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Published: September 16th 2012
Hey All! We're back! And back with full cell coverage!
Welcome to Utah everyone!
We left our ghetto campground nestled between the highway and the parking garage two days ago and ventured into western Wyoming. We went through some of the most drastic scenery yet, passing along mountain byways with cliffs on one side and green mountains and rivers to the other. This was pretty tough on the car, the smell of burning breaks became a normal smell outside of the crisp mountain air. We stopped along the highway at a pull off, along one of the most steep cliffs we'd seen so far, in order to give the car a break and get some fresh air. While taking some photos, we heard the sound of voices above. We looked straight up and saw some climbers battling their way up a pretty sheer route above us. I resisted the urge to grab my harness, shoes and chalkbag out of the trunk to join them, ang got back into the car. I figured what they were doing was just a bit above my abilities. 😊
Traveling through these mountainous roads was amazing for the eyes, but not so hot
on the engine. We went into Cody, Wyoming, so obviosly named after Buffalo Bill. This was a cute Western town, filled with the little country stores we've come to expect. From there we went through the Bighorn Mountains, which led our way into Yellowstone Park. We entered through the Eastern Entrance. Shortly after, we spotted the two largest animals we'd seen since the black bear in Canada. Climbing across a shallow outcropping above us were two bighorn sheep, who were our first animal welcome to Yellowstone. We watched them and took a few shots. As we continued into the park, we found Sylvan Lake. In the early twilight, the place was magical. As Ang kept her eye on the perpetually windy roads, I put myself on animal watch. My first big score was our first buffalo (bison, more correctly) in a strange spot. The buffalo was by himself in a shallow ravine near the water, barely moving. I thought he was dead, until I watched the swich of his tail. Ang and a few other bystanders got closer to take some pictures while I hung back. Little did I know how close I'd get later.
About 15 minutes down
the road, we had to hang back while two more bison crossed the road about 10 yards in front of us. We were shocked by their size and how little they seemed to care about all he people around them. We watched them carry about their way, oblivious, or so it seemed, to the camera flashes around them.
We made it to camp and set up, enjoying a canned dinner. We were then serenaded to sleep by an elk, coyote and wolf chorus. It was a cold night, with temperatures reaching into the mid-20's. I put on 3 shirts, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a pair of jeans and sweatpants and 2 pairs of socks before going to bed and was still cold. Ang wore about half that with no socks and was fine. Go figure.
The next morning we got up early to begin our Yelowstone loop. We started off by heading to Old Faithful. She was as faithtful as predicted and we made it there with ten minutes to spare before she erupted. It was a beautiful sight, but didn't really compare to the beauty we saw later.
Our next stop was the Grand Prismatic Spring.
Now this was something to write about. Between the shocking reds, blues, yellows and oranges, the immense heat and permeating smell of sulfur, the place was as Martian as you could find on Earth. It was a stunning experience. From there we saw the Artist's Paint Pots, which seemed pretty similar to a lunar landscape. This was a very unfamiliar environment. We saw waterfalls, paint pots, geysers, and hotsprings; each more beautiful than the last. We saw the Mammoth Hot Springs, which look more similar to a glacier than anything volcanic. We also saw our first elk, eating some grass outside of a hotel there. By the time we left Mammoth Hot Springs, we were starting to see the sun getting lower in the sky.
On our way on the seond half of our loop, we stopped where we saw a number of other cars on the side of the road. Walking up, we couldn't figure out why they had stopped. Through listening to conversation and using our binoculars, we found a grizzly bear feasting on a bison kill across the valley. Watching for awhile, we saw a black bear join him, along with a bison herd on the
other side. A few people told us they saw a wolf too, but unfortunately we missed that. Even from such a distance, it was really nice to see animals living in their enviroment with no impression from humans.
On our way back to our campsite, we thought we had already seen the best of Yellowstone, until another bison walked in front of our car. He walked about 2 feet from Ang's door, giving her a look as he passed. Seeing him gave us a full grasp of just how huge and wild these animals really are. And still we weren't finished. Closer to camp, we saw another group of cars stopped, and watched a bull moose, two cows, and a baby moose feed about 20 yards from where we were. This sight completely topped off our evening.
We enjoyed another performance of the Yellowstone chorus with some new noises this night that were hard for me to place. I would find out exactly what they were the next morning.
Again, we were up pretty early; we had a long drive planned. We made coffee and packed up camp pretty quickly. Ang brought the trash up while I
took a look at the map to figure our next steps. I heard some strange noises coming from behind me, but didn't think much a about them, since strange noises are pretty much the norm here. A minute later I turned around and watched two bull moose walk right behind the car I was sitting in, past our picnic table, and directly over the spot where our tent had stood only 15 minutes prior. They kept walking into the woods behind us and were scraping their antlers up against trees. Ang had heard them and had turned around. We both grabbed our camers and folled them at a short distance. We were told later that these two were in rut, making them even more dangerous. The moose walked down to the campsite behind us and proceeded to use their antlers to tear the people's camper into pieces. The man shouted at them and they continued on to the next site. People were yelling at their family and friends to stay in their tents, while the two moose butted antlers and scraped their antlers up against picnic tables, bellowing the whole way. They finally continued on, past our area and we
went back to the car. I walked over to take a look at the damage to the other people's camper. They told me that now their trip was now over. Pretty sad their trip had to end, but awesome to see the power of some of the large animals here at Yellowstone.
We took off shortly after and left Yellowstone for Grand Teton National Park. We could only see the tops of the mountains here, as the rest was shrouded in smoke from all of the forest fires in the area. These were probably the steepest mountains we had seen so far. We carried on into Jackson Hole, a really nice little mountain ski town that seems to have been taken over by the fires in the area. There was the smell of smoke everywhere and the sights and sounds of helicopters dumping chemicals on the fires were everywhere. There was a tent city set up for all of the firefighters working on the blaze. We found a geocache along the Snake River here that our dad had given us the coordinates for. It was really nice to get out of the car and walk along the river for awhile.
From here we traveled into Idaho and finally into Utah where again we met steep climbing roads that brought us under a canopy of trees over the roadway next to moutain rivers. Another gorgeous spot. We found our way into Ogden, Utah not far from Salt Lake City. We got a motel here for last night and are making a push towards Reno, Nevada today. Thanks again for following and for sitting through this long one! Talk to you all again soon!
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Dee
non-member comment
Great Adventures!
I Love reading ALL your stories (great writing BTW!!!) and seeing the photos! I can imagine ALL the others we will see when you get back! So great you both are having a Awesome time and Once in a Lifetime full of new adventures and experiences - TOGETHER!!! Yo Go Girls!!! ;])