Day 9

Our last day in Bozeman was one of the most laid back, which was nice.  We headed out early to an old ghost town around an hour and half away from Tommy’s cabin.  The town was really cool with a bunch of different people to talk to and sights to see.  We spent most of our time there shopping around in the different stores and then checking out some of the different museums and displays that where in the town.  After this, we continued on to a hot springs half an hour past the town only to find out that it was closed, which we were kind of happy about because the place looked really sketchy. 

On our way back into Bozeman, we decided to again stop into some pawn and antique shops while we waited to meet up with the editor from Bozeman Magazine.  After an hour or so, we met with editor to talk for a bit and get a group picture with the magazine.  We got the picture and then headed into downtown Bozeman, where we walked up and down Main Street checking out some of the different local stores.  It is always funny seeing people’s reactions when they hear we are from Pittsburgh.  It is equally fun telling them about the trip and everything that went into it. 

We left Bozeman at about 6:00 P.M. to get back in time for the reservation Tommy’s dad had made at a local steakhouse.  As we got back to the house, there were about a thousand sheep parading right through Tommy’s yard.  Mr. Bloom said that the sheep come through every once in a while, herded by a rancher and his sheep dogs.  It was funny to see a bunch of kids from the city running down to see these sheep, like it was the most amazing thing in the world.  The rancher probably though we were idiots.  We had to tear ourselves away from the sheep, however, because it was time to head out to the steakhouse.  There we enjoyed an amazing steak dinner, which we think took so long to prepare because they literally had to go out and kill the cow first, that’s how fresh it was.  As we drove back up to Tommy’s house, the mountains were framed by the most beautiful sunset we have seen yet.  It was the perfect way to end the trip.  We got back to the house and packed up our stuff up, tomorrow we will leave at 5 A.M.  

-Evan 

 Not all beauty in Montana is big mountains!

 Historical Virginia City town

 A small shed with train tracks and rolling hills behind it

 A photoshoot of the gang in a wooden structure for Tom Henry Chevrolet

 Dave trying his very hardest to be "tuff" like a cowboy

 The Bozeman Magazine photoshoot

 Reading the article

Evan acting mature while the rest of us are unable to

Day 8

We woke up today set on going hiking, so we went through the usual breakfast routine of Dave improvising something great to eat and then headed out on our way.  The trail we had in mind was recommended to us by Mr. Bloom, and lay about 30 minutes outside of downtown Bozeman.  

The head of the trail began at the shore of a large, mountain reservoir and then proceeded up the mountain.  We followed the trail for about a mile and half before reaching the other end of the reservoir.  Although some of us wanted to continue along the trail, we were losing daylight and most of the trail was covered with snow at this altitude.  It was at this point that we decided to cross one of the snow melt streams feeding the reservoir so that we could easily walk along the opposite shore to get back to the car.  This required some ingenuity, as there were no bridges crossing the stream.  We hiked up along the mountain until we found a 20 foot log that had fallen across the stream, allowing us to cross.  This led to a walk along the other side of the lake, which produced some incredible views of the alpine covered mountains.  

After this, we stopped by the grocery store to get food and then Dave made us some of the best burgers we had ever tasted.  We ate these while watching the Pacers beat the Heat in the NBA playoffs, which was a perfect end to a perfect day.  

 Jake about to take a dip

Dave and Evan take in the view during the hike

Day 7

Today, now that everyone was rested, everybody got up a little earlier than usual.  It is hard to sleep in too long because of how bright it gets early in the morning and the fact that everybody is just excited to get the day started.  It is funny how in school, we are all hard-pressed to get up in time for our 9 A.M. classes, but we will willingly get up at 6:30 on vacation.  A lot of us would get up, drink coffee, and do our devotions, which would then transition into the cooking and eating of breakfast.  After cleaning up after breakfast, we headed out to a small town near where we were staying called Belgrade and checked out the local thrift and pawns stores.  It is amazing what crazy things you can find in these stores, it is a lot of fun going into each new store, because you never have any idea of what you might find inside.  Some cool finds were a Moose hide, an authentic cowboy hat, and some great western style clothing.  At one point Pete and Dave tried to buy a gun from one of the pawn shops, but (un)fortunately it was soon discovered that the vendors were not able to sell handguns to individuals from out of state. 

