Out of the parks, into Montana.

Montana - Day One

On Friday, June 25, we left Grand Tetons and drove north, headed toward Glacier NP (but not immediately).  Yellowstone NP is north of GT NP, so we went into Yellowstone again through the south entrance, drove north, and exited the park through the west entrance.  Actually this let us see a part of the park we had not seen before - there is a stretch of the Madison River (remember that name) that flows through the park and the west entrance/exit road follows the river.  We were able to see some eagles and a trumpeter swan.

Soon we were out of the park.  There is a little town right at the entrance.  As soon as we saw the McDonald's, Matthew knew we were back to "civilization."

We were in Montana at this point and continued to drive north and west.  The terrain was kind of bleak.  We followed the Madison river and we could see boats and people doing fly fishing, but the landscape had very few trees.  We followed a valley with mountains in the distance.  We drove along and went to Virginia City, a former booming gold rush town that became deserted and is now kind of a tourist attraction.

After Virginia City, we drove to Dillon.  You've never heard of that, right?  Well, Beth wanted to experience some "real" western town in addition to the touristy ones.  Friday night, so we went to a rodeo!  (As you might recall, the previous Friday we were in Cody and went to a rodeo.)  This was the real deal, however.  There was the usual bare back riding and roping and barrel races.  There was also a new event for us - tag racing.  In this event one person (usually a man) rides a horse and ropes a calf as quickly as possible.  But there is another person (usually the guy's wife) on foot who has to run up to the calf and grab a ribbon that's been attached to the tail, and then run back to the finish line.  There was a tremendous thunderstorm about 20 minutes into the rodeo, but the show continued.  Fortunately it cleared up pretty quickly.

That last one shows the woman grabbing the ribbon (or something).  Here is some fancy footwork or photography by Matthew.

Oh, Matthew loved our hotel!  There was also a bike race going on in Dillon and Beth got the last room in the inn, more or less.  It was a suite!  Three beds!  Three TVs!  After five days in national park lodges with no TV, Matthew was in heaven!  He wanted to spend the rest of our vacation right there!

Montana - Day Two

On Saturday we drove from Dillon to Bozeman.  We visited the Museum of the Rockies (lots of dinosaur displays).

 

Montana - Day Three

This was a full day.  We saw a prairie dog town outside our hotel window.  After being in national parks we were accustomed to seeing them, but it was strange to see one in town.  We went to church at a local UM church.  They were celebrating the end of their vacation Bible school week.  The theme had been "Blast Off" or something like that.  At one point during a puppet show a local celebrity joined in.  He had been a scientist on one of the shuttle flights 25 years ago!

We left Bozeman and drove north west, again heading for Glacier.  We saw lots of signs for Lewis and Clark and it turns out that not far from Bozeman is the headwaters/starting point of the Missouri River.  There are three rivers that come together to form the Missouri - the Madison (remember that from Yellowstone), the Jefferson and the Gallitan.

This is kind of cool not only because Lewis and Clark where there, but also Bill and Beth visited this spot about 15 years ago when we spent a week at a dude ranch outside of Bozeman.  Small world.

There was a town at this spot in 1867 and this building is all that remains.  Beth and I took a picture of it 15 years ago!

 

After this excitement we drove north to Great Falls.  This was another big deal place for Lewis and Clark because they travelled up the Missouri river on their trip and they encountered a number of rapids and waterfalls in this area.

Along the way we passed by Helena, the state capital.

 

The terrain from Helena to Great Falls gets pretty rugged.  IT was amazing to think of Lewis and Clark looking on this landscape in 1805.

Here is a picture of one of the falls.  Now the river is dammed up for flood control and water usage.

Tomorrow we arrive at Glacier!

Grand Tetons National Park

Day One

We left Yellowstone on Tuesday morning, June 22.  It was raining as we packed the car and checked out.  We drove toward the South Entrance and the rain cleared up before our first stop - another geothermal area.  This one was very close to the lake, with some steam/hot water areas under water.  As you can see, the natives are rather friendly.

By "natives" I mean the second picture, not the first.

There are so many surprising treasures in Yellowstone.  As we drove toward the South Entrance we saw a waterfall along the side of the highway.  Within a few miles we were driving along the top of a very deep canyon, created by that stream.

Just outside the south of Yellowstone is Grand Tetons National Park.  The road is named after John Rockefeller, Jr, which is appropriate because he purchased much of the land that is to the east of the mountain range and donated it to the park.

