tetons

i see them in the distance...

i always enjoy red colored soils and rocks.

the tetons

i went to the southern part of the park to a town called jackson.  look what i found there!

the tetons were massive and beautiful, but not easily accessible.  they are pretty to look at, but to explore them requires hiking.  i didn't have time to hike, so i just enjoyed looking up at them from the bottom valley.  so pretty.

it looked like someone bulldozed them up against the sky.

there was no free sleeping in the park, so i drove to the north and followed a 10 mile dirt path to a part of the targhee national forest which was nestled between the tetons and yellowstone.  i came upon this pretty lake where i decided to camp.  a few german fellas also showed up and i invited them to share the space since i was sleeping in my van and they had a tent.

the mosquitoes were a nuisance, but my van screens worked exactly as planned!

besides mosquito bites, it was a great free camping site!

driving out the forest in the morning...

north central wyoming

i really enjoyed my drive through the north central part wyoming - about 250 miles.  there were lots of cool land formations.  the air was hot and dry - about 100 degrees.   windows down and sweating, i drank over a gallon of water that day!

approaching big horn mountains

in the middle of the day, i pulled into a park of a small town to stretch my legs.  a group of jehovah's witnesses were picnicking there and one of them snagged me as i walked back to my van.   they are some of the most determined groups of people i know of to get their message out!  darrell and i chatted for a while.  i felt bad for darrell both because he must have been sweltering in his black suit and tie out in that sun as we talked, and also because he must have been sweltering in his pursuit of righteousness, completely lacking the refreshment found in the very gospel he was alluding to - the power for good that comes from relying on jesus christ's righteousness for rescue.  darrell spoke about god's mercy, but he didn't rely on it.  if i had accepted his version of life, i'd have been left without hope.

as i continued my drive through the dry and thirsty land, i prayed that the true and living water would flood into darrell's dry and thirsty religion.

my favorite part of the day's drive was through the wind river canyon.

i didn't get as far as i had hoped for the day. i stopped in riverton as it got dark.  i picked up some wifi at a mcdonals and while i was there i got to watch the drug deal lots and youth late night lot hangout spots. lovely.  and some truck drove around generously spraying something - probably toxic.  mosquito spray? whatever, i went to the walmart to sleep.

wyoming - devil's tower

i spent a day driving from the black hills into northeastern wyoming, stopping at devil's tower for an hour or two.

before getting to devils tower i intercepted an interstate where i accessed a rest stop and cell reception.  as i was sitting there, some guy named joe approached my van and said "hey, i see you're from delaware?" to start the conversation.  we chatted briefly about our trips.  he was on his way to boston from california.  we said bye, but then he returned a few minutes later and gave me two cans of beans.

approaching devil's tower

close up.  it rises about 1000 feet!  great for rock climbing!

i drove for several hours until it got dark.  ended up in sheridan where i found a walmart parking lot for sleep.

black hills forest attractions

in the name of not spending money, i kept an arms length from mount rushmore, crazy horse, and custer state park.  i saw as much as i could without having to pay entrance or parking fees.   getting a closer perspective would have been nice, but i didn't consider it worth the price.

pre-fee areas of custer state park...

badlands national park

with just a few hours of sunlight left in the day, my badlands drive was a little rushed.  however, given the van trouble earlier in the day which was so conveniently resolved, i certainly was not complaining.  the badlands were pretty cool.

i stepped out of the park just long enough to get some gas and quick see what the popular walldrug store was.  lot's of shops all connected like an indoor market place.

it was fun to see, but shopping was never an item on my itinerary.  

it was getting late and time to get back to the badlands park and look for a place to sleep.

when i was first in the park, i got to the visitor center just in time to ask about backcountry sleeping options.  there was a free camping area that was somewhat remote and some other areas that were even more removed from the roadway.  i didn't have time to find the more remote one, but didn't even need to because the first option turned out to be fine.   it was several miles off the paved routes in an area that was home to "1000" buffalo - something which the park ranger had been eager to note and with his practiced upsidedown writing skills, jot on my park map.  : )  about 500 feet before getting to the camp site, there one was!  maybe 50 feet from the dirt path.

[jolene, here's a response to one of your moose comments in one of the newfoundland posts:]

the night was pleasantly silent with exception to the frequent grunts from the buffalo and the ensemble of the coyote yips coming to crescendo every 10 minutes.   a few times i woke up that night.  each time i happily listened to the wild life sounds and thought how much better that was than hearing parking lot noises.   the camp site was a big circle in a flat area of a valley.  inside the circle there were some picnic tables and some out-houses.  

inside and outside of the circle was the buffalo domain.   when i woke up around 6 and watched the bison while i stretched my legs.  in the early light i counted about 200 of them grazing for their breakfast as they roamed freely on the surrounding hills.  i pondered what it must have been like for people to hunt them with a bow and arrow.

as i was sitting in my van getting ready to leave i was gazing at the buffalo on that hill.  then all of a sudden in the corner of my eye i noticed a shadow.  someone was approaching my door...  whoa, wait, that's not just anyone, that mr bison!  well hello fella!

he went around my van, chomping at a weed or two on his way.  i wonder how startled i would have been if i had decided to exit van before discovering a wild bison only five feet away!  haha, yikes!