Wyoming

Time to leave South Dakota and continue our journey towards Yellowstone Park. We've gone through 2 time zones and aren't adapting well so we find ourselves on the road at sunup. Beautiful though.

Foothills and prairies alternate as we travel.  With a few gullies thrown in for variety.

There are still vestiges of the the big storm even after travelling hundreds of miles. It was a biggie.

Our next stop is in Casper Wyoming for a couple days. The campground is on the exact site of Fort Casper. It was at the confluence of a number of wagon trails for pioneers heading further west, such as the Bozeman and Oregon Trails. The army fort was built to help protect the wagon trains for Indian attacks. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't expected to put our wagons in a circle for protection.

The fort has been restored and a museum is just across a field. The North Platte river flows just beside us so we took a walk down the trail. No Indian sign, whew. 

In no time we're on the road again. On this leg, we're heading through the mountains to get to Yellowstone. Our first view of the obstacles ahead. Kinda makes you wonder what the pioneers thought when they first saw this. 

The start of the climb just ahead. I don't suppose this is going to do much for our gas mileage. 

As we climb we find some beautiful home sites. I'm not sure about the winters this high up but the view is amazing. 

Most rivers start high on the mountains. This stream may become a major river out on the plains. At this point, all water flows toward the east. 

Not no more. We've just passed the peak, the highest point of the pass in this mountain range at 9850 feet above sea level. The Continental Divide is about 100 feet behind us here and now all water flows toward the west. At this altitude Harvey was huffing and puffing to get up the last few miles. Now it's all downhill.

Coming down the west side of the range, we get our first glimpse of the Teton Mountain Range. Getting close to Yellowstone now. That river was a small mountain stream like the one we saw except this one is flowing west toward the Pacific Ocean. It must get through those mountains somehow. 

This is the view we have at our campground. Just some gravel sites on the bald prairie but what a view! We'll get settled in and head to Yellowstone tomorrow.