Elk and Bison, Up Close and Personal

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

2019-09-04 Wednesday

Another long day in Yellowstone National Park, and we have done a LOT of driving in that Jeep!  We got another very late start, plus we had a lot of errands to do in West Yellowstone—upload yesterday’s blog (with photos), call a pharmacy in Bozeman so we could get some prescriptions refilled on Saturday when we are there, make some other phone calls, post office, gas station, Ranger Station to pick up some maps, and go to a sandwich shop to get some sandwiches to go for our lunch. 

The first stop was the Ranger Station, right between us and the town. Of course, we arrived at 12:08, and they closed at noon for lunch! So we went to our WiFi hot spot in the middle of town, and did the phone calls and uploading. Then we went to get sandwiches for lunch. We got some for dinner, too, because I suspected we would not be back for dinner, and yesterday we didn’t have sufficient real food with us, only snack stuff. When we walked out with the sandwiches, Joey pointed out it was lunch time, so we sat at a picnic table outside the shop and ate our lunches! Then we went to the post office, and I saw a rack with cards and realized I had a few birthdays coming up and wanted to send cards. So I bought those, and some more stamps. At that point, Joey pointed out it was after 1:00, and the Ranger Station would be open. On the way back there, we stopped for gas for the Jeep, and then went for the maps.

I got very lucky with the maps—the young woman behind the desk was delightful and very helpful. I explained I wanted the “big white maps” which are called Motor Vehicle Use Maps, for National Forests, and which show dispersed camping sites inside the forests. The last time we stopped, the ranger explained that each station only has maps for their own region. That means we need to stop at every ranger station we see, in order to get as many maps as possible! This stop produced four or five, because she had several from other regions she could give me. Also she gave me good Montana and Idaho maps, and we discussed routes for Joey and I to take in the next few weeks. So it wasn’t a super-fast stop, but it was very fruitful. And THEN, we were ready to go back into the park.

My Favorite View—the Madison River

The ride from the park’s West Entrance runs along the Madison River, and is just gorgeous. I was still trying to get the definitive perfect photo, so Joey kept stopping at every turnout saying “This one? This one?” Suddenly we saw a bunch of people pulled over on the side of the road, and I looked into the meadow and saw a herd of elk, with a big daddy elk with HUGE antlers presiding over them. He was really something! I jumped out of the car, while Joey found someplace to pull over safely. Unfortunately, though, i wasn’t too thrilled with my photos... Big Daddy Elk was too far away. I did watch him, though— he went into the trees as soon as I got my camera out, but it was only for a minute— he was herding two of his ladies out of the woods and over to join the rest of the group. He did the same thing with another one a few minutes later, and then they all moved further away. It was clear he was in charge!

Just before we got back on the road after that, a Park Ranger car with sirens wailing tore past us, and we figured THAT didn’t sound good. Sure enough, about 20 or so minutes later, we encountered a dead stop on the highway. At first we thought it could be an animal, but it became clear that nothing short of mating grizzly bears could bring the traffic to not move at all. Then I remembered the ranger with the siren. We waited for about 15 or more minutes, and then I got out to reconnoiter. I heard another driver say that there had been an accident and they had to bring in a helicopter to carry someone out. It was very hot in the direct sun, and while we waited, Joey got out and put the roof back on the Jeep so he could run the AC. Just after that, we saw a helicopter take off over the trees, and then the traffic started coming from the other direction. The entire thing was about a 30 minute delay, I think, and when we passed the ranger directing traffic, it seemed that the accident happened on a side road just off the main road which we were on. 

Somewhat sobered, we continued to Canyon Junction, and found our way to the side road which runs along the north side of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There were several scenic stops along the route, where you could park and get out and take a short trail to the rim. Unfortunately, Joey started feeling a bit sick from the altitude, and didn’t want to walk much. I couldn’t help taking photos, though— the river and canyon there are incredible.

Yellowstone Falls (background) 

By the time we got done there, we were back at Canyon again, and I left Joe in a shady spot in the parking lot while I ran into the General Store for a couple of things. I’m afraid I spent too much time, just like yesterday, but he was happy for the break. He also discovered a few bars on his phone, so he was able to phone his doctor for some medication for the elevation sickness—something he remembered having last year as well. So that prescription was added to the list for Bozeman.

When we left home this morning, I had had the bright idea that we should drive to the Lamar Valley to try to see wildlife. I totally forgot that the drive from Canyon to Lamar goes over a very high pass, and the road is VERY scary— lots of curves along the outside of the mountain, and about 25 miles per hour most of the way. I was driving, so Joey got the view of the incredible mountains, but if he’d been driving, I would have kept my eyes closed anyway! We came over this route in Mo back in 2007, and I remember being pretty scared then too, except then we were on the inside next to the mountain at least! (I should add that on the way out of the Canyon Junction, across the intersection from us, we saw a wrecker with a damaged car on its flat-bed— I think it must have been the car from the crash earlier in the afternoon! I sure hope the driver and passengers were not hurt too badly.)

