The Tetons
Yellowstone National Park is the oldest National Park and is visited by millions of people. The Grand Teton Park which lies just south of Yellowstone, is often skipped if the visitor has time limitations. It should not be skipped. Although Yellowstone has amazing attractions such as geysers and boiling mud (see below), the Teton mountains are young, therefore, the are impressively high, and full of sharp edges. They are breathtaking.
The Teton Natl Park itself is relatively small with lots of Ranger stations and ranger led walks. This is the electronic age; therefore, the ranger stations no longer print out maps. You are expected to take a picture of their map on the iPhone. On the ranger led walk, I learned about beavers; wolves (who had almost gone extinct but are recovering), and saw bear scratches on trees.
We also took some awesome hikes on our own. One of those hikes was to “Hidden Falls”. To get there we took a boat on Jenny Lake, then hiked 1.2 miles to the Falls. 1.2 miles may not sound like much but the terrain was challenging. So glad to be in good shape and be able to do so. I love waterfalls and this one was lovely and well worth the climb.
Yellowstone
After 3 wonderful days in the Tetons, we drove into Yellowstone. Yellowstone is huge and really requires 5 or 6 days. I chose to stay 3 nights each in 2 separate areas, which limited the driving. I also took a “Yellowstone in a Day” tour which in 10 hours, covered all the principal sites, obviously not in depth, but it gave me an idea of where I wanted to focus.
My favorite Yellowstone attractions were: The Geysers, The The bubbling/boiling pools and the Grand Canyon waterfalls
When one thinks of Yellowstone, one immediately thinks of geysers. The most well-known one is Old Faithful.
The reason it is well known is that most visitors to the park actually get to see it in action. It spews a number of times a day and best of all, rangers can predict the next eruption (but only the next one) to within a 20-minute window. This means that if the rangers predict the next eruption at 12:30pm, it is most likely that you can see the show sometime between 12:20 and 12:40pm. Though keep in mind, that it could be a bit early or a bit late as well. The actual eruptions may vary in size, but all are exciting.
Grand Geyser (also on the grounds of Old Faithful (OF) basin) blows a couple of times a day with a 90-minute window in each direction, meaning that it is likely to go off anytime over a 3-hour period.
I was at the OF basin, at 1pm one day, and the board said that Grand Geyser was due to go off at 1:10pm. I walked over to see if I hadn’t missed it (it could have gone off an hour earlier). But there were lots people sitting on the benches, which means that I hadn’t missed it, therefore, I sat down to wait. The eruption was 2 hours later. The wait was worth it for when the Geyser exploded, it spewed for a full 10 mins and 42 seconds. What a show. Most Geysers have one column of water exploding. The Grand erupts with powerful multiple very high bursts. It was magnificent.
Steam Boat Geyser eruptions are not predictable.
When they occur, they are supposed to be more than 300 feet in the air. The geyser has had dormant years, but right now it is somewhat active. After not erupting for 66 days, it erupted at 6pm the evening before my visit. Yes, I missed the eruption, but because it erupted, it was still blowing huge amounts of steam and would continue for another 24 hours. I was very lucky to see the after effect.
Bubbling Hot Pools. There were many boiling pool types.
One fun type is the bubbling mud pools, some with the sulphury smell. At one such site, I heard a ranger talk, and I learnt that the pools change in direction and strength of the output over time, Usually earth-quacks cause the topography to change. The pools and small geysers are named fun names like Black Pit Spring, Echinus Geyser, Arch Steam Vent and my favorite, Puff ‘n Stuff.
Other basins had beautifully colored hot pools. Norris’ Porcelain Basin is magnificent. Imagine the most beautiful counter tops with blue, green, yellow, brown, copper and colors in between. And that counter top is slick and shining in the sun. On top of that, it bubbles in the middle. The colors are due to the algae. To see the pools, everyone has to walk on board walks for the protection of the visitors and the landscape. The meadow in front of me was full of smoke from the various geysers.
Yellowstone Grand Canyon with its water falls and colorful canyons is an amazing place to visit. The ranger suggested the Brink of Lower Falls to see where the magnificent falls begin their drop, (which I erroneously thought was an easy 1/4 mile each way). Actually, this hike was a level “difficult” some 600 feet down then up for 1/2 mile each way. I am glad I didn’t know how difficult it would be because being at the brink was worth every inch of the walk. The falls drops some 30,000 gallons per second and plunges 308 feet, with the expected roar and excitement. The canyon is magnificent as well. I was very proud for doing this hike without a problem.
The animals:
Bison Jams: Bison tend to walk in the middle of the road and cause fun jams. Everyone stops to give him/her space and, of-course, to take a picture. If you are driving in the opposite direction than the bison is walking, you will be past the “jam” pretty quickly, but if you are traveling in the same direction as the bison, it will take a while.
Elks: In the Tetons I saw a bull (male) elk at the lodge. In Yellowstone, I saw a group of them, including babies, in front of the Mammoth hotel. Some dumb parents had their kids pose near the elks. As soon as the front desk was alerted, the ranger told the parents to stay away from the elks. The problem is that if the elk gets spooked and charges, the elk must be killed.
Moose: I did see a bull moose along the road. Since the cars were all stopped, I was able to get its picture.
Fox: On my drive out of the park on my last morning, I saw a fox on the road.
Lodges and Inns:
In both the Yellowstone and Tetons I stayed inside the parks. It is more expensive but saves lots of time – the lines to get into the park can be very long.
In the Tetons, we stayed at Signal Mountain Lodge. It was rustic but comfortable. The main lodge had large picture windows overlooking the lake and the mountains. The actual sleeping cabin was just down the road from the main lodge and had a microwave and refrigerator. There is a grocery store, therefore, we were able to pick up cereal, oatmeal and start the day with a healthy meal. Also at the grocery store, we picked up bear spray. We never needed it, but it was the safe thing to do.
The Mammoth hotel in Yellowstone was nice but nothing special. If I was to do it again, I would stay at Lake Lodge instead of Mammoth.
However, the Old Faithful Inn, built in the early 1900s, is charming with lots of wood and lovely sitting areas around 2 decks opening up into the lobby. But being charming has its draw backs: no internet and lots of day tourists. On the plus side, I was a 2-minute walk from Old Faithful Geyser. The next eruption is always posted on the board by registration, which made it easy to plan.
I learned lots of interesting tid bits from the guides:
- Black bears keep their cubs for 1 summer. Usually born in hibernation time. Grizzly bears keep their cubs for 3 summers.
- Glacier is an area that has snow on it year after year. But if the snow melts every few years than the area is no longer a glacier.
- A male swan is a Cob and a female is a Pen.
- Fires are natural and needed in the forest. The old trees die off and new growth can take its place. Some pine cones can hold up to 100 seeds but only open when the air temperature gets to 130 degrees, i.e. a fire. After a fire, wildflowers can bloom. The old trees that die during the fire take 100 years to de-compose.
- If you want to fish in Yellowstone, you get a permit from the Park Service because the park existed before Wyoming was a state. But if you want to fish in the Grand Tetons, you have to get your permit from the state of Wyoming because it existed before the park. BTW, Yellowstone is about 96% in Wyoming and 4% in Idaho and Montana.
Final words:
I am very grateful that I was able to do this trip. It was a bit hard at age 78 but so worth it. I never imagined how fantastic being in the Tetons and Yellowstone would be, even though friends tried to tell me that it is amazing.
Nili's Adventure 