Grand Teton or Bust (Leaving Yellowstone)

It was bound to happen.  I had to leave Yellowstone.  That was really hard.  Got to see some great stuff.  I even got to see some cool stuff on the way out.  My lips are literally falling apart.  They're cracked.  Or cracking.  When I eat they split open.  My face is chaped.  But it was so incredible.  I wouldn't change a thing.  I loved it.  I took a couple pictures heading to Grand Teton National Park but not much.  It's a very nice place.  I just didn't have enough time to see much.  I'd like to spend about three or four days here next time.  I know that the kids would love this place.  There's lots to do.  Snake River float trips boat rentals on Jackson lake.  It's really nice.  Our lodge was pretty nice also.

I had to include our departure from Madison campground.  It became fun to get up and cook in the morning in the end.  Bacon and eggs over a fire.  It helps to have really good bacon.

A parting shot of an elk walking though our campsite.  Seems appropriate.  He was leaving us and we were leaving Yellowstone.  We were both headed somewhere.  He was really big.  You can just barely see him though the pines.

This was the view from our camground.  You can see a lone Bison roaming the banks of the Madison.  The morning was really nice.  And it didn't get too cold the evening before.  So that was cool to.  I've grown used to camping.  It doesn't bother me at all.

We didn't have a chance to see the Lower Geyser basin on our trip up to the Madison.  So, we stoped during the drive to the Tetons.  It's not quite as spectacular as Midway.  But it's still a very interesting place.

More of this stuff.  I love that it's all over and I would probably take a picture of it everytime I saw it.  It would probably make for very boring blog though.  Each one I pass is unique and just a wonderful shade of light purple.  Im sure it's just a weed but it's so cool.

There are lots of these around the geysers.  It's difficult for me to say how most of them died. They look so cool against the sandy soil and immpossibly blue skies.  Very dead but very cool.

A view of what I thought was the Grand Tetons but was actually Mt. Moran.  Ignorance is bless.  It's still a great shot.  Especially when it's in full size.

The Snake River.  I was fishing this spot and starting to make some progress when dad informed me that he'd locked the keys to my truck in the truck.  Ahhhh.  Of course.  Something like this always happens.  Oh well.  A passer-by took us to Jackson Lake Lodge and a guy got us in.  It's not an adventure unless you lock your keys in the car with your wallet and cell phone.

Our lodge.  We stayed in Colter Bay.  It's really nice.  There's lots of small cabins and it was very comfortable.  I'd go again for sure.











All in all it was a really nice place. I just wasn't able to spend much time there.  I guess I need a reason to come back.

Yellowstone Day 5 (Headed to Madison Campsite)

Madison Campground is very cool.  It's bordered by the Madison river.  Lots of wildlife.  I don't have many pictures of this one.  After Old Faithful and Midway we just kind of hung out and fished and messed around.  The following are of dad and I fishing in various places.  Dad did really well with the fly fishing.  He didn't catch a fish but then neither did I.  I think that if we had been at the Slough Creek he would have gotten a really nice one.

The Firehole is wonderful.  It's very old.  It feels like you're standing on an old lava river.  It's very black and sandy on the bottom.  I can't wait to go back and spend a week or so just fishing the various rivers.  I got to fish the really good ones.  But there are so many more.

There's dad doing his thing.  Go dad.

Yellowstone Day 5 (Midway Geyser Basin)

This place was awesome.  I had such a hard time deciding what pictures to leave in and out.  I took so many pictures here.  It has all these giant holes overflowing with boiling hot water.  The Firehole runs right by it.  The overflows actually run right into the river.  And there's a stout bridge that you have to cross to see the main attraction.

 Here's that bridge I was talking about.  Dad's up there in the picture.  We could see fish just below him.  Trout.  Very cool place.

Here's some of what I was talking about earlier.  It basically overflows right into the river and blows enormous amounts of steam into the air while doing so.  You can also see some of the bacteria that's growing in the streams of hot water.

