A barren textured black landscape of the Craters of the Moon National Monument turned out to be a totally fascinating place to visit, a theater showing the resilience of nature. On the sides of the lava hills, in what looks like black pea gravel, a surprise of small pink dwarf monkey flowers were popping through, naturally spaced as if purposely planted. I saw a small dinosaur-looking lizard that couldn’t have been much longer than the diameter of a quarter, and other flowers hugging the black earth. Sagebrush, limber pines and juniper also dot the landscape. I guess other shrubs like…

Driving through the Grand Tetons is a treasure in itself, even without stopping, hiking or checking out the views. The snowcapped craggy mountains create a glorious backdrop and border for the chain of alpine lakes at their feet, and the Snake River winding through the tree-lined channels adds even more beauty. Of course I had to stop, hike and breathe in the magnificent beauty. After leaving Yellowstone, I drove south through the Tetons to Jackson where I spent the night. It was later than anticipated because I spent so much time in Yellowstone. The first photo was taken on my…

Geysers, mountains, rivers, falls, lakes, wildlife. A huge variety fills the roughly 50-by-60-mile rectangle that crosses the Continental Divide and makes up Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, was established in 1872, even before the surrounding states became part of the Union. Driving into the park through the east entrance, one would never know a great volcano is bubbling underneath, and that the center of the park is a huge caldera, the collapsed crater of a super volcano that has been erupting for about 16 million years. The most recent was 640,000 years ago, which is the…

Detours seem are becoming common on this adventure! Though I had planned on stopping in Miles City, Montana, as part of my rock hunting journey, I landed there during the 75th Annual Miles City Bucking Horse Sale weekend. Needless to say, I never made it down to the river. Wow! The Bucking Horse Sale is quite a community event! Hotels offer extended full breakfast services for the community, local businesses sponsor all sorts of events, cowboys and cowgirls come from all over, and everything you can imagine regarding horses and rodeos is offered by vendors at the trade show. The…

It is interesting what we can find when we keep our eyes and ears open! My intention was to search for Yellowstone moss agates along the Yellowstone River, which is something I have wanted to do for years, and I found the 11,538-acre Makoshika State Park in Glendive, Montana. Leaving North Dakota after spending a day inside because of heavy winds that left the air hazy with topsoil and dirt, I traveled to Glendive, one of the places with public access to the Yellowstone River. I spent hours the next morning along the river searching for agates. You would think…