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This is our second trip west. We called the first our rock-and-desert trip. This is our mountain-and-bear trip. We found ourselves in SD in good order. Our first night was spent in an Wisconsin rest area. By night two we were close enough to Mount Rushmore but a day early. We found a spot in Mitchell, South Dakota and went to the Corn Palace, a place to show how agriculturally productive South Dakota is. Surprisingly, we enjoyed the stop and the people. We then went to Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and other Rapid City stuff. Crazy Horse was well worth the stop. The Mamoth Site was GREAT. Again a day ahead, we stopped at the Billings, Montana KOA, the first KOA. There were something like 7,000 Honda Gold Wing motorcyclists there for a convention. Maybe the KOA was better when less full. The site sucked. The Grizzly KOA in West Yellowstone was GREAT. Yellowstone, with its geysers and wildlife was amazing. We saw elk, many moose, many bison, deer, a marmot, and bear. Meggie and I took an early morning car ride and saw a grizzly bear as big as our Saturn station wagon. It was a HUGE bear. Our campsite backed up to a national forest and we took walks in the woods. Making sure to make enough noise did not dispel the worry. We saw a new(er) 4 x 4 sign pole broke off and scarred by a bear with claws marks I could put two or three fingers in. WOW.
South Dakota had a drive-through wildlife park that featured a great number of bears. Although well fed, we were still up close and personal with a really big animal.
Look at that tongue!!!
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This was our first buffalo! Look at that smile! As you will see, there were many more. Note that some of these buffalo were VERY close to the road (and to us).
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. . .This one is scenting the air.
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They liked taking dirt baths.
They roam free.
This fellow came uncomfortably close although he seemed to care less about us.
South Dakota has full dump stations in the rest areas. Well done SD!
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This is a South Dakota Custer State Park begging
Yellowstone pictures start here.
Some bears ... up the hill a bit.
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They would cause a heck of a traffic jam.
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Bison with babies
In Yellowstone there were herds of free-roaming bison.
They'd hog up the road. You'd have to pass them slow. Have you ever passed something as large as your car slowly?
All you see here is an ear, but there's a grizzly bear as big as my Saturn station wagon up this hill.
Here's the grizzly out in the open (but far away, thank goodness!)
Take a look at the scarring on these trees. They had been used as claw sharpeners.
These are our elk/moose pictures!
Moose in the river.
Like the buffalo, the moose would clog up the roadways and invite you to pass them ... if you dare.
The kids and dogs on a walk in the National Forest.
A marmot ... what an odd looking thing it is!
After a long walk in the National Forest, the dogs would rest under whatever shade they could find.
The puppies on a walk.
Although not plainly visible, our Saturn is stuck. This trip led to the purchase of our Jeep. That car is much better suited to such activities.
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