Day 10, last day at K Bar Z ranch

After another pleasant breakfast with our hosts at K Bar Z ranch, we drove 50 miles east over the Chief Joseph Highway to spend the day in the town of Cody.  The drive took us back over some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip so far.  At the highest point we were well up into the clouds but as we descended the breathtaking views re-emerged.


Speaking of breathtaking, the altitude may just be getting to me.  I have noticed a shortness of breath and slight dizziness that I attributed to nasal congestion.  Then I heard one of our hosts admonish a new summer helper to take it easy until she became acclimatized to the altitude.  So, maybe I’m not merely in bad shape and asthmatic, but just high, that is living at a high elevation.

The highway to Cody has lots of warnings about falling rocks (and switchbacks so sharp that twenty miles per hour feels excessive). Today we actually came upon an active (minor) avalanche.  A small crew with some large equipment had one lane clear and was scooping up buckets of rocks that had tumbled down during the driving rain we had last night.  We got by easily, but kept a sharp lookout.
The picture below is the first thing we see every morning when we walk down from our cabin.

Cody is a charming western themed tourist town.  The main drag (Yellowstone Avenue) is awash with souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, and museums.  We had a little mid morning snack in a little place that didn’t take credit cards, but did sell an excellent twenty-five cent cup of coffee. The temperature was cool (60 at 11:00) and rain looked immanent, so we opted to browse the shops on Yellowstone rather than visit the reputedly excellent Cody Museum.  The shops were charming and the people low key and friendly.

We were right about the rain which kicked in just after we returned to our car.  The first ten miles of the journey back to K Bar Z over the mountains was harrowing.  During the gentle climbs of route 120, we encountered driving rain and nerve shattering bolts of lightning.  As we turned onto the much steeper Chief Joseph Highway, the rain came down in torrents.  At several points we were attempting to climb a seven degree grade with two inches of standing water on the road.  Fortunately we climbed right up through the clouds which were hovering over the eastern slopes.  By the time we headed down the west slopes, the roads were dry.

Back at the ranch we sat on a hay wagon and started sketching  the scenery, but a strong wind came up, and one of the border collies came over and begged us to through a stick for her.  That was warmer and more fun than drawing until the horses were let out to graze and tried to get into the game.

Tomorrow we will leave the ranch and drive through Yellowstone National Park.  Our route is not firmly established yet, and the park is much too large to see completely in a day so we will negotiate tonight.  The competing plans are 1) take a mid park route, see what is there and exit through the west gate into Idaho, 2) take the northern loop which goes through herds of elk, buffalo, and past the most likely places to see grizzly bears, or 3) take the southern route which goes by old faithful and the geyser fields. We will probably end up asking Magellan to choose a route and enjoy what we get.

Till tomorrow, enjoy the road you are on.