Lewis and Clark
So, yesterday didn’t quite go as planned either! I realised early on that I wouldn’t be able to stop off at many places on my way North through Yellowstone, with it being so huge. It took about four hours to get from the lodge to the North Entrance to Yellowstone! I stopped off at one or two places, took a couple of short scenic (i.e. ‘no RVs) drives, and even took a short video!
I have to confess, when I crossed the state line into Montana, which happens inside Yellowstone, I was quite relieved..! Driving through Montana is much more interesting than Wyoming. For a start, it actually feels populated!
I arrived at Lewis & Clark Caverns with the temperature into the mid 30s, and proceeded to put up my tent before heading over to the cavern tour. It was pretty windy, but I’ve put tents up in the wind before, you just have to stand up-wind of the tent when putting the fly sheet over.
However.
It appears buying a cheap tent from a supermarket is probably not a good idea. The fact that they don’t sell that particular tent on their website (as I have now discovered) is a Bad Sign as well. The tents on their website look extremely sturdy. Mine is not.
The first couple of times I put it up, I did think it was a bit flimsy, but with the ropes in place, it seemed ok. It turns out it isn’t—a bit of Montana wind so completely deformed the tent that the (bendy) struts formed a sort of contorted S-shape (instead of a nice curve) and the side of the tent facing the wind bent so far in, it was almost touching the other side! I had even put it at an angle so it was catching the wind on the corner, but that didn’t seem to make any difference.
I didn’t have enough ropes to secure the struts in place, and rather than try to find a camping store at 4pm (I’ve learned my lesson about small-town America), I messaged Annie’s friend in Missoula and asked if I could come a night early.. and he kindly obliged. So that meant a further two-and-a-half hours of driving, bringing the total up to 450 miles and just shy of ten hours in the car.
I now have to a) find a camping store and buy some ropes, or b) buy another tent.
Anyway, before I finished off the marathon driving, I took the Lewis & Clark Cavern tour, which was really good fun. It had the obligatory warning about people with heart conditions, added to by the guide with warnings about claustrophobia and fear of the dark (there were a number of children there).
After a short hike up the mountain, which was nice and easy—especially given it was well over 5,000 feet lower than my hike in the Rockies—we descended into the caves.. Being 6’3” is a definite handicap when it comes to getting around and through caves and tunnels! Taking pictures was obviously tough, and I needed my hands free to manoeuvre myself around the caves, so I resorted to my phone camera.
The two guys who led the tour enjoyed messing around, ‘accidentally’ turning the lights off at one point, and then failing to tell us about the enormous boom that would occur when they closed the airlock on the way out, causing the small children in front of me to jump out of their skin and freeze on the spot (if that’s possible)!
In the lowest room they showed us how calcite briefly glows after being lit directly by a torch, which you can only see in absolute darkness. I have to say, absolute darkness is pretty dark. We were nearly 300 feet below the surface there, and (apparently) natural light can’t make it through the cave system to that point.
The different rock formations were really very beautiful, and the lights well-placed to show them off. Here are a few of the pictures from the tour:
Hearing the stories about the original tours in the early 20th century, and how the CCC constructed / improved the steps, handrails and tunnels through the cave system, was really interesting as well. It’s worth reading about the CCC, as they did so much work on the national and state parks after the Great Depression. Almost every national park path I’ve walked on (it seems) was first made by the CCC!
Today is a day in Missoula—Toby is going to take me round the city (I say city, it’s only slightly bigger than Rugby!) once he’s finished his work, and I have been to church round the corner.
PS (I do like my PSes), here are some numbers for the trip so far.
I have now passed the 3,000-mile mark according to the car, and I have taken over 1,500 photos, in 16 days. Which, rather terrifyingly, and if my ‘math’ serves me correctly, is akin to me stopping every two miles, taking a picture, and carrying on. I have also listened to over 400 songs while driving—220 in the last four days alone—and I don’t always have music on!