Grizzly, Arch and Tips

I made an assumption that it would be easier and faster to leave the north gate of Yellowstone towards Bozeman, Montana on our way back to Salt Lake City and that was definitely not the case. Even with road construction and slower speed limits we saved 2 hours going back through the park!

We probably could have completed our tour of Yellowstone in 3 days but 4 days allowed us to venture off to see less popular parts of the park. We covered every major road and several remote roads. Which is were “watchers” were tracking the mother wolf and her two pups. 

We went to see the Rosevelt arch at the north gate because we were only 5 miles away. The arch was built under the supervision of the US Army at Fort Yellowstone, its cornerstone was laid down by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. 

Between Mammoth and Norris the park has demolished the road to put in a new one. A one lane contractor lead convoy takes you very slowly down a muddy dirt road. All of a sudden Mark sees movement in a large open filed and there was a grizzly bear walking slowly across the field and lays down. Amazing. The brown bear was huge and immediately identifiable. So my mess up was fruitful in the end. 

We stopped In Idaho Falls for lunch. 

Leaving Idaho Falls you come across a huge lava field that was produced by a basaltic volcano originating from the snake river. Which made me research the area. Researchers believe that Yellowstone wasn’t the only super volcano but part of a chain. 

We crossed the Blackfoot reservation and stopped for the night in Pocatello. We should have gone on into salt lake but didn’t know!  So go gambling or find a movie theater?  Movie it is!

A few tips for anyone heading to Yellowstone. There is no air conditioning in any hotel, no internet or TV. You can pay an hourly rate for very weak WiFi  at each hotel which only works in the lobby area. 

Bring sun screen and drink lots of water everyday. Besides all the walking/hiking you may do the park is at 6,500 feet above sea level and the water helps with headaches. 

It will rain in some portion of the park everyday. We only had minor rain but glad we had a light rain jacket. 

The mosquitoes are big enough to carry you off in the evenings around water. Bring bug spray. 

If I had to do it over, I would have spent all of our nights in Canyon. 

Most restaurants require reservations for dinner. Lunch locations are few and far between and are crowded. Anything that is less formal is called a grill and close at 6?pm. Pack a picnic lunch or buy carry and go at any of the Yellowstone grocery stores. 

The animals look fun but are wild and don’t like people near them. Keep a good distance between you and them. 

Look for tour buses and if you have an option - try to do something else until they are loading up. Getting out of the hotel early and on the road will save you some crowds and frustration.

Norris geyser basin and Mammoth Hot Springs

We finish our Yellowstone exploration today with the Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs. Lots of hiking today which made me grateful for good hiking boots especially when we saw three rattle snakes huddled together sunning themselves. 

We have had awesome weather. We expected and prepared for cold weather but even with snow on the ground it was warm. Good thing we prepared for warm weather, too. 

Norris geyser basin is like you have stepped on to the surface of Mars.

 A guide told us there are 100 named geysers in Yellowstone but that is constantly changing because some sprout up and others go dormant depending on earthquakes or large eruptions. Porkchop geyser blew all those rocks around the edge and now it is just a pool. 

Steamboat geyser has been dormant since 2014 and started blowing this week. 

The steam holes produce heat up to 280 degrees. 

Leaving the Yellowstone caldera, we ventured up to Mammoth Hot Springs to roam around fort Yellowstone an old army installation built in 1872 right after the civil war.  It is the oldest area of the park. 

Elk roam this area and they are just goofy looking animals without antlers. 

The travertine fields in Mammoth are really interesting. Hot water bring minerals to the surface and slowly deposit in terraces. 

We finished the day hiking to see some waterfalls. One was through a posted bear area. It was a popular stop with people and since we were not the slowest hikers - we would be safe and a couple of hikers even had bear spray strapped to their belt. We did see one black bear today - hint if you see people with cameras - you should stop because they have spotted something way before you ever would!  Our app said we hiked 155 floors but Mark forgot his phone a couple of times. 

Tomorrow we explore some new territory as we visit a portion of Montana and spend the night in Idaho. Simply beautiful country. I am glad I waited to visit until I was old enough to appreciate the significance of the first ever national park. I saw so many people with babies and strollers and kept wondering if they had lost their minds. 

Wildlife galore in the Lamar Valley!

I talked to a park ranger who told me that 4.1 million people visited Yellowstone last year and they had 19 feet of snow this winter. Much of it hasn't melted at the higher elevations. 

The Lamar Valley is the least visited and most remote portion of the park. It was probably my favorite experience so far. It is the area that you are most likely to see wildlife and it was absolutely amazing. Not much to capture on an iPad but Mark got some great shots. I got to check off seeing bears in the wild from my bucket list. A black bear mom and three tiny cubs made an appearance.  Later, we saw a mother bear and two older cubs. Everywhere we looked there was bear after bear.  

By the way, as we were watching the bears, we were with about a hundred of our closet photography friends. Just nuts!  