This is such a cool picture.  There's a walkway on it in the distance with the steam rising behind it.  The water in the foreground is from the steam pools.  It's overflowing and heading down hill.  I'm told that you have to be very careful where you walk.  Basically, you need to stay on the walkways.  The earth is very thin.

This was one of the difficult ones.  I couldn't decide to show this one or another one.  This is a side angle of this really amazing blue pool with steam rising out of it.  It looks like you're on some unknown planet.  Awesome!

I love this picture.  I may end up framing it.  This an overflow area that's blanketed with bacterial growth.  You can see the burnt oranges and dingy browns anchored by the pools and steam in the distance.  Love it.

Here's another one that i really liked.  Very similar to the first one.

Ok. Ok.  Just calm down.  I can't give you the entire experience without showing you the "waste pits".  I've come up with a different name.  Replace waste with a word that starts with s and rhymes with hit.  Use your imagination.  No running water here.

This is also one of my favorites.  Really nice.  It almost looks like and ocean or something.  It's just a little north of Midway Geyser Basin.  Still very cool.

Yellowstone Day 5 (Headed to Old Faithful)

On day 5 we headed to Old Faithful up through the South Western side of the park.  This is an amazing section of the park.  Stunning cascades, steam pots and wildlife.  It's hard to nail down just one section of the park that stands out.  But this one will be forever etched in my mind.  There's so many pictures that I've taken that didn't make it to the blog that are just as nice as these.  For example.  I took some pictures of the original lodge at Old Faithful.  That place is incredible.  We ate lunch there and it was soo cool looking.  It's very old and it must have taken years to build.  Everything is made of wood.  Anyway.  The following pictures tell the tale.

This place is so cool.  It's very inconspicuous from the road side.  Many of the sights are that way in Yellowstone.  Then you get out of your car and you're amazed by what you see. 

This was snapped near the bottom of Kepler Cascades.  I had to hike down to get it but it was worth it.  I was going to hike some more but I saw what looked like a cave.  So I thought maybe this is close enough.  The water is pristine.

I suppose that no trip would be complete without visiting Old Faithful.  It blows steam about every hour.  They even have a clock that estimates when it will go next.  It's cool and there are a ton of people but I must admit that I would rank this lower in priority.  But hey, that's just me.

This is the Firehole River and it winds through the Old Faithful geyser area.  There were some ducks hanging out down there.  I love it.  The wildlife is everywhere here despite all the geysers.  It's a pretty safe place in general for wildlife.  At least from humans.

I took this picture near the banks of the Firehole.  These things are all over the place.  Even when we went to the Tetons they were there.  That and sage brush.

This guy was hanging at Old Faithful with his wolf dog.  Very cool.  Check out those eyes.  I think he was thinking about eating a couple people.  But then he was like "Nah I'll wait".

The Tacoma loaded down good.  This thing ran great on this trip.  We drove it all over the place.  It ran like a tank and got pretty good mileage.  I love this truck.

Yellowstone Day 4 (Continued)

Like I said.  This was a long day filled with all kinds of stuff.  We saw canyons, rivers, valleys, buffalo, caldrons, mud pots, etc...  We end it with West Thumb Geyser Basin.  This place is special.  Well, I guess all of them are really.  It sits right on Yellowstone Lake. 

This female Elk was hanging out right by our campsite.  Less than a mile.  In fact as dad was getting set up an elk running at full speed came through the campsite.  It's a good thing no-one was around.

This is probably the case most of the time.  However, on this day it was irrelevant.  Nothing but Elk here.  You'll see.

Wow!!  Man was this dude awesome!  Ohh man.  You just can't imagine these guys.  The rut is in full swing and he was not to be played with.  He chased several tourist down a boardwalk who came a little to close to his haram.  He even stared dad and I down a couple times.  You really have to respect the wildlife here.

The sun was starting the set as I snapped this.  You can see the steam coming up from some of the thermals in the distance and foreground.  Nothing can withstand the thermals.  Not even trees.

