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click on picture to enlarge
Badlands
NP  Bighorn Mountains
Black
Hills 1 + 2
Carhenge
Chimney
Rock Cody
Colorado NM
Crazy
Horse Memorial
Custer State Park
Denver
Devils
Tower Dinosaur
NM
Flaming
Gorge Fort Bridger
Georgetown
Glenwood
Springs Grand Teton NP
Jackson
Mount
Rushmore Naill Ranch
Rapid
City Rocky Mountain NP
Salt
Lake City
Scotts Bluff
Wind
Cave NP Yellowstone NP
Arrival
(Friday, 1st Sept. 2000)
The flight to New York with Continental
Airlines was scheduled for 11 a.m. and we were airborne half an hour later. On the way there wasn't much to see as the sky was
overcast. Service
was good and they put up four movies during the 7 1/2 hour flight. We arrived
at Newark at 1 p.m., half an hour earlier than scheduled. As I was sitting
on the left-hand side of the plane I could catch a glimpse of New York
with a full view of Manhattan, the Empire State Building, World Trade Center
and the Statue of Liberty! Immigration and customs was quick, then on to Terminal C for
domestic flights. Calling the shuttle service to the Naill Ranch in Denver
was tough as they didn't seem to know about my reservation. Besides, the
background noise from the airport was deafening. Then I had to prepare
for a long 5-hour wait for my connection to Denver at 5.55 p.m. local time.
On the flight to Denver we had to sit on the tarmac for 1 1/2 hours before
we were finally able to take off. At first they had trouble heating up
the engine and then we had to wait on the runway until we got the go ahead.
The flight itself was one hour shorter than scheduled: 3 hours 48 minutes,
so with the delay we eventually arrived at 9.20 p.m. instead of 8.55 p.m.
local time. There was no film but I would have been to tired to watch anyway.
Then I had to find the shuttle to the Comfort Inn Airport at Aurora where
I checked in at 10.45 p.m., that's 7.45 a.m. German time! As I got up at
8 a.m. that morning, this added up to a 24 hour trip!! At least at the
hotel a message from the ranch was waiting for me and after all I had all
my luggage with me this time, unlike two years ago in San Francisco!
Naill
Ranch, Colorado (Saturday, 2nd Sept. - Friday,
8th Sept. 2000)
I woke up at 6 a.m. but fell asleep again
until about 9 a.m. I called the shuttle service again and confirmed pickup
at the airport for 12.55 p.m. So I had to take the hotel shuttle back to
the airport in time. The coach was punctual but then we
 headed north towards
Wyoming and picked up some more people along the way instead of going east
as I had expected. In Cheyenne I
finally switched busses and eventually continued east for about another hour. In Kimball I was picked
up by the people from the ranch (Penny and her daughter Tiffany) where
I finally arrived at 5.30 p.m. That made it a 4 1/2 hour instead of the
2 1/2 hour trip which is also possible but obviously on different days
of the week. The shuttle bus round trip cost $55. The Naill
Ranch is situated in the northeastern corner of Colorado. The closest town, 30 miles
away, is Kimball in Nebraska. There were also Gary, Penny's husband, and Theresa, a Swedish
girl, who was there to work for the summer
plus the dogs Molly and Poncho. A French guy who helped with the horses
during the summer was on vacation when I was there. The Naill Ranch has
5000 acres, 300 cows (50 of them are their own) plus calves and, at the
time I was there, 17 horses but this is changing all the time as they are
always buying and selling. They never take more than 10 guests at a time.
The other guests during my stay were a family from Denver who were only
there for the day and a Thailand-born guy from Philadelphia who had been
there before. The American family of five was replaced by a German and
an Austrian couple the next day.