After exploring in Belgrade, we returned to the Bloom’s cabin to help Mr. Bloom paint.  With seven guys, we were able to rig up a pretty efficient system for painting the North, South, and East sides of the house.  Steve was covering the top four logs on each side by ladder, while Tommy was spraying paint on the lower portions and I was covering up any missed spots left behind.  At the same time, Dave, Pete, HB, and Jake were using paper and tape to prep the sides of the house that the painters weren’t currently working on.  It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time working outside with each other.  We were able to finish the job just before a storm rolled through, which was perfectly timed for dinner.  All the work tired us out, however, and after dinner we went to bed soon after. 

Evan

Day 6

Today was our first day to relax, we awoke lazily at different times and took in the scenery around the cabin while we read our Bibles and wrote in journals while sitting on the deck.  We all took the time before breakfast reflect and realize how blessed we were to be here after months of dreaming and planning. David and Tam made us some eggs and pancakes which were delicious and filling.

At 1:00pm Dave, Pete and HB took the extra SUV left here at the cabin and went to Bozeman International Airport to pick up our friend and host Tommy and his Father, Mr. Bloom. Tam, Evan and Jake took the Suburban to downtown Bozeman to upload our footage to Zippo, update the blog and do some homework for summer classes. When the airport pickup crew returned with the Blooms, we were dropped off at the raging muddy river on the other side of the mountain and attempted to fish! Even though it was unsuccessful, we enjoyed each other’s company, the mountains, and the ATV. We saw a storm rolling in over the mountains and rode back in two trips on the ATV back to the house. The storm never really hit us thankfully and so we decided to climb the rock formation in view of the cabin.  What a deceivingly difficult hike! At the summit, we told great stories of adventures at school and eventually saw the other crew roll up the driveway in the suburban.  We descended and met up with them and chatted with Mr. Bloom while he painted the exterior of the cabin. 

For dinner we were planning on making a run to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for fajitas, but Mr. Bloom in his generosity took us all to downtown Bozeman to eat at McKenzie River Pizzeria.  We devoured 4 enormous pizzas and walked the streets of Bozeman once we were full. Unfortunately, the shops were all closed because of Memorial Day.  Back at the house, the crew finished the day tired and had a goodnight’s rest.

-Pete

Picking up Tommy

View from our fishing location

Dave letting everyone know that he is a pro fisherman

Pete looking like a local

Dave gives HB a lift

The daunting hike to be attempted up the rock face

The view of the cabin from the top

The artsy ascent back home

Downtown Bozeman

Photogenic Jake

Evan with a mint in his mouth after dinner

Day 5

After a short and brisk night of sleep, we woke up around 6:15 to a beautiful sunrise creeping over the mountainous terrain, surrounding eagle creek campground.   Evan, Dave, and Josh ended up not sleeping outside of the tents under the stars.  Because it was extremely chilly, a fire was immediately made.  We warmed up and scrounged for breakfast as we began planning the day’s events. Josh had to leave by 2 in the afternoon, so we designed our stops with that in mind- by 2 pm we ended up in the southern portion of Yellowstone, cutting about an hour off of his commute back to Utah.  We were on the road by 8:45 and into the Park by 9.  

Having seen much of the attractions and natural wonders in the north sphere of the park the day before, we drove south for an hour towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  After a quick check in at the visitor center, we arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10:30.   One of the first things that we noticed as a group was the amount of people packed in around the guardrails overlooking the beautiful ravines.  The touristy, commercial feel of Yellowstone stood in contrast to the peaceful and calming atmosphere that we enjoyed in Badlands National Park. 

We wove our way through vacationing Americans and bus-fulls of international sightseers and eventually secured some good viewpoints.  We all took a moment to admire the brightly colored stratified rock of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.   Further down the gorge, a large waterfall tumbled and rushed down the cliff to feed a picturesque river carving its way through the ravine. We took a group shot as well as some panoramic pictures before climbing a short hike.  We made our way back to the car to proceed to our next stop.

From the Grand Canyon, we continued south another hour and hunger struck.   As we looked around for a place to eat, we came upon Yellowstone Lake, the biggest standing body of water in the park.  We had not initially planned to stop at the lake but we were hungry and it seemed like a cool spot to explore.  When we rounded the bend to park and got our first good glimpse of the view- we immediately knew that it was good decision.  The lake itself half-frozen and surrounded by snow covered mountains was one of the most beautiful sights that we saw in our stay at the park.  Josh, who worked a summer in college on a crab boat in Alaska, said this view was comparable to those in Alaska.  A perfect temperature of 65 and breezy completed the afternoon as we stopped to eat and take in our incredible surroundings.

