Well, the family trip to Montana and Wyoming got off to a slow start with us missing our connecting flight to Jackson Hole. Cincinnati once again proved itself to be a subpar airport, delaying our initial flight and stranding us in Chicago an extra 6 hours. This led to us adjusting our first day plans. We were originally planning on meandering our way through Yellowstone and up to Montana, stopping along the way as we wanted. This plan was contingent on us arriving in Jackson Hole at around 2:30PM. Instead, we landed around 8:00PM, so the first day was all but lost. Our focus turned to finding dinner and making our way to our ranch in Montana the quickest way possible, which was through Idaho. We were still able to get a preview of the scenery on the landing in Jackson Hole, which is a spectacular approach to watch from the window. The runway sits in a valley with a mountain range on either side.
A view of the approach out my airplane window
And the airport isn’t much more than a small lodge, so you walk out of the plane straight into the beautiful surroundings.
Departing the plane
After crossing through the Tetons and into Idaho, we stopped for some pizza and once we were got going again it was dark…very dark. You could vaguely make out shadows of the mountains as we made our way north, but not too much to take in. After almost 20 hours of travelling, we didn’t mind and just wanted to get to a bed. Needless to say, sleep was welcome when we arrived at the ranch in Montana.
Day 2 – the first REAL day of vacation
Restaurant of the 320 ranch at breakfast
Morning arrived in Montana, and it was time to eat. After a solid complimentary hot breakfast, we surveyed the ranch offerings and then headed back to our cabin to prepare for a nice morning hike. Conveniently, the 320 Ranch has a trail head leaving from the rear of the property that connects into an intricate series of backcountry horse and hiking trails that stretch from Bozeman, MT to Yellowstone Park (hundreds of miles). My dad stopped at the lodge and asked about a good easier route to get us started and picked up the bear repellant…which seems to be high powered pepper spray to (hopefully) ward off a grizzly that’s too close for comfort. With our grizzly repellant on hand, we were off on our hike…
Embarking on the hike
Impressive rock formations as seen from the valley floor and me feeling very small
Some riders moving ahead of us on the trail
Our turnaround point, “the cow flats” with a great view of Ram’s Horn Peak (to the right)…that’s my dad off to the left, contemplating
The winding creek we followed for most of the hike as seen on the return
As we neared the end of the trail, I was hoping to see a little more animal life than we had. I got my wish, sort of, when my dad stepped on a snake in the trail…no one was bit, and he wasn’t a dangerous snake, but the stepping on him did prompt the snake to pose for the photo below.
By the end of the hike, we were a hungry crowd. About 8 miles of hiking will do that to you. So, after a quick pit stop at the cabin, we made our way 10 miles north to Big Sky, a nice (apparently developing) ski town where we had lunch and picked up some snacks and supplies. At lunch, we got to see a strange hippie looking man attempt to flirt with our waitress by starting a water fight with her. Some free entertainment.
We got back to the ranch at around 3:30 and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon heading down to get our national parks pass to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, as well as to grab some trail maps and do a little reconnaissance. The only animals we saw out this evening were plenty of Mule deer. I’ll get some pictures of them tomorrow since we’ll be heading back to the north and central sections of Yellowstone for the bulk of the day.
Now, we’re cleaning up and relaxing a bit. The rest of the night will most likely consist of dinner on the ranch, some delicious local beer, and some bonfire action. More to come tomorrow.
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