The Fascinating Mountain Range You've Never Heard Of (SUV Camping/Vanlife Adventures) 

Here's the book/audiobook I mention in the video. So good! >> amzn.to/3CfNbLl -Tristan

Tristan, I very much appreciate that you have begun to incorporate significantly greater amounts of factual information into your adventures. My old body at 75 will no longer get me to many of the locations you visit, but there is no less of a desire to see them and learn. Thank you. Walk in Beauty.

I'm actually following you on my maps and Google Earth. You hit the nail on the head! At 77 I'm not hiking any longer and love going along with you on your hikes. I've even gotten better with the vertigo from the drone! LOL I now have one and am learning to use it. I use Google Earth and all sorts of maps ... can't see how some folks just go via GPS. If you ever come south to the Tucson area I have a bunch of petroglyph sites I can point you too .. I even have a hidden site that few know about! 🤠

I instantly recognized the bentonite hills there south of the Gyp Springs Road. I drove that road at least once a week as the BLM Ranger for the Billings Field Office for 10 years, when I patrolled the Pryors. That is some fantastic country. In the rain shadow of the Beartooths to the west, the Bighorns to the east, the Pryors to the north, and the Yellowstone Plateau to the southwest the area is a harsh desert that gets about 4” of precip a year, and if you did not know better you would swear you were in southern Utah based on soils, and vegetation. The massive Paleozoic limestones and dolomites suck any rain and snowmelt deep into the ground, and streams only flow flash floods during summer thunderstorms. The petroglyphs just add to the feeling of being in Utah/Arizona. EDIT: If you hike Petroglyph Canyon, look for woody flood debris stuck in trees 6 - 10 feet above the canyon floor. The Dry Head overlook used to be my favorite lunch stop. Snow lingers late here, so don’t attempt to drive to the summit until mid-June: people driving around snow drifts on Memorial Day weekend are responsible for 90% of the off-road travel damage that occurs there. Access roads to East Pryor from the south on Burnt Timber and Sykes Ridge Roads are much more difficult, and Sykes Ridge should only be done on ATV/UTV unless you REALLY hate your truck. Campfire hearths and pottery sherds discovered at at some looted archeological sites off of Hwy 310 near Jack Creek are almost an exact match for the Fremont culture in Utah, though they were much older, indicating that “Fremont” peoples passed through the area on the way from Athabaska to the Colorado Plateau. Tribes also traveled seasonally from the Beartooth Mountains to the Pryors and left fabulous pictographs in the Valley of the Shields in Weatherman Draw. The ideal vehicle for most of those roads is 4-wheeler, either ATV or UTV,😊 espscially on the those old uranium/thorium mine roads, like the Lisbon Mine Road that you switch-backed down. EDIT: Stay out of abandoned mines! The USFS and the BLM remediated the abandoned mines 15 years ago. Normal background counts in the area of 80/minute on the counter ran as high as 20,000 counts a minute in the Lisbon MIne, right next to the campfire ring, before it was backfilled with rock. The fire there was in 2002, started by lightning a few miles further up Crooked Creek. As the fire roared down Crooked Creek, making runs into the Douglas Fir and Limber pine on the slopes of Big Pryor, the flame fronts were 700 to 1000 feet high, the roar could be heard from Britton Springs corral facility 7 miles away, and the pyrocumulus cloud was astounding. The fire was called the “Red Waffle Fire” because the fire dispatcher was eating strawberry waffles when the initial report came in. For the Tenkara Fishing Addict there are remnant Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in the bottom of Crooked Creek, if you can get down there, which is a real BIG if.

Your trips are part of my Sat morning ritual. Thanks as always. Very interesting, especially the "beds"

I have heard about this mountain range and surprised you didn’t mention it. It’s known for the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range - a refuge that protects a unique and distinct wild horse herd that frequents the area. I’ve been to Glacier NP twice and the Pryors are my next bucket list item. I wasn’t aware of the petroglyphs there and will seek them out on my trip. Thanks very much - interesting vid as always!!