When we were finished with our meal, we hopped in the car with Josh for the last time as we drove to our final destination in Yellowstone, Old Faithful.  When we arrived, the boardwalk surrounding America’s most famous geyser was packed to the gills with tourists from all over.   About a thousand people huddled around for a glimpse of the majestic fountain.  We filmed and photographed Old faithful and left quickly as it was hot and crowded. 

As we prepared to drive back through the park to Bozeman, Montana we exchanged goodbyes with Morken.  It was an incredible experience to see Yellowstone Park and we were honored to have Josh join us.

To close the day we drove out of Yellowstone and stopped just outside the park entrance in Gardiner, Mt.  As we perused the gift shops and antique stores, we met an amazing couple working outside the park.  A Christian husband and wife team with many stories of church planting and adventures in the park.   The husband was ex-navy and was clerking Elk Inc, a hunting outfitters store.   The wife was the owner and operator of an antique store a block over.  One of the greatest things that stuck out to us was their opportunity to witness to the over 1 million tourists driving through Yellowstone each year.  Along with them playing Christian music in the stores, they also serve the tourists by driving visitors who have been kicked out the park (drugs, alcohol, etc.) back to their vehicles/hotels/airport.  This gives them the opportunity to share the gospel.  The stories that they experienced in the park were truly inspirational.

We returned with good pictures and even better memories.

- David

Yellowstone's Grand Canyon - the picture doesn't truly capture all of the beautiful colors

Los boys with the waterfall as a backdrop.  Had to fight through many tourists to get this shot

Pete, Dave, and H.B. staring death in the face, as well as a beautiful landscape

Yellowstone Lake, covered in ice still and framed by snow capped mountains

Another groupie, taken by a kind lady from Texas

Ye Ole Faithful - no choice but to make this a stop

Tam and Evan trying to get the best possible view...

...over this crowd of people

Boom goes the dynamite 

Bison that we saw hanging out in a parking lot on our way out of the park.  

Day 4

We woke up in the Bozeman cabin at 9 AM! While you might think this was a reward after a long trip getting here, it was almost torture for some.  The car pulled in at 4 AM the night before and so between unpacking and getting ready for bed, Jake, Tam and Evan, our wonderful drivers for whom we are thankful, slept for about 4 hours after a long and trying day. Pulling in at this unholy hour was not a concern as soon as we saw the cabin and the location.  There are snow-capped mountains around the perimeter of the property, rock formations and only two neighbors in sight.  Waking up to sunshine and incredible view of the mountains and coffee made us all feel like the dream was accomplished.  After months of planning and imagining what the cabin and the trip would be like, this morning far exceeded our dreams and raised spirits. The reason for our “early” wakeup was to reach our friend Josh Morken in Yellowstone in the early afternoon. Yes, our trip is at a nonstop pace. Morken, as we call him, is a friend from Grove City College and currently lives in Utah.

After unpacking the chaos and repacking the car once more (but with much less luggage than our initial trip to Bozeman), we hit the road South East to Yellowstone. Arriving around 3 PM at Eagle Creek campground, a camp on the outskirts of Yellowstone, we saw Morken and he gave us a hearty welcome to the location he had chosen.  Eagle Creek Campsite was at the top of a small mountain, surrounded by more mountains, and with wild bison on the other side of a brook. Needless to say, like most everything out here, it was beautiful.  After catching up with Morken for some time, we knew daylight was wasting away and the beauty of Yellowstone was waiting, so we loaded up the car and made our way through the enormous arch that marks the entrance of Yellowstone. Our first stop was at a “Furmohole” I believe it is called, which is a hot spring with microorganisms in it called thermophiles that can live in a harsh environment such as a sulfur laden, boiling pool. These organisms are bleach white and make interesting formations together and are unlike anything seen out on the East Coast. 

Next we continued to drive through Yellowstone Park with our jaws dropped at the sight of mountains reflected off lakes, wild deer and bison grazing beside our moving car and raging rivers at the bottom of sharp cliffs.  We exited our car along one pull-off to simply run up the side of a mountain.  There was no trail and for that matter it was incredibly difficult with the incline of the hill and the elevation. At the top of the hillside we could see God’s beautiful creation in all directions. The descent was treacherous as well, with sliding rocks, sappy pines and fallen logs every which way.  At the bottom of the hill, Jake had the brilliant idea to use some of the fallen logs as some firewood for our campsite.  We pulled out our Zippo hatchet-saw combo tool and went to work.  While this may be illegal in the eyes of some, others may argue that it’s perfectly permissible because we, as taxpayers, are in essence part owners of National parks.  Therefore, it is our property too, right?

