Buffalo Wyoming

We are staying three nights in Buffalo after two nights in Butte, Montana.
Day one:  We drove over to Devil's Tower National Monument.  As with all national parks this time of year, there are large crowds.

The tower is a volcanic plug which was pushed up through the crust.  The Kiowa legend is that 7 sisters were being chased by a bear and knew they could not out run him.  The sisters stood on a small rock and asked for help.  The rock began to grow out of the ground and the bear could not reach them at the top.  In an effort to reach the girls his claws made lines from top to bottom.

Buffalo is the home for the author of the books that the Longmire TV series is based on.  Every year the cast comes up to Buffalo and has a three day get together.  They normally get about 15,000 people show up.  I am a big fan of the show but we are leaving Wednesday and the event starts on Thursday.  😕😖😖😖

4th of July hike: we headed to the mountains.  First a day hike in the Bighorn National Forest - destination Shred lake. We were hoping the heat would break in the mountains but it was still in the middle to upper 70's.  Still a very nice hike and a good location.  Then a picnic lunch at nearby lake.

Tomorrow we are off to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We will be there for two nights.  Then an overnight stay in Walsenburg, Colorado for one night before our final drive home. We will have logged in over 5,200 miles.  Whew!!

Canada Day - Banff

After driving down from Jasper to Banff we set up the trailer and went to a presentation by some park employees.  They put on a skit where they were celebrity bison.  They were in full bison costume. It was definitely geared toward the children in the audience.  The presentation was about the reintroduction of bison to this area.  The park service brought in 16 bison this past winter. The bison have had 10 babies born the first spring.  The park service has them in contained a fenced off area for the first year and will let them loose next year.

Canada - Day 12 & 13

Day three:  we first drove to Athabasca Falls, see pictures below.  These glacial falls were very impressive.  The water has an icy blue color to it because as the glacier melts, the water carries sediment with it that has the blue tones.  The canyon that the water carved through is equally as impressive.    I also have video in You Tube- look at me.  Search for puestads.  

Canada trip - Day 10 - 11

Day one: we woke up to find a family of elk grazing around our campground.  They stay in the valley to avoid predators.  Since we had been on the road for 10 days, it was time to do laundry.  We got home to find the entire elk herd grazing around and through our campsite.  We managed to get some cool picutes and video.  We the late afternoon  kicking around the town of Jasper.  Unforturnately, we encountered torrential rain and made a run for the truck.  We were supposed to have dinner out that night to celebrate Gloria’s birthday but just had dinner back at camp.