This is beautiful

I keep trying to capture the beauty of this place.  It is just way more beautiful than my photography skills.  Grand Teton National Park is simply a place that you need to see for yourself.

Today was cold when we woke up so we decided to take it easy and take a drive through the park and to Jackson Hole Resort.  I had planned to ride the tram but the clouds were pretty thick and the price was more than I was willing to spend.  I’m not sure the view could be any better than the one I am seeing wherever I look!  A very nice, expensive resort in a beautiful setting.  Probably not somewhere I would visit in the winter.

We have learned in the National Parks that when a bunch of cars are pulled over you are going to try to see some wildlife!

                                   One lonely Elk

I guess Elk are not that big of a deal because I spotted this one all alone and no other cars stopped, Hmmmm.  He was really cute, just hanging out in the meadow, somewhat hidden by the trees.  He saw me and looked up just long enough for me to snap a shot.  I love watching the animals hanging out, ignoring the tourist.

He had lots of tourist trying to get the perfect shot

I almost missed this shot because I start watching them and all the people and forget to use the camera.  He really was not interested in the people that kept creeping closer and finally turned and walked into the woods.

                                            Pronghorns 

We saw a small herd of these guys along the road with a big audience and just thought they were deer.  Once we spotted them we saw lots of them and after awhile you quit stopping.  They were really friendly and did not run away.

                     Not sure what type of bird this is

We stopped at a spot just outside the park that was a wildlife refuge and saw mostly birds. This guy stayed put long enough for me to get a shot but I am not a bird watcher so he is just a bird to me!

              Trying to catch some wildlife!

Jackson Lake has a huge dam and there were lots of fishermen on both sides of the dam.  I liked watching the water and caught this guy casting.

It was another awesome day in the Tetons.

We came into the park from the west thru Idaho.  We reached the peak where everyone stops before descending into Jackson over Teton Pass. It is a two lane road with a 10 percent grade for 5 1/2 miles! The Winnebago Journey handled it beautifully.

At the top of the grade!

Yep,  you are very high and the valley is way down!  That is snow in the background.  This guy pulled over just before he started his descent!  I hope he has newer brakes than the age of the car.

That was yesterday on our way in!  Today, the weather is a bit cool and it sprinkled a little this evening after we had a wonderful day of hiking near Colter Bay in the park.  We are staying right outside of the park so it is very convenient.  Our first stop was a spot that was very near the Snake River and Paul got out and immediately returned to the car.  The mosquitos were huge and a couple hitchhiked into the car on his clothing!  Darn, I was hoping for a lot of hiking today.  The good news is when we got further into the park and near the big tourist stops the mosquitos were manageable with some DEET, or so we think!  I’ll know in a couple of days whether it worked or not.  We hiked about 7 miles all together, taking two separate trails.

The Tetons are amazingly beautiful and today was not the best photography day but you get the idea!  They are huge, amazing, beautiful and you can see them for miles.  Our RV park is about 5 miles from the edge of the Park and we can see them!

It is very lush here and everything is blooming.  Here is a sample of the flowers that are growing in the park.

Yellow and Purple are the predominant colors and there are Yellow Daisy like flowers are everywhere.  There are huge fields of them.

We didn’t see much wildlife today but we did see a few interesting birds along with Canadian Geese and one Duck that took off just as I was getting the camera ready!

There are not many waterfalls that are within our hiking ability but of course I did capture one!  We saw it without much trouble!

Can you see it?

We spent 3 full days wandering, hiking, and admiring Yellowstone and could have spent many more days.  The park is huge and each area is so different.  We took another dirt road on the chance we would see more wildlife! NOT!  I think the wildlife are pretty smart- hang near the people.  There is lots of green vegetation right in the villages! We did see some Long Horned Sheep on the side of a cliff!

If we hadn’t seen the people on the side of the road pointing we would never have seen them!

Are they color changing?  Or did they do a color match before choosing that mountain?   The mountain was so jagged and they would perch right on an edge.

Geyser’s are the big attraction and everywhere you go you see people watching a pool of water waiting for it to explode.  We saw a couple of small ones and then we waited the 90 minutes to see the BIG ONE!

Fire Hole Lake

Geyser Basin

Beautiful colors around the geyser.

