Devils Tower

We headed out from Montana to work our way south. We'll do our usual stop to spend time near Denver to visit Angela and family. We ended up taking a route that made sense for us to stop by Devils Tower National Monument. We've talked about going there for a very long time and we finally did. We were not disappointed.  Sure, we set our expectations low, but the entire area was very nice.
Here is a link to read all about it: NPS link

View from road as approaching

View from park road

View from another side lookout in park

View from Red Bed trail.
The only alien I saw.

One last big hike in Yellowstone Natl Park

It's about time for us to head south again so it was time to get in my big hike. The weather hadn't been good for the last few weeks so when a nice day came along it was my calling. It was time for the 20 mile Bighorn Pass trail from Highway 191 all the way into the park on the loop road at Indian Creek Campground. Ann dropped me off at the trail head at 7 am. It was 34 degrees (yes, on August 17 there was frost on the ground). I made the 11 miles to the pass in about 5 hours and finished in a little over 10 hours. It was a great hike. Here are a few pictures.

Sun coming up over mountains and
the Gallatin river

Marmots

Gallatin river up stream, not so big

Mountain goats at the top

Looking back down the valley I hiked up.
From pass at 9139 feet.

Looking east from the pass