Road Trip North - Colorado, Wyoming & Montana
We also had a sat nav option (christened Martha) and soon she was telling us our route, 210 miles to Steamboat Springs for the night. Away from the suburbs of Denver, the roads quickly became deserted, and by early evening we were approaching the hotel.
We settled into the room, and decided to go into town for dinner. The town itself was pretty much how we expected the towns in the west to look like, long straight streets with boardwalks leading up to the shops and restaurants. There is also an impressive selection of street art which was repeated all through Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Being mainly a winter resorts it was fun to see the dry ski slopes and ski jumps waiting for their autumn snows to begin. The resort was notably quieter than probably it would normally have been in winter. The days were warm, bright and the evenings cool.
We were on the road for the following two nights on our way to the ranch in Wyoming. We had chosen our stops well, Rock Springs was really only a bed for the night, it had no attractions of note, and we even had difficulty finding somewhere to eat that didn't involve fast food or burgers. We were on our way early next morning to search for the Pilot Butte Wild Horses of Wyoming, sadly even though the drive was stunning, the horses were elusive. We drove on to Jackson Hole, again traditionally a winter sports town, it still proved to be a magnet for many tourists, being on the way to Yellowstone. Jackson Hole was another frontier/cowboy type town with locals parading around in Stetsons and riding garb. We took the chair lift to take in the scenery overlooking the town and couldn't fail to be impressed, it being shadowed by the distant Grand Teton ranges. We stayed there for two nights, just to take stock, have some time away from the road, and do some laundry!
Finding somewhere to eat was easy, with most tastes and budgets catered for, and after a restful two nights stay we made our way north.
After our visit to the ranch we made our way west, through the Grand Tetons to Idaho Falls. We planned to stay here as we had heard stories of their July 4th celebrations, boasting the largest firework display "this side o' the Mississippi".
The drive again was full of grand views and scenery. We arrived at the riverside hotel late afternoon, and decamped for the next few days. The town itself was relatively quiet, July 4th being a holiday, and we had a pleasant walk along the river past the falls to the old town and back. We found the location for the following nights display, and thankfully our hotel was perfectly positioned to have a great vantage point. On the morning of July 4th there was the traditional parade, throngs of people lined the streets to see locals pay tribute and homage to servicemen both active and veteran, and it was noticeable that at some point all public service workers like teachers, police , firemen etc. all had floats or displays honouring them. It was here we had our first bout of retail therapy, and were both rewarded with bargains.
The hotel were offering traditional American snacks to accompany the fireworks, and for once it seemed churlish not to grab a burger and a bud and go join the throngs. Sure enough the fireworks display was impressive, all 31 minutes.
From Idaho Falls we made our way to Yellowstone Park for two nights, where we had planned to drive the park for the one full day we were in the area. The town of Yellowstone West is quite small with city blocks, lined with a few hotels, shops, restaurants and bars. We made our way to the National Park office to pick up permits and maps and get a feel for how far we could go in one day.
Just a point to note - if you are planning to visit a few National Parks on a visit to the USA, purchase a yearly pass at your first park.
We set the alarm early, had breakfast and made our way into the park to our first stop at Old Faithful. The rangers can predict eruptions within an eight minute window, so if you miss one, you can take a walk around the volcanic park until the next scheduled spurt.
From there we went on an anticlockwise route, completely circumnavigating the park. We had rest stops, photo stops, and elk and bear stops along the way and didn't rush the experience. We ate a packed lunch on picnic tables under trees in the wild and managed to do the whole route in around nine hours. The park was very busy, we couldn't stop at some of our planned breaks, as parking was hard to come by. On return back to Yellowstone we only had time for a quick bite to eat and repack to get back on the road.
Our next couple of days we headed to our northern most stop at Whitefish, on the way we had some unplanned rest stops to take in the countryside, forests and waterfalls.
For one night we stopped at Helena, the state capital of Montana. A college and medical town, with a stunning cathedral, with locals on hand to give tours and pass on information. The town itself was small, well laid out and worth a night stopover. The following day we continued our trip to the north, the weather we noticed was getting cooler as we travelled, bliss.
Late afternoon we arrived at our hotel for the next few nights, just outside Whitefish. The hotel room was huge, we managed to unpack and decamp before heading out to explore. We also located the laundry room, an important find on any road trip.
The main reason for our trek this far north was to visit Glacier Park, around an hour’s drive from Whitefish, and to drive the Road to the Sun. A long climbing winding road through snow, ice and sheer drops. We had initially planned only one day driving the route but the weather was so poor, although it was still an experience to drive through the rain and cloud. We decided on a small change of route and took the decision to return to drive the road again on the day we left, which thankfully was clear blue skies.
As we left Whitefish, we drove the Road to the Sun on the road south to carry on our trek…