Newsletter 4 - June 2013

Wyoming has the lowest population of any state (500 000+), and it spotlights exploring the Old West, experiencing the New West and the life of a cowboy, but their flagship attraction is Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Better than moving mountains

We drove around the prairie downtown of Laramie with its attractive two storey brick buildings and then headed west to Green River and Rock Springs. 

On the road to Yellowstone

The countryside was dry and fairly flat at 6000ft with occasional mesas and not a lot of green. We could imagine the long cold snowy winters. Natural gas and mining oil shale reserves are evident but we were told this state has the greatest output of coal in USA so there were a lot of miners in town. 

Wyoming oil pumps

Unusual guyed structures

We stayed overnight and the next day followed the Green River north. 

Green River RV park

We almost had the flat straight road to ourselves and other than some cattle (and a little irrigation), we saw a lot of dry lake beds that looked like salt, and the occasional glimpse of the river.

Wyoming cattle

Snow covered mountains came into our sight all around and about 20 miles from Jackson Hole we drove through a narrow pass and suddenly the countryside was green, hilly and very picturesque. 

On the way to Jackson, Wyoming

We had reached the southern edge of Grand Teton National Park. 

Antler arch at Jackson, Wyoming

We camped on the river 10 miles north of the city in the National Elk Reserve and walked in the evening hoping to see some elks, but not this time.

Sunset over the Tetons

The next morning was clear blue sky and we spent the whole day taking photos, stopping at all the overlooks along the 80 mile circular route. 

Tetons

The jagged rocky peaks were named in early 1800’s by French beaver trappers who must have been missing female company.

G&J at the Tetons

Grand Teton at 13,770ft looked like a big canine tooth surrounded by a range of 12 other glacier carved summits over 10,500 ft. It was magnificent!! 

Snake River

During the day we saw deer, buffalo, picas and elk. 

Moose

Pica

"You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd"

Buffalo at the Tetons

There is a loop drive with many overlooks and I think on this most perfect day, we stopped at all of them. 

Tetons from Jackson Lodge

We caught a small ferry across Jenny Lake and walked up to view the Hidden Valley Falls. 

Jenny Lake boat trip

Snow is still evident at 8000ft and the snow melt is creating wonderful waterfalls and rushing streams.

Track to Hidden Falls

Hidden Falls

So into Yellowstone the next morning. 
We came in the south entrance and headed for Old Faithful. 

Waiting for Old Faithful

Old Faithful eruption

There are five geysers in this area that are fairly predictable (could be only once a day or about every 88 minutes [Old Faithful – at the moment] ). The times are posted at the National Park headquarters and you make sure you’re waiting at the viewing point from 15-30 minutes before (and after) that time. 

Splendid Geyser

This section of the Upper Geyser Basin follows the Firehole River and has a walking trail of just over four kms, so you try to fit in the geyser times with the walk to view all the other pools, 

Chromatic Pool

Beauty Pool

Morning Glory Pool

lakes, springs, hotpots and fumeroles. 

Yellowstone boardwalk

Red Spouter Geyser

Artist's Paint Pot

Yellowstone Overview

We watched Old Faithful (with hundreds of others) when we first arrived, spent the rest of the day walking on the paths and boardwalks, and watched Old Faithful again about 6pm as the clouds had cleared from the east and the photos looked better.

Beehive Geyser

We timed well the Beehive Geyser late morning, and then a rest for 40 minutes in the afternoon waiting for Riverside Geyser. 

Riverside Geyser

We weren’t disappointed.

Thermophiles are heat loving microorganisms. They create the colour where hot water boils and bubbles over. The colourless and yellow thermophiles grow in the hottest water, then orange, brown and green as the flow cools.

Turquoise Pool overflow

The pools that were constantly boiling (preventing bacterial growth), resulted in exceptionally clear blue water. Divine!!

Turquoise Pool

We drove about 30 miles to the West Entrance and stayed the night in West Yellowstone – no wifi or phone coverage in the park.

Next morning we drove through the Firehole Canyon 

Firehole Canyon

Firehole Canyon

and headed for the Lower and Midway Geyser basins. Unfortunately it was the Memorial Day long weekend and there were a lot of people visiting.  

