Back across America

Steiner Timing - Jackson revisited (29-30 July) Steiner Timing usually refers to our ability to plan a tour for each of us separately and then arrive at a prearranged point within minutes of each other. That was again the case on the 29th when Emil set out on a 60 miles cycling tour along the Jackson valley loop and I cycled just a few miles to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. For someone who enjoys a little animal sketching, like I do, this is an unbelievable experience of bathing in the most gorgeous examples of wildlife painting and sculpture. There was also a fascinating film about the migration of elk into Yellowstone Park, which occures each year. A photographer and an artist followed these beautiful, brave animals from their summer pastures in the surrounding valleys as they then forded roaring rivers and alpine passes to enter the park. The painting below is an example of Preske's special rendering of wildlife, this time in keeping with my animal theme of today -...

Old Faithful   Yellowstone!! (26-28 July) For the last four days we have been travelling through the hills, gorges and valleys of this beautiful national park. We've seen buffalo, elk and deer but no moose or bear. We've watched geysers soar into the air, colorful springs of boiling hot water roiling, mud pots sputtering and splattering ... and we've smelt them all, too! There are no words to describe the wonders of this special place, so a few pictures will have to do. Enjoy! At the Grand Prismatic Spring   Even the sky is dramatic More photos to follow!

  Bikes, Bridges, Buffalo and ... oops, Donner and Blitzen! (24-25 July) The Beartooth Highway was again the scene of our endeavours on these two days, but not only! On Tuesday morning Emil cycled up the first 1,000 meters (3,000 ft) of this spectacular roadway, while I was quite happy with my 15 miles along the valley floor. Emil's outing was a test to see if he could handle the altitude (3,500 m.u.m.), but although it went quite well, his pulse speeded up when had completed the climb. This was more of a reaction to not having been on the bicycle for a week, than the effort of the climb, but not to be ignored. In the afternoon we began a 2 1/2 mile hike up to the Lower Basin Lake, but after two miles the skies darkened, the thunder started crashing overhead and we got pretty wet. We hurried back down the mountain, dreading the advent of the horrible hail, but were lucky that the rain slackened off, the clouds moved on down the valley and we returned to the car unscath...

Driving the Scenic Routes of Red Lodge (23 July) With a view to checking out the pass as a possible cycling tour for Emil, we drove the Beartooth Highway and the St. Joseph Scenic Byway today. "Dubbed the most beautiful roadway in America...the Bearthooth Highway climbs to an astounding 10,957 ft above sea level "(from 5,555 ft in Red Lodge). The brochure extolling the virtues of this pass continues "the Highway traverses an impressive range of ecosystems - from lush lodge pole pine forest to alpine tundra." Gorgeous blue lakes, wild creeks and abundant wild flowers make this roadway a pleasure to drive ... and the road itself, with its seven miles of switchbacks, is also an attraction! At the Gardner Lake Pullout (elev.9,481), we spontaneously decided to hike down to the lake. It was only about 750 ft downhill and about 3/4 miles of trail, but coming back up we really noticed the altitude! The Lake was a wonderful deep blue and  surrounded by silky blue lupi...

Museums are excellent classrooms! (22 July) On our way from Hardin to Red Lodge we first visited the Big Horn Historical Museum, before travelling the byways through St. Xavier to Pryor, where we dropped in on the Chief Plenty Coups State Park. These two very different museums provided a detailed look at American and Native American life in the early 1900s. The museum in Hardin held a special surprise for me, when I discovered an exhibition about Will James and his book "Smoky", which was one of my favorite horse stories as a child. The big attraction at this museum, however, was the reconstruction of a whole village: all the buildings joined by boardwalks and carefully furnished with countless objects from the era. There were written histories of the people who lived there and we could see fascinating connections between them and histories we had encountered in other places. Emil was especially fascinated by the enormous farming machinges which were standing about t...

Two cultures, a closer understanding (21 July) Emil and I are standing in front of a portion of the Indian Memorial at  the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. The two cultures, that of the Native Americans and that of the white man clashed here in a struggle that has had repercussions throughout American history. Walking the hills of the Little Big Horn bring alive the horror of the battle and underscore the history that led to this terrible confrontation. The Native Americans lived as a spiritual brother of the land, respecting its needs. The white man came to claim the land as their property, ignoring its need in order to gratify their own desires and often destroying it. After Custer's expedition in 1874 and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, the heart of the new Indian reservation, the pressure on the government to open the land to settlers and gold seekers became too great. (See blog from 20 July). In an effort to contain all Indians in one area, ...

Devil's Tower - what, no horns?! (20 July) Actually, this tower was first known as Bear Lodge and only in 1875 was renamed by Col. Richard Dodge, who was looking for gold in the area. The Kiowa tell the story of seven sisters who were playing, when they were chased by  a bear. They jumped onto a tree stump, that then grew into the air and resisting the claws of the mighty bear, bore the sisters into the sky where they became the stars of the Pleiades. Rocky in his element Before travelling to Devil's Tower today, we dropped in at the Crook County Museum where Rocky, a teacher of Native American History showed us the diorama of General Custer's troops, camping just outside of Sundance on their expedition through the Black Hills. The government had just returned the Black Hills to the Lakota Indians and in 1874 Custer was supposed to make sure no white settlers were left in the area. However, when he returned from his journey with news of the wealth of gold and g...

Crazy Horse revisited (19 July) On a visit to the States in 1996, we first saw the Crazy Horse Monument. This very special sculpture is more than just a tourist attraction. At the request of Chief Henry Standing Bear, Korczak Ziolkowski – after much consideration and intensive research – decided to take on the challenge of carving Chief Crazy Horse out of a mountain. When we visited the site today, we took a bus trip to the foot of the mountain and learned many interesting details about the sculpture and even more about the man behind it. Ziolkowski was orphaned at the age of one and suffered a miserable childhood in various foster families. None the less, he educated himself and became a world-renowned Skulptur. During his research into the life of Crazy Horse, he learned that the Chief carried a stone in a pouch around his neck, and before his murder told his followers: I will come back in stone. Ziolkowski was tremendously impressed with this connection to his id...