Wyoming, Montana and Idaho
It's the 2nd week of July. We set out to catch all the fish, see all the wildlife and escape the 100+ temperatures back home. We might have been a little ambitious, but as luck would have it we did catch some fish, saw some wildlife and escaped the 100s. It was a great time. We started our trip at Tie Hack Reservoir, which is just outside of Buffalo, Wyoming. We opted for a campground spot and were lucky to find one a few months before we embarked on our trip. TIP: Always book your campground campsites as soon as you know you're going, especially when traveling out west. Camping season is short out here. Tie Hack Reservoir was beautiful and fully stocked with 6-8" rainbow trout. We put the kayaks in and had success on day one, but that was it.
We spent a couple nights at Tie Hack before the drive to Montana. The drive from Buffalo to Ten Sleep was indescribable. I was shocked by how much the landscape changed. By the time we got to Worland the landscape was so unrecognizable we actually forgot we just came from pine trees, alpine lakes and mountains. Hills of bentonite to the east in between us and the Bighorn Mountains. Did we end up in Capitol Reef, Utah? The Bighorn River winding through the desert and I mean DESERT. I didn't expect it. A few miles of fertile land good enough for farming, but stray a mile in either direction and you are back in the desert. We headed up towards the Beartooth Mountains which, to no surprise, had a fair amount of snow. Research the Beartooth Mountains sometime, they're incredible. We didn't have time to go up into the Beartooths, but our drive gave us a great view of the mountains and the destruction left behind on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River which flooded a few weeks prior. We made it our airbnb cabin in Greycliff, Montana. The cabin is located on the Hagerman Ranch, right along the Yellowstone River. Anyone who has ever told you about how incredible Montana is, believe them! I've lived out west for 7 years and have been to places where the eye can see for a hundred miles, but this felt so different. We had some great one-on-one time with nature and a little rattlesnake visitor under our porch. TIP: Always travel with shovel when roadtripping. The clouds were beautiful and the mountain rivers were so unbelievably cold; the water a perfect mix of blue and green. We fished the Boulder River just up from Big Timber, but no luck. We also tried fishing the Yellowstone River, but it was very silty, cloudy and still flowing pretty good from snow melt and flooding weeks prior.
"The horseflies are bitin', but the fish never do." - Gregory Alan Isakov
From there we headed to Bozeman. One of the cutest mountain towns with incredible food. Highly recommend stopping into Blackbird for dinner and Jam for breakfast. BOZEMAN! I failed to mention that Bozeman was what prompted this whole trip. Gregory Alan Isakov, a Colorado Farmer and Musician, announced a few shows in the summer while on tour with the Lumineers. We love music and we love a good road trip so we decided to make a week out of it. The show was beautiful and it felt great to get back to seeing live music and traveling while throwing most of our cautions to the wind. We were only in Bozeman 24 hours, but we will definitely return some day. Likely for another fishing trip.
We started to make our journey home, but first a quick stop to the Tetons. We were very lucky to get a spot at Gros Ventre campground. This campground had running water and flushing toilets. We weren't used to this kind of luxury while camping. The campground is tucked down along the Gros Ventre River with views of the southern peaks of the Tetons. Another try at fishing in the Gros Ventre River and then the next day in Jenny Lake. See the quote above. I was prepared for the awe-factor of the Tetons, but photos and words can never accurately describe how they are up close. They are gangly, massive rocks jutting straight out of the earth. I live in Colorado so I can kind of compare them to the Sangre de Cristo range, but quite different. It was as if you were to reach out your finger to touch the tops and they would slice you clean open.
We headed south towards my least favorite drive in the US, interstate 80 from Rock Springs to Laramie. Everything you may (or may not) have heard about I-80 in Wyoming is true. The wind blows. It blows all the time. The dirt blows. Sometimes in rains and the wind still blows. Forget winter. Do not attempt. We experienced just about every season on the short stretch of I-80 before heading south to the Snowy Range. Let me back up for a just a second. If you get the opportunity to drive from Jackson, Wyoming to Rock Springs, it's beautiful. Underrated in my opinion. You get a beautiful and unique view of the Wind River Range. I feel like we drove by every mountain range in Wyoming this trip. We ended up in Saratoga so we could start the next day driving through the Snowy Range. Shame on any of you who knew, but never told us about the Snowy Range! It's remarkable. A pretty easy drive that takes you right to the shore of Lake Marie. There was still snow on the pass at 10,000 feet. Many places in Colorado don't have snow at 12,000 feet. It felt surreal. Also probably a place you would want to avoid in the winter unless ice fishing or snowmobiling is your thing.
A beautiful, flawless trip full of camping, driving, fishing, live music, bird watching and a rattlesnake encounter. I needed this trip to find myself again. We needed this trip to remind ourselves of what brought us together and keeps our hearts beating.