This one was crystal clear. You can see the mineral deposits along the edges

Old Faithful

Impressive

From Old Faithful we followed the road towards Yellowstone Lake.  This lake is huge, has some geysers and had a lot of whitecaps today!  The weather is just cool enough to not want to swim.  There were very few people enjoying the clear, blue waters.

West Thumb Geyser Basin. The Yellowstone Lake is in the background

Just beyond the Yellowstone Lake you come to a whole new area.  This area the ground all looks like muddy, clay.  They call this area Mud Volcano’s .  The sulphur smell was really strong.  We took a nice 3/4 mile hike around the area.  It is hard to see but the pools are definitely not blue!

Mud Volcano’s

And of course, more waterfalls.

More waterfalls!

Upper falls, flowing into the Yellowstone River, near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone

Not The Grand Canyon but pretty impressive.  We were here just past sundown so the yellow canyon walls are not showing up but they were beautiful.

And then one of the most unusual areas,  Mammoth Hot Springs.  Mammoth Hot Springs is near the Northern entrance and has no geysers, however the water formations are amazing!

Small pools atop a huge mountain of white!

As the water flows, the minerals are deposited in many different colors

The many terraces are created by the hot water flow

The landscape is sometimes the victim of nature here!

The Madison River.

Besides all the fabulous geysers, springs, caldrons, mud pools, Yellowstone has some amazing rivers flowing through some beautiful valleys.  The meadows are my favorite!

And so ends our fun in Yellowstone!  We are headed to Boise to do some work and then it is home to the “NEW” house and some time with the kids!  We are already planning our next trip to Yellowstone!  Wait, that is what I say about most places we have been!

We are two states away from Yellowstone National Park!  We are staying in an Idaho SP about 15 miles from the West Entrance to Yellowstone which is in Montana and Yellowstone is in Wyoming!  Once we are inside the Park we have our first “brake to see wildlife!”

Traffic Jam!

Wildlife viewing is big here in Yellowstone.  Out of nowhere the traffic ahead will just stop.  Some will pull to the side, get out of their cars to get that photo and others will just stop in the middle of the road to have a good look.  This guy here wasn’t blocking traffic, he was just ambleing along the left side of the road, yet traffic was stopped for about a 1/2 mile.

Small herd of Elk in the woods eating the grasses

The big Daddy!

We also had a stop to view a momma black bear and her two cubs eating on the mountainside.  They were pretty far up on the ridge and I could only see them through binoculars.   Wildlife is everywhere.  We had one traffic jam where people were watching an Elk carcass on the banks of the river that wolves were feasting on.  By the time we got there it was only the carcass but people were waiting for the wolf to return!  Not me! The Elk and Buffalo seem harmless and everywhere.  Wolves sound scary!  I would like to see a moose.

The other big attraction in Yellowstone are the water features.  They have rivers, creeks, waterfalls, springs, geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles.  The park definitely is full of water.

Gibbon Falls

Tower Falls

We saw our first geysers or maybe they were hot springs!  I can’t tell the difference!

Spring? Geyser?

Norris Geyser Basin

Sometimes the landscape around these basins looks more like devastation that beauty.  It is very cool walking around the area and seeing all the steam and boiling pools.

It started to rain so we took to the car and drove through the Mammoth Hot Springs area deciding we will return here when you can walk around!  The landscape is spectacular.

Looks like snow melt!

Watch for more photos of Mammoth Hot Springs as we will be back here later this week.  We were close to the Mammoth Campground and Paul decided to drop in and and meet a couple that we have been following their journey since before we started ours!  Howard and Linda, RVDreams didn’t seem fazed by our unannounced visit!  We had a nice chat and then on their recommendation we headed to Boiling River where the hotsprings flow into the Gardiner River!

Staying close to the edge where the springs flow into the chilly river

Ahh!

This was a definite on my list of must do’s while in Yellowstone.  It is the best hot tub experience because when you get too warm you only have to move an inch or two and you will instantly be cooled down, sometimes you don’t even have to move.  Enough with the relaxing, back to the car and seeing some of the Yellowstone backcountry.

We continued along the main route enjoying the sites and then we took a 6 mile side road before reaching the Tower-Roosevelt area where we were sure we would see some wildlife.  We saw lots of wilderness and only 1 other vehicle.  The wildlife was as scarce as the traffic!  We saw two small wild turkeys and a chipmunk!  Back on the main road is where we hit another traffic jam and saw the bears on the ridge!  Go figure!  Stay tuned, we will be in Yellowstone a few more days.