I can’t begin to describe what it is like driving from Mammoth to Norris and seeing steam rising from a pool of water at the side of the road. When we stopped, we could see, hear & smell the boiling cauldron. Thus it was for all of today. Tonight everything we wore, plus our skin, smells like sulpher and other ugly-smelling noxious gases, the names of which escape me, primarily because the beauty of what we saw far outranked any temporary unpleasantness. However, be forewarned. Anyone with a sensitive nose should avoid the geysers, steam vents, fumaroles and mud pots of Yellowstone. Make no mistake. Underneath all of this crunchy crust is some very active magma. We didn’t need the signs warning us to stay off the landscape, but we wondered how all the wild animals ... read more

Sun and warm winds greeted us this morning for our 1st day in Yellowstone. Well almost - Beartooth Pass was closed because of snow, ice and heavy fog - so no 3 billion year old rocks for Richard to collect today.. Instead we visited two amazing sights: Mammoth Hot Springs and the Yellowstone River Canyon at Artists Point. First we had to get past the park gates and a grumpy park warden taking his 1,000,000 entry fee for the season. The Golden Age Pass that I got while in Alaska in 2004 did not fool this warden. He was wise to the disconnect between the USA pass and the Canadian driver license. Full fee of $25 for 7 days was his final word. Mammoth is just a few km from our base camp at Gardiner. Banff ... read more

Last night we went to sleep in Trout Creek to thunder and rain. We had found an RV park after dark when the highway was mostly quiet. This morning we woke to 18 wheelers and a train rumbling by at 7:00 AM. Our new rule is never to drive after dark so we had to reach Yellowstone by 6:00 PM tonight. That involved about 4 hours of Interstate highway. But the rest of the day was on empty and very scenic road following the Clark Fork river through rolling hills suitable only for cattle graising and horse travel. Stopping only for lunch and $120 of Diesel and not for pictures since the weather was rainy, we were able to reach Gardiner Montana before dark. We had left Trout Creek in summer warmth and arrived in Gardiner ... read more

We're still a couple of weeks away from leaving on our 4 Corners & More trip to celebrate Kayla's retirement. She still has five more days of work, so the final countdown is on. We've rented a camper truck, our current favourite mode of travel for road trips. Got the packing list out. Still in the middle of doing all the Internet searching for the places we want to visit, downloading maps and local hiking & biking recommendations, and reading other people's blogs. This is a trip about rocks, hiking, biking, photography and avoiding big cities. The 4 Corners area is where Utah, Colorado, Arizona & New Mexico all come together - thus the name of our trip. First we'll head west from Pitt Meadows to Osoyoos, then south across the border towards Idaho, Montana and ... read more