If I Were Going...

Friday, November 15, 2013

Travels with Mark: Yellowstone

Mark under the iconic North Entrance Arch

October snow

After two days in Grand Teton, we headed north to Yellowstone National Park. We were quite surprised when we reached the South Entrance to discover that many of the roads were closed due to snow! The sign at the gate said that "snow tires" were required on the open roads. There really wasn't that much snow and I had four-wheel drive and all-weather tires. We figured we complied.

Winter came early

We had to rethink our plans and, although Tower Road never reopened, we did get to see almost all of the Park.

Beautiful snow-capped peaks

The FIRST thing we saw was a Grizzly bear! At close range right past the South Entrance gate.

I had never seen one there before!

Then, we stopped at Lewis Falls, which are usually surrounded by vegetation that is so, so green. It almost looked like a black and white photo!

Brrrrrr

Pretty cool stuff for a Florida boy!

We spent two days looking at geothermal wonders including bubbling mudpots and Dragon's Mouth (so called because of the roar and steam that emanate from the hole as the boiling water builds and releases pressure).

Yellowstone is one of the largest geothermal areas in the world

We visited Mammoth Hot Springs ...

An interesting landscape

... to experience its otherworldly thermal features ...

Perhaps this is another planet

... We saw Roaring Mountain ...

Steam just comes out of the cliff

... and, we saw a variety of boiling rivers, bubbling cauldrons, azure geothermal ponds and algae-decorated hot springs.

Steam and strange colors

Of course we went to Old Faithful to witness an irruption. This time, the blast wasn't very high and the steam created by the cold weather obscured our view. It was fun to watch, but I have seen better.

Still, a good place to pose

Then, we briefly visited the iconic Old Faithful Lodge so that Mark could see the amazing architecture featuring natural logs and stones ...

Old faithful's lobby

We visited Grand Prismatic Spring, but the cold weather created so much steam, we couldn't even see it. So, there are no photos.

We also visited Yellowstone Falls, both Upper ...

Drama

... and Lower ...

More drama

It was beautiful with a bit of snow around it.

Waterfalls just get the heart pumping

And, a great place for a portrait (I think we all have pictures of ourselves taken in front of the Falls).

Mark looks so much like our father here

And, we saw Bears, including a young Grizzly ...

This one was hunting gophers and eating flowers

... a famous Grizzly ...

This is Scarface; the reason for his name is obvious

... a very black Black Bear ...

This one looks more "typical" than the cinnamon one we saw in Grand Teton

... and a beautiful Grizzly ...

One of the prettiest Grizzlies I have seen

... that crossed the road right in front of us ...

Owning the road

In Lamar Valley, we saw a Golden Eagle ...

At pretty close range, as well

... a Coyote ...

Fairly distant

... Bison ...

Yellowstone's #1 animal

... more Bison ...

There are lots of them

In Hayden Valley, we saw Pronghorn ...

Running

... more Bison ...

A collared mom and her calf plus another mom with her itchy calf

... some of which decided to create a traffic jam ...

Bison jams can last hours (this one didn't)

Then, we drove out to the West Entrance, where we saw some Elk along the way ....

Resting by the river

We also visited LeHardy Rapids, which looked foreboding in the gray, wintery light ...

Cold, cold water

As in Grand Teton, the weather was all over the place, ranging from cold and snowy ...

The steaming geysers melt the snow

... to the middle of autumn ...

Some trees still had leaves

... but, it was all beautiful ...

Mark enjoying the scenery

Hoping to see some

Mark had wanted to see Wolves (let's admit it, so did I), but although we looked and looked and looked, we came up short there. Even the Yellowstone "Wolf People" (my name for folks who spend all their time looking for, tracking and viewing the Wolves through their scopes) couldn't help.

It was a successful trip, even with a very overdone bison burger in Mammoth Hot Springs and a ridiculous order of "trout" (it looked like two puny fish sticks run over by a tank for $22) at the Yellowstone Grill.

The open road was calling

Most of the Yellowstone Lodges were closed or closing down, so pickins' were slim and it was a bit chilly and blowy for picnics. But, we managed to stay nourished (we always do)!

The sun was coming out as our visit ended.

We were scheduled to drive home and then Mark realized he was flying out a day later than he thought. We decided we hadn't had enough, so we headed out to Devil's Tower!

There's no road I don't want to travel!

Trip date: September 26-October 1, 2013

Travels with Mark: Grand Teton

Pretty, but cloudy skies

I promised that I would come back and chronicle my trip with Mark, so here it is. Forgive any brevity, but time has passed.

We started by heading to Grand Teton from Fort Collins, having spent the night at Caty's after an awesome Maroon IV/Kelly Clarkson concert in Denver. As we drove north, the weather worsened and we encountered some very light snow.

Map: NPS

We were headed for Grand Teton's Moran entrance on the east side. It has the advantage of what we assumed would be pretty scenery and not having to drive through the sometimes awful traffic of Jackson, Wyoming. I had not gone this way before, so I didn't exactly know what to expect. But, I had driven around the are when I had been in the Park before, so it wasn't completely foreign. I also hadn't driven up this late in the year (it was mid-October) and I think I was naive enough to not fear bad weather.

As we approached Togwotee Pass, we checked the radio warnings, which said the pass was closed! ACK!!!! To go back around was hours of driving. So, we decided we'd go into DuBois (pronounced "doo boys") and see what the prognosis was. We passed two more warning signs, neither of which indicated a closed pass. So, we soldiered on. The pass was open and gorgeous!

Togwotee Pass

There was eight inches of fresh snow (and evidence that the pass had been briefly closed earlier in the day).

A bull Elk eyes us suspiciously before running into the pines

Of course, we had to stop and take some photos.

Fences make good snow gauges

So, on to Grand Teton! And, we even had a little sun on the way ...

This was (falsely) encouraging

Mark was happy

We stayed in a big cabin in Colter Bay Village. Unbeknownst to me when I booked, it was the last two days of the season. After that, all lodging would close. The cafeteria with our promised free breakfast was already closed. So, we got coupons for the much tonier Jackson Lake Lodge. Mark, who loves a big breakfast (or two) was in heaven. There was a chef making omelettes! And, the huge bowls of fresh berries worked for me.

We had a lovely time, even though the skies never cleared enough to really see the mountains (a reason for Mark to come back).

We never really saw the Tetons

During our two days there, we had some nice wildlife sightings.

We went to Moose-Wilson Road because it's usually a good bet for Moose. We were not disappointed. There was a beautiful cow and her calf just over the ledge at the parking lot, munching away in the snow ...

Two Moose right on cue

But, the extra reward was the gorgeous frosted scenery ...

View from the Moose-Wilson Road parking area

On our many travels down Moose-wilson, we also encountered a couple of Black Bears. One in particular, a gorgeous cinnamon-colored Black Bear ...

Looking at us briefly

... was so engrossed in eating hawthorn berries that it didn't mind the group of photographers at all.

I was amazed that bush could hold such a big Bear

We got frightfully close.

A Ranger eventually broke up the party

Grand Teton has a lot of Elk, and I thought they might be gathering at the Elk Refuge for the winter. But, not yet. So, we didn't see many. We did capture one gorgeous bull ...