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Interesting you should say that about the wolf / coyote Mark... I wasn't completely certain myself but there was another car stopped watching the animal and they said it was a wolf.... either way it was a rare treat!
Interesting you should say that about the wolf / coyote Mark... I wasn't completely certain myself but there was another car stopped watching the animal and they said it was a wolf.... either way it was a rare treat!
Day 7
Day 7
We’re up really really early this morning as I’m keen to join a Ranger lead tour around an area of the park called Geyser Hill that starts at 8.15 and we have an hour drive to get there.
We actually arrive early and are able to watch Old Faithful erupt before heading out on the tour.
Old Faithful has been erupting to an approximate schedule for the last hundred plus years and has been one of the biggest draws in the park for the majority of that time….. it’s an impressive sight to see and we’re lucky enough to see it twice as the tour ends just as another eruption happens.
Nipping back to the car to drop off my jacket I spy a Netherlands plated RV… a quick chat with the owner reveals that he shipped the truck to Baltimore 3 years ago and he and his wife have been driving around North America ever since...... I can see my retirement beckoning!!!
Next we head out for a walk around the porcelain basin area of geysers before driving to the trailhead for the upper and lower falls…. the trail here is 328 steps down into the canyon, bringing you alongside the mighty upper falls, called Uncle Tom’s trail it’s definitely not for those of a nervous disposition, the walkway seeming to hang on to the side of the cliff by nothing more than a few steel beams!
Having hiked back up the trail, we drive around the canyon to the top of the lower falls… there’s a trail here too, a mere 120 or so steps this time but we decide to give it a miss and take a drive around the park stopping at various pullouts to admire the views.
We don’t get too far though before we have to slow to match the pace of our unofficial convoy leader…. plodding down the center of the road without a care in the world, he’s a big fella and I give him a wide berth as I pass, stopping further up the road to take some photos.
Ever since we arrived at the park we’ve been hearing stories of the mamma bear and her cubs who have been seen often around the Dunraven Pass area, so we decide to head to our overnight stop outside the park by that route.
I’d just about given up hope when Mum yells out “bear”
She’d been scanning the side of the road for about 15 miles by this point and I have no idea how she spotted him, so camouflaged was he when we first came across him.
Patience paid off though, and a few minutes later he walked out of the trees and I was able to take a series of photos of an animal that I never expected to see in my lifetime…. truly a magical moment.
Onwards to our hotel cabin in Mammoth hot springs…. not one of my finest bookings this, there’s no bathrooms in the cabins, they share communal facilities…. a touch rough and ready for Mum but we make the best of it…. the beds are great at least!
Good stuff !
Great images as always and I am enjoying your tale !
As I am weighing up my options for our next trip to the States, you are certainly starting to sway me towards a Yellowstone visit !
Dave.
Day 8
Day 8
We’d been told that the best time to see wolves and bear was at dawn, so it was an early alarm call today…. on the road and in the park by just after 6.30 we drove the roads of the North-East quadrant with high hopes… alas with the exception of a lone pronghorn feeding in the early morning light we saw nothing.
No matter though, the scenery was stunning and we shared the road with some bison who were up and about as early as we.
As well as a family of deer who scampered around us for a few minutes without acknowledging our presence.
In fact, the early morning was a bit of an animal-fest, just not the animals that we’d hoped to see!
From the parks, we took a trip to a place that I’ve wanted to visit for years without ever really knowing why….
Big Sky, Montana.
Known primarily as a ski resort, Big Sky was fairly close to the top of my Montana “must see” list.
At this time of year it’s a quiet, mostly locals, town but it’s still a nice place to visit and we lunch at one of the resort cafes before hitting the road back to the park.
Returning to the park in the late afternoon, we drive some of the park roads, stopping when we see a great vista and again going for a walk through some of the geysers.
We leave the park as the evening arrives and stop along the way to capture some great images of the sun sinking behind the Teton mountains.
Day 9
Day 9
Due to the expected high volume of people in the Yellowstone area over labor day weekend I’d booked last night’s accommodation before we left the UK, sight unseen.