No kangaroos, emus or wombats here

Whenever someone sees some wildlife they just pull up and get the cameras going – this creates quite a lot of traffic congestion- as it did that morning with buffalo taking over the road. 

Buffalo traffic stoppers

This is what happens when a buffalo is spotted close to the road

We arrived at Lower Geyser basin and spent the day walking around the springs and geysers and brilliantly coloured hot pools.

That afternoon cloudy skies brought a little rain. As we were booking in, Jen went back for the umbrellas, didn’t see the wet raised path in the grey, tripped and fell onto the steps. Not nice. She doesn’t remember falling and ended up concussed. The ambulance was called and she was taken to Rexburg Hospital (they have a CAT scanner) and she was stitched up that evening. We were so fortunate that the cut was the main injury other than bruising.

Wounded warrior - could have been a lot worse

We parked that night in Walmart  carpark– too dark to look for anywhere else -and all we both needed was rest. So made good use of the enforced break for the next few days and had the RV serviced, front brakes, coolant and transmission fluid.  Friday, the stitches came out, picked up the new glasses for Jen 

Yellowstone Bear World

Brown bear

and visited the local Bear Park which is a refuge for animals at risk. 

Playful cubs

Hand feeding 4 month old cubs

The bear cubs were so cute and playful – we will be extremely lucky to see any in the wild.

Three bears

So back to Yellowstone for the north loop.

Bull elk

The name Yellowstone came about with the French translating from the local Indian name, Rock Yellow River, and then English explorers translating the French to Yellow Stone River and with subsequent usage it is now a single word.

The waters from Yellowstone Lake flow north into the Yellowstone River. Near Canyon Village the river crashes over two waterfalls into a narrow canyon with steep sides of about 1000 ft. There are the north rim road and south rim road with lots of overlooks – each more spectacular than the last. 

Yellowstone Canyon - the colours are real

Once again we had beautiful weather and as it was the middle of the day we got some great photos without afternoon shadows. This area (along with Old Faithful,) was what the travel brochures have epitomised Yellowstone since late 1800’s.

Yellowstone Canyon below the lower falls

Yellowstone Canyon and Lower Falls

The rest of the day was driving to Mammoth Hot Springs Camping area, 

Elk at the Mammoth Campground

travelling up to the Dunraven Pass, (still plenty of snow), stopping to view more waterfalls, 

Wraith Falls

Undine Falls

scenic valleys, lots of buffalo, deer and elk in the sunshine.

Oh dear, another deer grazing

More elk

Our last day was very different at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Mammoth Hot Springs

The terraces are like living sculptures shaped by the water, rain and snow, the slope of the ground and the objects in its path, but at Mammoth they have a cycle of activity and inactivity. 

Water bubbling out creating beautiful terraces

Photos from the 1920’s show white limestone flows and wonderfully coloured pools but now there are only a few hot springs. 

Mammoth Hot Springs overflow

The thermophiles create small tapestries of colour and where the Grand Terraces were, is now whitish, crumbling and blowing away.

Lodgepole Pines covers 80% of the forested areas and in places devastated by the 1988 fires, new trees have regenerated surrounded with large fallen trees.

Dead pines from the 1988 forest fires

Dead Lodgepole pines are quite visible around the volcanic areas. When a spring changes course or reactivates after some years, the pines in the path absorb the silica which hardens (and whitens), and they can be standing there for decades.

Pines caught in a new flow

The Americans are very proud of Yellowstone – it was the first National Park in the world and has been a travellers’ mecca since the late 1800’s. Having now spent four days driving, viewing and enjoying the park in lovely sunny weather we can see why this place is so exceptional. It is so diverse in its attractions from petrified trees 

Petrified tree

to the animals, large and small,

Ground squirrel collecting nesting material

and that’s not mentioning the volcanic influences with geysers and hot springs, the snowy 8000ft passes, wonderful vistas, canyons with waterfalls and rushing rivers.

Leaving Yellowstone at Roosevelt Arch at Gardiner, Montana

So we travelled north out of Yellowstone and through the Roosevelt Welcome Archway at Gardiner. It was built in 1903 when most of the visitors to the park arrived here by train.

We are now travelling through beautiful Montana and onto Glacier National Park, which edges on the Montana-Canadian border - but that’s next time.