Day of Adversity

It was time to wake up and check out of Old Faithful Inn.  It started off as a cold and rainy day, chilly enough for a fire in the lobby.  (Check out the Old Faithful geyser on the screen!)

We once again had breakfast and also bought some picnic items for lunch: Chicken Salad Croissant for Debbie and Turkey on Kaiser Roll for me.  We packed up our bags and loaded the car in the rain, catching one more eruption of Old Faithful (That made a total of 5 viewings for Jon and 3 for Debbie on this trip.)  

While Debbie read, I took the Old Faithful Inn tour and learned a lot of interesting facts, which I will share now so that I will be able to recall them years from now!

The Old Faithful Inn’s architect was originally from Ohio.

The materials to build the Inn all came from within about 5 miles of its location.

The Inn was built in less than a year.

The Inn had indoor plumbing, heat and electricity when it opened.

The lodgings in Yellowstone are all spaced out about 20-30 miles apart which represented a day’s stagecoach ride for the travelers who would journey from inn to inn on their tour package.

After checking out, we began our journey northward for the day, knowing that we had to reach Mammoth Hotel by 4 pm for our evening Wildlife Tour.  Our first stop was the Grand Prismatic Spring since we had to abandon it the evening before.  Unfortunately, on this "day of adversity," the weather conditions made it hard to see anything through the rain and steam!

We briefly stopped for a nostalgic memory of the Nez Perce picnic area where we had had such a great time creeking with the kids in 2008:

We visited a couple of waterfalls (Firehole Falls, which we had seen before) and Gibbon Falls (which was new, I think.)  The parking lot at Gibbon Falls became the scene of a car picnic since it was pouring rain.  It was a disaster.  A sizable chunk of Debbie's chicken salad escaped the croissant and ended up catastrophically wedged between her seat and the console.  My poor car.

I was delighted to be able to tour another new (to us) area - the Norris Geyser Basin.  This section includes some of the hottest features of the park.  One geyser was constantly erupting.  We got our passport stamp and perused the exhibits.  The weather continued to be difficult, but it was beginning to get better by this point.

We saw other sights on our way to our animal tour, including Roaring Mountain, Obsidian Cliff, Sheepeater Cliff, Rustic Falls (which we had nicknamed "Wedding Cake Falls" in '08!), and Mammoth Hot Springs.

Arriving in Mammoth, we toured the visitor center and got our passport book stamped.  Then we headed to the hotel to meet our guide for the night: Katie from Ohio.  Several others joined us for this wildlife tour in a large van which became one of the real highlights of our time at Yellowstone.  Despite this being a day of adversity, over the course of four hours we saw several black bears, an elk, a fox, peregrine falcons, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, a moose, a badger, and many bison.  Some of our best shots:

The day of adversity complete, we drove through the deepening darkness to our new room at Canyon Lodge.  More about that area tomorrow!

Two Inches on the Map

On Friday, we awoke early.  I was commissioned by Debbie to go down to the Inn's snack bar and procure breakfast.  Maybe I have some old hunter-gatherer blood in my veins, because I returned triumphantly with a breakfast sandwich and apple juice for her as requested.  For myself, I was only searching for milk to go with my Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, but they were out.  I had to pay for the more expensive Almond Milk.  It was the first time I ever had it, having always been a little suspicious of how they can milk almonds.  I was surprised to discover that it was very sweet.  I’ve added it to my list of likes.

The National Park Service helpfully publishes the predicted eruption times of six of the main geysers in the area.  Old Faithful was due to erupt around 10, but by the time we arrived, it was apparent that we had just missed it.  We decided to walk around the geyser basin and see if we could catch the Grand Geyser which was anticipated to erupt around 10:45.  We got there in time but had to wait about an extra half hour until it went off.  It was worth the wait as it put on a good show.  

We continued around the basin, observing many hot springs, geysers and various geothermic features.  We tried to wait out Castle Geyser but it was past an hour late and we wanted to make it back to Old Faithful which was scheduled to erupt shortly after noon.

Fortunately, when we arrived at Old Faithful, the large crowd was a tell that we hadn’t missed the show this time!  In fact, as we waited, nearby Beehive Geyser suddenly erupted and we were able to witness that.  

Just a few minutes later, Old Faithful did its thing, too.

Then it was time for our lunch stop at the nearby Old Faithful Lodge cafeteria.  We each had a slice of pepperoni pizza (I helped Debbie with hers) and shared a piece of what I think was strawberry rhubarb pie.  We next hit the visitor center and got our first passport stamp at Yellowstone.  We were then able to catch Old Faithful's next eruption.

In the afternoon, we went to another geyser area we had never seen before: West Thumb near Grant Village.  These hydrothermic springs were situated along the shore of the west thumb of Yellowstone Lake.  Some of the features are even in the lake itself!

We headed over to Grant Village for the passport stamp and a dinner of a burger and fries which we shared.  While there, Debbie saw a huckleberry display that got her very excited.  A huckleberry chocolate bar souvenir was purchased.

On the trip back, we stopped at an old favorite: Kepler Cascades.

Returning to the Old Faithful area, we stopped at the Grand Prismatic Spring.  Unfortunately, we chose the Overlook instead of the Trail.  It was a much longer hike and out 2/3 of the way there it began to pour.  We decided to turn around.

