And I am not joking. I am in love with Montana- the wilderness state of North America. Located in North-western part of the country and covering an area of 146,316 sq miles (slightly larger than Germany and 12% of India), Montana shares its entire northern border with Canada and is bound by North Dakota and South Dakota in the east, Idaho (and Rocky Mountains) the west and Wyoming in the south. The state is predominantly rural, with large deposits of minerals like coal and oil (it is described as the Saudi Arabia of America). The largest cities here are Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, Bozman, Helena, Butte-Silver Bow and Livingston. Only three among these have population over fifty thousand, and none above one lakh (one hundred thousand, as described in U.S.). The population density of the state is 6.2 people per square mile! Coming from the city of Kolkata with a population density of over 64,000 per square mile, it was a huge cultural shock for me as I was driven around the vast open stretches of land and see the emptiness all around. Most places beyond the cities are devoid of any human settlement or even large animals. It is called the “Big Sky Country” for a good reason indeed. Wherever I went, the vast open blue dome was there for us, bordered on the horizon with green mountains. I stayed in three cities in four days, and drove about 800 miles in those days, which gave me a good perspective of the place and its people.
First, the pace of life is slower and people are extremely nice and friendly. They love to talk, are not in a hurry, and extremely polite. Sometimes it was even difficult to end a conversation politely and hang up the phone. Even at the airport, the usually stern looking airline staff and the even sterner TSA Officers scanning people and luggage never appeared daunting. When I settled down in the staircase to tie my shoe-lace after the security check, one TSA Officer told me nicely- “you could use the chair?” Many more such small gestures from local people touched my heart. Front and center of my local experience was my friendly colleague and his wife who were my travel partners for all these four days.
People here are just used to travel long distances. At least three company representatives, including two ladies, drove 3 hours each way just to have a 1-hour meeting with me. And remember, in Montana, the speed limit is higher- 75 miles per hour. My colleague was fresh as a daisy even after driving 14 hours on the day we went in to Yellowstone National Park. As I said, I rode about 800 miles in my three-day stay in the state.
Montana is bitterly cold for five months of the year. Half the state lies over 4,000 feet above sea level. Generally, the first snow of the season coats the higher mountain elevations in Montana in September. Occasionally the snow will also reach the lower elevations, although the snow will not stick around long. The winter recreation (skiing, snow mobile) season generally extends from late November through March. Annual snowfall varies from quite heavy, 300 inches, in some parts of the mountains in the western half of the State, to around 20 inches at some locations. Most of the larger cities have annual snowfall within the 30 to 50 inch range. Temperatures can range from 50 degrees above zero to 50 below, but averages generally run from 20 to 35 degrees above zero, with mostly sunny skies. Winters, while usually cold, have few extended cold spells. Between cold waves there are periods, sometimes longer than 10 days, of mild but often windy weather. The snow can get as high as 5-6 feet and covers all areas from mountaintops to driveways. I am told it is good for the local animal and agricultural farms, since the melting snow is the only source of water for farming and animal husbandry. The state sees thunderstorms- many of the ones that occur during the summer, particularly over the mountainous areas, are considered dry thunderstorms. These are the most deadly of storms, since they produce huge amounts of lightning that spawn wildfires- while not dropping any rain.
I arrived in Billings in south-central Montana on a Saturday evening, and I had the Sunday free before I began work on Monday. My colleague arrived the same day, and the plan was to have meetings with companies in Bozeman in south western Montana on Monday. Transportation method was of course to drive the distance. So, it was decided that we would drive through the Beartooth Highway- described as “the most beautiful drive in America”. The Beartooth Highway is the section of U.S. Highway 212 between Red Lodge, Montana and Cooke City, Montana. It traces a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks, along the Montana-Wyoming border to the 10,947 ft (3,337 m) high Beartooth Pass. The approximate elevation rise is from 5,200 ft (1,600 m) to 8,000 ft (2,400 m) in 12 mi (19 km) in the most daring landscapes. Because of heavy snowfall at the top, the pass is usually open each year only from Memorial Day in late May through Labor Day in September.
We started from Billings at 6:30 am and started driving towards the west. As we were leaving Billings, we passed by the city jail and my colleague told me a story of the jailor who was caught in a restaurant having a dinner date with one of his lady prisoners! In about an hour, we drove up to Red Lodge which is a small town and a base camp for Yellowstone tour from the eastern side. We loaded up on gas there, since we were told by the hotel staff that gas anywhere beyond this point would be costlier. We saw a deer ambling along in front of one of the houses- apparently, it is common sight.
