Wednesday, 09/30/15
Provo, UT
Lakeside RV Campground
We left Boulder WY about 10:15. We got on a secondary road with no route markers and were not sure if we were in the right place. We talked to a local stopped along the road who reassured us we were where we wanted to be. We saw numerous herds of antelope during the day. I quit counting after a dozen herds. I saw a moose in the middle of a stream. Lee pulled over and got the binoculars to try to get a better look. It was definitely a moose but as it walked across the river it got behind trees so it could not be seen. This was in SE WY.
We drove through miles of high plains, through large ranches and small towns. Eventually we drove through the Wasatch Mts which had a desert like look. Bare cliffs with lots of red rock molded by wind into many strange shapes and holes led us into the Salt Lake City area. We are camping just south of Salt Lake City in Provo, Utah in a nice camp ground and hope to be in Zion Nat'l Park tomorrow afternoon.
Tap for 2 pics below
Monday, 09/28/15
West Yellowstone MT
Grizzly RV Park
No pics today. No travel, no pics.
About 9:30 Seth and Lisa came by for a bite of breakfast and to say goodbye before they left to catch their plane to Oregon. After they left I did 4 loads of laundry and we washed the dust and dirt off the outside of the trailer and truck. That took about 2 hours. Lee did a vinegar and alcohol treatment of the front room for mold and I followed up with lysol spray.
Tomorrow we head south out of Yellowstone and into the Tetons.
Tuesday, 0929/15
Boulder, WY
Highline Trail RV Park
Left W. Yellowstone , Grizzly RV park around 10 am. Our trailer brakes did not seem to want to work. It got to 25 last night. After driving about an hour the brakes came on. We stopped at a view point and ate Macaroni salad and sodas for lunch. We stopped at a visitors center to get a Grand Teton park map. We took some pictures but it is hard to get just how big and impressive the mountains are.
We saw a herd of antelope and several groups of 2.
We took a detour off our planned route in order to find a rv park. Several had closed for the year already. We stayed at Highline Trail RV park in Boulder, WY
The trip map is in two parts because the GPS shut off and restarted.
Tap below to see pics
Saturday, 09/26/15
West Yellowstone
Grizzly RV Park
We met Seth and Lisa at Timberline Cafe for breakfast. We all pigged out except for Lisa, then headed off. We took in Firehold Lake Drive and saw Great Fountain Geyser. Then went to Lone Star Geyser and saw Kepler Cascades. It was really 4 falls in quick sucession. We went to White Cone Geyser. Crossed the continenal divide twice. One of those places a small lake flowed both to the Atlantic and the Pacific
We went to West Thumb which is part of Yellowstone Lake. We took in some thermal features there. We explored the Lake Hotel which was elegant. There was a violinist playing chamber music in the sun/sitting room. We also explored the Lake Lodge. It was more rustic, logs and all, with 2 big stone fireplaces and rockers on the front porch facing the lake. It was massive but managed to seem cozy too. We saw another big bull elk but this time 30 feet away. He was bugling. We ended the day eating at the Buffalo Bar again. I got buffalo balls, Lee ate buffalo too.
Tap below for 2 pics
Sunday, 09/27/15
West Yellowstone
Grizzly RV Park
Seth and Lisa came over for breakfast then headed to Fairy Falls trail for some hiking. When they got to the falls they found a beautiful 200 ft cascade. Grand Prismatic Springs was also part of their hiking excursion. It looks like rainbow colors thus the name.
It is also a thermal feature.
We all planned to reunite around 5 or 5:30 and head to Mammoth Hot Springs to do a ranger lead observation of the moon eclipse.
Lee and I decided around 12 to ride to the NE entrance of the park which traverses the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley is supposed to have an active bear and wolf population. We did not see either of those, but did see a few white tail deer and loads of buffalo. When we looked at the map we realized to return to W. Yellowstone and then go to Mammoth would be a 90 miles trip but to go from Lamar Valley directly to Mammoth was only 40 miles. So we asked Seth and Lisa to just meet us at the eclipse program.
They arrived just as the rangers were assembling people to hike to the viewing point. We had already been there 1 1/2 hours. Nobody had eaten dinner so we ate sandwiches while we slowly watched the shadow creep over the moon. By 8:30 it was getting chilly and the moon had fully darkened so we headed back to West Yellowstone. Tomorrow is the day Seth and Lisa head back to Oregon. So they will come by in the morning for a final visit before they head to Billings MT to turn in their rental car and catch their plane. We will leave day after tomorrow.
Tap below for 2 pics
Friday, 09/25/15
West Yellowstone, MT
Grizzly RV Park
Seth and Lisa took off on their own today. They did Old Faithful and the various thermal features in that area. Lisa did a little shopping and got 3 new tops. They came by about 10pm to tell us about their day and make some plans for tomorrow.