Your videos always take your subscribers to amazing places! Thank you so much! I'm planning on a big move north. My last hoorah while I can. Property is getting expensive in the northern areas for sure! I wish my southern house was worth alot more. My travels were on hold 25 years - caring for family and then recovering from injuries myself. Prayers that things go well for both of us!

Well that video hot the nail on the head for the 4 P's - Potholes, Petroglyphs, the Prior Mts & Pine Trees. The fasting beds & ice caves were equally fascinating. You certainly covered a lot of ground and topics in this one. I still wonder how you get drone shots while driving. I'd love to hear how you do it.

Beautiful scenery! Love it! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures. You are so appreciated 😊

I rarely comment, and so this will have to cover all your videos. I subscribe and watch all your content. I wonder how many others, like commenter Al Maurine and myself, whose hiking days are long past, watch with great interest and appreciation for your informative, entertaining and lucid descriptions. Thanks for taking me along. Will you travel through the Big Horn Mountains someday? I found them very good.

So cool! The fact that there is still snow and ice in August is amazing. Love the view from the top of the mountains - another place to add to our exploration wishlist! Thanks for the great video

I love all the 'little known' places you take us. Those caves were very cool and the fasting beds. I wonder if that hearth was built more recently just by people out exploring the area. I'm glad you included some of your drive. That looked nerve racking for sure.

The stone box with the gourd on top is actually a type of sacrifice alter. We would consider them a mouth for the mountain to eat. It's somewhere people can come to pay tribute to the mountain and feed her so as to not upset the mountain when taking from her. And yes I refer to all mountains as "she" because mountains birth rivers and humans have always settled near rivers for survival.

Love this video! So beautiful. The one rock art figure you questioned looked to me like a scorpion climbing up the rock. Question: do you ever see wild horses in the distance on your adventures? Pryor mustangs are very popular. Unsure if the BLM (Bureau of Land Mgmt) has captured them all yet. 😠 Heard there's a Pryor Mustangs Museum near Lowell MT. Love everything about your videos incl the music. Very professional, educational, entertaining. Did I miss the food stop in this one? 😁

It's hard to pick a favorite part when it is all so amazing and interesting

3:23 my guess would be a scorpion judging from the curled tail

Hi Tristan, I'm from Oregon, but not only have I heard of those interesting mountains, but have also been to those caves you showed as well as others in the Pryors. You are sure right about the roads. I didn't have a high clearance vehicle, so that was not good for the car, but we were able to make it through all over with patience. I was there in the 80s, so that burned-over area where you had to clear trees was interesting to see...that wasn't burned back then. Thanks for bringing back old memories.

I so look forward to your videos each week 🤗. Thank you for your work and sharing parts of This amazing country most of us will never have the opportunity to see in person.

Love how you make these documentaries so interesting and beautiful, including tons of information and even sound. And doing this single-handedly!

This was fascinating. Great editing to hit highlights while still showing the vastness of the area. I particularly liked the petroglyphs (of course) , but also the cave ice and odd geologic formations, and the ‘more harrowing than I would enjoy’ cliff edge driving sequence with tree clearance. Thanks also for being respectful of the area and not doing weird poses in the sleeping circles.

I can picture native peoples spending time in the ice cave during hot summer months.

My heart hurts for you and your family. I know exactly how you are feeling. Please take comfort in your memories and love you have of Bella. Special times. Hugs for all of you.

Stalagmite, might someday reach the ceiling. Stalagtite, holds tight to the ceiling. Only way I can remember. Was taught this as a child visiting a cave in either Missouri or Arkansas.

Looking on maps and finding a spot has been the source of many of my dream adventures over my career at adulthood. Now that I have retired, I am beginning to follow those map dreams. The unexpected and off the beaten path are always the best. Neat area.

Nothing quite so satisfying as driving a dicey road in a Land Cruiser!

I think driving out there in the middle of nowhere, and then coming to one of those switchbacks impossible for your car to continue. Now you would have to back up who knows how far without getting stuck backing up. Bravo for your bravery!