It’s about an hour outside the park in a little village called Victor.
Kasper’s Kountryside Inn is basically 2 x 2 room apartments over an outbuilding on a ranch – it doesn’t sound like much but it’s easily the best accommodation we’ve had on this trip and very reasonably priced too.
Having had a leisurely breakfast on the terrace overlooking the ranch we drive across Teton Pass into Grand Teton Park, stopping first at the Moose visitors centre to get a stamp in our NPS passports.
From Moose we take a drive around the roads through the park, stopping for the occasional stroll and to enjoy the scenery.
We eat lunch overlooking the water at Colter Bay village where an inquisitive squirrel actually jumps up onto our picnic table, walks to within a foot of me, grabs my cinnamon muffin and takes off with it!
The cake must be 3 times his size but he only drops it when the saran wrap it’s encased in proves too hard to crack.
Having feasted in the open air we decided to spend an hour walking the nature trail around the lake….. it’s a quiet afternoon and most of the wildlife appears to be sleeping, though we do stop to watch another squirrel process his nut.
It takes us about an hour to walk around the perimeter of the lake and it’s a lovely way to spend part of a sunny afternoon…. alas time and tide wait for no one, so pretty soon we’re back in the car and on to a different part of the park.
When we stop for a photo, I finally get a chance to see the creature whose loud noises we’ve been hearing for days now, appearing to be some kind of butterfly, the noise is made by its wings meeting, very strange and not something I’ve ever seen or heard before. I still don’t know what it was.
Our next stop reveals a slightly larger animal that I can name however….
Matilda Moose was happily feeding in the middle of the river at the sparsely populated Schwabacher’s Landing when we came across her.
We stopped to watch her and got chatting to an American couple, I’d guess we were there for 40 minutes and she remained completely un-interested by us, eventually climbing out of the river and continuing her grazing elsewhere.
It’s not far off the end of our time in the 2 parks and I think both Mum and I had just about given up hope of seeing a Moose, so to see one up close and personal for such a length of time is privilege indeed.
It gets even better a few minutes later, driving out of the park I spy a large number of cars stopped at the side of the road… this is park shorthand for “something to see here” and so we pull off as well. (as a side note here, the parks police have a really sensible attitude to stopping throughout Yellowstone and Grand Teton – as long as you are completely off the road you can stop wherever you like. The speed limits may be somewhat low, but that rule is a good one)
It turns out that a bull, cow and calf have parked themselves in the thicket just below the roadway, they show no signs of getting up and wandering around, so after waiting 15 minutes we decide to leave and get on our way to Idaho Falls, enjoying another lovely sunset on the way.
Day 10
Day 10
Over the course of the next couple of days we’re retracing some of my steps from earlier trips to this area of the US….. our first stop this morning is one of those.
Craters of the Moon National Park is somewhere I first came on a trip in 2010, but I was early in the year, it was cold and snowy so I didn’t do much in the way of exploring.
This time Mum and I actually take a walk through the inside of a volcano, and the entire landscape around the park is very other-worldly, it feels like a scene from a sci-fi movie to be honest. It’s hot too… a portent of days to come.
Our next stop is to be Shoshone Ice Caves… to get there requires a road trip through the City of Butte – with a population of 74 people, this would barely be called a hamlet at home and Mum’s tickled pink by the concept of a city with 74 inhabitants.
It’s so small that there’s not even anywhere for us to stop for lunch, so we head down the road to Carey and stop in a gas station cum diner for a sandwich…. unfortunately they’re on a go-slow and it takes nearly an hour, meaning that we only just make the 2pm tour at Shoshone Caves.
We’re both glad that we do make it though, this is a really interesting little place…. it’s nearly 100 degrees on the surface yet here it’s so cold that ice forms all year round – at a rate of 3.5ft per year in fact.
Again not for the claustrophobic or unsteady of foot, the tour’s presented by a guy who knows the area’s history as well and the walk back to the car park becomes an impromptu geology, geography and history lesson for those of us lucky enough to be within earshot……. another recommended visit.