Here's our first view (from the car) of the Grand Tetons mountain range.  Spectacular.

We stayed in the Jackson Lake Lodge.  This was built under Rockefeller's direction in the mid 1950s.

Day Two

We drove south to Jenny Lake, took a short boat trip across the lake to the western shore (where the mountains are) and hiked a trail known as the Cascade Canyon trail.  This is a pretty steep climb to the "hidden" waterfall and then to a place called Inspiration Point (elevation 7,200 feet).  At times we thought it would have been good to be a mountain goat on the narrow trail.

This is the waterfall.

This is from Inspiration Point, looking east, away from the mountains.

This is looking west, toward the peak of Grand Teton mountain.

From there the trail leveled off as we went more west, more into the canyon.  The scenery was spectacular, with towering mountains on either side, patches of snow and a running river along the path.  Matthew stopped to cool off his feet.

There was a meadow area in the canyon with lots of grass and trees.  We saw a moose along the side of the path.  This was taken near the meadow area.

Our total hike was about five miles.  We took what we thought was a well-deserved rest after that.

Day Two

In the morning we tried to take some pictures from the lodge.  The sun was very bright.

Many of the parks we've visited have a Junior Ranger program were kids get a "workbook" with a number of questions and activities.  When the kid completes the items, he/she shows the book to a ranger and gets a badge or patch.  We had some activities that required going to a ranger-lead program so we spent the morning at a place called Colter Bay where there is a ranger station.  This is on Jackson Lake, which is the largest lake on the east side of the mountains.  We had a short hike in addition to the ranger program.  After that we drove a loop within the park to see more things.

Matthew completed his Junior Ranger items and we reviewed his book at the southern entrance visitor's center.

The day was quite overcast, as you can see a little through the windows.  There were clouds covering the top
of Mount Teton.  After that we found the place where the iconic image of the Grand Tetons with a barn in the foreground was taken.  (See the picture at the top of our blog.)  Here is our rendition.

It was amazing to actually see this place.  It's also interesting to know the importance of good cropping or composition.  Just to the left of the barn is a house and lots of distracting stuff.  It's better to not show it.

Here is a similar image, with the Bartter family rather than the barn.  It kind of makes you want to sing.  "The hills are alive..."

This area was pretty interesting because it's part of a broad valley east of the mountain range.  There is only grass and sagebrush growing there.  We saw lots of bison here. By this point in our trip we still like seeing them, but it's not as exciting as the first days.

Day Three

We left GTNP on Friday, June 25 and headed north, to Virginia City and Dillon, Montana.  We're on our way to Glacier National Park, at the northern-most part of Montana.  More about that later.

Yellowstone Lake Hotel

Just a few notes on where we stayed while in Yellowstone. It was the Yellowstone Lake Hotel, a rather nice place. Matthew might even say "fancy smancy." It's one of those old historic places, but it's been refurbished and our room was small but nice.

It's one of those kinds of hotels that provide bathrobes... We don't usually stay in "those kind" of hotels, but Matthew was all for taking full advantage of it.

Also, the hotel is very "green" - environmental aware.  There is a trash can in the room but also a recycling can.

And the soap...  Whoops, it's not really soap.  It's "Waste Reducing Exfoliating Body Cleanser."  Huh?  Okay, so we can understand how "soap" can be called "body cleanser" in a fancy smancy hotel, but what about waste reducing?  Well, studies show that in hotel rooms, people frequently don't use the full bar of soap, so the center part is wasted.  These people (the company is "Green Natura" - maybe you can get this over the web) came up with soap without a center!  Holy soap!

The package even claims that the soap is "ergonomically shaped."  As a former human factors person, I was quite intrigued by this.  Take a look at the shape.  Fits right in your hand, and makes smooth contact with your body...  Good human factors design!

You can also see little flecks of something, maybe oatmeal.  This is organic soap!

How did it work?  Here are some before and after pictures.  As you can see, no wasted center!

Yes, I took these pictures!  Matthew and Beth were packing and getting ready to go and I was taking pictures of soap!

I suggested we take some bars and give them out as Christmas presents.  Matthew said no, people don't want soap!  Even environmentally friendly, ergonomically shaped soap in a "carton made from naturally recycled packing printed with soy based inks."  (Quoting from the package.)