We saw antelope, one fox and one coyote, momma bison and calves, boy bison butting heads,and mangy looking molting deer. Through a telescope, a lady let me look at a wolfs den. A mom and two pups were putting on a show. It was so far away that she recorded it on an iPhone adapter for her telescope and we could watch a shaky video. 

I don't know anything about bison but I do know about mom's. And to tell you there is not much of a different between human moms and bison moms.  They were grunting, nudging and leading the calves. One mom bison would stand watch looking back and forth for danger while the others passed and then she would take up the rear of the line. Just fascinating. They went single file - mom, baby, mom, baby using a highway bridge to cross the Yellowstone river. Mark was out taking photos and got stuck on the bridge with them. He finally put some cars between him and the moms and made it back to the car with no extra holes. 

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Tower falls was the non wildlife highlight for the day. 

We have averaged about 7 miles of walking , 15,000 steps and 85 floors a day so we made reservations for our splurge fancy meal tonight at a fairly new restaurant in the park. 

And our selfie of the day outside of our hotel on the way to dinner. And yes, I do think we look tired. Busy and packed days. Next vacation may need to be sitting at the beach. 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and lots of waterfalls!

We ventured off to take sunset pictures last night and by the time we got back and wanted dinner we found out the the restaurant was closed or had a two hour wait. Folks I can't imagine this place in the summer!  It is not busy now and the hotels and restaurants are full!  We had some lunch stuff in a cooler and a bottle of wine so we made that work for dinner. The old faithful lodging is very old but it is the most visited area of the park so it is a hot commodity. Rooms are barebones and as with the rest of the park - no internet or TV.  But that was okay with us. We made it work. 

We left the geyser basin for the canyon area. Checking into the new canyon lodge. Small rooms but clean and new which goes a long way!  The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is really interesting part of the park. The Yellowstone River slices through an ancient hydrothermal area. You see steam vents along with the rushing water. The water has eroded the lava and softer layers below the lava creating some beautiful colors. 

Check out the stairs in the middle of the picture! Anyone interested in walking down the rusty metal stairs on the side of this rock? Definitely not me!

Found an area with small pools that they call paint pots and bubbling mud. 

The elk have lost their antlers. Through Mark's telephoto lens you could see that one was a boy and one a girl. 

And our obligatory selfie to prove we were here!

Yellowstone - Old Faithful, hot springs, pools and geysers everywhere!

We were amazed at the snow as we entered the south end of the park and kept wondering if we would be up to our knees walking around. But the snow cleared as we got closer to Old Faithful. 

Tons of water flowing from melting snow. 

Waiting for Old Faithful to go off. 

And there she blows!  Every 90 minutes or so. The magma that heats the water is between 3 and 8 miles down. We watched her go off three times. 

On to seeing the Grand Prismatic Spring with the heat loving bacteria and algae which produces the rainbow of colors. 

 4,000 gallons of boiling hot water dump into the river every minute. 

Geysers and hot springs throughout the entire area. 

Old Faithful lodge is really cool but it really looks like a fire just waiting to happen! 

The bison that we were looking to see yesterday just walk right past you throughout the Old Faithful area. 

Grand Tetons and a long travel day

Our flight into Salt Lake City was delayed causing our drive to Jackson Hole to be later than expected which made for a slightly stressful drive with antelope, deer and one giant moose on the side of the road. 

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We passed the new Afton WY Mormon Temple which got me googling the Mormon population for the state which is the third largest behind Utah and Idaho.

We started our day planning on riding the Jackson Hole tram and visiting the Elk Reserve. Both a bust. The tram doesn't open for two more days and the elk have migrated. But we turned the day around when we visited Schwabachers Landing. It originally was a place for boats to access the snake river but beavers had other plans. They dammed two areas creating beautiful reflecting lakes. In the pictures you can see the beaver lodge and the dam. 

The beavers had big plans for this tree and but gave up. 

Mormon Row was our next stop. The remaining structures from a thriving Mormon community from the 1880's. 

Teton National Park did not disappoint. Lots of free range bison and elk. Just not close enough for my iPad camera.but I took a picture anyway because Mark was taking pictures with his long lens. We will see more and close up in Yellowstone 

The ragged mountains of the Teton chain were formed from violent earthquakes. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Jenny Lake with snow covered ground even though it was 65 degrees.

 The numerous lakes were formed from melting glaciers. We went on some short hikes and ended up at a view of one of the remaining Teton glaciers. You can find it between the Grand Teton and Mount Owen it looks like a U shaped bowl of ice and snow. While Mark was taking pictures, a young Asian visiter came up and asked us if we had a bottle opener. We didn't but I said that Mark could use some American ingenuity to open his soda bottle and popped the top off with the side of a sign. The guy was quite happy and learned a new skill to take home with him. Speaking of the masses of Asian visitors the national park has a bathroom message for them.  

The glacier is in the middle between the two peaks

HA! 

 With no sunset colors to capture, we headed back for dinner at a craft beer brewery in Jackson Hole. On to Yellowstone in the morning.