It's been a fun journey thus far, and we made it to Yellowstone before the winter weather set in. The main road around Yellowstone is setup like a large figure eight, so our plan was to spend a few days exploring the southern loop, and then move on to the campgrounds around the center of the figure eight, and then on to the top. Unfortunately, like all good plans, reality had something else in mind for us.
We arrived at Grants Village in the late afternoon and booked a site for 3 days. We were just getting our motorhome setup when we heard an Elk bugle. We walked over to the trail around camp, and it wasn't a minute later and a large bull came waltzing by following two cows! Unfortunately, we hadn't had time to grab a camera.
The first day was spent exploring the West Thumb Geyser Basin, Sulphur Caldron, and Mud Volcano. Like most of the days to follow, it was both an interesting display of vivid colors, beautifully clear pools, gurgling mud pots, and overwhelmingly bad stink.
Deep blue pool at West Thumb Geyser Basin
Eww, that smell. Bison don't seem to mind, however.
Dragons Mouth Spring, here, let daddy plug that nose for you.
The next day we were off to see Old Faithful, and the rest of the Upper Geyser Basin (of which Old Faithful isn't even the most impressive geyser, just more reliable). This day was one of the most exciting, with several impressive geyser eruptions and a slightly too close encounter with a couple of bison sorting out their differences (see video link below).
Junior Ranger interactive sign interpretation.
Forgot this one's name, but it was pretty cool.
Old Faithful.
Two bison sorting our their problems. As we would find out, this was only round one.
Try not to look nervous. Unfortunately, the 2nd bison from the above pic shows up and they proceed to go at it again!
The last day in the south loop was spent exploring the Midway Geyser Basin and Lower Geyser Basin. It was pretty overcast and started raining a bit, so we didn't get to spend as much time exploring as we would have liked. Also, we didn't have reservations for the next campsite, so we cut the day short so we could find a place to sleep.
A rainbow of colors
Grand Prismatic Springs (we scrambled up the side of a steep hill to get this shot).
Our plan that evening was to stay at Madison Campground, but it, as well as the next couple of campgrounds were all full. We ended up having to drive about 40 miles out of our way to a National Forest primitive campground about 5 miles outside the northwest gate of Yellowstone. It turns out that, along with Summer, the Fall elk bugling season is the busiest time of year in Yellowstone. Each morning was a race to the next campground to try and get a spot before it filled up.
National Forest campground view. We looked pretty out-of-place among the tents.
Presidents Arch, Yellowstone northwest entrance.
Our next few of days were spent in the town of Mammoth. I was able to get a good bike ride in, and we had quite the adventure with a herd of elk.
Abigayle receiving the Yellowstone Junior Ranger badge.
The Mammoth Visitors Center.
Herd of elk in downtown Mammoth.
Pretty hot springs deposits above Mammoth.
The view down to Mammoth from the hot springs.
While we were taking this shot, we noticed the herd of elk from the above picture had moved in the direction of our motorhome. Once we hiked back to town, we were (rather unpleasantly) surprised that they had moved to a grassy area right alongside of our RV. As we watched several cows smelling the drivers side area around the RV, we were hoping that Chloe (our dog), who was sitting in the passenger seat, would remain calm. The rather aggressive bull that was herding his cows had already rammed one of the National Park vehicles as it drove by, so I didn't want it tearing up the side of my plastic motor home! I tried to go around to the passenger side to sneak in, but the bull saw me and proceeded to stalk me along the row of cars. Lucky for me, one of his cows decided to wonder off so he took off to go retrieve her and the whole herd moved on down the road.
Elk guarding the RV.
After Mammoth, we moved on to the Norris Campground. This was the prettiest campground we stayed at, and we had a great time exploring the Norris Geyser Basin and the Canyon of the Yellowstone River, and spotting wildlife. In fact, we saw our first grizzly bear, albeit from quite a distance.
Norris Campground view. We woke up to a bison in the prairie the first morning we were here.
Chloe striking a pose.
Norris Geyser Basin.
Coyote munching on a carcass. The large crowd here said they saw wolves here earlier.
Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
Lower canyon falls (note the people on the platform at the edge of the falls).
We were proud of Abigayle for hiking up and down this trail.
Grizzly bear (the black blob on the other side of the river).
After leaving Thermopolis, we headed towards the Grand Teton's. This was supposed to be just a side trip on our way to Yellowstone, but it ended up being on of our favorite places, and certainly one of the most beautiful places we've ever been to.
This was also our first foray into grizzly country, so we were a little timid about hiking (especially since one had been seen in our campground the day before our arrival). However, we did go kayaking on Lake Jackson against the unbelievable backdrop of the Teton range, and rode our bikes on the paths around the villages.
We also went riding around the town of Wilson, just outside of Jackson, WY. I rode the mtn bike trails up Teton Pass while Sylvia and Abigalye rode the bike trail in the valley.
