Month: June 2017

Our tent after the hail

Going to the Tetons by boat reminded us of the Jurassic Park movie

Happy family, Hidden Falls

Hike in the Tetons

Desmond and Dad in Dad’s favorite environment, the mountains!

Our poncho’d hobbits

The banana family!

Leaving the Tetons in the rain

Campfire and marshmallows before the rain

June 27, 2017

Our day in the Tetons started off well; a young well-groomed couple were jogging through the campsite holding a selfie stick in front of them to capture every step. Gretchen said “what extravagant, wild creatures here in Yellowstone! I thought they were native to Facebook!”

We stopped again in the Grant Village supply store–sometimes I’m beginning to wonder if we are in a “Gift Shops if the National Parks Tour”! When we were there, a huge storm rolled in and dumped an inch of hail! It looked like it had actually snowed. We felt the need to drive half a mike back to the campsite and check on the tent but the REI Kingdom 6 was standing tall. Whew!

The drive south to the Tetons is beautiful, with lakes and forests, and some amazing wildlife. The jagged peaks of the Tetons rise straight up out of the valley in spectacular fashion. (Candy reference: see a Toblerone wrapper).

We had a picnic lunch at the Jenny Lake visitor center, then took a ferry across the lake to Cascade Canyon to go see Hidden Falls–recommended to us by our good friends Mike and Rita. I felt like we were taking the boat to Jurassic Park; huge jagged peaks wrapped in misty clouds with lush wet trees, and a small dock with “be bear aware!” signs all around.
We took the hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. We saw a marmot and a pica along the way, Gretchen was delighted to check these off her “animals I’ve seen in Yellowstone” list. Desmond found that jumping over puddles was pretty entertaining, and really enjoyed scrambling over the rocks and searching for new “wands”. It was crowded until the rains came. We got a little wet, then donned our outrageously yellow Grand Teton National Park ponchos and headed for the boat when the rains got heavier. Several younger, more fashionably dressed millennials laughed when Gretchen said “we’re the banana family!”
Desmond thought he and Gretchen looked like hobbits.

We dried off and headed back to our campsite pretty late. Along the way we got into another animal-influenced traffic jam, but this time it was a mama grizzly bear with two little cubs! She was way out on a field by the road and several rangers were managing the onlookers. We watched with binoculars until the bear turned to saunter our way, at which time the ranger demanded we get back to our cars. They felt she intended to come cross the road. Desmond even got a picture of her which was not bad if you zoom in.

It had rained all day at our camp but we managed to get a fire started and dinner cooked. Quesadillas are a great campfire food, by the way, it was a big hit.

Just as we were getting ready to go to sleep, the skies opened up, and rain continued most of the night. Good to listen to, but I was dreading packing up the next morning.

It might look complicated, but it was a simple breakfast

And here we are!

Old Faithful.

The Prismatic Geysers

Two sets of Junior Ranger twins!

Desmond and Gretchen talk to Ranger Jeff at Black Sand Geysers

June 26, 2017

Our big day to see Yellowstone! We started with a quick breakfast and coffee, Desmond carved several Harry Potter wands for some spells he hopes to use on our journey, he loves to whittle. Then we got in the car and drove up to Old Faithful. We saw a few bison and one or two elk. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. The Old Faithful geyser erupts every 90 minutes or so, and there’s a calculation sheet in the kids’ Jr. Ranger packets, which Gretchen naturally filled out, and got me to help time the duration of the geyser. There were several hundred people there, in varying degrees of loudness, sitting on convenient benches placed in a semi-circular display area. The geyser was still pretty great, and its really remarkable how predictable this thing is.
We had a nice picnic near the visitor’s center, then packed up and went to the Black Sand Geysers, where we went on a fascinating ranger-led talk with Ranger Jeff. Gretchen, of course, asked a ton of questions, and we learned a whole lot. Ranger Jeff reminded us all to make sure to put down our cameras and cell phones from time to time, and appreciate this landscape without all the distractions.

We then went to prismatic springs, this huge and remarkably beautiful cauldron of colors and steam. It was crowded, but we managed ok. We bumped into Ranger Jeff again, who talked to us about the animals of Yellowstone, the plants and geology, and really inspired Gretchen with science and nature. Gretchen asked Ranger Jeff about the bison scat and wolf tracks around the edge of the geyser, and wondered if the animals ever get hurt in the hot waters. The ranger told us that they rarely ever get hurt here–the bison and wolves have lived around these features for millennia and have adapted to the strangeness.

We wandered our way up to the Fountain Paint Pots, burbling sulfuric mud pits and colorful blue pools of hot water… it was an odd sight to see amidst the green forests and mountains. On our way north to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone we got stuck in a “bison jam”, one of the all-too-common traffic delays caused by bison crossing the road.
We took a side trip on the Firehole Lake Drive, and got to see the White Dome Geyser erupt, which apparently is a very rare thing.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a weird sight; yellow rock and steep cliffs, constantly eroding, with an impressive waterfall that spills into an active geyser– creating a huge plume of steam and mist. Gretchen longed to hike to the bottom, but we were too tired.

