Highways of Happiness ! [Yellowstone]

[Southwest Dave]

The Grand Tetons and Old Faithfull

The lodgings at Grant Village were very comfortable with rooms being in 'house blocks', like a Hotel room without reception. The room was a good size, very comfy and clean, so comfy neither of us woke until 8:30 and it was 10am before we made our way to the Lakeside restaurant for breakfast. We ended up chatting to two biker couples who were from New Jersey, they were touring on their Harley D's. They were really interested in visiting England one day and we ended up chatting for another 20 mins before we said our goodbyes. We got to the Lakeside diner only to find it closed, so we took a few moments to enjoy the lake views with ducks and various other birds on the water, where a cheeky Chipmunk decided to join us. We made our way to the Village Grill which is part of the Grant village general store building. Over breakfast [which was very nice] we worked out a plan for our day ahead. As it was mid morning we presumed the park would be busy by now, so we decided to leave visiting Old Faithful until later in the day in the hope it would be quieter by then, a tactic that had worked for us before. As it was a nice sunny day and the weather had been unsettled, we decided to head south to the Tetons and take advantage of the clear weather offering good views. I was looking forward to spending a little time in the Tetons and had originally planned to visit them and Mormon Row tomorrow as we passed on our way to Manilla in Utah, but I was concerned that it would be too rushed while travelling almost 400 miles from Canyon village, our stop tonight. So we finished our coffee and had a look around the store and finally hit the road at 11:30am.

The drive south was wonderful on the John D Rockefella Jr Highway, we crossed the Continental divide as the mountain peaks started to reveal themselves from behind the tall trees. It wasn't long before we saw Jackson Lake with the mountains rising up to touch the clouds in the background.



Our first stop was at Jackson Dam, the dam controls the water level between the lake and the Snake river by raising and lowering the 15 x 2.5 ton gates within it. The views across the lake were wonderful !

Jackson Lake.





Jackson Dam.



We continued further into the park and the drive was quite amazing. Glaciers were still clinging to the gulleys of the mountain peaks as the views came and went between the trees. We parked up near the Jenny Lake visitor centre and walked to Jenny Lake from where there were boat tours on the lake, we were tempted but decided to go for a stroll around the lake a little way.

Along Teton Park Road.


Jenny Lake.



We walked to the visitor centre and had a wander around, taking in some of the information available. It was worth it as I noticed a road on the map called Signal mountain road, which straight away caught my attention. After a chat with one of the Rangers and a Hot dog outside we were on our way up Signal Mountain to take in the panoramic views the Ranger had told us about. The road was steep, narrow and twisty as it wound it's way up and down the mountain, but we enjoyed the drive and the rewards that lay in wait at the top.

On Signal mountain.





I don't no where the time goes, but once again it had flown by and we were making our way back to Yellowstone. We did not arrive to Old Faithfull until 6pm and we're hoping that we would not have to wait too long for an eruption so that we could look around the rest of the area before nightfall. Our idea of arriving late in the day seemed to have paid off, the viewing and seating area was under half full as we walked towards it. It then dawned on me that another reason for this could be that we had just missed the last 'performance'. Luckily that wasn't the case and less than 10 mins after sitting down the show began and Old Faithfull performed for us. It was an impressive display alright but personally speaking, after all the loud hissing from vents, the bubbling from boiling mud and almost violent discharges of water we had witnessed, it was almost a little too graceful for me. The main attraction here is the 'Old geysers' reliability, although don't get me wrong, it's still quite amazing !





After the display we walk over to Yellowstone lodge to use the rest rooms. Wow, this is quite some lodge and a most impressive building, so we spend a little time looking around. Next up, we walk across the Firehole river and up Geyser Hill to take in more of the sites and sounds the land has to offer, we get a real bonus along the way and one of the trips highlight moments.

More to come.....