I was prepared with my bear spray, and even paid for the fancy bicycle water bottle mount. Apparently, the mount must be for folks riding on smooth bike paths, because my bear spray flew out and into the tall scrub about 30 seconds into my descent down the Black Canyon trail! I can just picture the bears laughing at me as I foraged around in the bushes for my bear spray. I found it, and in my jersey pocket it went. I proceeded to just ring my bike bell like a madman the rest of the way down.
Meanwhile, Sylvia and Abigayle had their own close encounter, only with a moose. They were riding along the bike path and Abigayle noticed a moose standing in the stream. They stopped on the bridge to take a picture of the moose as it was a safe distance away. Once stopped, however, Sylvia heard a snorting sound from the bushes right next to them. It turns out, there were two more moose only several feet from where they had stopped. They both quickly jumped back on their bikes and rode away!
We stayed the night in Jackson that evening and slept with nervous anticipation as we would finally be heading to Yellowstone the next day.
The Wind River Range, on our way to the Grand Tetons.
Wildfire smoke turns day to night, the Tetons in the distance.
Not a bad campsite view!
Kayaking on Lake Jackson. With the mountains so close, it looked like a giant infinite pool.
What a view!
My co-pilot is fading.
Co-pilot is officially worn out.
Abigayle's first souvenir, her Junior Ranger vest (hat not included).
A nice sunset walk after dinner (watch for bears!)
A nice spot for lunch.
Abigayle and one of her favorite animals.
Our first moose sighting!
Going biking up Teton Pass trails. Note the bear spray in the seat-tube water bottle cage.
The view from the top of the climb. Over 2500 feet of descending to come!
Bear tracks! (ok, they're fake, but still).
Riding the bike path.
Now that's a dandelion!
The horse whisperer in action.
The most photographed barn in the.....oh wait, wrong pic
THIS is the most photographed barn...in the world!
Earning her first Junior Ranger badge at Grand Teton National Park!
After leaving MN, we headed across South Dakota, with a planned stop at The Badlands and Mt Rushmore. I did a nice road ride along the loop road in The Badlands and met up with the family at the town of Wall. We had buffalo burgers and hot dogs for lunch and then headed to Rapid City.
We made it to Rapid City and drove to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty cool, though most of the visitor exhibits were closed by the time we arrived. We were going to stay for the nightly lighting ceremony, but decided we'd better just find a campground. The next morning, we drove down to the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Geology Museum, which has a pretty awesome exhibit of fossils.
After leaving Rapid City, we headed to Devils Tower. We attended a park ranger presentation on Turkey Vultures, which Abigayle really liked, and then stayed up all night watching for aliens :-) The next morning, we headed out for the long drive across Wyoming to Thermopolis.
Thermopolis has really large hot spring sediment formations and a pretty good dinosaur museum.
Welcome to South Dakota!
There is a road through there somewhere.
Finishing up my ride through the Badlands.
Every town has a library, no matter how small.
They don't look so big from here.
Washington peeking around a tree.
Look Mom, I'm holding up the Dino (Geology Museum in Rapid City).
Campsite at Devils Tower.
No aliens to be seen.
Yee-haw!
Leaving the flatlands behind, time to go up!
Guess what we're having for lunch!
Large mineral deposit at Thermopolis Hot Springs. Yeah, it's warm and it smells!
My favorite dino, Triceratops.
What a great guard dog this little guy would've made!
I almost got all of this one in the frame, but not quite.
We left St. Ignace and headed for Munising, MI, along Lake Superior. Our hope was to get a campsite and possibly do some lake kayaking. Unfortunately, it was Labor Day weekend and all the lakeside campsites were full. It was also very windy, so open water kayaking was out. We decided to just drive around a bit and
then head south to Widewater NF campground, a bit farther inland. After site-seeing, we pulled into a self-serve carwash to try and clean the accumulation of bugs off the RV.It was a tight squeeze, but the RV fit, and we cleaned it as best we could. Upon entering the cab to leave, my daughter screamed that a bat had flown in. I looked back, and sure enough, a bat was clinging to the cabinet above
our bed in the back of the RV. After a brief moment of panic (i.e. screaming), we
quickly drove to a pull-off area so we could figure out how to remove the
bat.Luckily, my daughter is a bug
lover so I used her bug net to catch the bat. It bit me a couple of times, but I had
wisely put on some gloves.We then
released it (after shutting all the RV doors and windows) and watched it fly
into a grove of pine trees.
The black square above the door is a bat. The next couple days were nice, with some frog catching, bike riding, and even a canoe trip courtesy of some fellow Alabamians that were working as the campground hosts.
Cookin fajitas in Widewater NF
Say hello to my little friend
Our next goal was to put some miles under our belts and head West as quick as we could. This had us driving from the U.P. of Michigan to the center of S.D. in 3 days. Along the way, we had a very nice stay at Interstate State Park on the WI/MN border, rode a roller coaster at the Mall Of America, failed at procuring a walleye dinner (one of Travis' favorites), and had our first night stay in a truck stop parking lot.
Hello Wisconsin
Standing in a glacier carved pot hole
Beautiful view in Interstate State Park
Abigayle got to meet an owl
Goodbye Wisconsin
Now you say, "Mall of America", go ahead... say it.
