Yellowstone National Park, WY - Part: 3

The picture below is from West Thumb Geyser Basin. As you can see in the background that is Yellowstone Lake.




Yellowstone lake is at an elevation of 7733 ft. The area takes up 131.7 square miles. Average depth is about 140 feet. Maximum depth though is 410 feet. Average summer temperature of the water is 45 degrees F. This is the largest lake at this elevation in the United States.




Here I am standing at the heighest Continental Divide sign within the park boundaries.





There are two levels of this large waterfall in the park. We drove up to one segment featured in the picture below.





Then we drove to the other segment featured in the picture below this.

This area is named for the Shoshone Indians who lived in this mountainous region. Their use of the big horn sheep earned them the name of "Tukadika" or "Sheepeaters". The cliff is basalt lava that formed "columnar joints" when it cooled nearly 500,000 years ago.

The picture below is just another shot of some of the beautiful scenery within the park.

Finally, when we arrived at the Canyon Village Visitor's Center, we saw all these elk just laying around outside one of the administration buildings. I wonder how the people get in and out of there? Anyway, an unusual site to see to say the least.

Well, this concludes all of our posting on Yellowstone National Park. We just loved this park and I really wish everyone could visit it just once in their lives.

See ya down the road !

Yellowstone National Park, WY - Part: 2

We did a hike which was 6.2 miles round trip to Fairy Tail Falls. Below is a picture of that waterfall.





Below is a picture of one of the mud pots that we saw. This area must have been 20 x 30 feet around.

This little steamer in the picture below is called Dragons Mouth Spring. You should hear the roaring noise coming from its mouth.

In the picture below this is called Orange Spring mound. The calcium type material that sprews from its top continues to build up this mound in this orange-like color.

Jeff & I hiked the Natural Bridge trail. The picture below shows him after he completed the entire hike up to the Natural Bridge. That is him under it. (double-click picture to make it bigger)

When we were hiking back to the parking lot and right next to the trail we were on was this huge bison. He was just munching away. He was headed our way and since buffalo are the bosses around these parts we scooted off in another direction.

The bison love to scratch their heads on the trees. Below is one doing just that.

As you drive through the park you see Bison at large everywhere. Wait till you see Bison pooh - now that IS a sight!

See ya down the road ! ---Part: 3---

Yellowstone National Park, WY - Part: 1

We enter the park from West Yellowstone, Wyoming. Upon arrival the first thing we see are elk eating with their young. What a way to start our visit to this park!

This national park was established in 1872. It is the world's first national park.

This park is one of the largest in the contiguous United Stated. Sprawling across volcanic plateaus in the northwest corner of Wyoming. Yellowstone contains more than 2 million acres of streaming geysers, crystalline lakes, thundering waterfalls and panoramic vistas.

The picture below is of Old Faithful. Yes, we sat and waited for it to 'spout off' and she did gracefully and on time!

Below Jeff is standing at one of the great and powerful geyers. Their steam will burn you, so you can't get any closer. This is at the Lower & Upper midway geyer basin.

The pools of water from these geyers is the most fantastic color. But look, don't touch!

We went to the artists painted pots. Today we didn't see much color in them, but they were still beautiful to behold.

The picture below is of "mud volcano". It just bubbles along.......

See ya down the road ! ---at Part: 2---

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

On the drive from Victor, Idaho to the Grand Tetons we travel through Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Down main street we see a great antler arch at the entrance to the city park.




Few landscapes in the world are as striking and memorable as that of the Grand Teton National Park.

Rising abruptly from the valley floor, the Tetons offer a testament to the power and complexity of nature.

The mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers and skies are home to diverse and abundant plants and animals.

This spectacular mountain range and the desire to protect it resulted in the establishment of Grand Teton National Park in 1929.

The above picture of this huge buffalo and the picture below of the cute little 'baby' was taken while driving on the Antelope Flats Road within the park. Don't miss this drive if you ever go, as it is probably the only place you'll see any buffalo!

Geologic forces still shape this youthful landscape. With no foothills to obstruct your view, the jagged peaks and deep canyons of the Teton Range rise abruptly from the Jackson Hole valley. Magnificent and unusual views provide wonder.

The landscape was born out of an ancient past and shaped by recent geologic forces. The 2.7 billion year old rocks found in the core of the range are some of the oldest in North America, but these mountains rank among the youngest in the world.

The picture below is of the Jenny lake area where we did a hike around the lake. We saw people canoeing and kayaking all around the lake.

The picture below was taken on another hike that we did. The scenery was beautiful and this park is definitely one of the most wonderful trips we have made so far!

See ya down the road !

Rendevous Beach State Park, Garden City, Utah

Let me prevace this page of the blog to say that some of you may have noticed that we have already been in Utah and now here we are again. My mom became ill when we were on our way to Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho and we were literally 10 miles away from the park when I got the call. We scurried back to Utah so I could catch a plane home. Then the call came that she would be okay. So our trip did resume from just north of Salt Lake City. We found a park to stay at heading north again called Rendevous Beach.




Look at the teal color of this lake. In spots it is over 208 feet deep. This lake is 20 miles long.

This is a very popular spot and there were many jet skis and boats out there. People were even swimming and sunning themselves and the water was freezing. (At least to us it was)

The picture above is of our camping spot. I don't usually say much about where we camp because that isn't really the purpose of our blog. But this campground was only $25 a night for full hookups and our site was right on the lake.

The picture above was taken while we were bike riding on a paved trail that goes allover the city of Garden City. This house was so cute and had so many flowers I just couldn't resist!

Again, the color of this lake and the beautiful mountains behind it really makes this place special.

See ya down the road !

Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

While staying in East Glacier, Montana, we headed north to Waterton Lakes National Park. It was only about 1 1/2 hour drive to get into Canada from where we were.




Upon entering the park you go to the visitor's center and directly across the street is the beautiful Prince of Wales Hotel. It was huge and just as beautiful inside as outside.



Driving through the streets of the Waterton area where the touristy shops are we saw black-tailed deer everywhere.

Isn't this little fawn cute?

Driving through the park there is such beautiful scenery. We drove the Akamina Parkway and did the Cameron Lake Hike.

We also did a waterfall hike which was at the end of the Red Rock Parkway.

The hike lead to a beautiful waterfall and a winding stream.

Jeff is standing at the stream (see picture below). We then drove back to the KOA we were staying at and tomorrow we head off for our next adventure.

See ya down the road !

Glacier National Park, Montana

We traveled from Washington state through Idaho to get to Glacier National Park.

We started in West Glacier, staying at a park there for two nights. We then moved on to East Glacier staying at a KOA campground there for 3 nights.



When you enter the park, either from the west or the east, you are awestruck with its beauty.



We did see Big Horn Sheep while we were there. We did eventually see a bear, it was on our last day and we were heading out of the park and it ran across the road in front of us.




We hiked several nice trails. One being Avalanche Creek and another around Lake McDonald where there is a fabulous lodge and you can rent boats or canoes to venture out onto the lake.

While staying on the east side of Glacier National Park we took the Red Bus Tour which took us on the Going to the Sun Road. It was spectacular and we were glad we road the bus so we could spend all our time just looking at the beautiful scenery.

The Avalanche creek trail took us down to Avalanche lake (see picture below) where you can see 4-5 waterfalls coming down the mountain at one time. It was pretty cool!

We stopped at several overlooks and different areas to take in the scenery as seen in the picture below where Jeff is standing beside a beautiful stream.

One beautiful sight after the other. I wish I could post many, many more pictures for you to see.

See ya down the road !