Day 30b – A Meeting of the Elks

I have to give equal time to the elks. We saw a herd of them at West Thumb in Yellowstone. There was a male (see picture) with about 15 females and young elk. They were just wandering through the thermal features like they owned the place. When we got back to the car, we saw another male with 2 or 3 females. This is rutting season so you have to stay far away from the males as they are very touchy. We even heard him bellow out a warning (not at us).

Day 30a – Da Bears

I can’t close with out showing some animal photos. We were very lucky as we saw two black bears, a mother and cub, as we were coming down Signal Mountain in Grand Teton. We didn’t get out of the car as you don’t want to mess with a momma bear that has a cub with her.

Day 30 – Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks

This was a long but eventful day for us. We started in Jackson, WY and drove north into Grand Teton National Park. The sky was bright blue and the temperature eventually reached 73. From what we hear, it snowed heavily on October 1 last year so we were lucky. The Teton mountain range and the valley are magnificent, especially this time of year. The aspen were a vibrant yellow in contrast to the green lodge pole pines and the gray glacier topped mountains. We had planned a short hike at Jenny Lake but we found the boats still running so we took one across the lake. Their last day of operation was supposed to be yesterday, but since the weather was good and they had a charter, they stayed open one more day. From the other side of the lake, we hiked to Hidden Falls and then Inspiration Point. Once again, it was a steep climb at high altitude, which is exhausting. You reach 7100 feet by the time you get to Inspiration Point.

From Grand Teton, you go directly into Yellowstone at the south entrance. The foliage is slightly different in Yellowstone as it is almost exclusively lodge pole pines, at least in the southern part. It is probably just a difference in elevation. We stopped at West Thumb, which is part of Yellowstone Lake, to see our first hydrothermal features. They have all four types – hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, and mud pots. They even have one spot where you can catch a fish in the lake and then turn around and cook it in a hot spring while it is still on the line. At least you could in the old days and the park service doesn’t allow it now.

We are spending the night in the historic Old Faithful Inn, which is pretty cool. It is about 100 years old and built with huge timbers. It is also very close to Old Faithful, which we saw. Very cool show for about 3 minutes. We had a nice dinner later – I had Idaho trout and Jeanne had buffalo ravioli.

Day 29 – On the Trail

Today was a 5 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Jackson, WY, via Idaho. We stopped in Idaho Falls to tour their Potato Museum which features the world’s largest potato (not a real potato). It cost $2.50 to get in and they give you a box of home fries when you leave. What a bargain!

We finally caught up with fall as we drove along the Snake River in eastern Idaho. For me, that was the most colorful part of the trip so far. The aspen had turned a bright yellow which complemented the golden wheat fields, brown dirt of the potato fields, and the dark green pine trees on the mountains. Very, very beautiful.

To top the night, we went on the Bar T-5 covered wagon ride in Jackson (see picture). The ride includes lots of cowboys, an attack by Indians, dinner and a cowboy band after dinner. I know it sounds pretty hokey, but it was a lot of fun and the baked beans were unbeatable. Must be cooking them outdoors that makes them so good.

Day 28 – Salt Everywhere

We made the drive from Winnemucca, NV, to Salt Lake City, UT, in about 5.5 hours, crossing back into the Mountain Time Zone. There was a little more to see today as we drove through the Bonneville Salt Flats and also stopped to see the Great Salt Lake up close. The drive through the salt flats looks like a winter drive, with white on both sides of the road for as far as you can see.

Salt Lake City is not a big city with only a population of 180,000, but it is still one of the largest in the southwest. As everyone knows, it is also the center of the Mormon religion and so we took a tour of the Temple (see picture). The 30-minute tour was nicely done and they had toned down the hard sell from when I took it years ago. The acoustic demonstration in the Tabernacle is the highlight and still very impressive. They speak without a microphone and then drop 3 pins, which you can clearly hear halfway across the auditorium.

Day 27 – Wide Open Spaces

Today was a pretty boring 7-hour drive from San Jose to Winnemucca, NV. From Reno on, there was nothing to see except miles and miles of desert (see photo). Probably more of the same tomorrow until we get to Salt Lake.

As there is no sightseeing to talk about, here are some random topics:

Weather. We have been extremely fortunate with weather. With the exception of an overnight rain in Kansas City, we have seen nothing but great weather. It has mostly been around 90 degrees, except for higher elevations where it was a little cooler. We have had many days where there were no clouds to speak of. We are a little concerned about the weather in Yellowstone as there can be snow in October, but even that looks good. All things considered, the weather really couldn’t be any better.

Best Deal. Without a doubt, it is the National Park Service Senior Pass. You can get a lifetime card at 62 and it gives you and three others free admission to the parks. It has saved us over $100 so far and probably will save double that by the time we are done.

Did we really go coast to coast? Our answer is yes, but we include our vacation in Ocean City, MD. We were in the Atlantic in late August and we put our feet in the Pacific near San Francisco on Saturday.

Day 21 – Zion National Park

You can only tour Zion via bus and we signed up the night before for a 2 hour ranger-led tour bus which was pretty cool. They took us to a couple of stops that the normal bus doesn’t go to so we got to see some things that most people don’t. The ranger talk on geology was very interesting. As she explained it, the Colorado plateau, which covers parts of 4 states, is made up of many different types of strata with Bryce Canyon being the highest group, Zion being the middle and the Grand Canyon being the lowest. That kind of explains why each one is so different. Zion is essentially a narrow canyon surrounded completely by huge rocks which reach up to the sky. It is hard to estimate but they seem to go up a half mile or so in places. After the tour we went to the visitor center and then hiked the Lower Emerald Pool Trail where the photo was taken.

Our hotel last night but it was pretty funky. It was the Pioneer Lodge in Springdale and the motif was logs, including the wall, table, coat rack, etc. I think you can get the picture.

We drove 3 hours to Las Vegas and have a very another nice upgraded room at the Las Vegas Hilton. However, because we are required to follow the motto “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” this will be the last report until next Tuesday after we leave Bill and Margaret’s and start the trip back to the east coast.