Day 15 - Farewell Tour of Yellowstone

We headed into the park by 8:30 am. We took Sandy with us today because we knew that we wouldn't be taking hikes today.  We took the Firehole Canyon Drive.  It was a two-mile loop that went through a deep canyon.  There was a clear river that followed the floor of the canyon rolling over huge boulders here and there.  There was a beautiful waterfall.  This drive is definitely one we would take again.  In fact, we did take it two times to get all the pictures we wanted.  The pullovers were small and sometimes full so we drove it the second time to get all the pictures we wanted.

From there we headed north past the Norris Geyser Basin area.  We found an overlook that showed a wide view of the basin with the steam from the geysers.  We stopped, took pictures, and then took a short walk to see if we could get a better picture.  When we got back to our truck, there were several other people there and they asked us if we had seen the wolf.  What wolf?  They had seen a wolf run across the road and down the way we had gone.  That is why they had stopped.  We missed it all.

The most northern point we went on the road was to an overlook of the Gallatin Mountain Range.  There were beautiful purple bushes in the meadow along with the golden grasses so we had to take pictures.  We made another stop and this time Sandy got into the water up to her tummy.  She really liked the water.

It was getting close to lunch time and we had packed a picnic lunch but all the picnic areas were full so we ended up pulling into a large pullover with a beautiful view and eating in the truck.  We also stopped at another place in the park that we  had never been.  It was called Sheepeaters  Cliff.  It was a very unusual rock formation.  It was called Sheepeaters because the Shoshonni Indianas lived here and they herded sheep.  Anyway, it was worth a look see.

On the way out of the park, we came upon a small herd of elk and I managed to get a picture of a couple of females beside the road.  About 2:00 pm we left the park for the last time.  We have enjoyed being here but it is time to move on.  When we got back we went into town to do a little more shopping, have a pizza for supper and fill the truck up with gas so we would be ready for the big drive tomorrow.  We aren't sure where we will stop tomorrow but we are going to take two days to get to South Dakota.

One of many unusual rock formations seen on the Firehole Canyon Drive.

Firehole Canyon Falls.

After leaving the canyon, the river becomes quieter.

Gallatin Mountain Range

Shades of fall in the Gallatin Valley.

Day 14 - Going the Grand Circle of Yellowstone

River flowing to Virginia Falls.

Buffalo Jam:  These guys love to slow down visitors in the park.

He must think he is a car!

STOP:  They have the right of way!

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  It's beautiful but doesn't compare to the one and only Grand Canyon.

Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Carol dodged a bullet because he was feeling great today.  I guess he didn't have the dreaded cold that usually gets him down for a week.

 We decided to go into the park first thing this morning.  Of course we saw several traffic tie-ups from people watching elk and buffalo.We didn't stop because we are now veterans of animal watching.   We had been seeing a loop road along the river so we decided to take it.  We did the loop but never again.  You really don't get to see much of the river and it is a very rough road.  After that loop, we took a loop road to Virginia Cascades.  It was very nice and we would definitely do it again.  I am posting a picture or two of the river that the road overlooked and passed right by at times.  We stopped and walked along the river.  It was very peaceful and beautiful.

We then headed for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the upper and lower falls.  While we were at the lower falls, an older Japanese woman asked if we wanted her to take our picture in front of the falls.  We told her yes and gave her the camera.  She snapped one picture but she hadn't pushed the right button so she tried again but this time she handed the camera back to me before the picture was complete so we got a picture of my leg.  Her heart was in the right place!  Carol did take a picture of me in front of the upper falls.  I am posting this one as proof that I am actually on this trip with Carol and Sandy!

  There are big buses of Japanese tourists at the park and they all have cameras.  Today was "Park Visitor Appreciation Day" so anyone could get into any national park free.  We have a Golden Eagle Passport so we don't pay anyway but I thought it was nice for those who would normally have to pay.  We were told that the park service does this twice a year.  I guess they don't advertise it.

