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Our 2020 Wind River Range Fall Foliage Tour: Day Four/Part Two

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I did not record the time we left Yellowstone National Park, but it was around 1:45 PM when we entered through the south entrance, and we spent about three hours inside the park. It is roughly seventy miles, by way of the South Entrance Road (US-89 N/US-191 N/ US 287 N), Grand Loop Road and East Entrance Road (US-20 E/ US-14/16 E), to the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Along the way we had some great views of Yellowstone Lake but nothing really worthwhile. In fact, I did not take any pictures during this final segment of Yellowstone. Since it was a fall-foliage color-trip, we did not spend much time inside the nation’s first national park. I did, however, take a lot of snapshots, after we left the park, while traveling over US-14 E/US-16 E/US-20 E, otherwise known as the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway. In Laurence Parent’s Scenic Driving WYOMING, this is scenic drive #5; Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway: Cody to Yellowstone. According to Doug’s notes, however, we stopped at a really good fall-foliage spot somewhere between 4:40 and 5:00 PM And that was only about 13 miles from the east entrance to Yellowstone, so we must have left the park at around 4:30 PM.

This is why it could be so confusing to a driver, especially if you did not have an up-to-date map. This highway, from the Yellowstone National Park east entrance to Cody, Wyoming, went by the name of US-14 E/ US 16 E/ US 20 E. You’ll see a lot of that out here in the Rocky Mountain states. In fact, part of I-90 (Interstate Highway 90) going from Billings to Laurel, Montana, is designated I-90/ US-212.

We entered the Shoshone National Forest just outside Yellowstone National Park.
It was about an hour’s drive to Cody, Wyoming, named for the famed army scout and buffalo hunter, Buffalo Bill Cody. But he became even more famous for his theatrical show, “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show” that toured throughout the eastern United States and even in Europe during the latter part of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century.
These signs, signifying the entrance to the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway were about a quarter mile from the Yellowstone Park eastern entrance. As this sign points out, the North Absaroka Wilderness was to the north of the highway while the Washakie Wilderness was south of the freeway.

I took a lot of pictures in this short fifty-two mile drive, well over one hundred photos. And the vast majority of them came from one area, about thirteen to fourteen miles from Yellowstone. We found a pocket of aspens, along with some other colors, that was absolutely amazing to see. My photos would have been a lot better if not for the power lines. There was just no way I could do anything about them. I’ll let Doug’s explanation do the talking:

“The following notes pertain specifically to one particular concentration of fall foliage that is accessible from the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway near mile marker 13 as one heads east toward Cody:

            There is a pull-off on the right, as you travel from Yellowstone’s east entrance, which has an interpretive sign that references use of Mummy Cave Rock Shelter by Native Americans for almost 10,000 years. This area is in the canyon of the North Fork of the Shoshone River, so, at 4:40-5:00 PM, when we were there, it had really soft light that cast the cottonwoods and young aspens, all of which were at peak color, in a very flattering, glare-free setting. The sheer canyon walls lent a different compositional component to the landscape’s backdrop. This is a very intimate setting, one where aspens are not more than 50 yards from the parking area, so detailed shots were readily accessible. There are a handful of conifers interspersed with the cottonwoods and aspens, so this area is exceptionally good for illustrating the dramatic contrast between typical color values in Rocky Mountain fall-foliage settings.

Trip meter reading: 168.7 (just shy of mile marker 14). This area contains a good mixture of cottonwoods and aspens. As we progressively lose altitude, transitional color values and light shades of green become more common. This is not the prettiest fall-foliage route I have traversed, but it is FAR more impressive than I would have anticipated. I would say that the best fall foliage on this route is visible on the first half of its course and, more specifically, the second quartile (say mile markers 13-26). After that point, the canyon opens up a bit to a broader, but less heavily timbered valley, certainly by the time you reach Wapiti and Buffalo Bill State Park.”

