August 21 - 26, 2010

Shelby, Montana to West Yellowstone, Montana - 380 miles

80 Sunny

Day 91

We are both excited to be traveling to our destination today, Hebgen Lake just outside of Yellowstone National Park. The road took us along the bottom of a gorge that the Missouri River passed through. What a wonderful place. The river was crystal clear. Log homes dotted the shoreline throughout the gorge.

The Blue Beast had tough work today. The gorge and river behind us, we climbed a mountain grade four miles long. We kept going higher and higher. Each mountain grade a test for the beast. The road we traveled got narrow, and we were two lanes again. We had nine miles of construction on a dirt road that should not have been open to traffic. It was awful. Our GPS was supposed to warn us of construction. It did not…so much for the GPS and accurate construction updates.

The last part of our journey took us through a narrow, rocky, river gorge. At least there were guardrails. The river below was fast and full of rapids.As the river gorge widened to a basin we passed the Lewis & Clark caverns. The entrance to the caves dominated the side of the rocky mountain near the river basin.

We passed a sign that read "Entering Earthquake Area". Oh Great! Soon we passed Quake Lake. Now I knew they were serious.

Finally we reached Hebgen Lake, and our RV Park, West Yellowstone Holiday Resort. What a treat! The park sat on Hebgen Lake. The Madison Mountain Range dominated our views across the water. We were so impressed with our home for the next five days.

As we set up for the evening, we marveled at the scenic wonder of the area. It was beautiful!