Yellowstone & Teton with Mom
Mom flew into Calgary a few days before the start of our road trip. Ivan's kids got back from a Greek holiday around the same time. And Carmen and Sharon drove up from Lethbridge for their daughter, Kathryn's flight to France where she will be an au-paire for the next 10 months. Lots of people to say hi and bye to!
Monday morning we headed out for the 9 hour drive to Gardiner, Montana at the north entrance to Yellowstone. I thought Canadian prairie province roads were straight but the drive from the USA border to Great Falls was one long straight as a narrow highway! Twists and turns returned as we jogged west and then south.
Gardiner is a small quaint village with a river running through it. Great view from our friendly hotel. Dinner was in a cowboy restaurant with healthy (eg not American) sized portions.
The first day sights included: Mammoth Hot Springs (great landscape and resting Elk looking for a tourist to tangle with), the road to the northeast entrance with hoards of buffalo along the way and stories of wolf packs and grizzly bear (but they were well hidden from us), to the village of Canyon for lunch and shopping before spending the afternoon exploring north and south rims of the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". That canyon was truly worth the time spent and there remains a few view points that we must visit.Next day first stop after breakfast was the visitor's center where a very friendly and very chatty hostess mapped out the must do's for our first day in Yellowstone. So under beautiful blue skies and fantastic temperatures (high teens to low twenties on the celcius scale) into the park we went.
Out of the park and into the tiny village of West Yellowstone for 3 nights (better access to the rest of the national park). View nice with mountains on the horizon but no river at our feet. The hotel room is fantastic.
Day 2 was geyser day! We headed out towards Old Faithful but made stops along the way. First was a long line of traffic as cars were slowing and pulling over to see bison along the side of the road, and even on the road. Turning south at Madison we stopped at the Fountain Paint Pot with its bubbling and splattering ochre coloured mud along with fountaining crystal clear water and lovely reflective pools amongst the mist and steam. Also stopped at Midway Geyser Basin with its multi coloured pools - unfortunately it's most famous - Grand Prismatic - was only glimpsed through the steam as the day was chill the water temperature way over boiling and the wind speed over 20 knots! But a great site non the less.
At Old Faithful we were early enough to have a front row seat and listened to a park ranger on the topic of geysers and the geology of the area. Mom was bundled up with a blanket as the wind was strong and the temperature low. But Old Faithful went off in the early side of its 20 minute guestimate.
On our return leg we made a stop at Black Sand Basin with its loads of smoking holes and hot sands with more coloured pools. From there we carried on to the Firehole Lake Drive and paused for 3 hours next the to hot circle pools of Great Fountain Geyser. It had a 4 hour window within which in was targeted to blow but held on for 30 minutes outside that window. But once she started she repeatedly blew while we were there and was still carrying on when we left after 15 minutes. Oh also while we were waiting we watched the nearby White Dome Geyser erupt almost every 35 minutes.
On day 3 we did a few repeats. First down to the Grand Prismatic as the day was calm but unfortunately that just meant that all the steam clouds had nothing distributing it so almost no view. Then back to White Dome for an up close look at the eruption. Next back to Canyon and along the way we stopped to watch a Bald Eagle perched in an old dead tree watch the river for dinner. At Canyon we took the paths we had missed on the Grand Canyon of Yellwstone North and South Rim drives.
Finally it was time to check out and head through Grand Teton Park to Jackson. We did make a few more stops in Yellowstone (Dragon's Mouth and the Mud Volcano) but really we had seen most if the sights that were accessible from the road. Grand Teton is mostly a chain of snow capped mountains with a lake and river at its base. It was less than 100 miles to Jackson but we took the best part of the day making our way. The hotel here is only a couple of blocks from the foot of Jackson Hole ski hill.
One night here then on to canyons: Bryce, Zion, and Grand...
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