Spent the night in the Colter Bay tent cabins. The sagging steel spring frames and thin mattresses are not the best for those of us with back issues. For me a flat wooden platform would have been better. At least I could have used my inflatable sleeping pad on a level surface. Ah well....
The inside of the tent cabins looks like this....
Woke the clan up pre-dawn and drove to the top of Signal Mountain. Lots of grumbling, but once in the car everyone cheered up. We made it to the top and were joined by maybe half a dozen other sunrise revelers. Watching the sun rise over the Tetons was amazing! We stayed for about an hour watching different parts of the valley flood with light as the sun rose higher and higher.
Pictures from sunrise at Signal Mountain...
Finally decided to head down and get some grub. On the way down, Hailey pipes up and says, matter-of-factly, "I just saw something big, black, and furry" I check the rear view mirror and come to a stop on the winding mountain road and put the car in reverse. We back up and there, maybe 100 feet from the road is a mother black bear and her cub gorging themselves on blueberries. They were very intent on stuffing themselves and barely took notice of us.
Momma and baby bear......
We contineued down Signal Mountain and spotted a moose out in the middle of a pond having her breakfast. More pictures....
Back at the tent cabins, we had a hearty breakfast and commenced packing up our stuff to head to Yellowstone. We kepy oohing and aahing at all the mountain and lake views as we drove north and put the Teotns in the rear view. Near the south entrance of Yellowstone, we hit a stretch of dirt road where there was major road reconstruciton going on. We had been warned that this would be a big delay in travel and I mentally logged the time to cover the 10 or 20 miles for the return trip to the airport.
Past the dirt road section and into Yellowstone, we drove along Lewis Canyon. I have to say, after the beauty and magesty of the Grand Tetons, we were disappointed with the sights along the south entrance road. Since this was our first trip to Yellowstone, we didn't know what to expect from the park, but were comparing everything to the Tetons and Yellowstone's south entrance area wasn't sizing up.
The dirt road....
South entrance scenery blahs...
We stopped at a few turnouts to look at the Lewis Canyon gorge and Lewis Falls. There were some pretty meadows along the Lewis River where I thought I could hear trout urging me to move along...
The scenery was improving. At Lewis Lake, we entered into the Yellowstone caldera - we're in geyserland baby! We coaxed the car up over the continental divide at 7,988 feet and dropped down into West Thumb on the Yellowstone Lake where we parked to have lunch and stretch our legs. After a few quicky sandwiches, we headed towards the lake and our first geyser experience.
At last, geysers!
Geysers overlooking Yellowstone Lake's West Thumb...
The colors!...
We continued west towrds Old Faithful, crossed the continental divide two more times (at 8,391' and 8262' at Craig Pass) and made a stop at the Kepler Cascades. It was a very beautiful spot, but also vert crowded. Careful aiming with the camera erases the crowd.
Kepler Cascades...
We continued up the road into the Upper Geyser Basin and made a stop at the Mystic Falls trailhead in the Biscuit Basin. We looked at more geysers and made the short 3.2 mile hike along the Littel Firehole River to Mystic Falls
I (we?) wanted to see them all!
Geysers in the Biscuit Basin...
Sapphire Pool....
mini geysers...
bigger geysers...
Mystic Falls....
Just up the road was the Midway Geyser Basin and the famed Grand Prismatic Spring. We stopped to admire the geysers, but only Hailey and I took the walk up to Grand Prismatic Spring. The perspective is not the samd as all the aerial shots you see, but the colors from the critters in the outlet channels were nontheless spectacular.
Excelsior Geysor streaming into the Firehole River....
Grand Prismatic Spring...
Midway Geyser Basin...
We pressed on to the Madison campground, set up camp, and made dinner.
Our campsite... The Kelty Mantra 7 rocks!
After dinner we went for a drive and found some elk along the Firehole River. Dana ignored all the rules about wildlife engagement stating that the animals were her friends and would not hurt her. Hell, I was going to hurt her!
Dana at one with her peeps...
We snapped some picks and drove along the Firehole Canyon Drive and stopped to admire the Firehole Falls.
We stopped at Fountain Paint Pots to check out all the gurgling mud pots and assorted geysers while the sun set.
Geysers in the setting sun...
The calcium deposits from erupting geysers and mineral springs that forms on the bottom of the trees are called "bobby socks"....
Mudpots...
The girls hamming it up...
We drove down Fountain Flat Drive where we saw rising trout in the setting sun along the Fairy Creek.
Rising trout at dusk...
I tried to help Dana catch one with a fly attached to a casting bubble, but I couldn't reach the far bank where the fish were. We stayed until dark, and then headed back to Madiosn to hit the hay by 9 pm.
WOW, WHAT A DAY !!!!!!!!
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