Lee worked on trying to kill the mold in the front end of the trailer. He used a 1/2 & 1/2 mixture of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar. Then sprayed everything in the bedroom with lysol spray. After that we went shopping too. Lee picked up 3 new shirts also. We saw an old fashion soda fountain so stopped and had real milkshakes for lunch. Then we went to the Yellowstone Historical Museum. It mostly concentrated on the part the Union Pacific RR played in developing the area as a tourist attraction. It did have an informative film on the 1988 fire that burned so much of the park. Ranger Sandy gave a talk about the life of the bison and a litte about elk life styles.
We came back to the trailer about 3:30 and took a little nap. I woke up at 4 and felt sick to my stomach, had cramps and generally was miserable. It had passed by about 9:30. As I write I think I am okay now.
Tap below for a picture of Grizzly RV park.
Thursday, 09/24/15
West Yellowstone, MT
Grizzly RV Park
After a 27 degree night it warmed to mid 70s bright and sunny. Seth and Lisa came over about 10:30 and ate Lee's homemade granola. Then we took our lunchs and headed off for Mammoth Hot Springs. We stopped at Beryl Springs and Gibbons Falls, saw Roaring Mt. At Mammoth we saw both upper and lower Terraces. I looks like someone took a multilayered cake and striggled marshmellow cream all over it. There is a pic at the bottom. An elk came right up to the boardwalk, I could have touched her. Then we saw the rest of the herd sauntering across the blacktop right in front of the Mammoth visitors center.
Next we started to Tower Roosevelt. Our first stop on this leg was Undine Falls. Which is really a triple falls. We decided to take a side road that was 6 miles of dirt road hoping to see some wild life. The road was called Black Tail Plateau Drive but we did not see any of them or any other critters. We did see some beautiful scenery. Tower falls was a very high narrow falls that was very lovely.
We climber to 8,900ft over Mt Washburn and Dunraven Pass. Between Canyon Village and Madison we finally saw a grizzly for certain. We stopped used our binoculars and even managed to get a picture. He wandered through high grass from clump of trees to clump of trees. He was clearly not a black bear but a grizzly. We saw the same elk herd we saw a couple of days ago with the huge rack, but this time there was another bull, too. Smaller and laying off to the side alone. The big bull bugled several times. Now if we can just see a moose or wolf pack.
We got back to West Yellowstone after dark and ate at Buffalo Bar. The food was great and everyone but Lee ate buffalo. Tomorrow Seth and Lisa are going off on their own to Old Faithful Geyser and maybe do some hiking that us oldsters are not up to. We will get together tomorrow night and hear their adventures.
Tap boxes below for 3 pics
Wednesday, 09/23/15
West Yellowstone, M
Grizzly RV Park
Seth and Lisa joined us at the trailer about 11. I fixed them breakfast and made sandwiches to take with us on our excursion for the day. We headed for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We were going to try to see the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River. We took in a few thermal features and got in a hike lead by a ranger to Uncle Toms Point where you look down on the top of the lower (bigger ) falls. Then we drove out to Artist Point for a view of the falls and river valley. That is the iconic picture you often see. Unfortunatley the sun was right in our camera lens so we did not get the best pic.
Then we decided to drive to Hayden Valley where the ranger said there was a lot of bear activity and a wolf pack. We took in a mud volcano and a sulphur caldron on the way. We did not see or hear a wolf pack, but did see a group of people waiting for them to show up. We did see a good size elk herd and think a grizzly bear. We had forgotten to get our binoculars from the truck so not positive. A mistake we will not make again.
Lee played with his new toy, a Go Pro camera that Seth brought from Oregon. We were cold and hungry and it would soon be dark so we headed the 50+ miles back to West Yellowstone and took in a bar b que place.
Tap to see the lower falls of the Yellowstone below
Tuesday, 09/22/15
West Yellowstone
Grizzly RV Park
Boy it got cold last night. It warmed up to 75 by mid afternoon. Think we will be breaking out the sleeping bags soon. The morning was spent messing with the tv cable and cleaning the trailer. While changing sheets we discovered not only are both closet areas wet so is the front wall and the mattress was wet on the end. We can not figure where the wetness is coming from. Good thing the sleeping bags were in plastic.
We took off around 2 and drove to Norris Geyser Basin. We took several hikes seeing various thermal features, walking a little over 2 miles. We listened to a ranger talk. Saw a lovely 85 ft water fall. On our way back to the campground I saw a herd of over a dozen elk. We pulled off the road and got out our binoculars.The elk were across a river from us in a big meadow. The bull elk who ruled this herd was a magnificent specimen. He has a huge rack and looked absolutely regal. He was awesome. We watched him and his herd for 45 minutes. He seemed particularly interested in one cow and kept following her and trying to lick her tail end. She kept walking off when he did that, refusing his advances. He never got close enough for a good pic but a couple of young elk walked across the river and Lee got a pic of them with reflection in the water.
We got back to West Yellowstone around 6 and got a pizza before going back to the RV. Seth texted and he and Lisa had safely landed in Billings and were renting a car to drive to West Yellowstone. (arriving about 11pm) We will see them in the morning.
