Yellowstone is Youuuuge!

Wow, we have put almost 300 miles on the car and have only seen about a third of Yellowstone National Park. We have back-tracked over some areas that we already saw and some parts where we drove but did not stop because it was late in the day, but still, this place is huge!

On our third venture into the park Ellyn and I took Myra with us. Dave had some business to take care of. We thought we might meet up with him later but that did not work out. We drove up to the Norris Geyser Basin and walked on of the shorter paths through the basin. It was quite something. The varying colors in the pools are remarkable, mainly because they are all different temperatures and so have different organisms living in them. There are also steam vents that just constantly hiss and periodic geysers, one of which Ellyn predicted would erupt while we were near by. It had started bubbling and Geoff just had enough time to point his camera at it before it started going. It only lasted a few seconds.

Along the way we came upon a herd of female Bison with their youngsters. This was, of course, at the end of a long backup of cars.

Our next stop was back to Old Faithful to see another eruption. This one actually went off +10 minutes after the predicted time, and was preceded by 4 false starts before it finally went but the eruption lasted nearly twice as long as the first one we saw. Geoff got video and Ellyn took stills on her phone. It was great.

We then visited the Midway Geyser Basin (Old Faithful is in the Lower Basin) and tried to see some of the largest of the hot pools but the sun was in the wrong place and the wind was blowing the steam right into our faces, so good pictures were at a premium. However, Geoff did get some nice ones of the water overflow from the pools pouring into the river.

This marked the end of our stay in West Yellowstone and we moved to the Northern Entrance into the park from Gardiner, Montana. To get there, we drove through the park. The first part was fine and we had traveled those roads before so we knew they would be OK. When we went past Norris Junction, we discovered construction going on to widen the road. We agree this is necessary because the road was very narrow after this and Geoff and Dave had some white-knuckle times keeping the rigs between the lines and off the sharp drop off on the shoulder and out of the oncoming traffic. Then, when we passed Mammoth Hot Springs, the road dropped sharply into the valley where Gardiner is, with some sharp turns as well. We did see some nice views though.

Unlike West Yellowstone, which is quite commercialized, Gardiner is more Old West. Sure, they have some souvenir stores and several companies that take rafting trips down the Yellowstone River (which our friends Dave and Myra are doing the day we leave), but a lot of it is locals and little businesses and old buildings. And it is right on the border of the park. There is a great gate marking the entrance into the park called “Roosevelt Gate”. It is also more desert-like here than the West Entrance. There is lots of sage brush, and the Elk are coming right into town looking for the green grass they force to grow here.

So the nearest part interesting part of Yellowstone NP is Mammoth Hot Springs. Our first evening in Gardiner, Dave, Myra and I went back into the park and up through Mammoth near sunset to see if we could spot some wildlife. We were able to find a Coyote climbing on the hot spring terraces and we also saw a Red Fox running across the road in front of us. We also saw lots of Elk, both in Mammoth and in fields outside of town.

The next day, we drove toward Tower Junction and Roosevelt Lodge where we were scheduled to go on Cowboy Cookout. Ellyn and I rode a wagon to the cookout, but Dave and Myra opted to take the one hour horse ride. Ellyn and I had gone on a horse ride when we first came to Yellowstone 39 years ago, so we had learned our lesson. As it was, everyone had a wonderful time. But before the cookout, we went to the Lamar Valley, where there are many of the big Bison herds in Yellowstone, perhaps in the world.

We got to see some new wildlife too. There were some Red Tailed Hawks circling over a field and riding the crazy winds we have been getting in Northern Yellowstone. Also, when we stopped once to take in a beautiful cliff structure we spotted Prong Horned Sheep on some pretty steep cliffs.

The Cowboy Cookout was fun and the food was good but the wait for that food was a little long. They should have more than just two lines for 200 people. But there was cowboy music, stories around the campfire, and wildlife to see both coming and going.

Our last day in Yellowstone (sob) was a short one. We basically just toured Mammoth Hot Springs. The springs are not our favorite part of the geologic features of Yellowstone because they are pretty static (although they do actually change a lot over a relatively short period), and they are not as colorful as other features around the caldera area. However, we got out and Geoff took a slew of pictures. Afterwards we had lunch and then went back for a relaxing afternoon in the campground.

Our last dinner together was great and we will be getting up tomorrow to head out for Portland Oregon and a whole new adventure and Dave and Myra will be staying here for a day and then heading back East on their own adventure. We will see each other again in the Fall in Florida.

