G&T's Excellent Adventure

FRI., JUNE 21st thru WED., JUNE 26th, 2024

We traveled 75 miles north thru Grand Teton NP to arrive in Yellowstone at Fishing Bridge RV Park. We passed thru old fire damaged areas in Yellowstone, and we also passed by beautiful Yellowstone Lake and the Absaroka Mountain Range. At the campground there were dainty white phlox in bloom everywhere, which was in stark contrast to the piles of dead wood that were placed in elaborate formations. Someone went to a lot of trouble! Did I mention the mosquitoes at the campground? Oh my.

It’s amazing how close these two National Parks are to one another! We had another beautiful drive today. We’re here for 6 nights. Tomorrow the pod starts exploring…

Day 1, June 22nd (2024) – President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872. It’s gigantic at 2.2 million acres and lies in 3 states – Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana but the vast majority of the park (96%) is in Wyoming. This is our second time visiting Yellowstone. Our first being in June of 2017. We’re trying to focus on areas of the park that we haven’t previously visited. It’s hard to see it all in one trip! 

Yellowstone has geothermal areas that contain 60% of the world’s active geysers. The pod’s first stop this morning was West Thumb Geyser Basin to walk on the 1-mile boardwalk. We viewed geysers as well as hot springs, pools, mud pots (nothing like seeing a bubbling pot of mud!), and fumaroles (an opening on the earth’s surface that releases steam). The many beautiful colors we saw in the hot springs were caused by “light refraction, suspended mineral particles and heat-loving microorganisms.” The boardwalk also provides gorgeous views of Yellowstone Lake. There were even active geysers in the lake. 

After that we visited one of the many Visitor’s Centers. This one at Grant Village. Then we stopped at Yellowstone Lake, the largest high-altitude lake (over 7,000 ft in elevation) in North America. It’s just beautiful. We enjoyed lunch with a view, and then were able to walk out on a long strip of narrow land on the lake. It went for a few miles with the lake on either side. So interesting. 

After that we visited one of the historic lodges, Lake Lodge, with it’s magnificent porch. It was built between 1920 and 1926 and is located directly across the street from Yellowstone Lake. The lake is home to the largest population of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in North America.

We attempted to pick up a few groceries at one of the General Stores but $10 for a half gallon of milk was a bit much. We can live with what we’ve got! After that it was time to head home to rest up for the next day’s exploration! 

Day 2, June 23rd (2024) – We were hoping to see wildlife today. Since bison tend to be most active at dawn and dusk, we opted to head out around 5 pm to test our luck. We first visited the North and South Rim and various waterfalls, then the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and lastly Hayden Valley hoping to see lots of bison. We were not disappointed! 

Shortly after we headed out a grizzly bear popped out onto the road but just as quickly it went back into the woods. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to get a photo. Along the drive we came to LeHardy’s Rapids, which is on Yellowstone River. Gorgeous. 

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone varies from 800 to 1200 ft in depth and from 1500 to 4000 ft in width. Its length is about 24 miles. The upper 2 1/2 miles is the most colorful section. Hot spring activity has continued thru the ages altering the lava rock to produce striking colors which are due to various iron compounds. The V-shape of Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon shows it was carved by water. Glacially altered canyons are U-shaped. The canyon has been a work-in-progress for at least the last 12,000 years. It’s one of the “must sees” in Yellowstone. We visited Lower Falls at Lookout Point (where the river plunges 308 ft), Upper Falls, Grand View, Artist Point and Inspiration Point… all located at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Lovely views with the sun beginning to go down. 

Hayden Valley is stunning with its rolling hills, blue streams, and lush grasses and sedges. It has been home to bison for thousands of years. Bison are protected in Yellowstone and serve as a success story in American conservation after becoming nearly extinct in the 1800s. Bison are born in Hayden Valley and they live and die here, too. Three seasons are sublime but winter is brutal and only the strongest, furriest and fattest bison can survive. We saw many bison up close grazing. A wondrous site! We even saw a herd of elk grazing with their babies in the distance. 

A very fun evening! One we’ll remember for a long time. 

