We camped a night on the rim and the next day went into the Canyon via the Grandview Trail. The top of the trail was snow-covered and steep but after a while things got better. It was an excellent trail with almost no one on it. This was quite a change compared to the heavily-trafficked Bright Angel and South Kaibab Trails I’ve done in past years.

The ranger at the backcountry station where we got the permit had told us about a cave and old abandoned mines near Horseshoe Mesa. We were excited about finding them and definitely managed to do so. I quickly realized that the idea of exploring caves or abandoned mines is much more appealing to me than the actual process.

We found the Cave of the Domes rather easily and explored just enough to see the hundred-year old signatures on the ceiling. Including the quite famous Kolb Brothers , who had a studio right on the rim.

We are back in cold Bozeman after a week of almost constant warmth in the Southwest.

It was an excellent trip indeed, and we got to see a lot of really beautiful country.

Here are some of the pictures from the drive down.

Due to overwhelming demand I bring more captures from last weekend. Awesome sweetness. (Robin I owe you one)

These pictures were all taken in and around Gardiner. That little town really grew on me. Usually we just pass right through it and it was fun to be able to hang out for a little while. It doesn’t hurt to be with such a swell group of folks too.

Luke, Kez, Hilary, her friend Stephanie and myself went down to Yellowstone by way of the northwest entrance in Gardiner, Montana. Here are some pictures of Gardiner. It is a nice little town, especially in the winter when it isn’t overrun with tourists.

When we rode up into town that elk was just hanging out in someone’s yard. They said that they will tag elk only if they are troublemakers. So I thought keeping my distance was a smart idea.

This was the second time in a week Kez and I had made the trip. I thought this Geothermal Feature was especially cool.

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Kez and I went to Glacier over Labor Day weekend. It was a good time. Here are a couple pictures, please let me know if you can’t see them.

For all you inquring minds out there losing sleep thinking “well what else did those crazy Sulock’s do in Montana?”. A better question would be “what did they NOT do”. The answer to that is “nothing”. We did everything possible. It was a serious vacation and not one for the faint of heart. Here are a couple of photos in case you’re interested.

Mom and Dad have been out west for a week now. We spent 3 nights at Coulter Bay in the Tetons with Kezia joining us for the first night. Then it was taking the scenic route through Yellowstone on the way back and since then Bozeman. On Wednesday we are going to drive up to Glacier for a couple of nights.

Mom and Dad are in Anaconda outside of Butte playing a the Old Works golf course which Dad first mentioned to me a number of months ago. The weather seems to be cooperating so I hope they are having a good time. It wasquite chilly at the Tetons and in Yellowstone. Mom and especially Dad would probably use a term along the lines of “Artic”. The 2nd night we were there it started snowing and we woke up with some snow scattered on the grounds and the moutains with a fresh dusting.

I warn you that the last picture is 3.3 megabytes. It is a panoramic of the Tetons I took with about 9 pictures stiched together.

https://michaelsulock.com/wp-content/uploads/Teton.jpg I don’t know why WordPress is being such a pain with with this picture but if you copy the address above and paste it into your browser you’ll get to the giant panorama.

Here are the promised pictures from Yellowstone a little while back. It was a lovely day, warm and sunny. We drove past a lot of people watching wolves with high-powered telescopic devices, we walked amongst some Buffalo, thousands of tarny marmots (which is what Luke kept calling them even though they looked like squirrels to me. They live in the ground like prairie dogs in big communities and our trail seemed to go right through a rather large one.

Also, I am finally totally finished with school. Year one complete. All in all I am rather pleased with what has been presented me out here and what I have made of it. Huzzah! I about a week and a half of almost total freedom until summer session starts.

Every spring and fall some roads in Yellowstone are closed to cars but open to bikers as they get ready for the changing of the seasons. Yesterday I experienced this for the first time with a 42 mile trip from Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Geyser Basin and back. I bought a new bike last week, a Giant OCR 1. It is a road bike. I’m excited about it. Yellowstone without any cars is rather grand. The weather was fairly warm (despite there being an abundance of snow that hadn’t melted yet). The 42 miles went by quite quickly. Riding a bike made for the roads is a lot faster than riding a mountain bike with some slick tires on it.

The 3rd picture is the Boiling River. It is a lot of water that emerges from underground after being heated inside the earth. It is quite warm and swimming directly in it is illegal. However, right after the spot where the picture was taken it meets with the very cold Gardiner River, and that is where you can swim.

The really hot water meeting the cold water makes for a very good temperature. Its like a giant outdoor hottub that is continually flowing past you. I’d driven past it many times, but never actaully checked it out. It is quite awesome, I’ve never seen anything like it. You just hang out in this warm water and watch the elk around you, (we actually saw a bald eagle as well). Pretty classic stuff, I was feeling very spoiled by my surroundings yesterday.

The last one is Luke pondering. When I learn how to put text inbetween these pictures I will, but its not really that easy to do if you don’t know how.