By the time we got to Tower, where we would have to turn toward the Lamar Valley, we were worried about getting home on that road in the dark. So we decided against Lamar, and continued on the main Loop Road west again toward Mammoth Junction. Almost immediately, we were rewarded by a small herd of bison grazing right beside our road. So we got our wildlife after all! The road also was much easier to negotiate than the road from Canyon to Tower, and a lot less scary to drive.

The best was when we arrived in Mammoth— I had remembered from 2007 that there is a herd of elk which frequent the center “town” there— there are lots of lodgings for the park personnel, and a large hotel, a gas station, a restaurant, etc., and the elk just make themselves at home on the central “village green” among the buildings. There are always rangers there to make sure visitors don’t get too close—of course many folks are standing out there taking photos, and we joined the line of cars going into the area so we could see them. I immediately saw a parking place and pulled in, just as the ranger in charge started suddenly shooing people away. It seems that this herd, too, was a lot of females and their calves, ruled by one Big Daddy with glorious antlers, and he had decided it was time for the stragglers to join the others. He was herding them right toward the tourists. When he had them collected to his satisfaction, he stopped in the middle of the road and let out a loud bugle— we’d never heard something like that! They are very beautiful animals (and we are now sure that the one which ran across our road last night was also an elk.) 

Elk Herd in the Dusk 

We continued to watch as Big Daddy herded his harem through the cars and people (who gave way as he approached) and right down the street between the houses. He bugled several times along the way—wow! When it seemed they were gone, we turned our car around—only to catch a glimpse of the male running fast a few blocks away (we didn’t see the females.). We did, however, notice three female elk who were on their own in a different corner of the center of town, and they didn’t go with the others.

Joey and I wanted to eat our dinner sandwiches before we did the last part of our drive home, so we parked again, and sat down at a picnic table. We noted that there were two elk down at the end of the area where the table was, and were keeping an eye on them, when suddenly, the third female appeared from between the parked cars, almost next to our table! She was not looking at us, but we still were a little freaked out, and as she walked toward the other two, we decided we’d better choose a table someplace else. We finished our sandwiches quickly, and as we got back in the car, we saw the three ladies grazing right outside the windows of the restaurant next door.

We headed south again, along the main loop, as the sky was getting darker. I was using my high beams most of the time, and driving as carefully as i could. I kept pulling out to let others pass me, too. Just south of Mammoth, we hit a section of road where there is road work going on— no center line, and orange cones lining the highway. The pavement was very smooth, though, so we went fairly fast despite the fact that it was now dark. Suddenly I saw ahead of me a few car headlights, where one car seemed to be on the shoulder and the others passing. I dimmed my headlights as I got close to them, but something didn’t seem quite right... and then suddenly I hit the brakes HARD. There was a bison standing EXACTLY in the middle of my lane!! I stopped not 20 feet from him!  I would have seen him a little sooner if I hadn’t dimmed my bright lights for the cars I thought were coming toward me— but they were not really moving—they were stopped in the road! 

I turned on my bright lights as soon as I stopped, and this ENORMOUS face was looking RIGHT at me, drooling a little bit. I was really freaked out, I mean, these animals are HUGE. I dimmed back to regular headlights again (but the car in the oncoming lane, which was not moving either, had its high beams shining right on the beast, so I could see him clearly), and after maybe a minute or two, he started walking toward me. Joey said, “Close the window!” As I did that, I suddenly realized that there was a second bison walking along the very edge of the other, oncoming lane. I could hear the people in the car across from me talking— we couldn’t move because the animals were in our way. Luckily, they are not confrontational— the one in my lane walked past right next to the car, and I looked out at him, noting the massive fur on his forelegs and head and shoulders, and his horns. I could have  reached out and petted him as he walked past, he was that close. I am just so lucky I stopped in time! He was invisible until I was close enough for my car lights to illuminate his legs, which was what I saw first. 

After the bison was behind me (and the other one, which I’d only glimpsed in the darkness, was invisible), we continued, but with a LOT more care, looking for wildlife. Between the elk and the bison tonight, we feel we got our money’s worth out of Yellowstone’s fauna. Today we saw two herds of elk, one herd of bison, and of course our own little bison close encounter. Joey reminded me of the antelope which almost hit us when he was driving a week or so ago—so now we’ve both had our near misses with huge animals on this trip. And that is plenty!

We made it home at about 9:30, to a delirious dog who was simply desperate to get out of the RV and do her business. Then she was all over us—she acted like she thought we’d abandoned her in the wilds of Montana. She is now sleeping next to my bed, which is usually only her spot when there’s a storm and she is anxious. I guess she is not taking any chances!

Tomorrow we are heading for Yellowstone Valley Lodge, where we are being treated by Betsy and Sean to a meal they promise will be extraordinary, and a night of luxury in a real room with a real shower! This will be a first for us on an RV trip, and we are really looking forward to it.