We went to the mud volcanoes next and took a short hike but unfortunately the first part of the hike was UP HILL!  It is always fun going back down.  We decided that would be the last hike we take in this park this year.  The rest of the sightseeing would be from the truck or pullouts off the road.

We did get into a big buffalo traffic jam with cars, trucks, campers and buffaloes.  The buffaloes were on both sides of the road and some were crossing the road between cars.  A couple of them crossed right in front of our truck.  Naturally, I had my window down trying to take pictures.  The males seemed upset that the cars were on their road and were bellowing.

We finished driving the entire loop around Yellowstone which is 130 miles.  It took us six hours but we made several stops to hike and look.  Tomorrow we are coming back to take pictures we have wanted to take but couldn't because of traffic.  We won't be taking any trails.

After we got back to camp, we talked to our neighbors.  They work here at Grizzley RV and are from California.  They said this is the first year they have worked as "work campers" and have really loved it.  They work four days on and three days off.  They get paid minimum wage and get a camping spot for $5.00 a night.  On their days off, they go into the Yellowstone and see other sights around the area.  They have already sighed up to come back next year.  Carol and I have talked a lot about doing the same thing but we don't want to be away from our grand kids that long so I guess we will just keep talking about it.

Fall scene in one of the many valleys in Yellowstone.

Day 13 - A Little Work and a Lot of Fun

Another cold night but an electric blanket and furnace helps us stay warm.  We have been busy every day but this morning some laundry and general housekeeping needed to be done.  We decided that we would spend the morning getting these things done and go into the park this afternoon.  After laundry, housekeeping things done, and lunch, we headed into the park.

Our goal was to reach the north entrance of the park because I wanted a picture of the original entrance to the park.  The north end is 50 miles from West Yellowstone.  We also wanted to stop at the Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, and anything else we saw that was worth a stop and look.

The Norris Geyser Basin was nice.  There were several geysers in all stages of eruption.  We took two different trails and on the trails going up, we discovered how out of shape we are.  We had to made frequent stops to catch our breath; but, with much huffing and puffing and taking one step at a time, we made the climbs back to the top.  We also stopped at the Gibbon Waterfall.  I will post a picture.

When we got to the Mammoth Hot Springs, we first took the motor loop around the top of the springs.  Note to self:  it was a waste of time and never take that loop again.  The majority of the active hot springs were not visible from the car.  You have to get out of your car and take a trail!  We stopped near the bottom, parked the truck, and took a very nice broadwalk trail to see some of the hot springs.    The springs were still pumping hot water down the terraces.

It was getting late and the north entrance was still five miles away.  That should have been a short trip but we had to drive through a beautiful canyon with hairpin curves and magnificent views around every curve.  By the time we reached the bottom of the canyon and the north entrance of the park, it was getting late so the picture needed more light but I took it anyway.

The best part of this trip to the north entrance was all the animals we saw.  There were cars stopped along the road to see the animals and to get pictures and we were just like the rest of them, we stopped when we could.  We saw so many elk that we finally kept driving when we came across them.  Although twice, an elk walked right in front of the truck and Carol could have hit them if he hadn't been watching.

It was the same with buffalo although we didn't see any herds.  We only saw single old male buffaloes.  The last time we were at the park, we were told that when the males get old and can no longer defend it's herd of females from younger males, they are forced to leave the herd and wander Yellowstone alone except sometimes they will team up with other old males.  We saw several old guys.  In fact, two were walking right down the middle  of the road causing quite a traffic jam.  I am posting a picture of the pair and I want it known that Carol took that picture.  It is very good!

We also saw several Bighorn Sheep.  We got there just as a fight was going on between two males.  The winner stood at the top of a rocky cliff  while the loser was sent running down the cliff away from the herd.  Again, it was getting dark so the picture isn't the greatest but I'm posting it anyway.

All in all, it was another great day..The only downer is the fact that Carol is getting a cold.  He normally gets a bad cold at least twice a year.  Why did it have to be now???  It usually takes a week to run its course and there are a couple of days when he can barely function.  We are hoping it won't be like that.  Only time will tell.

