2013 Winter Adventure Day 6

It snowed about a quarter of an inch last night, just enough to require brushing the car off. The temperature was 6 degrees so brushing the snow off wasn’t hard.  All of the local streets of Sheridan, WY are not plowed and as a result are snow packed making driving here easier than at home.

After a good breakfast of eggs and pancakes, we once again headed west on I-90.  The last few miles of yesterdays trip was on clear dry road and I was hoping for the same today.  However, the clean roadway quickly disappeared and was replaced with one clear lane and one lane of ice for most of the way to Billings, MT.

We had been to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park many times but wanted a winter photo.  I was surprised to find a ranger in the park gatehouse, but there she was!  Custer’s grave site is actually at West Point, NY where it was relocated in the 1900’s.  The place where he “fell” is identified by a marker with a black shield. All of the U.S. causalities are listed on a memorial list

Custer's  Grave Marker

Your Tax Money At Work, Art In Public Places

Leaving the Park we continued west on I-90 in route to Gardiner, MT and Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. The sun was bright and the resulting scenery was magnificent.

We had lunch at a Golden Skillet restaurant that was very tasty. What was remarkable was that Babs said she wanted to stop at the restaurant because it was so good in 2006!

We turned south toward Mammoth Hot Springs at Livingston, MT. The route also produced some great scenery.

Cattle in the snow

Yellowstone River

Right outside of Gardiner we came upon a whole herd of Bighorn Sheep grazing on side of the road.

 

We checked into our hotel room and headed to the Park. Today we were just going to drive toward Cooke City, the only part of the road open to travel by car. This part of Yellowstone National Park gets less snow than the rest of the park. The roads were icy but easily driven if done in a sensible manner. The ”flora and fauna” are candy for the eye.

Landslide Scar

Steam Off the Water

The animals are icing on the cake! We saw a beautiful stag deer but was unable to get a photo off in time. We also saw Buffalo and Elk including a magnificent trophy Elk stag.

Buffalo Herd

Herd of Cow Elk

Bull Elk

Trophy Bull Elk

This is the picnic area that we have stopped to eat at during all of our previous trips. 

Did I mention that it was cold?

Icicle on car

Tomorrow we will go back into Mammoth Hot Springs and visit the hot springs before heading to West Yellowstone, MT.  

I had forgotten to mention before, but for those who don't know, if you double click on a photo, it will enlarge.

Babs Says: Spoon fairy has not made her way west. Every restaurant, every meal, has had a spoon.