Immediately after, the road started climbing up the mountains. However, the slope of the road was gentle. Interestingly, we could see groups of bikers (cyclists) and motorcyclists from Red Lodge, and we found them all along the route. The cyclists were traveling up all the way up the top, which we figured out after we talked to some of them at a viewpoint stop. They were of all ages, and I was amazed at their enthusiasm and stamina. Thinking of cycling from 5,500 to 9,000 feet would not occur to me in my wildest imagination. And when I learnt that their motivation of doing this is to zip down the mountain curves after they reach the summit, I admired their free spirit even more! It was certainly not easy, and we could see some of them struggling up the slope. However, the group was being covered by a SUV which carried spares and supplies. The motorcyclists were enjoying themselves and the sweet sound of their machines- dressed in proper gears and enjoying the mountains as they rode past us. After driving 21 miles, we first stopped at Rock Creek Vista Point, where we realized that we were already at elevation of 9000 feet. The place offered a panoramic view of the Beartooth Mountains, Hell Roaring and Silver Run Plateaus. The Custer National Forest is also located in this area. The place offered excellent photo opportunity, with scenic backgrounds and thoughtful tourist viewpoints overlooking the mountains. After starting from there, the road rose further and the picture-postcard mountain landscape started unveiling before our eyes. There were glaciers on the northern flank on almost every mountain and lakes all around. Some glaciers had reddish tinge, which I was told comes from grasshoppers that are frozen in the snow. We could even touch the snow at some locations on the roadside.
The road continued to climb as it crosses into Wyoming. At this point, the slopes tapered in to a plateau, with an elevation of 10,900 feet. The views were expansive, south across the canyons carved by the Clarks Fork, north into the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness. In the wilderness, a narrow pyramidal spire is profiled against blue sky. This is the Bear's Tooth- Na Pet Say in the language of the local American Indian community - from which the mountains take their name. I literally felt I was at the top of the world. Needless to say, we clicked several pictures before resuming our journey again. The roads started descending from this point, and we passed by forest areas and several lakes with crystal blue water. We stopped by one to feel the water- however as soon as we stepped out of the car, we were swarmed by mosquitoes. Fortunately, the American mosquitoes are not known to carry malaria, dengue or other diseases.
Sixty-four miles from Red Lodge, after crossing back into Montana, the Beartooth enters Cooke City. Originally a gold-mining camp, Cooke City is now the northeastern gateway to Yellowstone National Park. It has a toy town look, with a population of 140 only! The local chamber of commerce runs a small but informative visitor education center that is manned by two local ladies. They were very nice and gave us helpful information about the park. We made a small contribution in the tip box, which helps to cover the cost of running the place. It was noon and we are some food there to get ourselves ready for the Yellowstone entry. Just a week before our travel, four grizzly bears attacked a campground half mile outside Cooke City and killed four persons who were sleeping in the campground. Everyone was still discussing the incident when we arrived. That prepared me to think of grizzlies for the rest of my day at Yellowstone.
Within four miles of Cooke City, we reached the Yellowstone National Park entrance. The entry fee is $25 per car and it is valid for seven days. As we entered, wide open grasslands bordered by mountains in the horizon greeted us. Yellowstone is world’s first national park, established in 1872. The Park covers an area of 3,468 sq miles (about 12 times size of Singapore). Approximately 96 percent of the land area of Yellowstone National Park is located within the state of Wyoming. Another 3 percent is within Montana, with the remaining 1 percent in Idaho. The Park sits on the Yellowstone Plateau, at an elevation of 8000 feet, and is bounded on all sides by mountain ranges. The park is 63 miles (101 km) north to south, and 54 miles (87 km) west to east. Rivers and lakes cover 5 percent of the land area, with the largest water body being Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake is up to 400 feet (120 m) deep and has 110 miles (180 km) of shoreline. At an elevation of 7,733 feet (2,357 m) above sea level, Yellowstone Lake is the largest high altitude lake in North America. Sub-alpine forests comprise 80 percent of the land area of the park; most of the rest is grassland. We took a relatively short northern loop inside the Park, in which we entered through Cooke City, went up to Tower Roosevelt (about 40 miles) to Canyon Village (19 miles) to Norris 12 miles) to Mammoth Hot Springs (21 miles) and exited from there. To drive through the bigger loop would require us to drive an additional 105 miles, which our time did not permit.
