Good evening from very chilly Jackson, Wyoming! Today’s drive was the longest so far and the most dramatic. We left East Glacier at around 9:00 this morning and didn’t arrive here until 8:30 PM. The variety of scenery, weather, and wildlife along the way made the trip pretty magical. Almost 12 hours of driving seemed to breeze effortlessly by as we made our way south to the Yellowstone/Teton area.

Caught this deer mid-munch on the way to Flathead Lake.

There are those stones again!

One of the things on my list to see was Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake this side of the Mississippi. Like most of the bodies of water here, it is full of rainbow rocks. It was rainy this morning, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see the mountain range on the opposite shore. The ride to the coast was full of deer. They were everywhere! It was raw and not so nice out, so we took a few photos and moved on.

Next stop was the National Bison Range. Thankfully, the rain stopped right before we got there. The range is the largest of its kind in the country and is home to 300-500 bison as well as long-horned sheep, elk, pronghorn antelope, and even a black bear or two. In the 1930s a white buffalo was born to herd named Big Medicine. He died in the 50s, but is still a legend at the range. White buffalo are incredibly rare and occur one in 10 million. Unfortunately, there are no such specimens in the current herd, but there are plenty regular ones.

The view from the highest point of the range. Look at the sky!

The loop scenic drive takes you up to the highest point in the range and then up and down the undulating yellow hills. We managed to get glimpses of all the large animals mentioned above. Toward the end of the drive a couple of giant bulls were grazing right next to the road. They seemed completely unfazed by the car passing just a few feet next to them. They are all at once bizarre, beautiful, and intimidating.

A very large, somewhat sad-looking bison.

Adorable pronghorn antelope!

Once the scenic loop was finished, we began our long drive to Jackson. Montana is a gorgeous state. The drive was immensely enjoyable as the road passed through rolling hills, pine-covered mountains, sage-tufted prairies, cattle farms, grasslands, mountain streams, and lakes. A cold front has been moving through for the past couple of days and the sky was dramatic the whole way. Billy took tons of photos while I drove, hopefully he will post a bunch!

White and grey clouds alternated to make a spectacular backdrop for the land below. There were patches of sun and areas of mysterious darkness…usually at the same time! I could look to the left and see sun-bathed golden hillsides and look to the right to see ominous clouds dropping rain in the distance. Straight ahead were rocky mountains with cottony puffs obscuring their tops. If you looked closely, you could see the snow that dusted their peaks like powdered sugar. I saw three rainbows along the way and drove through fine mist, torrential rain, and even sleet. But the real surprise was waiting for us in Wyoming.

It was dark by the time we turned east to cross the Tetons. As we ascended Teton Pass, in the pitch black, the road turned from wet to slushy to icy. Signs alerted us to 10% grades up and down the pass with several very tight turns mixed in. There are no lights on the road, but we could see that the very steep mountainside and pine trees growing on it were covered in thick snow. It’s like we were warped into January. Bill and I both noted that we wished we could have driven the pass in daylight. It most certainly would have provided incredible views.

So now we are safely in the ski town of Jackson. Some people are even walking around in ski clothes even though ski season doesn’t start for another month. Tomorrow we will check out Grand Teton National Park. It’s supposed to snow (!) so we’ll see how far we get. The rest of the week is supposed to be perfect. Good night, all!

What a majestic beast!