Yellowstone/Teton Mountains & Parks

Once again we are using the Gypsy Guides and entering from the East entrance which is new for us. The scenery from Cody to the East entrance is so exquisite! 

                                   Thanks to the winds it got downright chilly at times

More snow

He was so close to the road

Yellowstone Lake is so vast!!!  

Old photos of this same area when the park first opened

How they originally brought people into the park

                                              Felt like I was going to Grandma's house after the Park Museum

                 Looking at these skulls up close you get a better sense of how large they really are

These ravens drove us nuts when we were here snowmobiling always trying to get into our packs
 

We stopped at Fall Rivers Park Museum and find this big guy sunning himself outside

Found a buffalo sitting right outside the visitors center here. Turned out people like us who keep returning here are called. “Yellowstoners”. Works for me. LOL.

Love the drama of these rock formation

Tectonic Plates are under us moving incredibly slow but we are sitting on the Pacific plate. Its slight movement can cause earthquakes or tsunamis in Japan or along our west Coast. Here we are sitting on Hotspots or Yellowstone Calderas are volcanos that long ago collapsed on top of themselves and create all the mudspots, boiling springs and geysers. The last big 7.5 on the Richter scale earthquake here was in 1959 and caused a massive landslide. 

Hydrothermal pools beside and inside the lake create warm spots in the lake that don’t freeze over in winter. The vegetation around these hotspots are heavy in minerals and toxins. If the animals eat too much they will die. 

West Thumb Geyser Basin was a new park area for us. It’s so beautiful and in its own way; as picturesque as, the Ole Faithful area. 

                                                                          Mud spot

One of our few selfies...as I have said before we aren't a fan

Should have taken advantage of the area for a free pedicure

Almost looked like one of our Florida gators

You enter Shoshone Mtn and Park first from this side. At this time of year (thanks to heavy winter  snowfall,) the waterfalls and blues, pinks, white, reds, and yellow wildflowers and yellow clover were plentiful. In some of the upper alpine areas, you would see burned out or fallen trees with the new trees, mosses and wildflowers pushing up all around them. Life’s circle. Turns out the flowers I’m seeing, the indigo blue flowers are in the lupine family while some of the smaller white clusters are white yarrow. Think some of the tiny pink flowers are the pungent sage?  Every time we come, I’m amazed all over again how vast Yellowstone Lake is.  Yellowstone became our first National Park in 1872. 

We have come here so many times because there is just so much to enjoy and discover. Here too, you need extreme patience with other tourists because idiots are everywhere and from every country & signs/rules don’t apply to them. I do a tremendous amount of cringing as they get too close to wildlife or overlooks trying to get that perfect selfie. (The park service actually keep the death toll each year. It’s rapidly increased thanks to the Selfie obsession.)

Fishing Bridge is no longer used for that purpose as they try to increase the cutthroat fish population again. It was overfished almost to extinction. 

Took Gulf Point Dr out on a spit of land out into the lake. A lovely, pristine area with a few hopeful fishermen thrown in. We can see across the lake here, the iconic yellow Lakefront Lodge that is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been refurbished and is run by the Park Service.  

As we head out the southern entrance we pass over the Continental Divide. Lewis Falls, Lake, River and the Canyon are named after Captain Merriweather Lewis, the explorer and friend & secretary of President Jefferson. It is so wonderful to see this area rebound after a devastating forest fire approximately 25 years ago when Mike and his buddies came out here in snowmobiling. 

The Lewis River joins up with the Snake River at the south entrance to Yellowstone.  The Rockefeller’s both Sr & Jr through their philanthropy bought land so it couldn’t be developed and secretly added it to the Grand Teton National Park. Jackson refers to the town while Jackson Hole refers to the Valley that is surrounded by mountains. 

Underwood, an architect created an architecture style for the National Parks referred to as Parkitecture. Jackson Lake Lodge built in the 1950’s represented Frank Lloyd Wright’s influence 

Since it sits so much into the trees especially at it's front entrance ;it's impossible to get a really good photo of it

and the Ole Faithful Lodge represented a more rustic Arts and Craft Style demonstrating his creativity within these two extremes. 

Willow Lakes Overlook gives you another breathtaking view of the Tetons. Thanks to climate change 40 per cent of the glaciers within this park are gone. 

Fur trappers like John Colter from Lewis and Clark fame was one of the first to see the potential for the fur trade with the Northwest Company that could benefit this region. Silk replaced beaver fur in the making of hats due to its abundance and lower cost. Thankfully, this change enabled beavers to be saved from extinction. Nothing much occurred in this area until President Abraham Lincoln started the Homestead Act. 

The Snake River Overlook was made famous by Ansel Adams photos of it. Created originally as publicly posters for this park. 

Morman Row was a group of 27 homesteads that worked together to survive. One of their ironic barns remain. These hardy Idahoans dug irrigation ditches & wells by hand and horsepower to get enough water to keep themselves, their animals and crops going. The Moulton barns are what remain 

Three ranches that still remain here are the MH, EH and Triangle X. Since the ranchers didn’t have a huge success with ranching, they turned their places into dude ranches to survive. 

The twenty five thousand acre, Elk Refuge was started by Eastman Kodak outside of Jackson to provide food for the elks in winter. Very controversial decision that is still debated today; despite the refuge providing a positive monetary impact on Jackson. 

Passing through Jackson brings back fond, fun memories of being here with our friends, Jo and Don on their honeymoon. 



I seem to remember an evening spent at the Cowboy Bar learning line dances and the two step. Oh yeah! There was definitely some drinking involved. LOL. I’d still give it a shot, but I won’t last as long!!!

As we cross over into our 11th state; Idaho, the ranches appear to have much greener grazing lands. These hills in the Targhee Forest are dense with evergreens, aspens, and such; the various shades of green seem endless! On the distant hills windmill farms appear to be growing out of the earth.