West Yellowstone,MT

Day before yesterday we left Ennis and drove along the Madison River to this tourist town on the border of Wyoming and Montana and the west entrance to Yellostone Park. It is 72 miles of flat along the river. Fifty years ago next month this area suffered what was at the time the largest earthquake measured in the US, 7.5 on the Richter scale. It caused a massive landslide which dumped 85 million tons of rock onto the Madison River and dammed the river. It killed 28 people camped along the river, either by burying them under the rock or by drowning when the river rose behind the dam.

Yesterday we drove into the park to see Old Faithful. Von had never seen it before. We saw bald eagles, bison and elk. No grizzes though. Last night it got down to 34 degrees. Cold, cold. But the camp hosts offered to lend us their electric heater and we were mighty glad of that, we were nice and toasty in the tent.

Today we will be climbing the Beartooth Pass after driving though a good 60 miles of the park. The pass reaches an elevation just short of 11,000 feet which will likely be the highest elevation we will see on the entire trip.