to be hardy? First of all, the high desert is an inhospitable place. The route crosses the great divide at least twice and much of the route is above 7000 feet above sea level. During the day it can be exceptionally hot there but as soon as the sun goes down it can drop below freezing and those stagecoaches did not have block heaters. Next there were the Navajo and Arapaho native peoples. These "first nations" as we call them in Canada were hostile during the 1860's and they enjoyed raiding the stagecoach stations because they could usually make off with some livestock without too much trouble. That prompted the U.S. Army to post units along the trail to protect the stagecoach artery and protect the passengers and the mail. This was at a time when the Army needed these men to fight in the Civil War. Ultimately, the soldiers were not totally effective as a deterrent and attacks continued.
Today, the I-80 is a very busy trucking route. It is actually one of only two transcontinental interstate highways that crosses the Rockies. When we ran up the I-80 in May it was before the summer peak driving season and the mix of traffic was about 80% semi-trailer trucks and 20% passenger vehicles. The truck-stops were amazing places designed for the big freight haulers and the truckers that frequented these establishments were just the kind of people you expect to see living the trucker's lifestyle. The parking areas at these places are enormous.
We made it up to Rock Springs that night and stayed in the Homewood Suites by Hilton. Rock Springs has an interesting history too. It was obviously a stagecoach stop for the Overland Stagecoach Company but it would also became important when the railroad came through because of the rich and plentiful coal deposits in the area. The coal was needed to run the trains and was a valuable fuel source for the industries back east. Miners came from everywhere in the world to work in the coal mines and live in Rock Springs. It has been documented that immigration occurred from over 50 countries into Rock Springs after the railroad came through in 1868. Today, this small "united nations" of families still live there and have shifted to working in the natural gas fields that have also turned out to be very prolific in southwestern Wyoming.
We went for sushi that night. The next day we would turn north and head to Jackson and the south gate of Yellowstone.
Leg Five: Rock Springs to Yellowstone National Park and beyond that to Bozeman, Montana
Distance Traveled - from Rock Springs to Yellowstone (south entrance) - 375km
- from Yellowstone (south entrance) back to Jackson - 88km
- from Jackson to Bozeman - 350km
Total = 813
I was excited the morning we were pulling out of Rock Springs. We were going to leave the I-80 and head North to Jackson, Wyoming and then enter Yellowstone National Park through the south gate. I had never seen the geyser, Old Faithful and was looking forward to that very much.
This would turn out to be a long day and there were some surprises in store for us. However, it started out going according to plan as we climbed even higher than we had been on the trip.
We were making our way up to Jackson which sits at over 7000 feet above sea level. Jackson is at the foot of the Teton mountain range and it is the largest settlement in the valley called Jackson Hole. This is where the intrepid Mountain Men like Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith and Liver-eating Johnson spent some of their time in the first half of the 19th Century. The main draw to this area for these mountain men was the plentiful beaver and other fur-bearing game that inhabited the valley. On the way up to Jackson there is a Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, Wyoming which we passed by that morning.
Everything was going fine as we headed through Jackson and then drove on towards Yellowstone Park. The drive to the park gates along the Snake River from Jackson, is one of the most scenic drives you will ever take. First you pass the National Elk Refuge where Elk and Bison have been protected for over a hundred years. Then you turn onto the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Parkway. Rockefeller was instrumental in contributing 35,000 acres of land to what would become grand Teton National park, so naming that road after him is appropriate. Once on Rockefeller's parkway you skirt along the east side of Jackson Lake with the beautiful Tetons rising beyond the lake's western shores and on the right-hand side are the Gros Ventre Mountains which frame the valley to the east. Then you get to the Yellowstone Park Gates - AND IF THEY ARE OPEN - you can proceed northward to Old Faithful.
Horror of horrors, the gates were not open! The nice ranger lady in the booth calmly explained that they would open the next morning. I was shocked and I instantly dreaded the ire of my travelling companions as I figured out that we would have to turn around and head back to Jackson. However, when my own shock subsided, I found that Mrs. Gym who was seated next to me and Mini Gym in the back seat, were not pointing any fingers at me. We calmly discussed the fact that we still had a half a day to get somewhere and decided we did not just want to go back to Jackson and waste a day waiting for the gates to open. There was then only one real opportunity left to us and that was to backtrack about 100 kilometres and head up over the Teton Pass into Idaho. This decision saved us a day getting home but seeing Old Faithful would now fall out of the range of possibilities. I was very shocked to find the gates were closed and to learn that we had missed it by just one day. C'est la vie.