Wifi-free Yellowstone

Wow, things are going fast.  It's the 23rd and we haven't done a blog update in days.  It turns out that Yellowstone apparently has a wifi-free policy!  Not sure if this is a dictate from the federal government, but I asked in the lobby of our hotel and was told that no lodges within park boundaries offered wifi for either guests or employees!  And, we didn't have cell phone reception from our hotel either. And, much to Matthew's dismay, no TV in the room!  Maybe all of this is an effort to sever the tie with the 21st century and get back to basics.

So, we spent three nights in Yellowstone, staying at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, a very historic (they say it was the first in the park) and stately hotel.  It is not the kind where there are lots of exposed log beams.  If you want that kind of hotel, you have to go up to Old Faithful.

We are currently in the Grand Tetons and there is wifi in the lobby, so I'll try to give a quick update of our time in Yellowstone.

On Saturday morning we left Cody and headed to Yellowstone Park, about 50 miles to the west.  But on we way out we had to do our best Buffalo Bill impressions.

Well, now it's days later and those pictures don't seem so fun.  But when in Cody you have to take on a cowboy state of mind.  And Buffalo Bill is really BIG in Cody.

As we drove, Beth mentioned that she had read that Teddy Roosevelt thought that the drive from Cody into the east gate of Yellowstone was the most beautiful on earth and we were blown away with the scenery.  Once again we had snow-capped mountains and the snow was not just on the top of the mountains!  It was by the side of the road and we stopped for a quick snowball fight.  We don't usually get to do that in June.

  

As with our drives through parks in North and South Dakota, we were just overwhelmed with the beauty of the drive.

The first evening in Yellowstone we saw two bears.  It seems that wildlife of almost any kind can cause traffic jams.  Here is an example of our first jam and second bear.  This bear walked across the highway right in front of our car and went over to a river for a swim!

The rangers are quick to show up and make sure that people don't get too close.


Here's a family shot, overlooking Yellowstone Lake, right outside our hotel.  It is a beautiful setting, surrounded by mountains.  Actually, most of Yellowstone is surrounded by mountains because millions of years this was all a mountain range but a huge section of it exploded in multiple volcanoes.  Over the years the caldera filled up and that is most of Yellowstone.  Over the years the terrain has been shaped by glaciers (the whole area was covered by over 2,000 feet of ice) and other erosion.

Day One.

Our first full day was Sunday.  There was a multi-denominational service in the hotel that was conducted by hotel employees who also volunteer for this program called A Christian Mission in the National Parks.  The message was about how fire is important to renew the forest (some seeds are not released unless there is a fire) and how we also go through "fire times" in our lives.


We drove north to the "mud volcano" area - lots of geothermal goodies.  Matthew didn't care for the sulfur odor in the air.  You can see that a bison also joined the sight-seers.  These guys have no fear.  They own the park!

In driving around we were again impressed with the beauty and variety - the roaring Yellowstone River, the meadows, the mountains, and the steam rising from the ground.  We ran across occasional herds of bison.

We had dinner at the Old Faithful lodge and shortly after that there was a severe thunderstorm.  We weren't sure if OF would arrive on time, given the rain, but she did.  Here is the lobby of the lodge, and Matthew waiting in the rain.

Right on schedule (as predicted by the park rangers), the rain stopped and OF blew.  What a magnificent sight.  This has thrilled people for hundreds of years.

On the way back to the hotel we had more rain and a wonderful rainbow.  Bill got out of the car to attempt to capture the rainbow and it started to hail!  It seems that the weather is as varied as the scenery!  But the weather quickly cleared and we had beautiful skies over the lake.

Day Two

This was the day for the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" - a specular canyon and two waterfalls on the Yellowstone River.

This was a day with a little hiking and we saw signs that some of our relatives had been there before us...

We drove to the North Gate (Mammoth Hot Springs) where we attended a ranger talk and saw lots of wildlife - goats, a moose, and a herd of elk.  The elk were near the top of the highest mountains in the park, Mt Washburn.  The road went very close to the peak, with many pull-offs and bathrooms along the way.  We also saw a wolf off in the distance.

Beth wouldn't take any panoramic pictures as we were driving across that mountain and Bill was too busy with white knuckles on the steering wheel.


Day Three


We left Yellowstone Park the next day (Tuesday?) and drove south to Grand Tetons National Park.  I'll write a little about that later.