Monday, September 21, 2015

Yellowstone National Park, September 14-19, 2015

Day 1: Long 12 hour travel day. Flew into Jackson Hole, Wyoming, picked up our Toyota Sequoia, and drove the 2.5 hours up to Island Park to find “Will and Di’s Resort”. This would be the only completely sunny day we’d have until days five and six, our travel day back to Jackson Hole.

Di greeted us and we joined her and two guests for dinner. Larry and Di grew up together in Fort Worth, Texas, so they had tons of childhood stories to share.

Apartment upper level, garage lower
The “resort” is really the apartment Will and Di built to enjoy the winters in Island Park, because the main cabin took 24 hours to heat up before it was renovated in 2012. Now the main cabin’s upstairs has two bunk beds, a twin, two queen beds and a lovely bathroom. The main floor has a fantastic kitchen, huge living room with fireplace, pocket bathroom and master bedroom/bath. The main cabin and apartment are both comfortable during the winter. Amber, a colleague I worked closely with at Chief Sealth International High School, offered the “resort” (her parent's vacation home) when she discovered Yellowstone was our first retirement trip.
Apartment living room
Apartment living room
Apartment kitchen
Marie on apartment deck

Main cabin














Park Map, locations referenced in daily narratives below
Day 2: Rose early for our first foray into Yellowstone. It was raining buckets, but by the time we drove the 15 miles to Yellowstone, the rest of the day was cloudy with only occasional sprinkles.

We divided the park by the south loop one day, the north loop the next, and then returned to additional sites our third day. The first loop took us to Midway Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful, and Old Faithful Inn, built in 1904, a truly amazing structure.

After lunch we drove over Craig Pass across the Continental Divide to West Thumb Geyser Basin overlooking Yellowstone Lake, America’s largest high-altitude lake that’s 20 miles long and 14 miles wide. At West Thumb, geysers line the lake and some occur under the lake at Grant Village. As you can see it was stormy this day, but the visibility was good. Note the steam rising off geysers lining the lake.

Headed north from Lake Village north to Hayden Valley, a beautiful shrub and grassland populated by bison, elk, and moose, which attract bears, coyotes and wolves. Waterfowl, including white pelicans live along the Yellowstone River that runs through the valley, but all we saw were grazing elk.

West Entrance
Finished our first day with some stunning views of the upper and lower Yellowstone River Falls. (We returned to the south rim on Day 3 to walk Uncle Tom’s Trail along the south rim, because the canyon and both falls are so stunning.)

We drove around to the north canyon rim and hiked down a switchback to the top of the 109 foot drop of the upper falls. Took a video to capture the sound. At 7500 feet the hike back up required one short rest on the many benches provided at each turn.

Finished our first day in Yellowstone and managed to get back to Will and Di’s Resort by 6:30PM after a brief stop at a West Yellowstone grocery store. 
Ubiquitous bison






Upper Geyser Basin
Upper Geyser Basin
Upper Geyser Basin
Old Faithful, cloudy and rainy
Upper Geyser Basin, geyser run off into river

Old Faithful, not much contrast with clouds and rain
Old Faithful Inn, 5 tons of rock used for fireplace
Old Faithful Inn upper three floors

Lower Canyon Falls, Artists Point


Lower Falls at Artist Point, 308 foot cascade


West Thumb Geyser Basin overlooking Yellowstone Lake


Yellowstone Lake—shot taken in color believe it or not

Hayden Valley looking north

Hayden Valley looking south
Gull Drive approaching West Thumb Geyser Basin















Day 3: Raining buckets again at Island Park, but only cloudy with occasional sprinkles in the park all day again. Today we took the north loop, beginning our day at Norris Geyser Basin. It was really windy on the basin, but the walk around and through it is primordial as you can see.
Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin; it's other worldly














Drove north to Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces where we took the Upper Terraces Area drive. Great views over Mammoth and mountains. Parked the Trooper at the Lower Terraces Area and walked them. Got some nice shots. Really blustery, about 30 mph, winds here.

We also walked around Mammoth, had some ice cream and gawked at some elk resting on the lawn of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. 

