US Trip 2014 – On the road to Yellowstone

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The next big thing we had planned after the Going APE mega event, was Yellowstone. But since we’re geocachers, we had planned two days of driving before going to the park itself.

We didn’t stay as long as last year on the Going APE event, so we could get a early start on the way towards Coeur d’Alene, where we had booked a hotel. We tried to find a few caches around the event area, before we headed towards the other side of the state.

We hadn’t planned planned too much caches, as we knew how far away Coeur d’Alene was. We used a whole lot more time than we should on a earthcache, but still we took time to stop at a viewpoint along the road. We hadn’t planned to find a cache there, but when we saw some metal horses up on a hill, and a cache on the map, we had to give it a try anyway!

Halfway up what felt like a very steep and endless hill, we started to feel how hot it really was here today. But when we reached the top, it was all worth it! After getting our breath back, we even found the cache! GC9165 I-90, Wild Stallions Ride Again is worth a stop – the view is amazing!

Amazing view

We got to see a lot of asphalt, and also a few caches along the way. We got to say hi to a trooper again. We found a few virtuals, and a traditional that’s been Geocache of the week a while ago. GC1N0B9 Aliens Among Us are a cache I highly recommend everyone driving past to visit! The whole place is simply awesome! We never see stuff like this in Norway! The cache itself is near a UFO, but the whole area is covered with statues, various art, old cars and other funny things – definitely worth a stop, even if your’re not a geocacher!

UFO

The day ended with several DNFs across the Idaho border, we had planned to find several letterbox hybrids, but only managed to find one of them. With no daylight left, and several DNFs, we decided to get to the hotel to get some sleep instead.

As on all other days on this trip, we got out of bed earlier than we do on a regular day back home. This Monday was also Heltinnens birthday and our four year wedding anniversary! We had booked a hotel in West Yellowstone, so we had a long day ahead of us today as well. Several earthcaches, a few virtuals and some letterbox hybrids along with a lot of traditional caches were on the plan.

Compared to yesterdays DNFs, Idaho showed itself from a better side today, and we got a good start. Today was also the day when we got to find our first cache in Montana! …and set our watches forward one hour, not the last time time zone differences will affect us on this trip!

Welcome to Montana

We saw a lot of great nature along the road, and found a lot of great caches. When we started to see several big signs with cherries on them, we knew we had to stop! Since we’re not so familiar with the imperial system, we ended up buying a tiny bit more than we first thought. 3 pounds was enough. But the cherries was so good, that I’m kinda glad we bought so much anyway.

We had to take the frontage road for several miles to get to a earthcache. We like to find caches in as many counties as we can, and this earthcache was the only cache along the way in this county. GC3314D Madison Limestone…Elephant Rock? was well worth the detour!

Elephant Rock

As with all other days this far, we drove through a lot of road work today as well. This slowed us down a lot this day, we believe that it added up to more than an hour! (kinda hard to say with all the caching on top)

As yesterday, we didn’t arrive in West Yellowstone until after dark. We even did a small trip back into Idaho on the way, and we managed to visit two different places on the Continental Divide. After doing a lot of planning before this trip, I knew this was only the first of many stops on the Continental Divide.

Continental Divide

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