Jeeping Through the Geothermal World

Firehole Falls

2019-09-04 Tuesday

We had a lovely start to our day with fresh biscuits and cream of wheat for dessert. Then we filled the rest of the morning with chores—I can never figure out WHAT takes so long with us in the morning. I walked Cassie, we collected our big list of things to take with us for a “day trip” in the Jeep (food to eat, long sleeves to add in the evening, and miscellaneous electronics such as chargers, iPad, camera, etc.) That and the usual morning get-up-and-go meant we left the campsite at about 11:30 or something like that.

Our first stop was in West Yellowstone, where we finally had bars on our phones. That allowed me to upload yesterday’s blog (I took a quick photo of Joe at the wheel of the Jeep sans roof to illustrate it), apply more sunscreen, and to make some phone calls. Then at last we headed back into the park, with the sun shining brightly and fluffy clouds in the sky.

Yesterday at Madison Junction we’d driven north, so today we drove south, into the midst of the most geothermal activity in Yellowstone. This route included several roads that do not allow RVs, and I kept saying, “THIS is why we brought the Jeep!!”  We drove along the Firehole River and saw the Firehole Falls and Firehole Cascades— it was just a beautiful road. We saw people swimming down in the river (it is allowed there in one place) and decided we would do that tomorrow, although I’m having my doubts now— I have other plans in the entire opposite direction. But anyway....

From there we continued to the Lower Geyser Basin, and walked the

trail there. That was something we’d done last year as well. After that, we were heading for lunch, but suddenly off to the side, we saw cars parked, and when we looked, there was a small herd of buffalo. The exciting part was, some of them were RUNNING to catch up to the others! Just there was a loop I hadn’t noticed on the map, so we pulled in and saw that in the center, just beyond the bison, was a geyser shaped exactly like an upside-down cone, and it was erupting! Sadly, we missed getting a better view than that, because of trees, and it didn’t erupt again (it had a 2-minute eruption, my guidebook said.) So we drove around that loop, which had some hot pools and small (quiet) geysers), and noticed the bison again as we left. Then, we pulled into a lovely picnic area (“No RVs Allowed”) and ate our picnic lunch at a table under the trees.

After lunch, we went a mile or so further, to Midway Geyser Basin, which was my “goal” for today— Midway is the site of Grand Prismatic Pool, which is one of my very favorite features in the park. The parking lot was so crowded that there were cars parked along the road in both directions at the turnoff, but we knew that it was a long path just to see the pools, so we waited in line for a space. That was a good choice, because we ended up very close to the river and beginning of the “hike” around the pools, and that part was 1/2 mile. 

This spot is just amazing to see, with the runoff from the pools above cascading rapidly (and steamily) into the river below. It would be delicious to be able to swim in that river, it must be WARM! I will try to upload some photos when I post this—I took most of my photos on my iPad today so that I could upload them more easily when we get our brief connectivity.) Anyway, I just love the sight of the blue river, the yellow/green grasses, and the bright orange thermophillic bacteria (Joe told me that!) which line the cascading, steaming water as it plunges down the slope into the river.

Then we joined the large number of people and climbed up to the top of the slope, where we looped around the one-way boardwalk to see Grand Prismatic an the other pools and geyser which are nearby (I left my guidebook in the car, so can’t remember the names of all the pools.) We were up there for at least an hour, between sitting to watch the pool, chatting with people (Joe was explaining what caused the colors along the pools), and staring in awe at Grand Prismatic. She is just lovely. I also took a couple of photos which are identical, I think, to photos I took years ago, one of which is currently framed and hanging in the RV. It is just THAT photogenic a spot, it’s hard to tear your eyes away.

We made a brief stop at another small turnout to get a photo of the river, but better than that was a single bison who decided to meander right through the parking lot as he headed for the water. There was no place to park, so we didn’t stay—I just jumped out of the Jeep and took a photo of the bison while Joe drove loops around the parking lot.

Overflow from Hot Pool cascading into River

By now it was getting a little late, and we had not packed enough cold drinks or water, I thought. So since the next stop along the route was the Upper Geyser Basin (better known as Old Faithful), we drove there and pulled in in front of the General Store. Joey stayed in the car while I went inside, bought some cold drinks and nosh, and brought it out to him. Then he fell asleep and I went back into the store and wasted a lot of time browsing for postcards and other small items. At about 6:00, we finally left, having not seen one single geyser, including Old Faithful. (This was no hardship, since we’d seen Old Faithful last year, and walked the fantastic Upper Geyser Loop in the past.) We could have done the geysers, but we were hoping to see some animals in the evening hours on our way home. Therefore, we decided to continue the long way around the lower loop of the park roads, so we could pass through Hayden Valley.

