Arriving at Gardiner

You never know what to expect when you arrive at Gardiner, Montana.   Situated at the north entrance to Yellowstone Park, everything from traffic to weather and the presence of wildlife is anybody’s guess from minute to minute.  The town of Gardiner rather suddenly springs upon you once you have twisted though the narrows of Yankee Jim Canyon with the Yellowstone River throwing whitewater fits in the rocky gorge below.

Yesterday, that girl and I arrived at Gardiner around 1:00 in the afternoon.  We arrived after escaping a sudden rain-snow mix flurry.  At the edge of town, we were forced to slow the car as a herd of bighorn sheep slowly ambled across the roadway.   A few feet later we bumped into a bunch of elk.

We pulled off to the side of the road at that point and captured a few images.  The photos I am posting are not particularly good, but they give you a flavor of what you might expect at Gardiner.  One photo has bighorn sheep with an elk in the background.  That’s something you don’t see every day.

--Mitchell Hegman