Great total trip, Tristan. Loved the ice caves but poor Crow Indian with stakes in his back pulling a buffalo skull. 😮 Hope the park service appreciates your tree removals from the road 😊. Be safe in your travels. 👍🏻

I think you are the best candidate to write that book. You have extensive knowledge and experience on the subject, you have written a book before, you came up with the idea, and you also mentioned the title - “The Road Up Here”

I have not yet been to this area and have never even thought of it until this video! I have been to places surrounding this area. I had some wow moments. That being said, it’s October in Michigan for me. I loved two things in this video that I don’t get here. The first is sound of the usually annoying clicking crickets and the second was the water sounds from inside the ice cave. Thank you for that!

Scorpion. 3:23

The Pryors are named for a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who wandered through them looking (appropriately) for stolen/lost horses: Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor They lie south of Billings, Montana, and north of Lovell, Wyoming. The mountains are named for Sergeant Nathaniel Hale Pryor, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who vainly pursued horses stolen from the expedition in the area. Also - a word of advice from old Ranger Don: When driving on wagon roads, drive at wagon speed. Wonderful series - you have the soul of a Ranger

I'm so glad you're sharing indigenous people's story's of their homelands! It's so interesting and important to learn!

Year round ice caves is pretty awesome. I'll have to put those on my list.

I hope to someday to go meditate in that area. The sacred energy has to be amazing there. ❤

I look forward to each of your videos. Your dry humor is most entertaining. You bring out the poetry of the locations you visit. Love your fresh enthusiasm. Your artistic film making make your videos awesome. Thank you for sharing your discoveries with us!

Great trip. interesting sites. Thanks for sharing Tristan. The Three Rivers Petroglyph Site on BLM land in New Mexico, east of the White Sands Missile Range is very nice, 21000 or so images on rocks, Near Lincoln National Forest. Capitan NM (Smokey Bear Historical Park), and Lincoln NM (Billy the Kid), are on the way to Roswell.

Thanks for sharing the many places folks don't know are out there. My first visit to Pryor mountains was with a local friend that used them as his back yard. Wonderful experience! There were wild horses there, but they may have been relocated now.

Thank You for risking your life for us. I hope you have arranged your Videos will always be available in your memory.

Wow the acoustics at the watering hole make the audio sound amazing. You should start a podcast from there !

You always find the coolest spots man! Love your videos!🤙🏼

Take that, “Andy” 😂. Love the offbeat finds. Nice drone shots, too!

Thank you for doing all these videos. I have crafted a western US tour for next year, based on your exploring. I've been visiting these areas since the 70s and just now realized how much I have missed through your videos. I am going to visit with a whole new view on this world. All the best..

Amazes me how you find some of these mountain roads! I think you're the perfect person to write that book!!

Yeah, that book was a good read, from beginning to end.

Those ice caves were really neat. Much more shallow and exposed than I would have expected. Thanks!

What a wonderful place! Loved to see the Native American fasting beds...Thanks so much. I love your videos and look forward to more. ATB

Thankyou for this video. Natives were way tougher in the old days. Fasting is good for soul.

I love that drive down the mountain! That is such an adventure. I love exploring like that. Glad your LC made it through ok!

Coffee and Tristan. Good Saturday morning. Thank you spirit animal.

I often don’t watch your videos due to length, but I’m always glad when I do!

You already are my access to places I am too old to go. Thank you for doing this service business, a form of accessibility.

Another little known fact about the Pryor Mountains is that there was a railroad line that went through the Pryor Gap between West Pryor Mountain and Big Pryor Mountain. The rail line was operated by the CB & Q railroad and was known as the 'Pryor Cutoff' saving 100 miles on rail service between Cody, Wyoming and Toluca, Montana which is west of Hardin. The rails where laid in 1900 and completed in 1901. The line was in service only until 1911 and fell out of favor as operating costs where high -winter weather conditions, crossing the Pryor Gap involved mountain grades and a short tunnel, no real business could be generated along the route and the only passengers on the line where local Native Americans. The 1911 decision by the railroad to close the line was a legend! The order came down literally overnight, and in order for the company to avoid a court order and litigation to keep the line open, they organized crews and equipment to remove all the rail literally over a weekend while courts where closed! Today much of the railroad grade through the Pryors is still evident and has been repurposed as dirt roads. It makes for an easy and great drive through history but beware, old iron scraps and junk can easily flat Your tires!

