Yellowstone NP Second Day

Bison herd crossing the main road with Paintpot steaming in the background

Saturday June 23rd: Today the plan was to drive back to the Old Faithful basin and walk the paths throughout the area. The NPS has laid out many miles of hard asphalt or boards to connect the geysers throughout this basin and we walked our share of them. On the way in we had the treat of being in the midst of a bison migration across the road. The herd was quite large, but luckily only about 50 of them broke away and moved to new grazing land on the other side of the roadway. Of course traffic slowed to a crawl. Some people in a hurry would wind their way among individual animals in a quite dangerous fashion. Carolyn got several nice pictures as we waited.
Once we got to Old Faithful we parked and got onto the trails leading to the outer geysers. We were able to see a number of them erupting - Daisy, Castle, Riverside, and even Old Faithful again from the vantage point of the Daisy Geyser. After the walk we had a late lunch picnic in the woods and stared down several big Ravens that looked like they wanted to share our sandwiches.

Yellowstone NP Day One

Friday June 22nd: We arrived at West Yellowstone yesterday at the Lionshead Campground outside of town. Drove on into the Yellowstone NP this morning for our first day. A few miles inside we stopped, along with everyone else, at the area set aside for a pair of Bald Eagles and their nest. Old Baldie was sitting on a fallen tree on the other side of the Madison river. Carolyn hopped out with the camera and was able to get a shot of him, although the distance was a little far for our small camera. Moving on into the park we soon came across the Madison river Elk Herd grazing along the river. Of course we all stopped again and walked out to get a clear shot of them. There appeared to be about six in the small herd and they pretty much ignored the dumb humans looking at them and chattering. We drove on and stopped at the Fountain Paint Pot Geyser area and walked the boardwalk around, enjoying the various pools, steamers, and bubbling mud "geysers". On to Old Faithful, where they have the Old Faithful Inn, stores, Visitors Center, and eveything else imaginable. We were able to see Old Faithful blow twice while there and got pictures and movies from two different areas and ate a late lunch while there. Especially after having been to the "Craters of the Moon", a predecessor of Yellowstone, we were more appreciative of being inside a volcanic caldera and the heat and force surging just beneath our feet.

Idaho Potato Museum and Exposition

Here is a picture of Carolyn standing in the heart of Idaho Potato country.

Wednesday June 20th: We drove to just up the road about five miles to see a replica of Fort Hall. This fort was established by the Hudson Bay Trading Company to be a focal point for the fur traders and local tribes, the Shoshoni and Bannock, to bring their furs and pick up supplies. We also visited the Bannock County Museum while there and walked through a replica of the town of Pocatello as it was first laid out, about 10 buildings all told. The county zoo was also on the premises and had some Bison and Elk. The Elk had tremendous antlers.

Then we drove up the road to the actual location where Fort Hall had stood, it is now on the Shoshoni/Bannock Reservation, and toured through the Reservation Museum. We had an interesting talk with the lady in charge and found out that, like the Hopi, the Shoshoni roots have been traced back to Aztec origins in Central America. She explained their religious story of the Beginning, which was very similar to that of the Hopis.

By that time we were ready for lunch so we went over to the local restaurant on the Reservation and had some Bison Stew and Frybread. It was delicious, but too much to eat at one sitting.

We then drove on up to the town of Blackfoot to see the Idaho Potato Museum and Exposition. Idaho produces about 1/3 of the potato's in the U.S. The potato was apparently originated in Peru and carried back to Europe by the Spanish and spread throughout the world from there.

Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho

This was a good picture of LIFE continuing from the barreness of a flow of lava.

Tuesday June 19th: We decided to take a drive over to the Craters of the Moon National Monument today. The drive was about 100 miles each way, but really worth the time. The drive itself gave us a better idea about Idaho, or at least this area of the state. The road was arrow straight and flat as we were in the Snake river basin. Vocanic cones sprout up from the level ground and a mountain range gets closer as we drive westward. We curve around to the south by Arco, ID and go another 25 miles to the NM entrance. This was apparently one area, out of many that was home to the hot spot shallow area in the earths surface. They traced the origion of the hotspot from the Oregon/Idaho border up to its current location at Yellowstone. None of the areas are completely dead though many erupt again over the next several thousand years. We walked several of the trails that were throughout the park and had lunch at a really nice area under a house sized hunk of lava and shaded by a tree. A good sized chipmonk kept us company and posed for several pictures. He was rewarded with a couple of pieces of bread that he seemed to really appreciate. I hiked up a volcano to the top and took a number of panoramic pictures from there. Boy, I felt each of my 64 years and each of the 6000 feet altitude before reaching the top. A short while later we walked up a "splatter hole" volcano and went down inside the cone for a view. They apparently get about three to five feet of snow here each year so a lot is closed from October through April.

Eastward Ho - Starting back to the Right Coast

Monday June 18th: We packed up and left Seattle Saturday morning, the 16th and drove up to I-90 and points east. The trip up and over the Snoqualamie Pass was beautiful, then down the other side toward Yakima. Coming down we began to see the land dry up until we were again in sand and sagebrush. We left I-90 and moved onto I-84 toward Pendleton, Oregon for our first night out. Pendleton needed more time as it looked to be a city to spend a couple of days enjoying, but we were only here overnight. Sunday we got back in the saddle and drove on down I-84E to Boise, Idaho. Up and over another mountain pass, this one around 3600 ft (Snoqualamie topped out at right at 3000 ft). The land was in continual transition looking more like some of New Mexico that we had seen on the way west. Today we traveled on up to Pocatello, Idaho and will stay here for a couple of days. We passed flat topped mesas and cattle country with miles of sagebrush. Then hugh tracts of land supported by long moveable water systems supported fields of corn and wheat. Further north we began running alongside the Snake river and the irrigation became more serious. Large, large tracts of potatoes began to appear in the valley areas between the mesas, all irrigated of course. Spectacular mountains always in the far or near distance. I could not have said what my idea of Idaho had been prior to the trip, but it did not include the variety that we have encountered. Tomorrow we will drive up to the Craters of the Moon National Monument then see the Idaho Potatoe Exposition in Blackfoot, ID.

Mount Rainier Viewing

Friday June 15th: This evening was unusual for the time that we have been here in the Seattle area - it was clear and sunny. As we walked the dogs over toward the Nature Center next to the campground we were greeted by a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier highlighted by the setting sun. We had only seen it once and we were on the road and couldn't get a picture. Here is what hangs over Seattle every day, but is only rarely glimpsed even by those who live here. It is a breathtaking sight that the camera cannot show properly.

Leavenworth WA

Thursday June 14th: We drove over the Mountains over WA-2 to a small ex-logging town, Leavenworth, which decided to remake itself into a Bavarian hamlet rather than die as the logging moved on from their area. They have very strict rules that each building WILL look like a Bavarian building. This is complete with murals/paintings on the walls, flower boxes on balconies, mode of dress of the store owners and employees, food, and nutcrackers. We strolled around town and looked in the windows or walked through the door. Of course we also did some wine tasting and had lunch at "King Ludwig's" - Jaegersnitzel and Weinersnitzel each, completewith Spaetzle. It was a very pleasant day all in all. Drove up to snow line on the trip over there and small snow spritzes several times. Coming back we dropped south toward I-90 and were surprised to top through one pass and find ourselves back in a desert with sage brush and prairie grass and sand. The rain must all get sucked out by the mountains and leaves eastern Washington looking like New Mexico.