Grand Prismatic Spring

I’m still not sure we made the best decision, even in retrospect. By this time, it was getting cooler, and I put on my long sleeved shirt. A while later, Joe put on my sweatshirt (he’d insisted he didn’t need anything in the morning, so hadn’t brought his.) We stopped to switch so I could drive, and just then a large deer-like animal— we think it was a female elk—ran across the road in front of us. So that was exciting. The park is just HUGE, and we probably drove an hour just to get to Hayden Valley (we did get beautiful views of Yellowstone Lake as we headed around the southeast corner of the park.) It was getting quite dusky by the time we got to Hayden (the sun disappears at 8pm) but we did, eventually, see that telltale line of stopped cars. Sure enough, there was a herd of bison grazing right by the road, with lots of calves included. We lingered there for a bit, but then noticed that in the distance we could see rain clouds, and we did not have the Jeep’s roof panels with us. So we headed home—another hour’s drive in the dark. It was pretty cold without the roof, but we had the idea of turning on the car’s heater, and that kept us very comfortable for the rest of the drive. After seeing one herd of bison and the young female elk dashing in front of us, we got home a bit after 9:00. Dinner was soup, and I collapsed before writing the blog—Joe had to wake me up (the lights were all on) to get undressed and actually get into bed.

So now we’ve driven around the entire lower loop, some of it quite rapidly, and we have one day left. And we haven’t even enjoyed any of the rivers yet! We did notice the road to the upper falls trail is closed this year—luckily we saw it last year! So tomorrow we will go to the Yosemite Falls overlooks which were too crowded for us last year. It seems that something is always closed somewhere in this park!

More Wows and a Yow!

Red Rocks in Wyoming in the Wind River Reservation

2019-08-31 Saturday

We woke up today expecting a long, scenic drive, and we were not disappointed! After getting gas (the prices are going up with each state we pass), we headed west toward Grand Teton National Park. We were not planning to visit the park, but the most direct road to our destination for tonight was right through the park, and through Jackson and Jackson Hole.

But before we got anywhere near that, we were already oohing over the scenery. The Wind River region is beautiful range land, with low rock formations surrounding it. The road went through the Wind River Indian Reservation too (and we saw a herd of antelope!) When the rocks suddenly changed to deep red (my favorites), we stopped at a pull-out to take some photos. They were absolutely beautiful.

The largest “city” on our route was Dubois, WY, which of course is really a smallish town, and is  dominated by the tourist industry. But because it was a holiday weekend, there seemed to be an awful lot of special things going on. We passed a church having a “dog wash” fund-raiser, and we would have stopped, except there was nowhere to park. We passed a trio of people dressed as pioneers (the sheriff waved to us), and all kinds of other things seemed to be bringing people to the sidewalks and streets. We finally pulled up at a curb which was large enough for us, and made ourselves some lunch there, because we wanted to take advantage of the good cell phone and wifi reception we were getting. I was able to add a few photos to yesterday’s blog, although not the scenery ones which needed emailing/downloading via wifi-- it wasn’t strong enough (I took scenery shots today with my phone to avoid that problem for this blog.)

Teton Mountain Range

We continued on after lunch, and were rising higher into the mountains and the national forest land. And then, we saw the incredible pointed peaks of the Tetons rising in the distance. Grand Teton NP has never been one of my favorite parks, but there’s no denying how amazing it is to see those craggy mountains. We drove on into the park, and were soon welcomed by a herd of buffalo grazing in a meadow not far from the road. Of course we had to stop to take photos, even though we’d already seen buffalo up close and personal in Custer State Park.

Joe and Cassie go out to look at buffalo

We wound our way along the base of the Tetons as we followed the road south to the town of Jackson. There we turned west again, and had one more hurdle to get over-- the Teton Pass at a mere 8,432 feet. We were not worried about it, because we’ve gone over lots higher passes--but not, it turns out, while towing a 3,000+ pound Jeep. Also the grade of the road on the way up (and down, for that matter) was a 10% grade, which is STEEP. We started on our way up, and soon felt very sorry for the line of cars following us-- we were chugging up the mountain in first gear! And even at that, we were not going the speed limit and the engine was really working hard. There was nothing to do about it-- there were no turnouts to let people pass until we’d been driving for perhaps 10 minutes. 

At last we came to a large turnout, and by that time we’d discussed unhitching the Jeep and driving in two separate vehicles. So when we saw the large area on the opposite side of the road, Joe turned into it, letting everyone get past us. We stopped, and looked down from this vantage point at the valley and road below us. It was SO far down there, it was no wonder that we’d had trouble getting up it--the steepness was apparent from above. So we unhitched the Jeep, and after carefully making sure we were on the same page as to our plans, I took my phone (which was virtually without any battery left), my handbag, and a walkie-talkie, and I got into the Jeep. Joe had the other walkie-talkie, and he drove ahead of me in the RV.

Looking Down from Teton Pass on the Road below

It turned out that this was a great plan, except we should have implemented it about 8,000 feet sooner. We hadn’t realized that we were almost at the peak of the pass! We soon came to a small pullout that had a lot of cars, and people looking at the view... the RV wouldn’t have fit into it, even without the Jeep. But from there, it was a downhill run. I followed Joe, making sure (via walkie-talkie-- a brilliant idea, and we could hear each other perfectly clearly) that he’d seen the road grade signs and the speed limits. We also exchanged occasional comments. And so we proceeded until we passed a “Welcome to Idaho” sign. Joe asked if I expected any more uphill climbs, and I didn’t, so when we came to a gas station, he pulled in with me behind him (he got gas while I parked on the side of the lot), and we re-connected our two vehicles.

