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.
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