Saviour of the Universe

Our journey out the park began after a shower, so we were off to a good start. We were trying to make a swift exit but it really didn’t happen. Our first stop was the mud pits, which happened to be closed. Then we would drive for a little way to find a ton of cars parked at the side of the road, the sign of wildlife nearby. We would stop too and take some snaps but the longest we spent was for a grizzly bear. There were about five cars when we turned up but after five minutes there were about fifty. It was the closest we’d been to a bear as it roamed the woods down a slope from the road. It goes without saying that you should not go to Yellowstone National Park without a decent camera. We saw so much that our cameras really don’t do justice.




We eventually moved on from the bear and soon came across Yellowstone Lake. It spans an absolutely huge area, you can just about make out the land on the other side and they were snow capped mountains. I clambered over a hill and down a small cliff to the edge of the water. The surface was frozen over with a thin film of ice apart from about two meters around the perimeter. After a few snaps and some stone skimming I climbed back up to the car.




When we finally got out of the park we thought our journey would be less interrupted but we soon came across another line of cars and a mousse posing for photographs.



We stopped off in Cody for the use of McDonald’s wifi which is apparently the rodeo capital of the country. When we left the town, the second stage of the journey began and things got exciting; The nearest Walmart for the night was three hours away, a predicted arrival time of 12.17. Many Walmarts close at midnight so we wouldn’t be able to use their ‘bathroom facilities’. We also wouldn’t make the trip with the amount of gas we had so we’d have to stop on route to get some.

Not far into the journey I spotted a whole host of clouds looming in the darkness in front of us. As we got closer the first flash struck down in a spectacular fork followed by intermittent bolts across the horizon. The road turned and we moved away from the storm, skimming its right hand side but I could still see the flashed out of the corner of my eye. We stopped off for gas in a small town we passed through and swiftly set off again. Whilst filling the car you could sense the electricity in the air. At this point we’d made five minutes on the journey time putting us at 12.12. Still not enough.

The road then took us into Big Horn State Park and towards some huge hills. There was a storm behind these too as the cloud lit up patches in the sky. The street lights disappeared as the road took a winding route through some woods with really tight turns. This wasn’t helping, the road had a 60mph limit but I had to slow right down for each turn. A short while later the sat-nav was predicting 12.15, we were losing time, I had to get a move on.

The woods cleared to leave us with another twisting road up the hills and around the rock face. Every now and again you would see a flash of lightning through the valley and the whole gorge would light up.

The car climbed and climbed up the curving road and eventually reached a huge open plane covered in snow. The moon was huge in the sky, only a day away from full and you could drive this part without headlights; the whole area was perfectly lit.

Then came the descent; We passed the plane and were heading gradually downhill through more woodland which cleared to show the wide expanse of the world below us and the lights of the town we were trying to get to. We could also now see another powerful thunderstorm firing off lightening on the horizon all around us. There was also a patch in the deep cloud which would flash a constant rippling orange several times a second.

The radio at this point made a better choice than I ever could. It played out the full 8.27 of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir as the road moved from tarmac to a copper coloured concrete and widened slightly. Meanwhile all around us the sky was so full of energy at all angles. It was real ‘end of the world’ stuff. I ignored my ears popping and the recommended speed signs for all the bends and really went for it.

When the road levelled out we were taken through a couple of quiet towns where the sign boasted populations 10 and 50 while Hotel California soothed my ears. We reached Walmart at 11.19, a triumph, to find it was open 24 hours but I’d still won the race. It was a while before my heartbeat returned to normal though.

J.