Breakfast
was usually at eight and most days we rode about 5 hours. Except for once
I always rode Willie, a 4-year-old Paint gelding. In general we checked
on water, salt and
fences and looked for
 sick cows and calves. Once we
had to gather a herd to get them sprayed against flies and another time
we had to bring in a bull which was good fun. One afternoon we had to doctor
a limping calf. It was a tough job for three guys and Gary to throw it
down and give it an injection. On another day we rode out to a neighbor's
ranch to drive their cattle to a different pasture. One morning when we
didn't have any special job to do, we
 loaded the horses into a trailer
and drove out to the Pawnee
Buttes which took us about an hour along dirt roads. The pickup truck didn't
make it up the last hill and we had to unload the horses but as we were
nearly there, it didn't matter. The
Pawnee Buttes, rock formations like
those in Monument Valley, are holy sites for the Indians. We rode around
them for about three hours and did a lot of climbing into and out of the
canyons. Gary, Theresa and Harry, the Austrian guy, tried to climb the
East Butte but only Harry succeeded. As we got back to the ranch early
this time I took a dive into the pool in the afternoon. Poncho and Molly
were barking at me and Molly even jumped in for a swim! During our rides
we also saw wild antelopes and coyotes. Gary tried to teach us to rope
and in the end I was quite successful with the dummy. We also played at
horseshoe but I was no good at this. On most days day-time temperatures
were about 30 °C (86 °F). It always cooled down quite a bit in
the evenings. One night we had a storm with lightning and rain. It came
up suddenly but had disappeared as quickly. One day it was more cloudy
and windy and we only had around 25 °C (77 °F) and on another sunny
day there was a strong, cold wind.
On my last day we went out riding around
the pastures for about 3 hours and in the afternoon it was just me, Gary
and Theresa. The other Germans wanted to swim in the pool and the Austrians
intended to fish in the nearby lake. A nice warm wind was blowing over
the plains this afternoon. When we were riding back, a thunderstorm was
just about to start. It blew over the ranch after we got there but as before
it was gone again in a second. When we arrived at the ranch, Harry had
just been bitten by a rattlesnake! They had called the ambulance and he
had been driven to the hospital where they gave him the anti-venom. He
was stable then but they kept him in for the night just in case. The Austrians
were really unfortunate. At first their luggage didn't arrive until three
days later! Then Sabine fell off her horse but luckily she didn't hurt
herself and didn't fall into a cactus - the prairie is full of them -,
and finally Harry was bitten!! Gary and Penny said this was the first time
that this happened to one of their guests. Normally only horses and nosey
calves get bitten by rattlesnakes. That night we intended to do some guitar-playing
and singing, but instead nearly everybody had to go out fire-fighting.
The prairie was on fire only about three miles from the ranch!! But luckily
they managed to turn the fire down quickly. What a day!
Rocky Mountain NP
(Saturday, 9th Sept. 2000)
This morning I only just managed to catch
the shuttle bus back to Denver. It was about to leave when we got there
due to some misunderstanding that I had cancelled my trip! Well, we left
at 8.20 a.m. and I got to DIA (Denver International Airport) at noon and
I was glad to see Volker sitting there as expected. We then went to the
car rental agency to pick up our pre-hired car and drove up to Estes
Park in the Rocky Mountains where we arrived at 3 p.m. It was Saturday
and the town was busy. There was also an Irish-Scottish festival on. So
we were glad to find a room at all for the night but it cost us $130 incl.
tax (Mountain 8 Inn). After checking in we drove into Rocky
Mountain National Park just around the corner and up to scenic Bear
Lake. At the park entrance we bought the National Parks Pass for $50 which
gets us into all National Parks and National Monuments. We also saw some
elk from the road. Later we strolled a bit through Estes Park which is
a pretty enough tourist town.
Driving distance: 110 miles
Rocky Mountain NP,
Georgetown, Glenwood Springs (Sunday, 10th Sept. 2000)
This morning we left at 8 a.m. and drove
through Rocky Mountain National Park. We also hiked one mile along the
Colorado River. We arrived at Georgetown,
a historic silvermining town, around 1 p.m. and saw the famous Georgetown
Loop Railroad. Then we headed west on Interstate 70 which leads through
the mountains including Glenwood Canyon. We
arrived at Glenwood Springs
at 4 p.m. and checked into the Glenwood Motel ($55). Then we went swimming
in the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool ($9), the world's largest public hot springs
pool maintained at 32 °C (90 °F) and a smaller pool at 40 °C
(104 °F). It was very relaxing.