Once we were back together, we discussed the fact that we will be encountering a number of other high mountains during the next few weeks. So we will plan to detach the Jeep at the BOTTOM, rather than when we are most of the way up, and drive the vehicles separately. Although we don’t like the idea of not being together, it’s clearly going to make it a lot easier for the RV to get over the mountain passes. I mean, we don’t even consider 8,432 feet to be that high-- last summer we went over 12,000 foot Independence Pass, a few years ago we went over the Red Mountain Pass at 11,018,  and we took Mo over the Tioga Pass (9,943 feet) to Yosemite (not once but twice!), and the Beartooth Highway at 10,900+ feet.  But the extra weight on the tail end of the RV is obviously a drag (literally)!

We still had an hour or so to drive, but the road was beautiful! To our surprise, we DID have a bit more climbing to do, but the ascent was not nearly as long nor steep as the Teton Pass had been, and we soon came into a beautiful plateau area full of golden cut wheat. This is one of my favorite “colors” on the road, and the fields just rolled away for miles, while the mountains rose up beyond them. Running beside us was the Snake River, which we discovered last year seems to be omnipresent in the state of Idaho. It is fast and beautiful in this part of the state, and we stopped at a wayside rest area to take photos of the landscape.

Looking Down at the Snake River Valley

It was only about 30 minutes from there to our campground tonight, a county park in Rigby, Idaho, with a large lake which includes a beach and campground. I had called a couple of days ago to see if they had any sites open, because of my concern about the holiday weekend, and the woman on the phone said she had one site, because she had had a cancellation that morning! So I grabbed the site for tonight and tomorrow night (I had researched the location a few months ago while planning my trip, so I had the info with me.) It is not our usual venue, being quite crowded with families and young people everywhere, and a bit noisy. On the other hand, the people next to us on either side are not very close. The campsites are on a loop road around the lake, and we are not on the “lake side” of the road, so when the sun set a little while ago and looked so nice over the lake, I couldn’t get a photo without it mostly including RVs, campers, and tents. But we are fine here--we have water and electricity, there’s plenty of room for our Jeep in our site, and we are in a suburban area. There are museums near by, and we have a LONG shopping list which must be tended to tomorrow. So museum and shopping is our current plan for the day.

Getting the WOWs in Custer State Park

“Needle’s Eye” Tunnel

2019-08-27 Tuesday

It’s funny that some days driving all day can leave you just tired, and some other days of driving all day can leave you in awe (as well as tired!) Today was one of the latter. We drove all day, we are in fact quite tired, but WOW, what an awesome day!

Today was one of the days which explains why we are towing our Jeep now. We’ve been to the Black Hills three or four times already, but the one place I’ve wanted to go has been out of reach— the loop road through Custer State Park, which includes the Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain Road, both of which have tunnels through the mountains which are too small to accommodate an RV. Today, courtesy of our Jeep, we finally made it through that road.

When we woke up, it was almost COLD out! We put on jeans and sweatshirts, for the first time in months, and it felt delightful. We had breakfast, took a leisurely walk around our campground, and then we packed up our car with a picnic lunch, drinks and water, snacks, my good camera, my iPad, our car jumper, Joe’s walking stick, flashlights (you never know), phone chargers, and Cassie’s water bowl. Then, with Cassie in the back, we set out for a day’s adventures. 

We started the day at the Visitors Center in Hill City (a 25 minute drive down the mountain from our campsite). There, I asked the nice lady specifically about the drive we wanted to take. She explained where to go from the Visitor Center, and what parts of the loop were especially interesting. She also told me where the laundromat is, because that is something we’ll also be needing. And she directed me to the post office— I’ve been carrying around postcards for days, unable to find a place to mail them.

The Needles Highway

It turned out that we had a fantastic internet connection in the parking lot there. So I was able to upload my blog and the photos to go with it— both quite quickly.  Next, after dropping my postcards at the library, headed to Custer State Park. The first stop on the loop, about 6 miles along, was at Sylvan Lake. This was convenient because it had picnic tables and it was 12:30 pm. So we ate our lunch while Cassie lay in the grass nearby. After that, I ran into the gift shop, and of course managed to find a few little souvenirs. 

After we left the lake, we continued climbing and encountered the Needles and the tight tunnels through the road. The experience was extraordinary! This is one of those blogs where I am going to have to let the photos tell the story. (Speaking of which, I took most of my photos on my iPad, and that worked very well.)

The drive continued— we drove through beautiful pine forests along incredibly curvy roads (I can’t guess how many S turns and hairpin turns we made on that road. As a result, the average speed we drove was about 25 miles/hour, I’d guess, and maybe less. We stopped a lot to look at the views, too. At one pullout, we struck up a conversation with another couple about our age, who were from Virginia. We shmoozed and exchanged tips and places to visit, as well as general info (they were on their honeymoon) before setting out again.

