Calgary Trip - Day 13

2013 Calgary Trip Day 13 Thursday August 15

Today's segment of the Calgary trip is between
Butte and West Yellowstone, MT
This segment is planed for a total of 166 miles.

Places Visited Along The Way, Photos, and Notes

Our path took us south and east to the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park

We got an early start from Butte (A) and headed out
Our path initially was to the east and a bit southward
As luck would have it that is the direction into the sun
Good photos were not really possible with this little camera

We crossed some mountains and some rich agricultural areas
Both are beautiful
The Grizzly Bear and Wolf Rescue Park is one of our destinations

Our first stop, 50 miles on, was in the little town of Manhattan
The town seems to consist of one main crossroad with
businesses along one block in three of the directions

We stopped in a little diner and had a cup of coffee and some toast
We had a nice conversation with the young 20-something waitress
She rides on the back of her husband's Harley but has one of her own
She saved for two years to buy a Sportster a year ago but has not had the nerve to ride it yet
She gets teased a lot about that.

At Belgrade, we turned south through Gallatin Gateway on toward Yellowstone

They were restringing some power lines and the road was one lane for a couple miles.
Traffic was stopped in our direction for about 20 minutes in the hot sun, before we could continue on
This road follows the Gallatin River which is quite picturesque

At one point, this road dips into Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park
and then quickly back into Montana

It was bound to happen, at this point a bug hit the camera squarely in the lens
The lens opening is about 1/2 by 3/4 of an inch, what are the odds?

Carol noticed it and got the body off, but some goo remained

At last we came to West Yellowstone (C)
It is a really touristy town, but that is fun. We explored a little
Note the bug stuff still in the camera.
Some of it got onto the internal sensor.
I gave it a bang and it settled somewhere hopefully to bother us no more.

All around town they have ceramic buffalos (bisons?) painted by different artists
I was assigned rear duties

The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is a real rescue facility
Animals that cannot be released back into the wild live out their lives here
Wild Ravens were everywhere stealing food at every oppotunity

The facilities seem really nice and the enclosures had natural surroundings

They have a several bald eagles this one with a hurt wing,
a pair of golden eagles which are even larger,
some wolves who lazed about in the warm sun very unphotogenically,
and alarge number of bears that they rotate every few hours