We were pretty hungry so we stopped in a restaurant to eat, bought more bits and baubles, then headed back to our camp at Grant Village.
We were too late to make it back for the ranger talk, unfortunately, and too late even for a campfire. We decided it’d be a good time to teach the kids how to play solitaire, which they both really enjoyed playing together, ironically enough. We played cards for a while and then went to sleep.

Yay hiking!

Hike along the lake in Yellowstone, Grant Village

West Thumb Geysers at sunset

Yikes! Geysers!

Geysers, you say?

June 25, 2017
We woke up lateish while Lynne went to the store to get supplies for the next 3 nights in Yellowstone. The kids and I sauntered to the hotel breakfast, then swam in the nice outdoor pool for a bit. I’d forgotten how cold you get when getting out of a pool in the west, even on a hot day.
We packed up and headed out of town, on the way treating the kiddos to some fine Dairy Queen hamburgers and shakes. A beautiful drive over a pass on highway 14, with alpine lakes and snow still on the north faces of the mountains. There were several areas where forest fires had torn through, maybe 5 to 10 years ago, with new trees popping up between the fallen bleached trees. We made it to Yellowstone lake around 2, and Gretchen was thrilled to use her 4th grader card to get into the park. We stopped in the Fishing Bridge visitor’s center to get Jr Ranger packets and had an interesting talk with the ranger about forest fires. The really big one was in 1988, in which 35% of the park was burned. Lynne and I came through in 1992 and saw the devastation, and thankfully the park is doing better now. Apparently smaller (and less hot) forest fires are normal and healthy for these forests, some of the trees have adapted to these fires– their cones pop open at 150°f!
We set up our campsite in Grant Village, H269. There are over 400 campsites in this place, and it’s booked solid all summer. The kids were itchy to go explore, so I took them for a short hike to the lake and over to the visitor’s center. Along the way we had to take off our shoes and walk through the water (the water levels are really high this year and the bridge washed out), it was really cold, so cold that Desmond said he could feel his bones shaking inside his skin.
We met Lynne and ate dinner at a great little restaurant near the center, right on the water.
At sunset we went to the West Thumb Geysers, it was really interesting, bubbling pools of hot water, steam, and rings of bacteria around the pools. Gretchen correctly identified elk tracks and scat. We had the place to ourselves, and it was really peaceful.

All of us were super tired, and it was late (sunset after 9pm up here) so we just crawled in the tent and went to bed.

Devil’s Tower, USA

Junior Rangers at Devil’s Tower

Wyoming

Cody, WY

Big sky requires big beer

June 24, 2017
We decided to get an early start to our day. The kids helped pack the tent and camping stuff, so we gave them some cash and sent them to the camp store to buy some cinnamon rolls. Lynne and I packed the car and picked up the kids, then we were in the road by 8:30.
We blasted north and west to Devil’s Tower. On the way we noticed that the terrain changed almost exactly at the state border. We’ve seen this in several states; Texas to New Mexico, Iowa to South Dakota, etc. Wyoming looks more westerny, and South Dakota looks more plainsy.
Looking at our car’s hood, it seems we’ve brought several hundred thousand insect carcasses displayed in various splatter patterns all the way from Iowa.
Devil’s Tower was a strange sight to behold, a large igneous tower made of phonolite. The kids worked on Jr. Ranger packets and we went on a short nature hike. We saw a few mountain climbers scaling the ridges of the Tower. The kiddos got their badges and some patches, and we were on our way.

More driving through expansive plains and rolling hills. At Buffalo, Wyoming, we headed west into the Bighorn mountains on highway 16. This area in Wyoming, in addition to the Black Hills in South Dakota, is really popular with motorcycling clubs. We saw one particular biker gang while fueling up in Buffalo, about 15 bikes in all, and oddly enough I heard the song “Eastbound and Down” blaring out of ALL of their bike speakers at the same time. How is this technically possible? Is this a thing, or did I imagine this?

A beautiful climb to about 9500′, and a gorgeous drive through rocky canyons with roaring rivers on the other side of the Bighorn range, then down to arid rolling desert. Lynne said it reminded her of San Isidro in the south part of the Jemez in New Mexico.
We arrived in Cody, checked in to the Best Western, then began doing laundry while the kiddos swam in the hotel pool. Cody is a cute western town, with saloony-type restaurants and Buffalo Bill themed attractions, but still with enough integrity to be a decent little town.

As I mentioned in another post, wifi and cell service can be spotty out here in the West, so posts might not be as frequent. We’ll spend the next 3 nights in Yellowstone, and we’ll see how things go!