In the Wildlife Loop Road, we encountered a herd of buffalo wallowing and digging in a muddy morass by the side of the road. Since it was on BOTH sides, they were IN the road as well. Needless to say, I took photos . Further along, we saw prairie dogs (they were too small and too far away for the iPad to get them, and my good camera was buried), and then a pair of pronghorn deer. Soon after that, we were stopped by a group of semi-tame burros, who spend their time begging for food from travelers. We didn’t feed them, but again, I took photos. And then a few miles further, we encountered yet another herd of buffalo, some right next to us. There seemed to be a large number of calves with their moms, which was sweet. 

The last section of the trip was the Iron Mountain Loop Road, which is famous for the 3 tight tunnels near Mount Rushmore. They were cut into the rock so that when you go through them, the faces of the presidents are framed at the end of the tunnel. I was looking forward to this, but alas, it was actually about 5pm, and the sun was low, and Mount Rushmore was in shade. This meant that the faces were nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding rock until we were very close later on. The tunnels were fun, however, as was the “pigtail” section of the road—a place where the road was supported by wooden structures which led from one tunnel to the next one, and as a result, turned the car about 270 degrees at each junction. It’s hard to describe, but was fun to go down. The road runs right past Mount Rushmore National Monument after that, but we were exhausted, so we headed home instead. 

100,000 miles

We got back to our RV at about 6:30 pm, I think, and we are utterly wiped out. I said to Joe, “But all we did was DRIVE!” And ironically, the loop is only 76 miles. So we didn’t even cover that much territory. But it sure was fantastic. Joe really loves that kind of driving, and there were times that we were the only ones on the road and saw no one else. The forest came down to the edge of the road, and it was beautiful and enveloping. Truly a gorgeous drive. And, as an added fun thing, our Jeep’s odometer went over 100,000 miles! We were just at a turnout when that happened, so we were able to stop and take a photo of the dashboard to commemorate the milestone.  And now, photos:

Yellowstone National Park "Taster's Menu"

Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018

I described this morning’s dilemma at the end of yesterday’s blog-- I simply did NOT know what to do today! Plus I felt a little cranky/anxious, because I had no idea where we’d spend the night. I did not have any fantasies that we would find a campsite inside the park if we went there-- they sell out months in advance, and for the “walk in” sites, we are much too late risers to get there ahead of anyone else wanting one of the few that might be available. I browsed through one of the Cody visitor guides I’d picked up the day before, and found one or two things I hadn’t known about which sounded interesting. So going back to Cody was one possibility. Joey, however, voted for going into the park, so that is what we did.

At Yellowstone Lake

I did have the idea, however, that perhaps this campground was not sold out for tonight. So I walked Cassie around the loop (there are only 20 sites) to see. I was thrilled to find a choice of three or four sites which were not reserved for tonight (ours was, so we couldn’t keep this one.) I talked to the campground host, and he told me that one of the sites I thought was NOT empty, was going to BE empty, and it is one of the nicest, RIGHT on the river! So I paid in advance for the site, and at his suggestion, we left a lawn chair in the site to prove we’d really been there. Then I felt much more secure leaving for the day, knowing we had a place to come “home” to.

View at Rim of Upper Falls

Yellowstone! We’d been here 7 years ago in 2011, and thanks in no small part to my own blogging, we remember it in great detail. We were here in September then, and it was much less crowded than today, so it’s a good thing we didn’t feel any pressure to “do” all the major attractions-- some of them were literally impossible to drive into because the parking lots was so packed. A few other roads we passed had signs saying “No RVs or Buses.” Although I can guess why they have done this, I certainly do not remember these signs from 7 years ago! So we simply played it all by ear, and had a

lovely day.

The drive from the East Gate to the first “junction” of the park took a full hour-- We stopped when we got to Yellowstone Lake to admire it and take a couple of photos, and there was also some road work which forced us to drive slowly. But the scenery was beautiful and we were happy just to be there. We turned north at Fishing Bridge and drove toward Yellowstone Falls. But the tightly packed parking lot kept us from the view at Artist’s Point. We did stop, however, at the brink of the upper falls, and it was just as mesmerizing as ever. From there we skipped the drive along the North Rim of the “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone"-- I can’t remember if it said No RVs or not, but we’d done it last time and have the osprey photos to prove it! When we got to Canyon Village, it was already about 2pm (we’d stopped for some lunch along the way.) (Here is the link to my 2011 blog, with photos of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and the waterfall. )

This guy was so close, I could have put my Spartans cap on his head!

OH! I forgot the main thing that “delayed” us on that segment of road-- Bison!!! The first one was quite unexpected, we drove past a couple of stopped cars and suddenly were passing a lone bull, who was browsing on the edge of the road. We pulled over a little way up, and waited for him to mosey on right past us. Cassie was VERY interested! A few miles further down the road, we encountered another loner coming toward us. Traffic was stopped on both sides of the road, because he was in the middle. He ended up walked right between the front of our truck and the car ahead of us, and then next to us-- i could literally have reached out the window and touched him! He was NOT that interested in us, however, because he immediately found a tree right next to the road and started rubbing his head along it. He did look kind of shaggy, for sure! But he was just SO close, it was fantastic.