Tomorrow we plan to see Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the upper and lower falls and the paint and mud pots.  That may not seem like much but it will involve a lot of driving.  You don't get anywhere fast in Yellowstone!

Pictures above and below:  terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs in northern part of park.

The road twists and hangs onto the mountain as it descends to the bottom of the valley.

An elk at dusk

Above and below pictures:  North Geyser Basin.

Gibbon Falls

Day 12 - Earthquake

Today we drove back to the highway we came in on to find out about the earthquake.  We had driven through a valley with the Madison River flowing through.  We saw men fly fishing in the river.  It looked picture perfect but as we drove through the valley we saw a lake named Earthquake Lake and saw signs indicating a disaster had occurred in the peaceful valley.  We spent almost three hours driving and stopping at roadside info signs telling the whole story.

At 11:37 pm on August 17, 1959, one of the severest earthquakes recorded on the North American continent hit this peaceful valley.  Half of a 7,600 foot mountain came crashing down into the valley, bottling up the river, and causing a tidal wave to send a 20 foot wave of water down the valley where vacationers where staying in cabins and campgrounds.  Today one of those campgrounds is 100 feet under the new lake that was formed called Earthquake Lake.  We saw cabins that had been literally picked up and swept along the tidal wave of water and left down river.  With all this devastation, only 27 people were killed.  Most of them were camped at the campground that is under the waters of Earthquake Lake.  Part of that campground was in the direct path of the rock slide that occurred from the earthquake so some life was lost and those people were never recovered.  Now the valley has returned to the tranquility of before the quake.

Yellowstone sets in a earthquake zone and it is not uncommon for them to occur but they aren't the magnitude of the 1959 quake.  The last time we were in Yellowstone, there was an earthquake.  Kara and we were tent camping and we were awakened by the ground shaking.  We didn't realize that it was caused by an earthquake until we heard the news the next morning.

After we left the valley we returned to West Yellowstone by way of a road that cut across the very tiptop of a part of Idaho.  The trees are turning yellow and orange.   I'll post a picture and also of a huge ranch that we passed in Idaho.  The rest of the pictures I will post are from the earthquake.

When we got back to town, we picked up our lunch at McDonalds and ate back at our camper.  The McDonalds doesn't look like a regular one, so I took a picture and will post it as well.  We spent the rest of the afternoon being a tourist and shopping along the main street of West Yellowstone.  If we
saw one tee-shirt shop, we saw a dozen.  We ate supper at a very nice place called Madison
Crossing.  The restaurant along with some very nice shops is in an old school building.  The
atmosphere was great and the food was good as well.

Carol and Sandy overlooking Earthquake Lake.

We didn't go into the park today but will tomorrow.  It didn't rain today either.  The temperature got down to 32 degrees but we obeyed the rules and unhooked our water so the faucet didn't freeze.

West Yellowstone, Montana McDonalds

Beautiful ranch in Montana west of Yellowstone.

Fall trees in Idaho.

Day11 - Hitting the Hot Spots in Yellowstone

We had our first rain last night but we were glad that it was in the evening/night.  This morning we got up to fog and low hanging clouds but that was not going to stop us from going into Yellowstone.  We spent the morning driving from the Madison Entrance on the west side of the park to Old Faithful.  We pulled off the main road to take several boardwalk-type trails around several geysers.

There were geysers, hot springs and steam vents everywhere and the clouds and fog hung low so it was hard to see where the steam stopped and clouds began.  We were able to see several geysers erupt as we were on the trails.  I tried to take pictures, but again, with the fog and low clouds, it was hard to distinguish what was what.

The sun finally came out as we waited for Old Faithful to erupt.  I gave Carol the camera so he  could take pictures and I video taped the eruption.  Sorry, there were no pictures to show you!  Enough said!