There were only a couple of nice spots for fall-foliage viewing on the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway. One was a pull-off on the right, as you travel from Yellowstone’s east entrance. It has an interpretive sign that references use of Mummy Cave Rock Shelter by Native Americans for almost 10,000 years.
This area is in the canyon of the North Fork of the Shoshone River.
Doug’s UT orange goes well with the fall foliage along the North Fork of the Shoshone River.
That’s the Shoshone River. The Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway parallels this river for most of its fifty-two miles.
We never could figure out what this red-colored bush was.
I was able to get some really nice up-close shots of aspen in their fall glory; in many cases they were not more than fifty yards from the pull-off.
Nice color!
If only. If only those power lines weren’t there . . .

The next five photos were taken from the same vantage point. I progressively zoomed in to capture a more close-in picture of a nice area within the Shoshone River canyon. I like to play with my camera, from time to time, to see what comes out. Hope you liked the outcome.

A little washed-out because of the setting sun, but still a nice photo.
The second picture.
A little closer, the third shot.
Fourth time is the charm.
This was a nice shot. I was able to capture the contrast between the evergreen (spruce) tree and the deciduous aspen. Note some of the aspen are still in the transitional stage of light green. The aspen actually goes through four distinct shades before dropping their leaves; the dark green of summer, to light green, then light yellow, before finally giving you that brilliant electric gold. Although I am not a huge fan of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, you just have to love their dark green and yellow uniforms.
That’s a beautiful picture. If only those power lines weren’t there.
This was a nice shot. If only those power lines weren’t there. And for some reason many of my photographs, looking to the west, had that light blurred spot on the upper right hand corner. This was not a problem with the camera. The sun was creating a little glare, but only if I was pointed in that direction. Oh well! It was still a beautiful spot to be in, late on a fall afternoon!

Remember the commercial, “Is it mermorex?” Well, is that sagebrush, in the foreground, or is it rabbitbrush?
This was a great shot. We did not know what that bush was. Doug said he thought it might be a form of sagebrush, but he couldn’t be certain. One source said it could possibly be rabbitbrush.
I took a few snapshots of the rock formations before we left our nice little oasis of fall color on the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway.
Here is one with Doug in it. Everyone that knows us, is aware of how much we like the University of Tennessee and their “orange” and white uniforms. Charles Moore, a member of Tennessee’s first football team in 1891, picked this shade of orange from the common American daisy, a flower that grew prominently on The Hill, the area of campus that overlooked Neyland Stadium.
I’m not sure if these are hoodoos or not. According to a google search, there are hoodoos along the North Fork of the Shoshone River canyon. When you think of hoodoos, however, one generally considers those reddish-orange rock columns in Bryce Canyon National Park in the southern part of Utah.
Nice rock!

We came to the western edge of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir after traveling about thirty-seven miles, from the start of the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway, at the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. This man-made body of water was created in 1910 with the completion of the Buffalo Bill Dam.

Coming up to the western edge of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. When the 325-foot dam that bears Buffalo Bill’s name was completed in 1910, it was the highest dam in the world. In 1957, the Buffalo Bill State Park was established to provide recreational areas and faculties along the original shoreline.

A nice pocket of color at the western edge of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. As Doug previously stated, there was not a lot of fall-color after we passed that delightful area of aspens and cottonwoods about thirteen miles east of Yellowstone.
I’m pretty sure these are cottonwoods, as they need a lot of water. So, when you see this golden-yellowish look, and it’s near a body of water, quite often they will be cottonwoods.

Teddy Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States, once called the drive from Cody to the eastern entrance of Yellowstone National Park as “the most scenic 52 miles in America.” Of course, this was before either the Beartooth Highway or the Going-to-the-Sun Road had been built. I’m pretty sure he would have changed his mind if he had lived to see and drive over those magnificent marvels of modern technology. The Buffalo Bill Scenic Highway, which pretty much parallels the North Fork of the Shoshone River, is a nice hour-long drive, but it pales in comparison to those aforementioned areas of God’s green earth.

We made it to Cody with a wee bit of daylight left. Supper was served by the local Pizza Hut, and then we were on our way to Billings. It’s only a couple of hours from Cody to Billings, and we were back home before midnight. So ended the first part of our 2020 Fall Foliage Tour. We had planned on leaving for the west side of Glacier National Park the next weekend, but snowstorms would derail our western mission a couple of times.

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