A short video follows of one of our bison encounters! Truly remarkable animals! 

Day 3, June 24th (2024) – The pod headed out in the afternoon first to Mud Volcano. It’s a little over a 1/2 mile walk over various boardwalks. In 1872 explorers stood in awe as Mud Volcano spewed mud into the treetops, shaking the ground with each eruption. Two years later it was a pool of bubbling, muddy water. It’s still pretty darn impressive with mud bubbling and spewing up at various holes in the earth! The sulphur smell is quite pungent throughout this area. 

Sulphur Caldron was our next stop. Ten times more acidic than lemon juice, Sulphur Caldron sits on the edge of one of the most active areas of Yellowstone’s buried volcano. Not as impressive as Mud Volcano but still worth a stop. Sulphur rich gases rise furiously here, filling Sulphur Caldron with sulphuric acid.

After that it was time to visit Lake Yellowstone Hotel, built in 1891, it is the oldest operating hotel in the park. In 1903 Yellowstone Hotel was re-designed and substantially expanded by Robert Reamer, architect of the Old Faithful Inn. In contrast to the Old Faithful Inn and many other western park facilities, the Lake Hotel is a relatively plain clapboarded Colonial Revival structure with three large iconic porticoes facing Yellowstone Lake, and a beautiful porch. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2015. We sat in their Sun Room with gorgeous views of Yellowstone Lake and had a cocktail and a few appetizers. Many thanks to Mary for treating the pod!!! Our cocktails included two lemon drop martinis, North by Northwest Red Wine, a Wilderness Old Fashioned and a Lake 75 with gin, lemon juice, huckleberry purée, and sparkling wine. Now doesn’t all of that sound decadent! 

And here’s a short video that we shot at Mud Volcano.

Day 4, June 25th, (2024) – In the morning the pod (minus Gary) did a 2.5 mile hike around Storm Point Loop, a 5-minute drive from the campground. We hiked thru forested areas and along the shores of Yellowstone Lake. We saw Indian Pond, the site of a hydrothermal blowout where tons of rock, steam and boiling water exploded into the air leaving the crater that became Indian Pond. This, of course, happened many millennia ago.

It was a beautiful setting for a hike including some very pretty beach areas as well as lots of wildflowers. We’ve been so fortunate to have so many wildflowers in bloom during our visit to Yellowstone. No wildlife to be seen except for two coyotes far in the distance. Although we saw lots of bison scat. There were also tons of downed trees, thus the reason for the name Storm Point.

We stopped at a turnout called Pelican Valley, it’s frequented by grizzly bears. Carrying bear spray was strongly recommended and you had to maintain a 100-yard distance from bears and wolves. I can guarantee we won’t be hiking on that path!

Joe carried our bear spray on our 2.5 mile Storm Point Loop, although we came across a ranger who said we ALL should be carrying bear spray. Now they tell us! 

We chilled in the afternoon and then in the evening headed out for a 1-hour sunset cruise on Yellowstone Lake. It was a beautiful night to be on the lake. We learned a lot. For example: 

• There are 10,000 documented geo-thermal features in the park. More than in the rest of the world combined. About 1,000 are located in Yellowstone Lake. 
• There are 5,000 to 6,000 bison in the park.
• The bears are more active now because they are feeding off the river. In a couple of weeks they will go further inland and won’t be as readily seen. 
• The water temp currently is a chilly 49 degrees

During our boat cruise, we saw remnants of a downed large sightseeing boat back in the day. No casualties. The boat operator had his license taken away for a variety of reasons. Mistreatment of animals being one of them. I don’t want to know what that was about. 

Yellowstone is truly a remarkable National Park. Worth the hype! It became the first national park in the world because of all the geo-thermal features. The fact that it has so much wildlife… bison, elk, bears, wolves, and the largest high-elevation lake in North America is just icing on the cake!

A treasure with its geysers, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, pine forests, open valleys and abundant wildlife. You get a sense of what a late 1800s America might of felt like. We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to explore areas of the park that we hadn’t visited last time we were here. Today is a chill day before continuing our adventure next into Montana…