The Long & Winding Road Ahead - Day 5
- Ash Collins
- Sep 25, 2020
- 5 min read
The bright sunlight peering through the blinds signalled yet another perfect early morning as we awoke in the Doubletree Hilton in downtown Billings, Montana. With the usual morning routine of packing bags complete, we loaded the vehicle for day 5 on the road. Before we took off, my solid prep for the drive is caffeine. As you might recall from previous blogs, it is an imperative that my day begins with a proppa coffee. The chic MōAV Coffee bar on Montana Ave delivered it in spades...if you do visit, the toasted cheese sarny is a must have!
With my brekky fix digesting, we strapped in as I fired up the big, grey chariot and headed off to our first stop...the Conoco gas station to fill the gas guzzler. Lighter in the pocket to the tune of 40 clams, we set our compass for the short 10 mile drive out of town to the Pictograph Cave State Park.
The Pictograph Caves were home to generations of prehistoric hunters who were amongst the first human inhabitants of Montana. The gravel and boardwalk trail leads visitors on a loop to a number of viewing points to observe the rock paintings (pictographs) that are still visible in the caves. Prehistoric hunters who camped in Pictograph Cave left behind artifacts and rock paintings that are of great archeological significance with the oldest rock art in the cave being in the vicinity of 2,000 years old.
The heat of the day was already beginning to take its toll after our short 45 minute walking tour of the Pictograph Caves. Fortunately for me, my trusty navigator and devoted wife Tracey had filled our water bottles with chilled H2O that quenched a thirst that is most likely a legacy of the Gyros and libations from the previous night out.
Before we shuffle off to our next destination I want to digress from the blog topic ever so slightly. One of the few nicknames given to Montana is 'Big Sky Country''; let me tell yawl that the tag is richly deserved. I will in this and upcoming blogs endeavor to capture, through the lens, the stunning sky and cloud formations that create a light show and shadows that form a blanket over Montana's prairie and mountainous landscapes.
Now that I have exhausted the entire content of my adjectival phrasebook, I'll get back on track. A short 40 mile drive North East along the I-90 lie ahead for our next port of call, Pompeys Pillar National Monument. Pompeys Pillar is one of the most famous sandstone buttes in the US. It bears the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which appears on the trail today as it did over 200 years ago. On the face of the 150-foot butte, Captain William Clark carved his name on July 25, 1806, during his return to the US as his expedition traveled through the beautiful Yellowstone Valley. Captain Clark named the Pillar "Pompeys Tower" in honor of Sacagawea's son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom he had nicknamed "Pomp." Nicholas Biddle, first editor of Lewis and Clark's journals, changed the name to "Pompeys Pillar."
It was now time for some serious driving...well not without some drama. I had to visit the 'Gary Glitter' to evacuate my triple shot Americano & rich cheese toasty. Having washed my hands for the prescribed 20+ seconds, I exited the thunder box to further explore Pomeys trails. As we headed to the car, I realized that I had left my mobile in the mobile 🤬😡. I hightailed it back to the bog only to find that my phone was nowhere to be found 😬😮Fortunately a responsible someone that followed my sitting had located the phone and handed it in to the local ranger's office. Much like the good samaritan, phewww was my response as the ranger handed me back my intact iPhone Max and a lysol wipe.
With that drama behind me (sorry), we gathered ourselves and plotted the 173 mile course to our next destination that has been described as the "grandest canyon in the Northern Rockies"; Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and site of the Yellowtail Dam.
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area features a landscape of sheer cliffs towering 1,000 feet above a ribbon of blue water as well as world class fishing and water sports. Bighorn Canyon is also the home for bighorn sheep, mule deer, wild horses, mountain lions, black bears, along with many other animals. Of course, it's all about timing and ours was SH1T. Of the wildlife we could have seen, none were parading in front of my lens. Nonetheless, the park is a spectacular place to visit as is the road trip we took in order to get there. As previously mentioned, the eye-catching sky and cloud formations provide a magnificent back drop at every twist and turn along these long and winding roads. Poor Trace had to endure my constantly screeching to a halt on the side of the road as I saw yet another breathtaking landscape scene that warranted my exiting the DD to set up the camera equipment. Was it worth the g-force jerk n' thrust in our leather bucket seats...well HELL YEAH!!!
Our final destination for the day, America's Best Value Inn, located 100 miles to our South over the state line and back into Wyoming. Powell is located in the Northwest corner of Wyoming, 75 miles east of Yellowstone National Park and 98 miles south of Billings, Montana. The town lies between the Big Horn Mountains to the East and the Absaroka Range to the West. In keeping with our road trip mantra we opted for the scenic route as opposed to the straight line, boring as bat shite major highways. The navigator provided the coordinates and off we drove along some of the most eye catching scenery we had seen anywhere. A section of the drive had us driving 15 miles along an unsealed road littered with postcardesque (is that a word...it is now) photographic opportunities, dust clouds oh and millions of grasshoppers.
For a great percentage of the drive, we had the entire road to ourselves with the exception of the odd, rusty truck that was going into / coming out from the local ranches that punctuated the landscape. Once again I hope that the following images are able to, in someway, convey the experience we had driving through this vivid and striking terrain.
What a day was had by these two intrepid road trippers...a little under 360 miles covered as we criss crossed the landscape and the borders of Montana and Wyoming. With every twist and turn in the road, the vista views were simply stunning. Having arrived in Powell with our Dodge in tact, we checked into our digs, chucked the bags onto the two queen sized beds, and headed off downtown. The Millstone Pizza & Brewery would be our hosts for a couple of hours as we hoovered down a medium sized Tough Guy and a few well earned beers to help us sleep through the nite.
We hope you enjoyed our day 5 on the road...look out for my day 6 blog as we negotiate the Beartooth Scenic Highway en route to Yellowstone National Park.
Cheers 🍻 🥂
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