Little City of Rocks is slightly awkward to find and down a mud and gravel road that would definitely not be easily passable after even a light rain….. find it we do though, basking in the hundred degree sun and looking for all the world like a place that time forgot.
We take an hour to walk amongst the huge rocks, conscious that this is snake country and we don’t have any anti-venom on us….. (I never did discover if anti-venom is available over the counter, but if it is and you intend following in my footsteps I strongly suggest buying some….. if bitten, you have 30 minutes to get anti-venom in your system, many of the locations we’ve been to over the last week are far more than 30 minutes from a hospital and many also have no cellphone service)
We’re back to retracing my steps again now, with a trip to Shoshone Falls, this was somewhere I came on my previous trip for a lunch stop I think, and I remember being quite impressed with the volume of water coming over the falls.
No such luck today though, they’re basically dry, with all the available water being run through the attached hydro-electric plant to provide power and irrigation for Idaho. It’s still a nice spot though.
Whilst here we bump into a family who we first saw some hours earlier at the ice caves and then (for the third time) we bump into an English couple who we first saw in Yellowstone – it’s a small world after all!
After doing some shopping and watching the sunset over the city of Twin Falls, we head to Buhl to stay the night…. heading to a local restaurant, we bump into another couple who we first met at the ice caves!
Day 11
Day 11
We’re having to do a bit of guesswork this morning, Thousand Springs State Park consists of a number of different sites and we’re looking for one in particular – Earl M Hardy Box Canyon Springs – as I’ve read that it’s a nice walk up to some spectacular waterfalls. The issue is that it’s not clearly marked on the map, not in the sat nav and until we’re about 100 yards from it there are no signs either!
Eventually we do find it though, and the incessant Idaho flies, who have been with us since our arrival in this State are joined by a couple of stray dogs, thankfully some other walkers turn up and the dogs latch on to them, perhaps a sixth sense telling them that I am not a “dog person”
In fact, the first part of this morning is a bit of a disappointment, it’s actually quite a long hike (in 90 degree heat) to get to the canyon and when we get there the waterfall is dry and the spring is a bit sleepy.
Whilst we were driving to the Canyon car park, we saw a spectacular set of falls from the road and decided to see if we could find them…..
Success…. the Ritter Island section of the State Park is home to a small car park and a short stroll takes you to the base of the falls….. they are probably the most impressive we’ve seen this trip, the noise alone making conversation difficult..... both Mum and I spend 20 minutes or so playing with our camera settings to see what results we can get, alas without a tripod, most are blurry.
We’d been warned by the couple we met at dinner last night that our next destination today wasn’t really up to much but we decided to go anyway as it was on the way and, after all, one man’s meat is another’s poison and all that.
The Hagerman Fossil Beds are confusingly named, with no actual fossils just saw beds where they came from. There’s a visitors centre / museum in the town of Hagerman itself which was a sleepy little place on this Sunday morning.
The Oregon Trail passes through here, so we stopped and walked for a mile or 2, it was getting extremely hot by now, but the landscape definitely spoke of times past and the hardships the early settlers faced when heading West.
The trails are marked with white markers, but a lot of the time they are unnecessary as the land is permanently discoloured from the passage of those hardy types.
Our next stop is the Bruneau Sand Dunes, it’s even hotter here but we still opt to scramble up the biggest dune for a look at the surrounding lakes and countryside. It’s fun coming down again!
It’s almost impossible to show in a photo and nearly as hard to describe the size of the Bruneau Canyon, it makes the famous Grand Canyon look a little under-developed.
Having listened to a number of geologists talk over the last few days, Mum and I turn to pondering the sheer power that must have ripped the earth apart to create this vast expanse.
The overlook itself is located about 25 miles along a reasonably well maintained gravel road, a 4x4 isn’t strictly necessary, but you’d be travelling very slowly in a normal car.
We head to Meridian for our overnight stop, it’s been a good day.
Love that Moose cow and calf!
Wow! Great photos again this year Derek!
I wonder if you're referring to a cicada? I never knew cicadas would be that far north, but you sorta described what they seem like. Here's a link to what they sound like...
