Dead Indian Pass

Last Friday this still-homeless family of roamers went for a drive.

We headed towards the isolated community of Clark.

A few miles before reaching Clark we turned left onto Highway 296 (also known as Chief Joseph Scenic Byway).

The winding two lane highway climbs quickly and steeply up into the mountains and follows the route that was taken by Chief Joseph as he led the Nez Perce through Yellowstone National Park and into Montana in the late 1800s, as they attempted to evade the Cavalry and flee into Canada.

More information here on the byway:

http://www.bigskyfishing.com/scenic-drives/chief-joseph.php

The drive from the turnoff (17 miles north of Cody) reaches its peak at Dead Indian Pass, but once over the pass this very scenic drive continues on to Cooke City.
Just under 50 miles in total.
All winding, all climbing steeply and then dropping steeply, and all of it an incredibly isolated and beautiful drive.
On this day we would just go as far as Dead Indian Pass.
We had no idea how much snow there might be up there, but this late in the year we knew that if we wanted to reach the summit, it was now or never.
If we didn't get up there soon, we would have to wait until spring.
On this beautiful and cold day late in the fall, we wanted to become reacquainted with a place that we had enjoyed many times in years past.
10 minutes after turning onto Chief Joseph Scenic Byway LC was already looking for a place to pull over.
Two bull elk were grazing in the hills to our right.
They stopped grazing as we pulled the truck over into the gravel, and I quietly lowered the window and turned on the camera.
They were healthy and well fed, curious and well adjusted.
Obviously bonded to each other.
Perhaps brothers?  They were around the same age..........

I snapped a couple of pictures very quickly, certain that they would both take off in a run at any moment.
But they didn't.
They talked with each other, stayed close to each other, mimicked each others mannerisms and body postures, but they didn't run..................

Click on any picture and they will all enlarge..............

We had seen a good number of mule deer on the trip so far and continued to see more as we climbed further into the mountains.

But on this day, these were the only two elk that we saw.

They were watchful of us, but not afraid.

Five minutes after we had first pulled over, LC pulled the truck back onto the winding and climbing highway.

Both of us talking excitedly about the two bull elks that we had just witnessed.

A great encounter.............

Couple of quick pictures at a pull-off on the side of the highway, as we continued to climb into the mountains.

I knew this place.

As I looked out over the valley immediately below me (and looked out over the mountains more than 80 miles away) the scenery affected me the same way it had the first time I had stood in this exact spot six years before.

The vastness took my breath away.

It had reminded me back then (when I was so desperate to be reminded) that there was still beauty in the world.................

Cody is situated at just over 5000 feet in elevation.

Dead Indian Pass is at just over 8000 feet.

Surprised that we reached the summit so quickly, I realized that it was not as long of a drive as I had remembered.

I eagerly started to climb out of the truck and as soon as I opened the passenger door I realized just how windy it was.

I frantically held the door handle with both hands, trying to prevent the door from uncontrollably flying open and possibly breaking the hinges (that happened to my car door one day many years ago while living in Canada, so I was acutely aware of the possibility).

Eventually I climbed out and got the door safely closed, and while the wind blew wildly I carefully opened the third door and made a grab for Korys' leash.

The winds were freezing cold and so strong that it was difficult to walk, but all three of us made our way over to the Overlook.

Handing Kory over to LC I reached into my jacket pocket, fumbled around for my camera, and then valiantly tried to stand still against the wind so that I could power-snap pictures....................

The views of the mountains were endless and breath taking.

LC and I love this place.

We have loved this place from the very first time we visited back in 2011.

I never really thought about Wyoming a whole lot while we were living in Idaho.

As far as I knew we had put Wyoming behind us.

Now that we are back, every place that we visited and fell in love with is coming flooding back to me.

We feel like we are supposed to be here.

Somehow.  

Somehow we're supposed to be here.

The home we were hoping to get did not happen, so it appears that we are again back at square one.

Which is very disappointing.

How do people who are not very wealthy buy homes here?

We're still trying to figure that part out....................

The drive down the back side of Dead Indian Pass, and the rest of the drive to Cooke City is filled with more of the same.

The Absaroka Mountain Range, dangerous and winding two lane highway that cuts into mountain after mountain and at times includes steep drop offs, occasional homes and second homes, endless isolation and endless rugged natural beauty.

We likely won't get back up there until Spring when the road to Cooke City opens up.

A wonderous place.................

I quickly snapped picture after picture while LC and Kory wandered together.

We stayed at the summit of Dead Indian Pass for all of five minutes before gratefully loading back into the truck and cranking the heater up to High.

In that five minutes we had been severely battered by the wind, and my hands were so cold I could barely feel them.

But we had also seen endless gorgeous, and I had managed to take some nice pictures.

The cold hands were a small price to pay for becoming reacquainted with this place again.................

Stopping a couple of times on the way back down, we took the time to wander.

The wind was less of a factor, and although it was still cold it was manageable.

LC, Kory and I explored, looked out over the valley below us, and finally had a chance to enjoy being outside away from the battering wind of the summit.

Lower down, it was a beautiful day.

With winter fast approaching, both LC and I knew that there would not be many days like this left this year, and that we were living on borrowed time.

And so we looked and walked, letting Kory take the lead..................

The valley below us..................

Our new truck.

We sold the school bus.

It served us well when we needed it - it was a place to store all the things we would need for potentially six months, it was a place to camp for almost two weeks when we first arrived in Wyoming, it was a place to comfortably house Korys "cave" and for her to travel in style on the elevated perch of a box spring and mattress set.

But it was also a high mileage vehicle, a gas guzzling vehicle, we already had a pull behind camper, and the two ton frame of this tank of a school bus ensured that WY insurance and registration fees would always be high.

And so we sold it and bought this truck.

A four wheel drive, 1/2 ton, with 108,000 miles.

It received a few dings to the body from the elderly man who owned it previously, but it is a good looking and mechanically sound vehicle, and overall we got a very good deal.....................

Snow fence extending the entire span of the hill we had chosen to park near................

One more stop on the way down.

One more section of the Shoshone National Forest (which weaves its way throughout Park County in every direction)..................

One last stop close to the end of the Chief Joseph highway, with informational boards providing background and history on the area.

We will take more time to see the entire region next spring.

But for now we were just glad to have had a chance to (briefly) see the pass before winter arrived in NW Wyoming.

A great trip...................

Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction - so easy to lapse into - that the world has been made for humans by humans. Most of us exist for most of the time in worlds which are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. One forgets that there are environments which do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and which have their own rhythms and orders of existence. Mountains correct this amnesia. By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us...............Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind:  Adventures in Reaching the Summit