Our last stop in Yellowstone for the day was in a collection of hot springs and geysers. Some smelled, some were bubbly, others were steamy. Some were dangerous and dormant and some were peaceful.  Morken put his hand in one of these peaceful ones however, and actually burned himself! The landscapes here were strange and full of odd colors like white, light blue and vivid green. Steam was coming from every direction and again we felt as if we were on another planet.

Hopping back in the car, we headed back to Eagle Creek campsite to spend the night. Our return trip was just like the way in, very scenic and our eyes were still glued to our car windows. Back at the top of our campsite the sun began to set as we collected more firewood and cooked weenies. As we were swapping more stories, the clouds began to roll in and we it looked like a long night of rain, but surprisingly, the storm passed and was broken up by the mountains. Dave, Morken and Evan all decided sleep outside under the stars.  It was a frigid night and we hunkered down in our sleeping bags after a wonderful day.

- Peter 

Morken

Our camp site at Eagle Creek

Mammoth Hot Springs

Our side hike up the mountain side

Beautiful mountain landscapes

More mountains

Furmohole

Our campfire right outside Yellowstone

Day 3

Our plan for this morning was to get up at 5:00 and watch the sunrise.  This was great in theory, difficult in practice.  Surprisingly, four of us did manage to get up at 5:00 for the sunrise; the only problem was that the sun had already risen at that point.  It’s crazy to think that the sun rises at 4:45 in the morning in some places in the world.  Anyways, we were already up, so we decided to do some exploring.  This led to an absolutely amazing morning hike.  The terrain literally looked like something from Mars, and as the sun continued to rise it created beautiful contrasts on the rock formations.  We went off of the trail a little bit and actually saw some Big Horned Sheep, which there are only 100 of total in the 240,000 acre park.  Not being Big Horned Sheep ourselves made it hard to climb back up to the established trail, but we were able to make it back to the camp unscathed.  After packing up the car, we went on a hike as an entire group, which brought us to a view overlooking a massive, glacier formed valley.  Despite seeing several signs warning hikers of rattlesnakes, we saw none.  Most of the team rejoiced in this, others did not. 

After leaving Badlands, we headed out towards Mt. Rushmore, which was only about 45 minutes west of the park.  On the way, we stopped at a town so small that Main St. consisted solely of a Post office and a general store called The Caputa Store.  But after going into the general store for lunch, we soon became aware that stopping at this particular store may have been the best decision we made all day.  Apart from having great burgers, and even better chili, the owner of the store was one of the most interesting people we have met so far on the trip.  Ryan Olson is a rancher, who owns 4,600 acres, and has recently purchased the general store.  He told us about how the property has been in his family for well over a hundred years, how the movie Dances with Wolves was filmed on his property, and how the snow storm from last October killed $350,000 worth of his cattle.  Learning about his drive and determination through the stories he told was truly inspiring and gave us some legitimate insights on what it takes to own your own business, especially in the West.   After sending us on our way with full stomachs and a new understanding of western living, we set out for Mt. Rushmore.  Let’s just say, that the mountain is something everyone should see once, but nobody should have to see again.  This most exciting part of the visit was H.B. saying he had heard that there may be a small conference room in the eye of George Washington. Needless to say, we paid our respects and then quickly went on our way. 

Next we took a brief detour to Devil’s Tower, which is a huge piec\e of granite stone ascending straight up in the air with no support on any side.  It was incredibly impressive to look at, but wasn’t worth the 10 bucks we would have needed to give in order to actually enter the monument.  That being said, we turned around and are now on our way to Bozeman.  Tam and Nedley are behind the wheel tonight and we should be pulling into Bozeman at around 3:00 AM.  We are all looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight.  Tomorrow is Yellowstone, so it is important for us to get some good sleep!  Tomorrow will bring another update!    

- Evan 

Sunrise over Badlands

Sunrise on rock formations

End of trail sign that we ignored on our morning hike

Looking at the Big Horned Sheep

....The Big Horned Sheep

Peter modeling

The gang with George, Tom, Theo, and Abe

Devil's Tower

The General Store in South Dakota