Lewis and Clark State Park, Montana

 

Last night after we set up our camp, we grilled chicken over the fire and then read until the campfire program at 9:30.  The Madison Campground has the most beautiful amphitheater in all of Yellowstone.  It faces a valley where the Madison River winds and twists around the Washburn mountain range.  It was truly spectacular.  The ranger (one of only 4 wildlife rangers in all of Yellowstone Park) had an interest in the park’s hotels, so he had put together a presentation on their history from the first hotels (shacks that held 2-4 guests) in 1870 to those built by the first concessionaires in the early 1900’s which rivaled the finest hotels in the country at the time.   It was very interesting and even the kids enjoyed it.

Today, the plan was to leave Yellowstone and head into Montana, toward Glacier.  On the way out, we stopped at the ranger station and had our two Junior Rangers finish their program and get sworn in.  We then headed to West Yellowstone, Montana, which is the town just outside the Montana entrance to Yellowstone.  There is a Grizzly and Wolf Discover Center there which we wanted to see.  It was very well done.  They had 8 Grizzly bears, and 7 wolves - all rescue animals.  The grizzlys were very cool to see.  It was also very sobering to see how quickly they moved and how powerful they were as they foraged for their food (the staff would hide their food in the enclosure and then let the bears in to find it).   Surprising one of them on the trail would be a very scary experience.   On the other side of the discovery center, they had 7 wolves.   They had excellent videos and information on the history of trying to bring the wolves back to Yellowstone.

We left there and started our trek to Glacier National Park.  The trip is about 450 miles so we decided to break it up and stop at the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Whitehall, MT.  We pulled into the state campground around 6, found a spot, and settled in for the night.  The campground is really nice and reminded us of the Dead Horse State Campground in Arizona (the first campground we stayed in on our last RV trip).  It was a beautiful area surrounded by mountains on all side with lots of space between sites.  Tomorrow, we plan to be at the cavern at 9am so we can be on the first 2-hour tour of the caves.  People here we have talked to have said the caves are very cool, similar to Carlsbad Caverns in NM, but far less commercial.