My window was OPEN when he went past!

Then a few more miles up, we pulled over to see some mud pots. On the other side of the road was part of the Hayden Valley, and there were quite a few bison down there. I took some good photos with my good camera (which has a great zoom), because they were grazing in an area with steam rising out of the ground around them. It seemed like such an iconic Bison photo! And then there turned out to be one curled up right near the boardwalk as we walked up to see the mudpots. There were a lot of people, but we felt very happy to be with bison and mudpots.

By 2:00 we figured we’d better just loop around the southern part of the Great Loop, because it would be hours before we’d be back to our campsite. This route took us past a lot of hot springs and geyser basins. We stopped at the Upper Geyser Basin and enjoyed walking that loop, which included bubbling mud, clear hot springs, and an erupting geyser. I was annoyed that several of my favorite roads said “No RVs.” We are certainly returning here as soon as we start towing a car behind us, which should be SOON. Obviously it would make this part 100 times easier to navigate and enjoy.

Ultimately, we just had to keep driving, because it got later and later. We stopped at a pull-out near Old Faithful to try to make use of the 3 bars of phone service which suddenly appeared, and the wifi which also was supposed to be there. But our phone calls would not go through, and my Facebook update didn’t upload. So we just kept going-- past Grant Village, past more geothermal features, along the western shore of Yellowstone Lake, and finally back toward the East Gate. By this time it was after 6:00. And then we came upon a crowd of cars parked along the road, and lots of people, and figured it was another animal jam. Sure enough, there was an elk grazing not far from the road. I pulled over (I was driving) and jumped out with my good camera, and zoomed in for some photos. This guy was BIG-- he had a rack of antlers which was quite astonishing-- 12 or 14 points, I’m not sure, but I counted at least 6 on one side. That took up another 10 minutes, and then we kept going. We did encounter some folks watching and photographing a mountain goat, too-- but I didn’t get out and Joey couldn’t get the camera fast enough before he (the goat)

disappeared behind some trees.

And so we drove for what seemed like a VERY long time, and finally got back to the East Gate, and to our campground 5 minutes later. Essentially, today we had a "taster's menu" of Yellowstone-- a little bit of everything, but not a full meal of anything! A little bit of river, a little bit of waterfalls, a little hot springs and mud pots and other "thermal activity," an erupting geyser, and of course, some excellent wildlife encounters with bison and even an elk. If you like to hike, and want to see everything, you really need an entire week here. I feel we had a superlative visit in 2011, so at least I don't think we actually MISSED anything, but we didn't really immerse ourselves in any one thing in particular either.

Elk

 

And now we are ensconced all cozy with the river RIGHT behind our bedroom. Tomorrow we will head back into the park again and try to see some of the geyser basins (hoping that they will be less crowded earlier in the day) and whatever else looks interesting to us, before heading out of the West Gate into Idaho. And then we’ll see what we’ll do next. I would like to have some wifi and/or a telephone connection, that’s for sure, but it will depend on where we spend the night, I guess. We’ve never been to West Yellowstone, either, so that may be interesting. It’s amazing how unscheduled this vacation is turning out to be!

Oh--one other cute thing we saw. We'd seen a lot of info (including a video in the Cody Museum) about not leaving food anywhere because of the bears. But they also mentioned how ravens are very good at finding food and stealing it, and that some even have learned to unzip zippers! Well, at one stop, we saw this sight-- some folks had some things on their car roof, and there was a visible chips-type plastic bag. And there were three ravens on top, cawing and making a very concerted effort to get through the netting and into the food! I took this photo before Joe chased them away! (They were annoyed, and cawed at him, "Didn't you read the instructions about not annoying the wildlife??)

Ravens on a car roof, scavenging for food

Wild Kingdom

Day 9: Sept 4, 2011

Last night in the private campground, we made the most of the facilities. We charged every electronic device we have, as well as our giant auxiliary batteries. We enjoyed the very upscale shower facilities--the nicest I’ve seen in ANY campground EVER. And of course, I uploaded 3 blogs and a heck of a lot of photos. I didn’t get to sleep until 3 a.m. That was the downside, and I am incredibly tired tonight.

This morning we packed up, later than desired (as usual), and headed back into the park for one last day. My first priority was to find a campsite for tonight, otherwise I would have to call the private campground back and reserve our slot again. But I REALLY did not want to spend that much money, wifi or not! Luckily, however, as we came back into the park, we saw that all the campgrounds were open. We made a beeline for the Mammoth Campground in Mammoth Hot Springs, and snagged a fantastic site with an unbelievable view, for the ludicrously low price of $14 for the night. I said to Joe, I feel like I hit the jackpot this morning!

As soon as we had the campground issue settled, we headed into Mammoth Hot Springs to explore the Mammoth Terraces. These are geologic forms with springs much like the ones we’ve already seen, but they deposit a mineral called travertine in a unique terrace-like formation. We found them more interesting than we expected. We went on the lower walkway around the base of the huge structure first.