Day 12
Day 12
It’s another gravel road this morning as we head to Owyhee canyon overlook, it’s such a long road that we have a crisis of confidence and stop a truck coming the other way to ask him… we’re all good and a few minutes later we’re there.
It’s possibly even more remote than yesterday, but we don’t stay too long as we’re both really looking forward to our next destination.
Malheur Wildlife refuge covers a vast area of land and requires time and patience in equal amounts to get the best from it.
It’s located along another 20 miles or so of gravel road and consists of a visitors centre with a scenic drive taking you through different landscapes, guided by a map and booklet.
This would be a much better place to visit in the Spring, as it was there was virtually no wildlife in evidence and the lakes were almost totally dry.
It was a fun afternoon though, capped off by the sight of some turkey vultures sitting high up on a pylon.
Driving through Southern California we don’t have a planned spot to end our day. We need to be in Shasta in the morning so we aim roughly for the Redding area.
First we need to get fuel, my sat nav says there’s a gas station on the junction in Denier where we need to turn off.
Pulling in on fumes we’re out of luck… they have no gas and tell us that the closest is a 23 mile backtrack to Fields…. Back we go.
Having wasted an hour we crack on through Nevada. There’s not much in this corner of the state but the scenery is beautiful as the sun goes down.
Throughout this trip we’ve heard about the appalling wild fires in California (indeed they were visible from our flight from LAX to SEA) this is the first time on our trip that they have a chance to affect us.
Stopping in Alturas for an Italian dinner we decide to stay the night and complete the final 2hrs or so to Redding in the morning. Unfortunately it’s not to be as all the hotels in the area are full of firefighters so we have no choice but to press on to Redding.
It’s a nice drive though and we arrive at the hotel shortly before midnight.
Day 13
Day 13
From Redding, our first stop is another retracing of my steps, this time to Shasta caves, last time I was here I really enjoyed this tour and I suspected that Mum would too.
This is normally a short drive, however the wild fires in the area are affecting the traffic flow and we have to wait whilst a number of helicopters take turns in dropping water on the fires.
Eventually we reach Shasta Caverns, a little late and the only visitors arriving at 8.59 for a 9am tour.
Thankfully the tour guide there agrees to open up for us and we get a guided tour to ourselves.
The tour starts with a walk down to the waterline before taking a boat across to the caves.
Being the first people in the cave means that we actually see the California Brown Bats that call this cave their home, the stuffed bear is still there as well!
I was in the city of Mount Shasta a few years ago but it was early in the season, the mountain was covered in snow and it wasn’t possible to drive up to the 7808m summit.
No such issues today though, it’s a lovely late summer morning, and though there’s snow on the summit, we’re able to drive all the way up to the top car park and admire the view and wildlife… Mum’s especially taken with a lovely blue bird and makes note to look it up later.
We also watch the smoke from the wildfires climbing into the sky.
From the top of the mountain we head for some lunch in Shasta City to a lovely little grocery store and café.
I’ve been looking forward to taking Mum to our next stop since we started planning this trip…. Crater Lake is one of the most incredible places I’ve had the good fortune to visit and in the Autumnal sunlight of this afternoon it looks for all the world like a picture postcard
We spend the rest of the afternoon driving the rim drive and stopping at almost every viewing point to drink in the scenery, this includes the pinnacles.
Leaving the park we’re heading for the town of Eugene to stay the night, it’s a fairly long drive but nothing too much to worry about…… until the matrix signs start telling us that a tunnel ahead will close at 8pm, a quick look at the road atlas reveals that the detour is hundreds of miles out of our way and will take hours.
A quick bout of mental maths reveals that if I average speeds that I’m not going to put online we’ll make it… Mum closes her eyes and I go for it.
As we get closer to the tunnel we start to meet other cars also having the same idea… I’ve driven in convoy at deep into 3 figures on a number of occasions in my life, but never on a relative back road in the US…. It’s an adrenaline fuelled 30 minutes or so but we all make the tunnel at 7.57 and are the second to last car allowed through.
From there it’s plain sailing to the hotel.
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