We made it back to the Inn and went for ice cream as a reward for all the steps we had walked that day: 21,598, or 8.8 miles!  Debbie had Huckleberry and I had Maple Nut.  This time there was a pianist playing for the guests.  We caught Old Faithful erupting again that evening.

It was a good, successful day at Yellowstone, but I was a bit discouraged that we had managed to cover only about two inches of the park map!

Hello Yellowstone!

After leaving the Craters of the Moon National Monument, Debbie and I resumed our northeasterly drive through Idaho. We came across Arco, a tiny town with large numbers written on a nearby mountain.  I correctly deduced that the 2 digits represented years.  High school graduation classes, as it turned out.

We seemed to be steadily increasing in elevation as we skirted the front range of mountains (the Pioneer Mountains, according to the information at Craters of the Moon.)

We rolled into West Yellowstone and decided to make our supper stop there. Debbie scanned some reviews and we opted for The Buffalo Bar. 

Debbie ordered the huckleberry quesadilla and I had the huckleberry BBQ chicken wings.  They were good, but I think eating that much that late caused some insomnia for me later on!

The western entrance of Yellowstone was quickly upon us.  No employee was manning the ticket booth to check our pass.  We picked up a copy of the park newsletter, but it turned out to not be as helpful as such newspapers typically are.  The map in particular left a lot to be desired.  Still, on we rolled, trying to make it to our destination of the Old Faithful Inn before dark.

On the way to Madison, we saw several cars pulled over.  We knew that was a sign to look for wildlife.  Sure enough, there were bison and elk in the vicinity.  Debbie also heard that there was a wolf, but him we did not see.  As we neared the Old Faithful area, bison were even more numerous (and closer!)

We arrived at the Old faithful Inn around 9 pm.  We checked in and were given one of the original rooms from when the Inn opened in 1903 - and you could tell, too!  Rustic would be a good word to describe the ambiance.  Still, we weren’t complaining, even if we only had a sink in our room and no commode or shower!  Those were down the hall.

A violinist was entertaining guests on our floor (the second.)  I caught an Old Faithful eruption as I was unloading our car.  It’s quite something to be able to see it go off from your hotel!

We knew that we were in for a big day on Friday, so we hit the hay. I wish I could have fallen asleep quickly, but it would be 4 am until I was truly lights out.

Moonwalking

"Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve." Sounds exotic, no?

Knowing in advance that this area would be very remote, Debbie and I picked up a couple of Subways in Twin Falls for a picnic lunch.  Later that morning, we arrived at the visitor center, got our passport stamp, and checked out the exhibits. One interesting fact we learned was that the geothermal activity at Craters of the Moon seems linked to Yellowstone. There is a chain of locations stretching in a line across the northwestern United States that could be explained by plate tectonics. The continent is slowly moving over a hot spot that creates volcanic features.

We drove to a picnic area and enjoyed our subs. This was also a good day for our Seek apps when it came to wildflowers.  We drove the loop road which took us to different formations such as cinder cones and spatter cones.  A highlight was being able to gaze down into the core of a cone - like a mini-volcano.  For those who like lava and cinders, this was a great place to visit!

Rock On!

Wednesday, May 27, was our day to leave Vernal and head northwest to Twin Falls, Idaho. This would require 7+ hours of driving over 400 miles.

Our morning took us through desert and mountain landscapes (including Heber City which seemed to be entirely under construction) and into Salt Lake City. With this foray into civilization, we made it a point to find a restaurant we were hungry for: Shake Shack! We stopped at a food court in the downtown area. After lunch, we took a stroll in the shopping district, and made a brief detour to see some sites of Mormon interest. 

Then it was back on the road to head for a destination Jon had seen on Google Maps: City of Rocks National Reserve. This part of the trip was one of the most remote. At one point we passed a sign which said - no joke - "No Services for the Next 103 Miles." It's a good thing we had a full tank and empty bladders! At least we could go 80 mph...

There was a whole lot of nothing along the Utah/Idaho border area, and eventually Apple Maps sent us down some gravel roads. Debbie began worrying just where I was taking her!

Our patience was rewarded, however, when we finally arrived at the City of Rocks Visitor Center. They were closing in six minutes! We hurriedly stamped our passport, picked up a map, and asked for tips on our visit.

The City of Rocks was a spot along the California Trail in the 1800s when people were heading out west in droves. This is an area of prominent rock formations. At one such site, pioneers from yesteryear left their names. Other rocks were named things like Elephant and Arch for self-explanatory reasons. Debbie and I did a little light rock climbing and scrambled around on some boulders.  

It was a fun place, but we still had miles to go so it was soon time to hit the road again. We stopped for a supper at a Panda Express and then continued on to the Snake River area where we saw a canyon and Shoshone Falls. This was a bit of a surprise for Debbie, who loves waterfalls. (A tip of the hat goes to brother-in-law Ron Secrist who recommended this place to me when we were talking about the trip on Easter!)

By now it was getting pretty late, so we headed to our hotel - we stayed in Building B which was not as good as staying in Building A - and I gassed up for the next leg of our journey. It was a long day, so we were asleep very quickly that night!