Driving distance: 235 miles
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Colorado
NM, Dinosaur NM (Monday, 11th Sept. 2000)
Today
we visited the Colorado National Monument
near Grand Junction, which offers views of steep cliff faces, canyons and
rock monoliths, and the Dinosaur
National Monument near Vernal, Utah, where we spent the night at Motel
6 ($51). Dinosaur NM shows an array of fossilized dinosaur bones at the
Western Quarry Visitor Center. Some of the most complete dinosaur skeletons
in the world can still be seen encased in the rock in which they were buried.
We only just managed to get in as the Visitor Center closes at 4.30 p.m.
The park is much bigger than that but the dinosaur quarry is the main attraction.
In the evening we took a dive into the hotel indoor pool and spa.
Driving distance: 260 miles
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Flaming
Gorge, Fort Bridger, Park City, Salt Lake City (Tuesday, 12th Sept. 2000)
This morning we took off to Flaming
Gorge National Recreation Area. When the Flaming Gorge Dam was built
the waters of the Green River formed a lake within beautiful red canyonlands.
Later we visited Fort
Bridger State Historic Park ($2 each) in Wyoming. Fort Bridger used
to be a supply stop and military outpost along the Oregon Trail. At around
3 p.m. we arrived in Park City, site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, where
we strolled along the shops on Main Street and grabbed a sandwich. An hour
later we were in Salt
Lake City, the Mormon capital, where we checked into Downtown Motel
6 ($51). We visited Temple Square and Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Driving distance: 265 miles
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 Antilope
Island, Bear Lake, Montpelier (Wednesday, 13th Sept. 2000)
Today we visited Antelope Island State Park
($7) in the Great Salt Lake. We saw some buffalo and tried to swim in the
salty lake. It would have been possible to lie in the water reading a paper
like in the Death Sea but the lake was too flat to swim really. Besides
it was fairly cold. We took a quick picture and then headed back into the
mountains towards Bear Lake. We rested our heads at Super 8 ($57) in Montpelier,
Idaho, a godforsaken village with a handful of motels and only one restaurant
which was, of course, crowded. Montpelier's bank was once robbed by Butch
Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.
Driving distance: 210 miles
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Jackson Hole,
Grand Teton NP (Thursday, 14th Sept. 2000)
Today we drove the remaining 100 or so miles
to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which
is an expensive ski resort
and the biggest town near Grand Teton
National Park. We checked into the Antler Motel and got a room for
$60. This was a bargain, especially as we were right in the town center.
Then we headed into Grand Teton NP where we hiked along Jenny Lake to the
Hidden Falls waterfall which took us about 2 1/2 hours there and back.
Then we drove along Teton Park road and had a good view over the valley
and the towering mountains of the Teton Range from Signal Mountain. The
valley looked very pretty with the trees in yellow autumn colors. We also
saw a moose from far off. In the evening we strolled around Jackson Hole. Being
there on a Thursday we missed the famous shoot-out at the Town Square only
held on weekends at this time of the year. We had a good steak for dinner
at the Teton Steakhouse and went for a drink at the Snake River Brewery
afterwards. At around 30 °C (85 °F) temperatures were still unseasonably
high.
Driving distance: 195 miles |
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Yellowstone
NP (Friday, 15th Sept. 2000)
Once again we passed through Grand
Teton NP on our way to Yellowstone,
America's
 first
 National Park. The geysers and hot springs and the wildlife
there are fantastic, but much
of the park's forest has been destroyed by fire. There were some fires this year
which was uncommonly hot but the worst fires for a long time were in 1988 and
you can still see the burnt trees. It will probably take another ten years or
so until they are all gone. Nevertheless the park is healthy. New
trees are growing, smaller plants flourish due to better light conditions and
the animals find more food. The West Thumb Geyser Basin in the south of
the park is well worth a visit. Afterwards we headed towards Old Faithful to
see its famous eruption which occurs regularly every 60 to 90 minutes. The Old
Faithful Inn could be saved in the fire of 1988. It is a unique structure,
especially from inside. The Black Sand and
Biscuit Basins are also very pretty. The Fountain Paint Pot is interesting in
a different way. Buffalo and elk in Yellowstone are abundant but you have to
be really lucky to catch a glimpse of a bear, wolf or moose. Warnings are
issued, however, not to approach wild animals. The best time of day to spot
animals is near dawn or dusk. We checked into Gardiner Motel 6 ($69) just
across the state border in Montana for the nights of Friday and Saturday. As
this was the last weekend of the summer season in Yellowstone I had made
reservations two days in advance. It can start snowing any day now.