The Caravan Arrives!

At last, after 23 days and 2700 miles, The Great Rolling Yellowstone Caravan has arrived at the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Our drive out of Grand Teton over Teton Pass was a little hairy. Going up the mountains is not so bad but going down the other side without burning out your brakes can be a challenge. Our diesel rig has an exhaust brake and automatic downshifting that helps a lot, but our companions have a gas rig so they had to manually downshift and do a lot more brake riding coming down than we did. Fortunately, it is a relatively short up and down on either side so it was a small portion of the overall trip. After coming down, we were in Idaho, with gently rolling fields of potatoes and whatever else they grow there. We stopped for lunch with a view of the Teton mountains from the reverse side.

After arriving and getting set up in the campground in West Yellowstone, we headed into the park, and headed toward Old Faithful. This is a great part of the park because of all of the tectonic activity. We stopped off at geysers all along the way and Geoff took lots of photos and video. At Yellowstone Lodge, we had a quick dinner in the lodge cafeteria and then set out to watch the next eruption of Old Faithful geyser. The schedule they post in the lodge is indicated as being plus or minus the eruption time. As it turned out, the eruption was almost exactly –10 minutes and Geoff was on his way to set up for photos when it went off. Everyone got to see it and it was not a disappointment for us. As we were leaving the area and going back to our car, a tour bus pulled in, just a bit too late. As it was, that may have been the last daylight eruption of the day.

As we headed back home, we came upon a couple of places where there were elk near the roadway. Being close to dusk, this is usually the best time to see wildlife since they are usually in the woods during the heat of the day. You can always tell when there are animals nearby because the traffic suddenly comes to a stop.

Day 2 came and it is now officially summer. Ellyn and I have been on the road now for nearly two months and it has felt like summer for most of it. Our first times of wearing long pants consistently has been since we reached Yellowstone. Most of our trip in the Midwest was in shorts and 90+ weather. Now we have 40 degree nights and 70 degree days for the most part. But that’s OK, we are enjoying every minute of it.

So this was a long site seeing day. We tackled the Inner loop of the Grand Loop of Yellowstone. The first part was past things we had seen the day before as far as the exit for Old Faithful. Then we stopped at the Kepler Cascades for some pictures and then up to the Continental Divide and Isa Lake, which flows East to the Pacific and West to the Atlantic (No, it is not a typo…look it up).

Then we went past the West Thumb area (although this was probably a mistake. We should have taken a look. The geyser area there was probably interesting) and headed to Yellowstone Lake. When Ellyn and I had been here ages ago with our sons, we had rented a boat and gone out fishing. It was an adventure but we had forgotten how large this lake is. At Lake Village we stopped for lunch at the Lake Lodge. The meals at the lodge cafeterias are not spectacular but they are likely reminiscent of what the travelers of the early 1900s got when they came here to see the wonders. Most people do not come here for the food.

On the way we came across some of the first wildlife of this trip segment; two Elk resting in the remains of a burned out forest. The National Park Service allows all fires to do their natural duty and burn themselves out unless they threaten structures or people. This fire may have been lots of years ago and new trees were just starting to rise up again out of the destruction. These Elk had nice big antler racks unlike the ones we had seen the first day out.

After lunch we headed north to the Mud Volcano and Sulfur Caldron areas. At the mud volcano Geoff yelled at a lady who left the path for a picture. Not a smart thing to do since a man died here earlier this month when he fell into one of the caldron areas. His body was not recovered. We also saw a rare occurrence of a Fire Rainbow overhead. This only lasted a few minutes but was even more spectacular than what was going on inside the earth at the moment.

Another unusual thing we came across in this area was a Bison. That is not so unusual but his behavior was; he was rolling on the ground. We did not get any pictures of this but we turned around and watched him for a while as he walked around and then attacked a small tree, scratching his head vigorously against it and eventually ripping it out of the ground. It was quite a laugh. Then he proceeded to walk down the road the way we had come, holding up traffic for some, but allowing us to continue on our way.

We encountered more Bison along the Yellowstone River as we headed for the Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Yellowstone Falls. The falls were really roaring. Apparently it was not a dry spring around here.

After a long day and about 128 miles covered within this huge park, we headed for home. One last wildlife encounter at the end of the trip was a lone coyote in a field. Day three was a relaxing one with us mostly investigating the town of West Yellowstone and its many gift shops.

Our adventure continues with the next post.