Snapped this as the sun was sinking into Yellowstone.  It's a great place to be at sunset.  I can't wait to take some more pictures at dusk.

This should give you an idea of the walkways.  Everywhere you go in Yellowstone there's usually good walkways that are well maintained.  They offer wonderful access to everything you'd want to see.  This one is no exception.  It gets you as close as you would want to get to a thermal.













There's more good stuff to come.  We're on the road headed through Old Faithful in route to Madison and there is some really good stuff here.  Not mention some more fishing hopefully.  Fare the well.

Yellowstone Day 4

This may have been the best day here.  We saw soo much.  It was really incredible.  My mouth was sore.  And my eyes were stuck wide open.  Most people were that way.  If we had tails we'd have surely wagged them off by now.  At this point we headed South through the interior of the park.  An incredibly scenic place.  We went through the Yellowstone Canyon, Hayden Valley, Sulphur Caldron and some other misc. places.

This picture was taken just as we left Tower Falls near Dunraven Pass I believe.  You can't really see it from the picture but there was a fire far out in the distance.  I heard that it was intentionally set by the park.  So, no big deal.  Everything is ok.

This was near the North rim of the Yellowstone canyon.  It's a huge raven.  These things are big!  And there all over.  Really cool that you can get so close.  I'm pretty sure that they could take off with small child if so desired.

This is a great shot of the Yellowstone and the canyon.  If you see nothing for the rest of your life you should see this.  It's humbling.  I just sat there and said nothing.  The roaring falls took the words from my mouth.

This is a great shot that I had to hike to to get.  The larger version really is incredible.  The falls are soo loud even from that distance.  The river color in the canyon is of brilliant green highlighted by the raging white.  Spectacular.  There's a place further back called inspiration point.  Great name.

 This was a stop I made at a pull off that showed a spectacular view of the Yellowstone slowing moving through a huge valley.  Bison roam all over this place.

It's a lazy day for the Bison near the Yellowstone.  They know that it won't be this way for long.  Last night it was 29 degrees and it's early September.  When it starts getting cold the food become more difficult for them to find and survival will change dramatically.  This place is beautiful but it's also unforgiving.

Sulphor Caldron.  Very hot and stinks of Sulphor.  This place is very much active.  It's a thick, hot stew of white and grey boiling mud.  Not a good place to fall into or attempt bathing.

Yellowstone lake.  I needed this bench and the breeze coming of the lake was so relaxing.  Just sat there and took it all in.  I didn't want to leave.  I could have stayed there forever.  I've got some other good stuff from Day 4 as well.

Yellowstone Day 3 (A Day of Fishing)

Ok.  Many of you who know me well know that when I fish I concentrate.  So, it should be no surprise that I have few pictures of the 3rd day.  It was incredible!  I have never caught a native species of American trout.  I just can't tell you how incredible it was.  I fished a place called Slough Creek and caught Native Yellowstone Cuthroats.  After that I fished the Lamar river in and around the Lamar River Valley.  It's a spectacular place to visit.  Even if you don't fish.

This is the best self portrait I've ever seen.  Check out that beard.  Few, including myself, can grow such a husky beard.

I cropped this one down a little bit.  I didn't show Dad how to use the zoom so it's kind of difficult to see.  This is a huge pool in the Slough Creek where native albeit intelligent trout will delicately sip your fly of the surface.  But when they run they run hard and multiple times.

Same place but the fish was taking a hard run into the depths.  The sky was impossibly blue and there was a wonderful flow just ahead of me and below me.  This pool was awesome!  Nice and slow. And just soooo clear.  You could see the fish come up and take your fly.  Caddis.  That's what they were eating.  They come up slowly from the bottom and that take the fly and immediately return to the green and blue depths of the Slough.

Dad snapped this one as I was coming back from the point I was fishing.  I just about feel.  Even Simms wading boots can become slippery with rushing Slough water.


I really wish that I had been able to get more pictures of this.  I have only one of the Lamar and I caught some really nice fish in a canyon just off the roadside.  Oh well.  Everyone needs a reason to come back.