Good to see you in my neck of the woods. I was in DryHead Basin last weekend, even saw a few wild horses - I may have been looking over at you in the Pryors from the Big Horns about a month ago, I was at a place the Crows call Windy Point. A Buddy and I were headed for Big Ice Cave about 5 years ago - we gave up, the trail was so rough we got tired of being beat up and he was worried about his tires - we exited area, I believe, down Crooked Creek - wonderful day.

Unless the prehistoric artist was named "Tom", it looks like Andy wasn't the only defacer of that panel... Love your videos, Tristan.

Again, your comment about just looking at maps for ideas rang true to my adventures. I physically cannot go to some of the places you discover, but I agree about maps. They offer such GREAT insights for new journeys!! Thanks so much for sharing your great adventures!

Loved the trip. Thank you for the view, the information, the historical content. Thank you, thank you.

Those ice caves were unbelievable 😵‍💫🤩

what an amazing trip! Thanks bunches!🦌💌❤️🚙👍

Thanks for taking us with you! Next time you make that trip, you should make an effort to get down into the Bighorn canyon, and try to find some Dryhead Agate. It is a very distinctively colored agate (orange, white and tan bands in a chocolate-brown matrix) found along the riverside in the canyon, near the state line. I've heard that the only way to reach the agate collecting area is by boat, but I suspect the people who reached that conclusion are less adventurous than you are! Oddly, though I have a large collection of Dryhead agates, I've never been there to search myself.

Enjoy this adventure as I enjoy all of them. Really appreciate you showing how the drive was.

Beautiful. Quite moving landscape even though not dramatic. Thank you.

Your definition of high clearance and what we drive in Alabama is totally different. 👌

Astonishing. Crazy that snow and ice are in those caves.

Had you traveled another mile or so past your last stop, you would have entered the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. I've spent many weeks there photographing the horses on their Summer range. There is another way there from the south but it's a true 4wd route. Your rig can do it but you can't be concerned about pinstripes or making time.

I love the history of things. I've not heard of the fasting beds. Thank you for seeking out history points.

I love how you always provide history facts on your adventures, what a great video..thanks, stay safe

I’m not much of an “outdoors” person; (physical limitations; OTHERWISE…l’m ALL IN!” I live vicariously through your adventures!! THANK YOU!! 😃👍🏼👣👠

Goodness, I would have had to lay in one of the fasting beds and meditated for a spell. Fasting is an important part of my life and to experience that would have been amazing. Thank you for sharing. Hope to go there in my travels.

Thanks Tristan! 🌲🌲🌲

Wow! Those are some interesting mountains! I've been to ice caves in Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. It would be over 100° up top and very cold just under the ground. The ones I've seen are just holes in the ground. These are huge! ❤

There's an enclosure, apparently for a dwarf with a gourd. So many mysteries.

I'm from this part of Wyoming it sits right adjacent to where you're at. If you look at a geological 3d relief map you'll see that the priors are actually an extension of the bighorn mountains and were formed at the same time. What divides what they call the priors from the bighorns proper is Bighorn Canyon.

You're becoming quite the overlander. Those scratches are called "pin stripes" in the overlanding community. I think you should attend/set up a table to meet/great, promote your channels and sell some swag at one of the many overland expos across the country.

Just a memory trick I learned in grade school about sixty years ago. A stalactite is holding tight to the ceiling, a stalagmite is on the floor REACHING for the ceiling and might get there, and one that is connected to both is just a column. At least that was what I was taught in fourth grade science class on a field trip to a cave. The tight and might have served me well for a long life to jog my memory when needed.

