Montana is so beautiful, it is truly a wonder that more people don’t live there. There’s an angst (I’ve been told) among Montanans about the population of the state approaching and surpassing one-million. For the state. The entire state.
I was there for an event for work and I was awestruck by the natural beauty. Now, I’ve been to the Grand Canyon (for one example) and seen a lot of the country over the course of twenty years in the military. I’ve driven across the entire country several times, from Northeast to Southwest, and I’ve been to the Pacific Northwest. And Montana – and Yellowstone – just tops anything I’ve seen (I know, Yellowstone is in Wyoming. Give me a minute).
 |
| Big Sky Resort |
I landed in Bozeman and drove from the airport southeast to Big Sky Resort – a major ski resort that has surrounding peaks from the Gallatin Mountains that top 11,000. The main resort sits at about 7600′ above sea level and offers some fantastic summer activities, using the lifts for mountain biking and zip-lining among the various peaks.
On my last day there, I decided to make the hour-and-a-half drive south to Yellowstone National Park – I figure, when’s the next time I’m going to be here, right? After my trip around the southern half of Yellowstone, I’ll find an excuse to go back.
Somewhere on the drive into the park from the west entrance (through the town of West Yellowstone), I pulled over and shot the photo above with my cellphone camera. The place was simply awe-inspiring and my little camera doesn’t capture the beauty.
After touring some of the geysers that are a bit north of “Old Faithful”, I decided to the see the Big Man himself. I shot some video, but it’s not worth posting here. The wildlife was also pretty amazing and a close call with a bison on the road – as well as a brown bear that stopped traffic, gave me a full day to feel pretty fortunate about.
 |
| This thing was almost as big as my rental |
 |
| The bear just walked right across traffic… and we all stopped |
I drove around the southern end of the “circle” that basically runs around the perimeter of the park. It took me several hours, but provided some spectacular views. It is no surprise that someone – like Teddy Roosevelt – stumbled upon this land and said to themselves: “This is special – it needs to be preserved.” Good call.
 |
| Yellowstone Lake |
I’ve included a video of the falls on the eastern side of the park, and the other bison that I hopped out to watch and hope I would get to see him eat Harold, whose annoying wife kept yelling at him while he tried to sidle closer for a picture. I wanted so bad to see that bison get up and gore Harold – or better yet, gore his friggin’ crow of a wife – and catch it all on video.
 |
| I bet Harold feared his wife more… |
The upshot of it all…? I don’t know, really. Wordsworth wrote the poem “Tintern Abbey” while traveling along the Wye River, having returned after a five year hiatus.
…–Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
 |
| …And that is one amazing vista, that Wordsworth would have certainly appreciated. |
Later in that same poem, Wordsworth says this of the scene Nature laid out before him:
…I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth…
Amen, my good man.
