July 22, 2015 Yellowstone

Wednesday, July 22

Yellowstone

We started out at 5:45AM, 38 degrees, with the goal to get Hayden Valley early.  Many animals in this area, but also many people.  En route, Beth wasn’t feeling too well and went to the back of the Trek for a bit, thinking Greg had looked at the map and knew where we were going.  Not.   We ended up going the wrong way for quite a while, so had to backtrack.  Unhappy campers!

Still we ended up at Hayden Valley around 7:30.   Greg spied this bear cub near the mudpots…looks like he might have gone for a dip!

 There were lots of bison, including some young ones, roaming the hills, munching grass and looking disdainfully at the foolish people.  (Later this week we heard another story of a woman mauled by a bison when she wanted to get her picture taken close to one!)  There are warnings and signs everywhere, but some people just don’t use their brains!

We drive further north to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  This is a shot of the lower falls of the Yellowstone River, from Artist’s Point.  Beth walked the trails a bit while Greg made coffee.  Beautiful yellow canyon – amazing to think of the power of the water that created this!

 This is the remainder of a tree near the canyon.

After a few more quick stops we headed out the west entrance to the park, into the town of West Yellowstone.  Found a library there and spent a few hours blogging, emailing and generally catching up on things.  Then Greg treated us to lunch at Arby’s and we continued into Montana.   We stopped at a Forest Service office and spoke to Karen who gave us directions to some nice dispersed camping sites in an area called Beaver Creek.

We continued into Montana Canyon, site of a nasty earthquake in 1959 which killed 28 people, many of them campers who were crushed in avalanches.  Found Beaver Creek Road and a nice campsite near Beaver Creek.   We gathered some fallen wood and Greg cut and split it for a good campfire.

berries near the campsite

Only saw 3 cars pass our site all afternoon/evening.  Nice and quiet.  We walked along the creek and on the road.  Found some interesting rocks for our collection!

There was a nice breeze and the clouds rolled in and we had some light rain.

JULY 21, 2015 Tetons and Yellowstone

Tuesday, July 21

Tetons and Yellowstone

Sun hitting the Tetons was our wake up call from our campsite – beautiful with low clouds in front.  A brisk 37 degrees as we hit the road at 6:10.  

 Nice view of this old homestead in the morning light.

 A few bison wondered onto the road not far from our campsite!

Then we hit the main road, south a bit to the drive to Jenny Lake.  Lots of low fog in the mountains.  Stopped to take in the Cathedral group of mountains, from left to, right, Teewinot, Grand Teton, and Mt. Owen.

Jenny Lake Overlook.  The lake was named for the Shoshone wife of an early trapper.  It is more than 250 feet deep. 

Next stop Mt. Moran where we could see only the antlers of a herd of elk bedded down in the tall grass. 

We next turned off on to the road to Signal mountain.  Saw a couple of elk there and continued to the summit for some awesome views. 

There were quite a few of these birds – grouse or ptarmagin, not sure which.  The momma was very laid back and the little ones danced and played.  These two were in a mock fight, taking turns stretching tall and pecking at the other.

There are several lodges within the park and we stopped by Coulter Bay Lodge where they had showers and a laundromat for campers.  Hurray! Beautiful clean facilities, thanks to Graham, who had just finished cleaning them.  Greg talked with him a bit afterwards and got some suggestions and a map.

Coulter Bay Marina on Jackson Lake

Drove down to Morman row and got this shot of a homesteaders barn. There are a few homesteads along this one road and since the 24^th is some sort of Morman holiday, we were told there would be crowds of them at the two parks.

Heading back up hwy 191 we stopped at the Snake River Overlook for a pretty view of one of Ansel Adams famous shots. (Think black and white, more snow and trees without leaves.)

Saw several white pelicans - so THIS is where they go when they leave the Texas coast!

The Cunningham Cabin was next. J. Pierce Cunningham settled here in 1890.  He and many other ranchers sold their land to John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s Snake River Company, who in turn donated 33,000 acres to expand the Teton National Park.

The cabin wasn't much, but what a view!

A herd of buffalo created a bit of a traffic jam but Greg was able to get off the road for a few quick shots.

We took a side road to Two Ocean Lakes where we had a picnic lunch near yet another beautiful blue lake.

Then it was time to find a campsite for tonight, so we headed to Grassy Lake Road along which, we had read, there were 14 free sites in several groupings.  It is very close to the border between the two parks. The first few sites at #1 were already taken but we found a nice spot at #2 which had 2 sites close to the Snake River.  We set up our screened-in room without too much of a problem, during which operation the local ranger came by and chatted. (He is a transplanted Texan from Dallas.) 

We left the site and drove up into Yellowstone to get a map and park newspaper and  visit the first Visitor Center at Grant Village.   Road construction made it slow going. The ranger there answered some questions and made a few suggestions, one of which is to visit nearby West Thumb Geyser Basin which, he said,  usually isn’t too busy.  Ha!  They also had a nice exhibit about fires and firefighting.

Yellowstone is filled with geothermal activity from Old Faithful and other geysers to mudpots to paintpots and pools.  West Thumb has mostly gurgling pools of varying size, most of them steaming.  This one is called Black Pool because it used to be black, but changes in temperature changed the microbes living in it and – voila – it is beautiful blue.

The one below is called Fisherman’s  Pot and is at the edge of the lake. The story is that the early trappers said they could reel in a fish in the lake, turn and lower it into this pot and have it cooked! 