Driving distance: 170 miles
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Yellowstone NP (Saturday,
16th Sept. 2000)
Today we explored the upper part of Yellowstone
NP, i.e. Mammoth Hot Springs, the Norris Geyser Basin, Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone, the Lower and Upper Falls and Tower
Fall. The Echinus Geyser which erupts every 35 to 70 minutes in the Norris
Geyser Basin is worth seeing. We hiked down Uncle Tom's Trail to the foot
of the mighty Lower Falls. The view was fantastic but the climb back up
was very strenuous. The viewpoints around both falls are spectacular. For
dinner I had a buffalo burger and Volker a rainbow trout at the recommendable
Yellowstone Mine Restaurant in Gardiner, just across the road from Motel
6.
Driving distance: 110 miles |
 Yellowstone NP, Cody (Sunday,
17th Sept. 2000)
Today we traveled south through Yellowstone
NP and saw the Mud volcano and Sulfur Caldron before leaving the park
via the east entrance. The scenic route through Shoshone National Forest, Wapiti
Valley and the Rattlesnake Mountains was picturesque. We passed Buffalo
Bill Dam which was the highest dam in the world when it was completed in
1910. We arrived in Cody
in the late afternoon and checked into the Western Six Gun Motel ($49).
I was a bit disappointed by the town as, apart from the Irma Hotel, which
was built by "Buffalo Bill" William F. Cody and named after his daughter,
and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center
(admission for two days to four museums under one roof is $10), there's
not much to see. Jackson Hole, for example, had much more western flair. From
June to August the town is renowned for its nightly rodeo as well as the
Cody Stampede in July. The Irma stages a nightly shoot-out - except Sundays
- so we also missed that one! We were two late for the museum as well.
Driving distance: 180 miles
 Bighorn
Mountains, Sheridan, Buffalo, Gillette (Monday, 18th Sept. 2000)
We left Cody for the Bighorn
Mountains. On the way we visited the Museum of Flight and Aerial
Fire Fighting near Greybull. We passed through scenic Shell Canyon and arrived in Sheridan in the afternoon
where we visited the historic Sheridan Inn and Trail End Historic Site
which used to be the residence of one of the big cattlemen at the turn
of the last century. We also passed through the historic center of Buffalo
and finally checked into Gillette
Motel 6 ($49) for the night. What's called historic in America is nothing
really compared to Europe. The historic houses, the oldest dating from
the end of the 19th century, are often prettier than modern ones but still
they are nothing very special or unusual.
Driving distance: 270 miles
 Devils
Tower, Black Hills (Tuesday, 19th Sept. 2000)
Under an overcast sky we started off this
morning towards Devils Tower. On
the site of America's first
National Monument is a prairie dog town. The little animals are very cute
and can be seen right from the road. While we were hiking around the Tower,
the sky cleared up. Devils Tower was the alien landing site in the Steven
Spielberg movie "Close Encounter of the Third Kind". Later we passed by
Vore Buffalo Jump which wasn't so easy to find between exits 199 and 205
on Interstate 90 near Beulah, but apart from a big hole in the ground there
wasn't much to see. The site was discovered during construction of the
Interstate and still needs to be developed. The Indians used this place
to hunt buffalo. Many bones have been found but obviously none had been
left on the site. Afterwards we traveled
through pretty Spearfish
Canyon in the Black Hills
where the winter camp scene of "Dances with Wolves" was filmed. We made
a surface tour of the Homestake Mine in Lead, the biggest still operational
gold mine in the US which will be shut down in 2001 as it is no longer
profitable. Then we strolled through the western casino town Deadwood,
also a former gold mining town, but now the money there is made with the
casinos. Even Kevin Costner has bought a place, the "Midnight Star". Sheriff
"Wild Bill" Hickok was shot in "Saloon No. 10" and is buried now next to
"Calamity Jane" on Deadwood's Mount Moriah Cemetery overlooking the town
site. We spent the night at Rapid City's
Motel 6 ($45) in South Dakota. In Rapid City a replica of the Norwegian
stave church of Borgund can be found, but as it was too late we didn't
visit it.
