Touring the Wild, Wild West

Louise and Georgia at the Continental Divide

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OISII lens

West to Yellowstone

Early on September 11 we checked out of Buffalo Ridge Campground and headed for Yellowstone National Park, a trip of more than 450 miles across sparsely-populated northern Wyoming.

Taking U.S. Highway 16 out of Custer, we soon came to the pleasant little city of Newcastle, Wyoming. We were hungry by this time and looking for a restaurant. It was our extremely good luck to happen upon Donna's Main Street Diner, where warm and welcoming people serve a breakfast that is to die for, including 6-inch English Muffins baked on the premises. If you should find yourself out that way, don't miss it!

We were not terribly far from Devil's Tower National Monument and could have gone to see it. In retrospect, I'm sorry we didn't, but doing so would have added an extra day to our trip, and we already had reservations at a campground near Yellowstone for that night.

So, fortified by that great breakfast, we took Wyoming State Route 450 and then Wyoming 387 to Casper. Coming out of Casper on U.S. Highway 26 we passed a gas station, but I didn't stop -- I assumed there would be another one soon.

How wrong I was. I should have checked.

The next gas station was in Dubois, 193 miles to the west.

Scanning the empty plains for a service station while the needle on the gas gauge dropped inexorably lower and lower at the rate of 11 miles per gallon, we finally had to stop at a dusty little roadside community. A few buildings, no stores and no gas stations. Not even any people in sight.

Time for emergency measures. I pulled out one of the two gas cans in the bed of my truck and dumped five gallons into the tank. We also had to use the second one to get us to Dubois. In the South and East we're used to gas stations on almost every corner, but it doesn't work that way out west. 

After filling our truck with (very expensive) gas and replenishing the back-ups, we drove up and over the mountains -- ten percent grade,  9,600 feet altitude -- to Moran, where U.S. 191 took us north to Yellowstone and our campground. Headwaters Lodge & Cabins at Flagg Ranch is at the extreme northern end of the Grand Teton National Park and two miles from the south entrance to Yellowstone. By far the most expensive campground on our entire trip, it was also one of the worst. The place seemed to be laid out like a maze. Finding our campsite was a new adventure every time we came back to it.

Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?

(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone