Two of the best drives in America. There are books and articles written about the top 10 best drives on the roads of the USA. This week we drove on two of the best (in my opinion) on two successive days. Both days were clear, sunny and hot. Monday we drove from Sheridan, Wyoming over “the mountain” to Lovell, Wyoming. At 9430 feet, it is the highest pass that we have ever driven over. There are still snow banks at the side of the road; the tallest would be over 15 ft. The hills are snow covered. We had some hills that are posted as 10% grades; the road down from the summit was perhaps 15 miles of 10 % grades. There are a number of runaway lanes available for vehicles that lose their brakes. The runaway lanes run up steep slopes off the highway and end in sand or gravel that is designed to stop a large truck that has run out of control.
The “mountain” rises from the high plateau of Wyoming and the switchback road provides many viewpoints to see the diminishing town of Sheridan and the highway that approaches the mountain. The road is only open in the spring and closes in the fall. There was little traffic but a surprising number of recreational vehicles, 5th wheelers and motor homes were traveling on the steep roads. We stayed in Cody Wyoming for the night.
The next day we entered Yellowstone National Park at the north gate, about 50 miles from Cody. The park permit purchased for $25.00 also allows access to Teton National Park which is about another 50 miles south of the south entrance to Yellowstone.
There are options for the route to drive through Yellowstone we took a longer route that included Mammoth Hot Springs. There is a shorter route from the North gate that cut the distance to Old Faithful by about 16 miles. But the drive is the reason to go to Yellowstone! We would stop at least once every mile to see a view, take a picture or see animals. There were bison, elk, coyotes, mountain sheep, white pelicans and more.
We arrived at “Old Faithful” just as it was visible over the parking lot. It lasts for about 4 minutes at about 90 minute intervals. This geyser shoots hot water out of the ground at about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. We walked around to see other minor geysers that were not very active and finally ate some supper in the very nice rustic lodge supported by large tree trunks and wood timbers. A large crowd began to assemble on benches around the circle with Old Faithful issuing steam in the centre. There is a plume of steam coming from the mound of rocks even when the geyser is not blowing water. Right on time, the water started to rise until a white plume of water and steam shot nearly 200 feet high and then gradually lowered until it stopped.
The next part of the drive is south from Old Faithful to Jackson, Wyoming. The route passes on the east side of Jackson Lake and has spectacular views of the Teton Mountain range. This range has sharp mountain peaks, some rising to over 13,000 feet. The most striking is Grand Teton and it’s neighbour Mt. Owen. A full moon was rising over the mountains to the east of the Tetons as we entered Jackson.
We had one more drive as we continued from Jackson after dark and crossed over another pass at 8900 feet and entered into Idaho and we stayed at Idaho Falls.
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