Driving distance: 235 miles
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 Badlands
NP, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial
(Wednesday, 20th Sept. 2000)
Today we drove through Badlands
National Park which was really impressive as erosion has carved spires
and steep rock formations into the earth. Just when we arrived at the other
end of the park we were surprised by rain. The entire morning it had been
very windy and temperatures were only about 14 °C (57 °F). After
passing through Rapid City once more we headed into the Black
Hills again. We visited Bear Country USA ($8.50 per person), a
drive-through safari park, where we encountered deer, elk, mountain goats,
bighorn sheep, wolves, coyotes, buffalo, mountain lions, lynx, wild turkeys,
a grizzly and many black bears including cubs. The bears were very cute
but you had to keep the windows of the car closed at all times. Then
we saw the four presidents' heads (Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and
Lincoln) at Mount Rushmore. From
a small parking lot off the main road  Mount Rushmore
is accessible free of charge. The bigger main parking lot costs $8. On
the way to the Crazy Horse Memorial
we finally saw some wild mountain goats. If Mount Rushmore is big, Crazy
Horse is huge. The sculpture of the famous Indian chief was commenced in
1947 and up to now only Crazy Horse's face is completed. Eventually his
entire head and torso as well as the head of his horse will be carved into
the mountain! The admission fee of $8 per person wasn't cheap but the money
is used to finance the project. There is also a film on the project's history
and an Indian museum. We spent the night at the Chief Motel ($47.50) in
Custer.
Driving distance: 205 miles
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 Custer
State Park, Wind Cave NP, Carhenge, Chimney Rock (Thursday, 21th Sept. 2000)
On this last but one day we took the Needles
Highway into Custer
State Park ($4 each).
We saw some spectacular landscape like granite boulders formed like spires,
among them
the so-called Needle's Eye, as well as wild deer, antelopes,
prairie dogs, buffalo, wild turkeys and tame donkeys/burros. We hiked around
Sylvan Lake and later in the adjoining Wind
Cave National Park up to the Fire Lookout Tower. Wind Cave NP has the
world's fourth most extensive cave system. There are several tours of about
1 ¼ hours which cost $8 per person. But as it was already past 2
o'clock and we still had a long way to go, we left it out. We saw Carhenge
in Nebraska, constructed in reminiscence of Stonehenge in the south of
England but made from cars painted gray instead of rocks, located 3 ½
miles north of Alliance on Highway 87. On our way to Scottsbluff we passed
by Chimney
Rock, one of the first landmarks for the settlers on the Oregon Trail
indicating the beginning of the difficult Rocky Mountains passage. We spent
the night at Microtel Inn & Suites ($54.50) in Gering/Scottsbluff.
The hotel was good value for money.
Driving distance: 260 miles
Scotts
Bluff NM, Denver (Friday, 22nd Sept. 2000)
This last morning we woke up to the most
disagreeable weather like we also have it in Germany so often: gray skies,
drizzle and cold. Temperatures were around 3 °C (37 °F). Nevertheless
we visited Scotts Bluff National Monument
and the Oregon Trail Museum but didn't drive to the overlook as you couldn't
see very far anyway. Then we headed south to Colorado again and passed
by the road leading to Naill Ranch. We arrived
at the Microtel Inn & Suites Denver International Airport ($76) at around
1.30 p.m. After checking in we drove downtown, left the car in a
parking lot for a daily rate of $9 and had a look at the Civic Center and
State Capitol, walked along 16th Street Mall and to the historic center
at Larimer Square. There they were celebrating Oktoberfest with German
beer, bratwurst and Bavarian music! It was very funny for us to see. But
as we were freezing, we didn't manage to do any more sightseeing, instead
we returned to the hotel. With the heavy traffic we got there only by 5.30
p.m. and I needed a hot bath to warm me up! It's a pity we didn't experience
one of the 310 sunny days per year in Denver!