Within 10 minutes of entering the park, we could see a lone bison, and got excited about the viewing. My colleague reacted calmly, reminding me that I would see hundreds of them in the next few hours. Soon enough, we could soon see herds of bison out in the grassy wilderness. But our first major viewing was that of a grizzly bear, walking in a downhill slope, again on grassland, within about 60 feet of the road. We were one of the first to see it and stopped our car, to be joined by many other excited tourists. The forest ranger came in immediately, advising people to stay calm, maintain distance, stay near the cars and keeping a watchful eye on the overall situation. My colleague was very excited and he told me that a grizzly viewing opportunity is extremely are, and he has not seen one in spite of coming to the Park several times as a local resident. The bear had a cinnamon colored body and a black snout, and was apparently about two year old- just an early age of starting to live separately from the mother. It seemed to have mild temper and did not get bothered by the human presence in its surroundings. After taking some snaps, we moved on.
We then passed through an area which witnessed a devastating forest fire in the 1980s, that wiped out a major part of the vegetation. The forest is now regenerating itself. We then ran in to some kind of a traffic jam. The reason was soon evident- a large bison was standing patiently by the roadside, offering a fantastic photo opportunity to the tourists as they drove past slowly. We were not denied of the photo opportunity either, and got a great chance to take a close look at the American bison. It had a heavy fur coating which helps it to deal with the brutal winter of the place, and seemed to be much more docile than the Indian bison which are known to attack unprovoked (a forest ranger in Gorumara National Forest showed me a hole in his jeep’s body metal that was caused by a bison charging and hitting the jeep with its horn).
Next, we again came up against a crowd that gathered to watch a family of 3 grizzly bears- mother and two cubs- in the grassland that sloped down from the high road. To see four grizzlies in a day is considered so rare that my friend started saying my presence was the lucky charm for him! We moved on and saw an elk in close range. In between the wildlife viewing, we saw some amazing geological formations. The Yellowstone River, going in to a magnificent waterfall, was a treat to watch. We could also see the caldera and the clear formation of the volcanic rocks. The viewpoints are strategically located to offer a great panorama of the key locations. From those locations, I really felt I have been transported back in time to when giant dinosaurs used to roam the area and volcanic eruptions shaped and reshaped the landscape. Indeed, the highest number of dinosaur fossils, including the first and also the largest fossil of T-Rex, have been found in Montana, which is known for its “Paleo treasures”! The Maiasaura nests found at Egg Mountain have been hailed as one of the most important discoveries ever for dinosaur biology. Apparently the Jurassic Park movie is based on a scientist that worked in one of the areas of Montana. The state has a Dinosaur Trail (www.mtdinotrail.org), dotted with several museums that offer tourists a sneak peek in to a world 150 million years back. Throughout Yellowstone, there are visible evidence of geothermal activity, with several hot springs and geysers dotting the landscape. About a thousand known geysers exist worldwide, roughly half of which are in Yellowstone National Park. A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapor phase (steam), and is found in volcanic areas. The most famous among the geysers is Old Faithful, which has a eruption height of 105 ft to 185 feet, and an eruption frequency of 45-125 minutes. In fact the Yellowstone area is part of the largest volcanic system of North America, and has been termed a “supervolcano”. Due to the volcanic and tectonic nature of the region, the area experiences between 1000 and 2000 measurable earthquakes a year.We stopped at Crystal Rocks for a photo, and almost had as close encounter with a fourth grizzly. As I stylishly posed on a rock for my colleague to shoot a photo, the forest ranger came running and sternly told us to get back in to the car immediately. Why? Because a grizzly is within 300 yards! We scampered back in to the car and drove off. That might have been my last photo!
Our last stop in Yellowstone was at Mammoth Hot Springs in the north-west corner of the Park. Mammoth is a large limestone hill that has been created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flows into Mammoth each day in a solution). Algae living in the warm pools have tinted the travertine shades of brown, orange, red, and green.
I would love to go back to Yellowstone during the winter, when the park is frozen in snow but at its pristine best.
As we exited from the Park, we went through a beautiful stone arch gate that proclaimed Yellowstone’s claim to fame though a simple inscription- the first national park of America, created through a Congressional Proclamation in 1872. At the top of the gate is inscribed in large font- “For The Benefit & Enjoyment of The People”.
The emptiness surrounding the structure made the edifice more majestic and poignant. We moved on, after taking one last picture of the beautiful structure in the middle of emptiness. But by then, Yellowstone has been etched in my memory for ever.
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