Yellowstone
Odometer 34146
Trip 330 miles
Saturday May 26th
I'm actually cheating here- combining our stop in Cody on Saturday into This night at West Yellowstone.
We left Sheridan Saturday morning, and headed over highway 14 to Cody.
Almost immediately I notice that the adjustments to my driver's side mirror actually worked! There are four small spring tabs on the glass part of the mirror that are supposed to lightly touch the shell of the mirror. Mine were not touching, so I bent them outwards to see if that would help. Apparently it did! It stopped fluttering at highway speeds. Why didn't I do this a thousand miles ago?
On with the story- this part of Wyoming is gorgeous! (pun intended)
This is the falls on Shell Creek and it reminded us of the Upper Rogue Gorge near our homeport of Medford, OR There is a nice network of trails and viewpoints, and we walked them all, snapping one fabulous picture after the other.
It seemed like there was some eye-catching scenery every where we looked. The scenery was so attractive that I realized I was not watching my gauges and the car in the rear view monitor like I should be. I'd come out of my revierie and realize I had not scanned my dash is the last 15 minutes, because my eyes were darting from one breathtaking scene to another.
We were getting our first glimpse of real mountains again and the Big Horn Mountains were an up-lifing sight.
Until we realized that we have to climb over these things and they are pretty tall.
We stopped at the Visitor's center and decided to see if we could catch the eruption of Old Faithful, before we made lunch.
We were in luck, because just as we arrived at the viewing area, the geyser erupted!
This happens on average every 90 minutes, so we were very lucky to just walk up and see it without a wait!
Joan was getting bummed about not seeing any wildlife, and our luck changed as soon as we left the Visitor's Center.
This herd of bison tromped up the road right at us- pretty cool!
We tried to see more of the geysers, but the parking areas were too full for our combined bus and car- so we decided to head for the RV park and come back in the car.
Again, we were fortunate and found plenty of room at the Grizzley RV park in West Yellowstone and by 3 PM we were set up in our space.
At about 5:30 Joan's brother, Roger, texted us that they were in town and we arranged a meeting at a local restaurant. We hung out in the lounge getting to know Roger and his beautiful wife Marcia. Before long we adjourned back to the RV, where we talked until 10:30.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to a lot of catching up.
Your Traveling Friends
Jeff and Joan
Trip 330 miles
Saturday May 26th
I'm actually cheating here- combining our stop in Cody on Saturday into This night at West Yellowstone.
We left Sheridan Saturday morning, and headed over highway 14 to Cody.
Almost immediately I notice that the adjustments to my driver's side mirror actually worked! There are four small spring tabs on the glass part of the mirror that are supposed to lightly touch the shell of the mirror. Mine were not touching, so I bent them outwards to see if that would help. Apparently it did! It stopped fluttering at highway speeds. Why didn't I do this a thousand miles ago?
On with the story- this part of Wyoming is gorgeous! (pun intended)
This is the falls on Shell Creek and it reminded us of the Upper Rogue Gorge near our homeport of Medford, OR There is a nice network of trails and viewpoints, and we walked them all, snapping one fabulous picture after the other.
It seemed like there was some eye-catching scenery every where we looked. The scenery was so attractive that I realized I was not watching my gauges and the car in the rear view monitor like I should be. I'd come out of my revierie and realize I had not scanned my dash is the last 15 minutes, because my eyes were darting from one breathtaking scene to another.
We were getting our first glimpse of real mountains again and the Big Horn Mountains were an up-lifing sight.
Until we realized that we have to climb over these things and they are pretty tall.
We paused at the top and made ourselves a picnic lunch, which we ate indoors because the temperature at this elevation was 49 degrees!
We stopped briefly in Greybull which is on the west side of the Big Horn Mts and got an ice cream cone and a frosty root beer from the local A&W- Then on into Cody for the night. We fueled up and then checked into the Yellowstone Inn and RV park.
Being the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, we were a little spooked that we would not be able to get in without a reservation, but it turns out they had plenty of room and we got in with our Passport discount!
Sunday May 27th
We got up early and were on the trail by 9:15 this morning, leaving the Yellowstone Inn and RV and heading west on Hwy 14 following the North Fork of the Shoshone river up into the Absaroka Wilderness area that is the east gateway to Yellowstone National Park. We wanted to leave plenty of time for stops, as we would be passing through Yellowstone Park today.
The Senior Pass did it's thing and we got free admittance into the park, and headed up Hwy 14 to Sylvan Lake at nearly 8,500 feet of elevation, before dropping down to Yellowstone Lake at around 7000 feet. I stopped at a nice turnout on the lake where I sereptitiously spread a few of my father's ashes on the forest floor near the lake. For those that do not know, my father was a USFS ranger in these parts back in the 50's and 60's. My father died June of 2011 at the age of 92, after 34 years of retirement.
We got a good view of the snow capped Rockies rising above the lake as we skirted around the north end of the lake, heading for the visitor's center and the geysers.
We were in luck, because just as we arrived at the viewing area, the geyser erupted!
Joan was getting bummed about not seeing any wildlife, and our luck changed as soon as we left the Visitor's Center.
We tried to see more of the geysers, but the parking areas were too full for our combined bus and car- so we decided to head for the RV park and come back in the car.
Again, we were fortunate and found plenty of room at the Grizzley RV park in West Yellowstone and by 3 PM we were set up in our space.
At about 5:30 Joan's brother, Roger, texted us that they were in town and we arranged a meeting at a local restaurant. We hung out in the lounge getting to know Roger and his beautiful wife Marcia. Before long we adjourned back to the RV, where we talked until 10:30.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to a lot of catching up.
Your Traveling Friends
Jeff and Joan
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