Yellowstone National Park to Grand Teton National Park
Morning brought a very sunny day with another day to explore
Yellowstone.
One of the attractions of Yellowstone is the abundance of wildlife. Even more than usual, we were on the lookout for animals. Our drive back into the
park put us in a great mood, with immediately seeing some Elk. There were a number of females and their young. We watched them for a while before moving on.
A short time later we stopped to watch two Sand Hill Cranes hunting for insects on the other side of a small meadow. Again, we were entertained as we watched them go about their natural rhythms. Later we saw solitary bull Bisons feeding close to the road.
It is truly a pleasure
to see fabulous animals like this in the wild!
Our first stop for the day was at The Museum of the national
Park Ranger-a fine gem of a museum staffed with retired park rangers.
Over the years, both of us had appreciated the knowledge of Park Rangers whether we were listening to a Ranger talk or simply receiving answers to our many questions. They have always been so courteous and helpful. We both have so much respect for rangers, and
it was fun to see a display of the changing roles of rangers throughout the
past nearly 100 years. Our big surprise was to find out that Gerald Ford had once been a Park Ranger. The museum was staffed with retired Rangers. On this day, the Ranger on duty was a gentleman who had had a career as an engineer before retiring to become seasonal interpretive Ranger for sixteen years at Old Faithful. He was a delight to talk with about the many roles Rangers play in the parks.
The first people charged with caring for Yellowstone
were Army men.
We got the chance to see
“Old Fort Yellowstone”, the original buildings that housed the army units in
the late 1800’s.
These great old buildings
have stood the test of time, and have been “repurposed” 9a word we keep hearing
on these trip) as buildings for park headquarters, and housing for current
staff.
We recognized the type of
buildings form some of our earlier “Old Western Forts” stops.
We then went through a couple more geyser basins, including
the impressive Mammoth Hot Springs. We scampered about on the boardwalks looking at the fantastic formations. Since there is only so much water available, when a new formation begins to grow it uses the water previously destined for another. These older formations returned to their primary white limestone color while others were beautifully colored by a variety of thermophiles, primarily different algae that grew at different temperatures.
Another big draw for visitors, so we had to do it, was to
see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
It is nearly 1/2 mile deep with impressive walls cut out of the yellow rock. One of the classic views of the canyon is of the lower falls at its East end.
An interesting additional wildlife sighting was an osprey nest with mother
and little baby birds.
The nest was on a stone pillar deep within the canyon. Wow!
One of Dick's favorite waterfalls is Lewis Falls. It suddenly appears along the road to the South Entrance of the park. We stopped for a bit to soak in its beauty and the fun others were having near it. There are so many sites worth stop and soaking in: Waterfalls, mudpots, at every turn there is
something amazing.
As we left the park, we were distressed to see quite a large
fire burning in the hills to the hills to the south of us.
Then we left Yellowstone, fond farewell, only to enter Dick’s all time favorite on his list of favorite national
parks: The Grand Teton National Park.
We saw this series of signs as we were driving between the parks:
We saw wildlife
From afar
Until we hit them
With our car.
Slow down!
As we were settling into The Tetons, we met three young women, and a young man, recently
graduated from college back east.
They
were on a road trip going to Portland.
One of them exclaimed (as we were all looking at The Teton Mountains as
the sun was beginning to set, “And I thought that New Jersey was
majestic!”
We gave them encouraging
words about road trips and bid them safe driving. One of our Johnny Appleseed responsibilities
is to encourage other travelers and would be travelers.
Anyone reading this feel the draw of a road
trip coming on?
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