A Wandering Artist - Day 3

Starting point: Greybull, Wyoming
7:30am MT - Sleep acquired and the start of this new day has commenced! Grabbing some food

and getting some fuel into the car, we were soon on the road once again. With the route that we decided to take led us through the Bighorn National Forest. Carefully weaving our way through the canyon which revealed some stunning views. Occasionally we would turn off designated spots so that I could have the chance to take some pictures. Of course there were some at the start of the canyon pass that I would have really liked to get but I'm pretty sure it would have been frowned upon to have my dad just stop in the middle of the road in order for me to hop out of the vehicle, take a few shots then dive back in as if I was on some sort of mission.

Shell Falls, Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming
9am MT - After our slow trek through the canyon, we decided to stop at what we thought was a

simple rest stop with a view of the canyon. Getting out of the car, we quickly discovered an amazing waterfall that fed into the river that ran through the area. It had been a long time for me since I've last been near such an awe inspiring body of water, so the fact that the stop had paths which wove around the area giving a close view of the sight was outstanding. I found myself taking pictures of the rushing water and the resulting swirling white crusted pools below but for the most part, I was just taking in my surroundings with wonder. One thing I noticed were the colors of the water in the swirling pools below me. Unlike the bubbling pools in Yellowstone which were a stunning crystal blue, the water here was showing an array of greens due to the moss and other plant growth. I did notice there was some foam as well along the edges of the water, probably caused by the various things in the area being repeatedly stirred up from the churning water. I was

a bit disappointed when we decided that it was time for us to move on but I have to say that I completely enjoyed myself. 

So... did you know
--That a Ford Taurus can go off roading? I certainly wouldn't recommend it but in a time of need, it is possible. Okay so let's give you some contents to this. Every time we go on road trips, we seem to end up finding all of the random road work zones in the area. With it being Summer, it is to be expected. However it seems like we are magnets for them when it comes to our travels through Wyoming and often the ones we come across would be labeled as 'Rough Roads'. Of course we've always had the truck in those situations. Jump forward to this trip. Here we are in a car which, for some unknown reason, is built surprisingly lower to the ground then most vehicles currently out and we are about to enter such a 'Rough Road' section. Now you might be imagining just a lot of potholes and chunks missing. Nope. That would have been preferred over the mess that we were about to traverse. What laid before us was a road that had been completely stripped of all asphalt and was now a gauntlet of watered down gravel and dirt with large sections so traveled by heavy equipment that the undercarriage of the car would easily be hit if it was moved one way or another. The only markers as to where we were going were a pair of motorcyclists and truck who were traveling in front of us and a scattered array of seemingly randomly placed orange

plastic poles. Did I mention that this was how we had to travel for 11 miles and a mere 30mph? Yup! So here we are, traveling along and being bounced around inside like popcorn ready to be spill out of a kettle. Luckily the road afterwards was fine so we were able to continue without incident.

End of the day: Hill City, South Dakota
4:37pm MT - Finally arriving at our destination 3 days ahead of schedule, we returned to a hotel that we've been to before and have enjoyed. So settling in, we make the plan of staying until the scheduled event and during the next couple of days, we would go ahead and explore or relax. Who knows what the morning will bring.