Pictures by Kirk Fratzke (August 2002) 

Mount Rushmore National Memorial • Devils Tower National Monument • Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument • Badlands National Park
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• Select thumbnails to view larger images and captions •

Big Sky Country	Mount Rushmore	Mount Rushmore	Devils Tower
Devils Tower	Little Bighorn Battlefield	Little Bighorn Battlefield	Mammouth Hot Springs
Mammouth Hot Springs	Yellowstone Road	Golden Gate	Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin	Norris Geyser Basin	Firehole Falls	Midway Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin	Firehole Spring	Midway Geyser Basin	Upper Geyser Basin
Upper Geyser Basin	Biscuit Geyser Basin	Black Sand Geyser Basin	Sunset Indian Creek
Childrens Fire Tail	Tower Falls	Grand Canyon of Yellowstone	Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Lower Falls	Lower Falls	Lower Falls Grand Canyon	Upper Falls
Sunset Bunsen Peak	Morning Steam Norris	Morning Steam Winter Creek	Lower Falls
Lower Falls	Buffalo Yellowstone River	Buffalo Up Close	Buffalo Traffic Jam
Mud Geyser	Yellowstone Lake	Yellowstone Lake	Continental Divide
Grotto Geyser	Old Faithful	Lamar Valley	Beartooth Highway
Beartooth Highway	Beartooth Highway	Badlands National Park	Badlands National Park

More Yellowstone
Photos from July 2004

Helpful Links
Yellowstone National Park - Official NPS Website
Xanterra Parks & Resorts - Official Concessionaire
Yellowstone Treasures - Guidebook by Janet Chapple
Mount Rushmore National Memorial - Official NPS Website
Devils Tower National Monument - Official NPS Website
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument - Official NPS Website
Badlands National Park - Official NPS Website

• Drove west on I-90 to Rapid City
• Stopped at roadside turnoff near Black Hills to take in Big Sky Country (no trees to block the view)
• Checked into hotel
• Went to Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• Some type of anniversary celebration going on
• Had dinner at Applebees

• Continued west on I-90 into Wyoming (drove through Sturgis, SD)
• Took side trip to Devils Tower National Monument
• Hiked trail around base of tower
• Continued journey west through Wyoming and into Montana
• Stopped at Little Big Horn Battlefield
• Site of Custers Last Stand
• Visited grave site and hiked short path
• Drove the road through the battlefield
• Continued west to Billings
• Checked into hotel and had dinner at Perkins

• Continued drive west and entered Yellowstone National Park
• Went in through North Entrance (Livingston/Gardiner)
• Stopped at Mammouth Hot Springs
• Walked all the boardwalks and drove the Upper Terrace Road
• Lunch at Geyser Grill
• Checked into cabin at Mammouth Hotel
• Drove south to Norris Geyser Basin stopping many places along the way
• Waited for 90 minutes for geyser to go off
• Returned to cabin
• Nice dinner at restaurant

• Back to Norris, walked the trails of the Back Basin and other part
• Continued south through Firehole Canyon Drive
• Stopped at Midway Basin and saw very colorful Grand Prismatic Hot Spring
• Took the Firehole Lake side trip and stopped everywhere along the way
• Then on to the Upper Geyser Basin at Yellowstone/Old Faithful
• Walked Geyser Hill and the boardwalk back to Morning Glory Pool
• Saw Grotto Geyser erupt
• Stayed for eruption of Old Faithful
• Started back to cabin stopping at Black Sand and Biscuit basins'
• Was my birthday, had nice dinner at restaurant and the wait staff sang "Home on the Range" as they brought me dessert

• Drove northern part of Grand Loop road to Tower Falls (hiked down to bottom)
• Took very bumpy Blacktail Plateau Drive (don't do this without SUV)
• Along the way saw Petrified Tree and interesting river viewpoint
• Had sack lunch along roadside looking out over open prairie
• Up through Dunraven Pass (stopped and saw moose)
• On to Canyon went up side road to Mount Washburn first
• Stopped at all the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone viewpoints
• Hiked trails to all viewpoints
• Brink of Lower Falls and Upper Falls
• Artist Point, couldn't make it down Uncle Toms Trail steps due to fear of heights
• Drove back to cabin at Mammouth via center road
• Had simple dinner at Geyser Grill, not very good

• Drove back to Canyon via center road to get morning light photos from Artist Point
• Along the way got some shots of steamy spring and steam over Norris Basin and took Virginia Cascades side road
• Continued south along the Yellowstone River thru Hayden Valley
• Saw herd of buffalo, some even walking down the road right next to the car
• Stopped at Mud Volcano
• Onto Lake Yellowstone
• Had lunch at lakeside store/dinner
• Got some nice views of the Lake
• On to West Thumb Geyser basin for a trip around the boardwalk
• Then stopped at some cascades and through Craig pass to Yellowstone/Old Faithful
• Caught another eruption of Old Faithful
• Back to cabin for last night and a nice dinner at the restaurant

• Checked out of cabin
• Went on two hour horse ride through meadow near Mammouth
• Got some last views of the park in by driving through middle to Canyon
• Then over Dunraven Pass again to Tower Falls looking for souvenirs
• Went out the Northeast Entrance (through beautiful Lamar Valley)
• Over the Beartooth Highway, got about 1/3 way up before I couldn't drive anymore due to fear of heights
• Stopped a couple of times to take photos, beautiful view from the mountain tops (even a tiny bit of snow left in late August in some shady spots)
• Down the other side and onto Billings for the night
• Had pizza delivered and smoked indoors for the first time in a week

• Started the drive east home along I-90
• Got near Rapid City by 3 p.m. and decided to just drive through
• Cars breaks started malfunctioning (should not have been driving car like that)
• Got to the Black Hills National Park in early evening
• Drove the road through the park stopping at a few placed to take pictures
• Continued the drive home (stopped in Mitchel, SD for gas and spilled it all over)
• Drove on for home arriving home near 4 a.m. (started driving slower the 250 miles through Minnesota due to problem with breaks)

[ National Park Photos | My Life | Fratzke.com ]