Mammoth Hot Springs Terrace

Hot Springs close up shot

More terraced hot springs













































Lamar River Valley














One of the prettiest drives ever was the one out of Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt and over Dunraven Pass where the road links to Canyon Village and the 40 mile drive back to the west entrance.

The road south and east out of Mammoth is stunning. We enjoyed sunny breathtaking vistas of the Lamar River Valley, Mt. Washburn, and Tower Fall for 20 miles. It’s a winding road, but the lava formations along the cliff faces, and the fall colors on this sunny drive dazzled us.

Lamar River Valley
Lava formations near Tower-Roosevelt and Tower Fall















Lava formations adjacent Tower Fall

Lava formation (close up) adjacent Tower Fall


Tower Fall, 132 foot drop













Dunraven Pass

































We really lucked out because the next day an early snow closed Chittenden Road and Dunraven Pass.







Day 4: Pouring buckets in Island Park, so we hung out and read for a few hours before leaving for Yellowstone. True to form, the weather dried out by the time we reached the park. Hiked along the south rim of Yellowstone Canyon, spent some time at the Canyon Village Visitor Education Center, and took the short .5 mile hike to Artists Paintpots before heading back to IP.

Foliage along South Rim Canyon Trail

Foliage along South Rim Canyon Trail

Foliage along South Rim Canyon Trail
South Rim Canyon Trail

















Lower Falls from South Rim Canyon Trail 
Lower Falls from South Rim Canyon Trail
















Yellowstone Canyon
















Artists Paintpots
Moss ground cover at Artists Paintpots

Artists Paintpots


















Enjoyed Di’s homemade tomato basil soup and cheese and crackers for dinner after this last stop of our day.



Day 5: It was sunny and cold this morning and we headed out early for Yellowstone where we got trapped in a three-mile (at least) traffic jam along the Madison River. At first we thought it might be tourists stopping to take pictures of the elk along the river, but at the bend, we could see it was volume. We calculated it would take us two hours to get to Madison Junction, and who knows how long for another look at Old Faithful and a hike along Firehole River to Grand and Castle Geyers and Geyser Hill.

Henry's Lake foliage
So, we turned around, headed back to Island Park, and spent a lovely sunny fall day at Henry Lake State Park, where we strolled along the lake and ate lunch before driving about 12 miles to Harriman State Park. This park has tons of hiking/biking trails and they’re all well marked. We investigated two of the historic buildings overlooking the lake on the Harriman Ranch before taking a hike through an aspen grove and along the lake.

One of the buildings was the main dining hall and the other was the Harriman residence. Ya, think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; it’s that railroad Harriman family. 
Henry's Lake State Park, a fisherman's paradise

Harriman Park
Harriman Park, dining hall of Harriman Ranch
Dining Hall kitchen; checking what's in the pot

Harriman Ranch main house
Harriman Ranch main house
Trail maps are posted around the park
Lake Loop trail at Harriman Park

Lake Loop trail at Harriman Park
Lake Loop trail at Harriman Park
Trumpeter swans on Lake Loop Trail




























Big Springs, headwaters to Snake River 
Marie and Di at Big Springs


Di prepared dinner where we had our second helping of her fabulous homemade apple pie and ginger ice cream. And if that wasn’t enough, she gave us two yummy slices of pear cake for our Saturday breakfast.







Us at Big Springs


Day 6: Rose early for our drive back to Jackson Hole. Di told us to be sure and take the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, and are we glad we did. As you can see, like everything in this part of the country, it’s beautiful.

It was a chilly morning at Mesa Falls

Mesa River
Mesa River

Mesa Falls
Arrived in Jackson Hole several hours before our flight, so we strolled around town, found some ice cream, and stopped in at the visitor center for some advice about possible walks. Ended up driving a loop to Kelly, where we strolled around a Mormon homestead, and then to Antelope Junction and back to the airport, arriving 45 minutes before our flight. Perfect.
Grand Tetons

Grand Tetons
Mormon homestead

Pronghorn antelope near Antelope Junction, how appropriate

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