These pictures were all taken early last fall during a trip on the Chief Joseph Highway, to the top of Dead Indian Pass, and beyond to the North Gate of Yellowstone National Park just beyond Cook City.
It was a beautiful weekend day.
Endlessly sunny.
Very cold.
And both LC and I wanted to do the drive before winter hit.
We knew that this would likely be our last go around until spring, and so we loaded into the vehicle and on the spur of the moment decided to head up the mountain..................
I always think of Dead Indian Pass as being a long drive from Cody, but 45 minutes after we left town we were contentedly standing at the overlook.
At the top of the pass and looking out over an entire world that seemed completely devoid of people.
The wind was blowing wildly (as it always seems to up there at just over 8000 feet) and both LC and I pulled the collars of our jackets up higher in a mostly failed attempt to stay warm.
Kory (as is always the case) seemed impervious to both the wind and the cold.
She is a beautiful, wonderfully simple creature.
Whether she is sniffing and marking beside a dumpster in back of Albertsons grocery store in Cody, or beside a bush on an historic overlook in the mountains of wild and isolated Wyoming, she is a contented, focused, happily adventuresome dog.
We should all be so wonderfully simple.
And so contented, focused and happy.......................
We had been up to Dead Indian Pass just a few weeks earlier and on that trip I had taken multiple pictures of historic markers and numerous informational boards.
I didn't do that on this trip.
This trip was about simply being.
Being up in the mountains. Being together. In this beautiful space. One last time before winter. Relishing in the freedom and silence.......................
I haven't really looked at these pictures in a few months.
God.................it is beautiful in this place.
Endlessly wonderfully beautiful.
LC, me and Kory have now been in Wyoming since late September 2017.
17 months now.
Recently I was compiling paperwork for both of our taxes, and looking over paperwork was like looking over a road map of the craziness that we went through over the past year.
In 2018 we lived in three different places.
We made a trip back to Idaho in February to get our belongings out of storage, and made another trip back in the fall to get our camper.
We bought and sold three vehicles, moved our stuff in and out of storage units here a couple of times, bought a home and opened a business.
Almost seven months after moving into a house we bought, we have still not completely unpacked.
And neither one of us cares.
We're here.
We're in no rush...................
After loading back into the vehicle, we immediately dropped down the back side of Dead Indian Pass.
The plan (or lack there-of) was to drive for a while and take in the extraordinary beauty of the area.
We may make it to Cooke City.
We may make it to the west gate of the park.
We may go a short ways into the park.
Earlier in the year we would have been able to circle down into the park, and exit through the east gate, and get back to Cody without having to retrace our steps.
At this time of year the east gate was already closed, so no matter how far we traveled we were going to have to go back the way we had come.
We didn't know what the plan was, and it didn't really matter to any of us at the time.
What mattered was that we were there....................
Endless mountain peaks.
Endless wide open valleys.
It was all good...................
The road sign tells the story of what the highway we were driving looked like.
With so many climbs, and so much winding road, there was no way to travel fast.
And that was OK...................
Sunlight Creek Bridge, the highest in Wyoming..............
You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you..............John Muir
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