From Yellowstone we went south through Grand Teton National Park and camped about an hour south of Jackson, Wyoming. The next day we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park by way of smallish highways through southeastern Wyoming, a bit of Utah, and quite a lot of Northern Colorado.
After the Beartooth Highway we camped by Cooke City in what would turn out to be one of my favorite campsites of the trip. The next day we drove across the northern part of the park to the Boiling River, which was open to the public (Unlike when I was there with my sister Rebecca a few weeks earlier) They were doing some work on it though as the Boiling River had apparently “changed course” a little bit.
From Mammoth we went south to one of my favorite spots, the Old Faithful area, where we spent a decent amount of time making fun of how big of a deal Old Faithful is made up to be. We skipped waiting for Old Faithful in order to see the more interesting features nearby.
My old friends the geothermal features were still looking good, as always. I am a big fan of the concept of revisiting places. I’m specifically talking about the natural world but as I sit here in Asheville for the first time in 8 months I think this idea applies to cities as well.
Things are constantly changing with the day to day weather, the seasons, and just the random changes that constantly occur in the universe on any given number of levels.
One of the first things we did on the drive back to Asheville was head east on I-90 for a short while, then turn south onto the Beartooth Highway down to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.
From north to south the road goes from the small town of Red Lodge, Montana, to the way smaller town of Cook City, Wyoming.
I had heard a lot about this road but living in Bozeman it isn’t on the way anywhere so I hadn’t been on it yet. It was an amazing way to begin what would be a fairly epic 3000 mile journey back home.
These were all taken the same day as the previous post, but unlike the previous post they are not in chronological order.
After a big winter the Going to the Sun Road finally opened a week or so into July.
My sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Scott came to visit me. It was a most excellent time.
Here are some pictures of their first full day here. We drove down to Yellowstone.
Polebridge is the kind of place I would worry about telling people if anyone actually read this website. A little “town” just ouside the western edge of Glacier National Park. Polebridge is off the grid, the Mercantile there sells some extremely delicious baked good, (think cheesy jalapeno bread and huckleberry bearclaws). Other than that there’s grass, kids, happy tourists, a sand volleyball court, cabins, a bar, and dogs.
My friend Lorrie suggested going there instead of visiting the eastern part again. After stopping for coffee and baked goods we went to the Bowman Lake Campground and did a nice 12-mile loop to Quartz Lake. After being caught in an evening thunderstorm the mosquitoes were basically unbearable. I’d never seen anything like it. The time of year was perfect for the little buggers, warm enough and wet enough.
When my friend Valerie Hastie was here visiting from North Carolina we did an excellent hike in The Grand Teton National Park. You walk around Jenny Lake, see Hidden Falls, continue up to a lookout called Inspiration Point, and if you are motivated you can continue back into Cascade Canyon.
We started at about 6pm and didn’t get back to the car until 10. Although it was not too bright for the walk back, we never needed headlamps and we hardly saw any people, which was fine by me.
If you are ever at Old Faithful, try and check out the myriad of different geothermal features in its vicinity. I know Old Faithful itself has the brand name recognition, but in my opinion it is one of the least interesting sights to see in the area. I’m just sayin’…
The morning we were at the Tetons I woke up at 5:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I grabbed the camera and went down to the lake. The only sounds were the occasional bird, Jackson Lake was completely still.
We hiked to Bullhead Lake.
We ate peanut butter and jelly.
We hiked to Josephine Lake.
We saw a moose.
“Sunshowers that I’m aiming at you, cause I’m watching you my baby”
Thanks for visiting Val. I am lucky to have a friend like you.
These were all taken during a walk around the Old Faithful area.