At 4:00 pm we headed back the Yellowstone to Hayden Valley where animals can usually be found.  It is about 45 miles to get to Hayden Valley.  As we traveled the roads, you can always tell when an animal has been spotted because cars are pulled off on both sides of the road and people with cameras and lens 2 feet long are clustered together trying to get the perfect shot.  We saw herds of elk and buffalo.  We were not able to find a spot to pull over so the shot of the herd of buffalo is at a distance.    We did come up on a single elk with a huge rack of antlers but it was too dark to get a picture.

During this animal safari, a storm came up complete with lightening, thunder, hail, and some rain.  It didn't last long and was followed by a beautiful rainbow.  The really fun (NOT) part of the trip was returning to camp in the dark on the twisting, turning roads.  The speed limit was never higher than 45 and on some curves, it was 25.  Usually, I am trying to speed Carol up but not this trip.  There were a couple of curves that I was telling him to slow down.  We finally made it and are back in camp safe and sound.  The rain has passed and it should be a quiet night.  Tomorrow it begins again.  There is so much to see.

We returned to camp around 2:00pm and had lunch/supper.  The camper across the street from us travels with two huge cats...one black and one white.  The lady ties  them out with long leads and harnesses staked to a dog tie out stake.  There are always all kinds of dogs in the campground but two cats is a first for me.

Buffalo - a Yellowstone local

One of the many, many geysers for which Yellowstone is famous.

The geysers blend into the surrounding landscape.

Another view of the Morning Glory Pool.

Day 10 - Yellowstone or Bust !

Last night I had to watch one of my favorite shows "Dancing with the Stars" so we finally turned on the television; however, what I failed to take into account was the fact that the ABC station it was on was on Mountain Time.  The show didn't start until 9:00 pm.  I did watch it and we were up at 6:30 am and on the road by 7:45.  What a great time to be headed east...sunrise.

We drove around the south end of the park on US 2.  There pictures were taken from that road.  At Browning we got on US 89 to I-15S.  We stopped at a truck stop for sandwiches, chips, and drinks and headed for a rest area about 40 miles down the road.  The interstate passed through a gorgeous (the word beautiful is being over used so I thought I would try another word) canyon and there was an scenic overlook so we stopped to look and ended up eating there.   Sunday we had trumpet music as we ate and today we had gorgeous scenery.  

We exited the interstate at Helena onto US 287.  The scenery changed to low rolling hills which are covered with hay and wheat fields.  The closer we got to Yellowstone, the scenery changed again to tall mountains and rushing, rocky rivers.  

This part of Montana has a lot of huge ranches with names like Odell Creek Ranch, Garden Valley Ranch, Carroll Ranch, Eld Meadows Ranch, and my favorite, Grangers Pastures.  We had some road construction which slowed us down.  We drove 475 miles in 10 hours.  The going is slow when you have to drive 35 MPH through several miles of construction.  One thing I noticed as we were driving through the little towns is that a lot of them have very new, modern-looking post offices.  Too bad the post office doesn't have the money to replace some of Central Illinois' old post offices.  I guess you have to live west of the Mississippi River to get a new post office.

This picture is a leftover from yesterday.  Part of the drive was through a Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Besides the sign, there was a metal sculpture representing Blackfeet.

We got at the Grizzley RV Campground around 5:30.  We are camped in site 204.  It is not a KOA because a fellow camper at Glacier had told us that the KOA wasn't very nice so I went on line and found this one.  It is nice with grass and trees but, of course, it doesn't compare to the one in Glacier so don't expect to see pictures of this one.  One good thing about is that it is only 2 miles from the west entrance of Yellowstone and we can walk to downtown West Yellowstone if we want.  We saw some neat roadside signs about earthquakes as we drove close to this park that I think we will check out before we leave the area.  More on that in a later blog.

It is getting late so I'm going to post some more pictures and then call it a night.  It is raining for the first time on this trip.  It can rain all night but we want it to stop by morning!  They have freeze warnings here.  We got a slip of paper that said we should unhook our water connection at night to avoid freezing.  It is a $50 fee is we don't and faucet freezes.  Needless to say, we are going to unhook the water.

An early morning view of the road as we left West Glacier.

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