Nice video, we love Wyoming and Montana. You speak clearly. I like your content. Thank you.

Tristan just like Don McGowan on the comment below me I'm 75 years old also and I enjoy your videos for some of the same reasons as Don does. Your videos are very enjoyable and informative as well, keep up the good work!

Another great adventure. So interesting. I enjoyed the story about the ropes and also the tip on the book. I had never heard of fasting beds. I watch all your videos. Thanks .

Roan Mt. TN is a mountain your can drive to the top. Grandfather Mt. NC you can drive up almost to the top. It has a couple of higher peaks you can trail but your pretty much at the top.

Great shots. Appreciate it. Beautiful view into the vally between Pryor and the Big Horn. Indian land. Thanks for showing the "fasting beds". Easy to miss, if you don't know.

There was a place near where I grew up where the local tribe had done its fasting rites, it was on top of a hill above a beautiful waterfall.

Really nice, your very brave to explore the caves by yourself. Be safe on your travels. I liked the caves and the fasting mountain

Beautiful! I also would appreciate a book on handicapped trails or drivable sites. I can walk, but not very far before I'm in terrible pain. Thanks

I'm a senior and enjoy your videos. Thanks 😊

Thanks for the video. I like seeing all the places you go that I am not able to visit. I like the idea of a book about mountains one could drive up.

I always look forward to your videos. You share so many visions that I will never get to do. Keep up the great job.

Thanks Tristan, another great video.

Hey Tristan, love this video, especially driving up the Pryor Mountains and finding the Native American fasting beds. My husband and I just visited the Bighorn Mountains and Bighorn Canyon about 2 weeks ago. Sadly, we didn’t have time to explore the Pryor Mountains, although I’ve got the vista you visited saved in my Gaia app so we’ll be sure to check it out next time we’re there. Safe travels!

Cool finds from an out of the way place or mountain range. I recall the Crow do not strangers to wander on their land? I can understand since we took much of their land.

Wonderful book, glad you are reading it. The 2015 movie was very good, but the book was fantastic.

Thank you for sharing this video of these amazing places and beautiful views. I've enjoyed it and learned a few things. Thanks.

That off-road trail down Big Prior Mountain looked fun actually! Very fun to see these off the beaten path places. Beautiful views!

That was great as usual, Tristan. You've aroused my curiosity about ice caves. You've visited them before, and I've seen them at Lassen, but I don't understand them. And I didn't know that First Nations were into self-flagellation before. The rope man must have had someone help nail him.

Scratches just mean you're using your SUV as intended. Too many people own parking lot princesses that never even get shifted into 4wd. Btw, next time you're in the area, head west up to the Beartooth Mountain range. Tracks, fishing, and hiking for days out here.

Thanks Tristan for another interesting video! Those switchbacks looked too tight for my Ram 2500 … 20 point turns 😄. Safe travels!

Great video. Foresty Forest carries a chain saw with him for windfalls. Nancy

Wonderful adventure 👍👍🤗 I've not seen the area. Ice caves are a nice surprise on a hot day. Interesting history. Thank you. Take care.

The skull story... I'm amazed that people way way down below could see that far. Our vision has really deteriorated with a modern lifestyle and tech.

Your videos never disappoint. I'm always surprised you don't have more subs. You asked what do we think of that one rock art ? With that tail had to be a scorpion. 🦂

Another great Saturday morning Tristan!! Thank you!😊 My Dad is from Pryor, Montana. The Crow Reservation. Right below where you’re at! This is amazing. I didn’t grow up there, but there’s his land right below there, that I hope to explore some day! Thank you!🥾🥾😊

Glad you got some new shoes. Another great tour, the ice caves and the vista views in the moutains, that was some switch back roads you were on. So as fall contiues to march on you'll have some fall trips and I suppose planning durning winter. I think your viewers might like to see a Thanksgiving or Christmas specail from you and your wife Cassie and dog Bowser. Just a idea I get the feeling it's going to be a harsh winter.