Today was going to be a long day. I was happy to see the weather hold for another day as it was clear in the morning. Clouds thickened during the day and we even ran through a few raindrops late in the trip.
The first destination was going to take us several hours out of our way but we had heard the drive through the Bighorn Mountains was worth it. The climb started almost immediately outside Sheridan and led to some decent views back toward the plains of Wyoming.
The rest of the drive across the Bighorns was pretty, but not really outstanding after seeing the scenic drives of the Black Hills. The following video provides a good sampling.
The payoff for the trek was almost at the end as we descended down to more plains. Shell Falls had a nice setup with walkways all over the area to view the stream and waterfalls. But ... the place was closed to traffic with gates blocking the parking and the facilities locked up tight. They did leave the walkways open so we parked along the road and walked around. There were 3 waterfalls at the site. The first and second shown below fed the main creek below the biggest waterfall shown in the third photo and the video.
We then began a long expedition through the gray Wyoming desert. The landscape was horribly ugly - and that comes from someone who appreciates most anything the scenery provides. The dirt was gray and, while I never touched it, looked chalky. Any grass was brown but the vegetation was mostly sage brush. It was the kind of landscape through which I imagine a posse chasing a rustler with the horses kicking up a cloud of dust ... or a lunar surface with ugly plants. This video gives an idea of what it was like.
I kept thinking this dirt (I refuse to call it soil) had to have some use. Then we ran across signs for bentonite (have no idea so don't ask me), lime, and gypsum facilities. I don't know if that meant mining or processing but either seemed appropriate for the area.
One other thing about Wyoming. The roads through this ugliness at least allowed us to move quickly as even the back roads had 70 mph speed limits. But towns had transitions to slower speeds, The limits dropped from 70 to 45 to 35 to 25 and then transitioned back to 70. This happened in even the smallest of towns. I saw one with a population of 136 and 2 buildings. I kept waiting for the town population to be lower than the speed limit. Don't get me wrong. These weren't speed traps as there was adequate warning. But they did make us spend more time than we wanted in the wastelands.
After a while, I got so bored and tired that Susan drove more than I did today. It was a welcome relief. I had to drive in the cities so it meant I drove around in Billings looking for a restaurant for lunch. We finally settled for a shared grilled cheese at Bernie's Deli.
But the landscape changed once again soon after we entered Montana. Wheat! The golden fields were everywhere and went on for miles. Much of it had been harvested or was being harvested. The harvesting operation of these vast fields is something to be seen and admired.
We got into Great Falls at dinner time on a Friday night. We found a place online with good ratings so we headed to Jaker's. We had a wait for the table and another hour wait for the food. The whole dinner took over 2 hours. But the food was good (walleye for both) and the waiter recognized the delays so he took 20% off our bill.
Susan’s quote of the day: “I guess we have nothing else to do." That was her reply to the hostess at the restaurant when told the wait would be 35-40 minutes. My response was a little different. "I have plenty to do, like sleep!" In the end, I guess we had nothing better to do since we stayed.
The highlights - Shell Falls.
The regrets - None.
Today's total miles - 477
Today's miles from start to destination - 439
Today's miles on side trips - 38
Today's miles driven by Paul - 232
Today's miles driven by Susan - 245
Today's hours in car - 8
Total Miles Hiked - 0
Cumulative total miles - 2,568
Cumulative miles from start to destination - 2,293
Cumulative miles on side trips - 275
Cumulative miles driven by Paul - 2,203
Cumulative miles driven by Susan - 365
Cumulative hours in car - 42 1/2
Cumulative Miles Hiked - 4.5
Cumulative miles on side trips - 275
Cumulative miles driven by Paul - 2,203
Cumulative miles driven by Susan - 365
Cumulative hours in car - 42 1/2
Cumulative Miles Hiked - 4.5
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