That afternoon, we retraced our steps and drove southward with the Teton Range now on our right and as we passed through Jackson again I thought to myself how tragic it was to have missed Old Faithful. I remember it clearly from years of watching The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday night, when I was a young boy. It will have to be on the next trip and of course next time I will check the gate openings and closings before my trip. For all you readers out there, please understand that the dates are not fixed. If the park rangers think that the roads are unsafe they can delay scheduled openings and closures are routine.
Having said goodbye to Jackson for a second time, we would make our way through western Wyoming and approach the Teton Pass. As we made our way up to the summit, we approached the highest point of the trip. Teton Pass summits out at 2570 metres above sea level. For the American readers that's 8431 feet which is about 1.6 miles above sea level. This was the high point and then we descended into the land of Napolean Dynamite.
Yes, once you get down into Idaho, on the western side of the pass it looks totally different. To the west a very much flatter plain, the Teton Plains exist. Gone is the sub-alpine look and feel of Jackson Hole and voila, spring has arrived early to the Teton Plains and everything is green and markedly warmer. This happens between mountain ranges in many areas but it is usually more gradual over a longer distance. It happens in just a few short miles over the Teton Pass.
The reference to the movie, "Napoleon Dynamite" is really true. Many of the scenes from the movie were filmed a few counties south of where we entered Idaho but the backdrops as you drive north through eastern Idaho are very similar. I didn't see Jon Heder anywhere and by the way, I really recommend this movie, if you haven't seen it.
We motored on northward through the lush green (irrigated) cropland of eastern Idaho, passing through the towns of Victor, Driggs and Tetonia on Highway 33 and then we would pass through Felt and on to Ashton on Highway 32 before turning right on Highway 20. Then it was a beeline almost straight north through the western side of Yellowstone and on to Bozeman, Montana.
We did a lot of miles that day and I was tired but it was still light when we pulled into Bozeman and we were hungry. I knew where I wanted to treat the ladies to a nice dinner. Ted Turner provided us with respite that evening. Gym highly recommends Ted's Montana Grill, in Bozeman. We had a great meal there. The place is set in the corner of a heritage building downtown and although the place was very busy, the service was great. After dinner Mini Gym and I weaselled into an art show next door to the restaurant, just for fun. Then, on our last night in America we stayed in one of the many questionable roadside hotel/motels that have sprung up all over the country. That lodging experience is not noteworthy.
Leg Six: Bozeman to Calgary via Armington, Mt
Distance: 796 kilometres
The was the last day of the journey and the day we would close the Big Loop. We would take an unconventional route up to Great Falls so we could close the loop at Armington, Montana. This was where Mrs. Gym and I had started our big loop around the American Wild West, several days before. Be careful on that road north out of Bozeman, Highway Nos. 86 and 89 are very narrow and have lots of sharp curves. The scenery is magnificent but keep your eyes on the road. At Armington we hung a left and headed for Great Falls, the loop closed.
The rest is kind of anti-climactic. Crossing at Sweetgrass, Montana there were no issues and we got a pleasant greeting from the Canadian Border Guard welcoming us home.
I must say, I do applaud the Canadian farmers who reside along the highway just north of the border. They all seem to fly the Maple Leaf quite proudly and their farmyards are very neat and tidy compared to the drab and cluttered landscapes of northern Montana. We passed through Lethbridge again and sailed back up Highway 2 to Calgary.
That is it though. Mission Accomplished! We had driven over 4000 kilometres and had successfully extracted Mini Gym out of America.
Our next trip will involve less automobile transport. We will fly to Europe and let others do most of the driving.
Stay tuned!
Gym
Note: I will post some pictures of the Big Loop before we take off for Europe. They will probably be in a separate posting.
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| A scene from Deadwood |
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| Mt. ? |
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| marker stones of where troopers of Custer's 7th Cavalry fell at Little Bighorn |
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| wildlife on the road to Jackson, Wyoming |
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