Then we drove up and around to the top, to see the upper level.

From Mammoth, we drove south toward the Norris Geyyser Basin. The road through this part of the park is pretty distinctive in many places. In 1988, there were huge fires in Yellowstone which destroyed many trees. The predominant tree in the park is the Lodgepole Pine. This tree has seed cones which stay sealed up for years in a waxy cover, until there is a forest fire. Then the heat causes the was to melt, cones to open and the seeds to drop into newly burnt area. The seeds have plenty of nutrients from the burnt trees, and of course all the sun in the world. So new Lodgepole Pines are born. All along the road, we saw tall white “poles” of the dead trees, with a thick new forest of green pines about 20 feet tall. They are all competing for sun and space, and eventually will be a mature forest. But right now, you would hardly be able to walk through them, they are so thick. It is so amazing how nature destroys one forest and reseeds another.
We stopped at a pullout for lunch before reaching Norris, with a view out our door of trees and a lake. I had the idea to take a walk down to the lake after we ate. But just as we finished, I realized that cars were pulling over maybe 50 feet further down the road ahead of us. It had all the hallmarks of an “animal jam”--cars stopped in both directions. So of course Joey and I got out of Mo and walked along the edge of the road to see what they were looking at. Suddenly I saw it--a bison was walking along the roadway, just inside the tree line, and was heading right toward us! We ran back to Mo and jumped in and latched the door, and only moments later this humungous animal walked right past our door, perhaps 10 feet away. He was totally oblivious to us, and kept going while I took a photo through our screen door.
We did take a walk down to the lake after that, but we were much more cautious, making sure we didn’t see anymore lone bison! The lake was beautiful and serene, and It would have been nice just to sit on a log and meditate for a while, but we felt like we should keep moving.
So we continued to the Norris Geyser Basin. Unfortunately, this was the one thing we saw or did at Yellowstone which turned out to be disappointing. I guess it’s partly because we’d seen all the other “hot spots”, and those geysers and pools were either more active or more beautiful. We went on a 1.5 mile walk around the “back basin”, and with the exception of Steamboat Geyser, none of the others did anything more than a slight bubbling here and there.

In addition, the wooden walkway was taken down so much of the trail was on uneven ground, and it was 90% in the hot sun. So we were sunburned, exhausted and disappointed when we finished--we could have used that hour to better use just chilling next to the lake, like I said!

From Norris, we cut across the center of the park’s figure-8 double loop, back to Canyon Junction. We decided to look at the Yellowstone Falls from the south rim views, which we skipped a couple of days ago. This was a great decision, because the one thing the Falls are NOT is “disappointing.” We first took the path down to the brink of the upper falls, and as soon as I caught a glimpse of the Yellowstone River roaring around the curves toward the drop, I started the “wow, wow, WOW!” thing all over again. It was simply spectacular--and that was the part BEFORE the water “fell” over the brink. You can stand right at the top there, and it is just mindboggling. So absolutely gorgeous.
Then we drove to Artist’s Point, and again the views were stunning. We were just sorry we’d skipped them two days earlier, because we’d have been there about mid-day. This time, in the late afternoon, the view was stunning but the camera simply couldn’t do it justice. The view of the canyon with the waterfall at the end is just completely amazing.
Cheered up by that, we decided to take a slight detour on the way back to Mammoth, and go back to the Lamar Valley to see if we could see any animals. It being 7pm by the time we got up to the turnoff to the valley, we were hopeful. What we had was another very intense encounter of the bison kind--we found people watching three separate herds (or maybe it was all one, all spread out). One group was right by the road, and just starting to cross, thus stopping traffic.
The second group was down in the valley crossing the river, and working its way up to the same point to cross the road.
And the third group was up on a hill nearby. As you can see from these few photos, they got VERY close to us.


We spent at least 30 minutes watching and listening to them. They were so cute--some rubbed their heads on the fenceposts nearby to scratch itches; I saw one mother nursing its baby after they crossed the road; the big bulls took turns standing in the road so no one could go past them. The best part is listening--they grunted and made these low mooing type noises that are very hard to describe, but are somehow so adorable. They are obviously talking to each other--all the single bison we’ve seen have never been talking or mooing. They are HUGE.
Then we drove back to Mammoth Campground. I drove the last part of the road when it got too dark for Joe to see well (see tomorrow’s blog) and it was dark by the time we got to the campsite. I was disappointed to have missed the sunset view from our site. But I did have one last treat: from our site, we could see the road leading up into the park, and the cars were all stopped. As I said, that means only one thing. It was virtually dark, but I could see large light animal shapes walking across the road in single file below us. I grabbed my binoculars and could see them clearly--they were elk, and were parading across the road and up into the brush nearby. They took their time, and there were a lot of them! I was amazed how clearly I could see them despite the darkness, but the car lights were shining on them so that’s probably why. It was a great end to the day’s wildlife encounters.