 This lovely elk was eating dinner by the boardwalk and seemed unconcerned with her audience!

There were several busloads of people but at least they all stayed together and were easy to avoid!

 When we got back to our campsite we discovered we were sharing our site with two women in a small tent, an aunt from New Jersey and her niece from New Zealand who are traveling coast to coast. No problem since it was a very large site.  All of the other campsites on the road were filled and we had several more people come by looking for a spot.  Glad we “reserved” ours!

Snake river.

view from inside our screened room.

wildflowers among the rocks by the river

We took a walk along the Snake River, just a few yards away. Greg started a fire, but it was kind of buggy so we didn’t stay outside long as darkness fell. This is one of only two spots where we've found lots of skeeters.
 Early to bed, early to rise…. That’s the plan for tomorrow and Yellowstone.

Monday, July 20
Green River Lakes to Tetons

There was frost on the picnic table early this morning and temperature is at 34 degrees at 7:20.  The lake is like glass, with a thin layer of fog.  This is a national campground and the view, picnic table, fire ring and toilets make $6 a steal!

Greg enjoys watching the local ground squirrels eat their breakfast of grass, grass seeds and flower buds as Beth enjoys sleeping in a bit.  Greg nurses last nights fire to life again to ward off the chill.

Greg suggests early morning walk around the lake, so we are off.  The first part of the hike is rocky going and the lake turns out to be bigger than we thought! Lots of pretty wildflowers and nice views  except for two somewhat scattered old deer skeletons which somebody (bodies) feasted upon.  Winter kill or other?  I'll spare you the photos.

We pass a few horseback riders and I secretly wish for a horse myself!  At the far end of the lake we walk quite a while to skirt the river/bog flowing from the lake.  Thankfully someone has provided a couple of bridges.

Resting up on the way back.

 There are some beautiful wildflowers.  I initially thought I'd catalogue them with photos but there are just too many!  Must have seen 50+ varieties already this  trip.  These blue ones below are some of the tiniest - about  1/4"!

3 ½ hours later, we are back at camp and we leave about 1:30.  Back out the dirt road and we turn north toward Jackson where we find gas, groceries, a Kmart for socks, and lots of traffic.   Lots of galleries,  shopping, restaurants, lodging etc.  It is a popular and up-scale ski resort as well.

We head the few miles north and enter Teton National Park.  The imposing Teton range is impressive from miles around.  We turn up Antelope Flats road to a dispersed camping spot we’ve read about, on Shadow Mountain road.  We get the last site at the first location so don’t continue on the crazy rutted road.  Beautiful view of the Tetons from our site.

Colorful thistles near campsite.

Chicken enchiladas and black beans for dinner – compliments of Smith’s deli where we stopped for groceries yesterday. Both of us are tired and ready for a good night’s sleep.  Since we want to be on the roads early for optimal animals and minimal traffic, we go to bed with the sun – after a few photos.

  

Lander, Green River Lake

Sunday, July 19
Lander to Green River Lakes

Good breakfast of bacon and eggs and oranges as Greg revives last night’s campfire.  It is 42 degrees, so the fire feels good!  As we are getting ready to leave, a herd of cows wanders behind our campsite and onto the exit road.  More free range.

We continue through the Lake Country, passing Fiddler Lake, Lake Christina and Louis Lake.  Many small ponds along the way, too, some covered with lily pads.

We pass the Little Pop Agie River where we see another snow shoe rabbit dash across the road.  They are all brown except for their large white feet – look like they are wearing fluffy slippers! Too speedy to catch a photo, though!

 We have been in Shoshone National Forest, which is almost all pines and other evergreens.  No bark beetles here.  We get back on Hwy 28 S, and see many of the ubiquitous snow fences, some over 8 feet tall.   After a short drive, we go back to a dirt road heading north to Big Sandy.  Antelope and cattle, with snow patched Wind River Range to our right.  
 The road follows the contour of the earth and we follow the road!  We finally get back to pavement where we see this coyote cross the road and go up a hill.  The magpie took exception to where he stopped – must have been near a nest.

Saw a few sandhill cranes as we approached Pinedale.  Looking for a place with wi-fi, but we haven’t seen a McDonalds or Starbucks or Lowe’s (etc) in several days.  Greg pulls into a Hampton Inn and I go in to ask if there is any wi-fi in town.  The friendly front counter woman says we can sit in their breakfast area and use theirs!  It isn’t terribly fast, but we are able to get caught up a bit before heading on.

We have read about the Green River Lakes area in Bridger National Forest and decide to head there for a campsite.  The write-up raved about the scenery and mentioned that the “last part” of the drive was on unimproved road.  We follow the Green River through some ranchland and then hit the dirt road – for 18 miles!  We were almost ready to give up when we rounded a bend and said ahhh!  The great scenery was here. 

The road literally ends at the campground.  We found a beautiful site overlooking Green River Lake.  Campsites are large, and our nearest neighbors are Rich and Penny, from Utah.  He has been coming here since boyscout days.

Greg gathers and splits firewood and we have a nice fire.  The Camp Host, from Alaska, says there have been a few bears in the area, so keep food locked up.  We will try a hike around the lake tomorrow.  We see several horsemen in the area.

 Nice sunset.  Beautiful stars later complete with shooting stars and Milky Way!!  WOW!  But very cold!