Driving distance: 220 miles
Departure (Saturday,
23rd Sept. 2000)
This morning we got up at 5.30 a.m. to return
the car and catch our flight to Cleveland at 8.35 a.m. Originally we had
booked a direct flight to New York leaving as early as 7 a.m. which would
have meant a 5-hour or so wait at Newark Airport but that one was cancelled,
so we were left with this flight to Cleveland and a connection to New York
with only one hour for transit at both airports! Well, we knew this could
get tight but we were timely heading for the runway until suddenly the
plane slowed down and the captain informed us that they were having engine
problems and that we had to return to the gate to have it checked by maintenance.
When we were running nearly an hour late – the time left for us to change
flights – and departure was expected within ten minutes, Volker and me
were called off the plane as they realized we were likely to miss our connection
–as we had figured already. We were then booked on the 11.05 a.m. direct
flight to New York scheduled for arrival at 4.55 p.m. local time (the time
difference is two hours). Our flight to Düsseldorf was due to leave
at 5.25 p.m. and – as we assumed from our incoming flight – from a different
terminal connected by a shuttle bus as the quick monorail was shut down
due to maintenance work! Well, it was worth a try anyway, at least we would
be able to fly out of New York the following day... The flight to Cleveland
had left by then and with it our luggage! Well, a day without dirty luggage
back home can be survived... It was nearing boarding time again but by
almost 11 o'clock no plane had appeared at the gate! When it finally did
arrive, the passengers still had to disembark and their luggage had to
be unloaded, before we could board. It was about 11.20 a.m. by now but
we hit the runway pretty soon afterwards and were advised by the captain
that we would make up time during the flight and therefore would be running
late about ten minutes only. Well, I had hoped that with a timely departure
we might even have arrived a little bit early which would have given us
more time... At least this time they showed a good film "Keeping the Faith",
but you had to purchase the headsets. After all we came down punctually
at 4.55 p.m. as scheduled and we got off the plane five minutes later which
left us with 25 minutes to get to our plane. We thought with changing terminals
we would never make it! We ran in direction of the signs saying shuttle
bus and eventually realized that it didn't say Terminal C on them - that
was the one we wanted – it turned out then that we were already in Terminal
C! Good luck this time! So after a little bit more running we reached the
correct gate roughly ten minutes before departure.
Soon afterwards the
doors were closed, but before taxiing to the runway we were informed that
we would be approximately 25 minutes late for departure due to poor visibility.
Well, at least we didn't have any more flights to catch! We didn't get
window seats this time but as the sky was overcast there wasn't much to
see anyway. They only showed one movie for the whole length of the flight
and that was the same as one of those which we had already seen on our
way out! Well, at least I got to finish reading my book, Bill Bryson's
"Notes from a Big Country" which gives a good insight into American culture!
The 3700 miles (6000 km) distance from New York to Düsseldorf took
us about 6 hours on the way back. We made up some time during the flight
and arrived as scheduled at 6.50 a.m. local time (only 10.55 p.m. Denver
time which wasn't too bad for us) on 24th September. For a change we were
greeted by a wonderful sunny 17 °C (63 °F) late summer day instead
of the continuous drizzle which awaits me normally when I return from a
holiday. After passport control we went straight to the lost-luggage office to report
that our baggage went by way of Cleveland and probably wouldn't arrive
before the next day. But we were told that we would have to wait anyway
to make sure that our luggage really wasn't there. And then at the baggage
claim we didn't believe our eyes when suddenly all three of our bags appeared!
Against all odds our luggage made it even via Cleveland! They can't have
had more than ten minutes to reload the bags. Up to now with only an hour
for transit – and this time it was considerably less – I had made the experience
that the luggage wouldn't arrive in time! So fly with Continental!
The total distance we drove was 2930 miles
(4690 km). Gas/petrol prices were between $1.55 and $1.79 per gallon,
still very cheap compared to European prices. Unfortunately during our
trip the dollar exchange rate rose to DM 2.30. On our last trip in 1998
it was only rated at DM 1.85 and it used to be less before then!
Duration of the round trip: 14 days/15 nights Links:
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(Naill Ranch - old link)
(Colorado Cattle Company & Guest
Ranch - The former Naill Ranch)