Author: Easin' Along

“However orderly your excursions or aimless, again and again amid the calmest, stillest scenery you will be brought to a standstill hushed and awe-stricken before phenomena wholly new to you. Boiling springs and huge deep pools of purest green and azure water, thousands of them, are plashing and heaving in these high, cool mountains as if a fierce furnace fire were burning beneath each one of them; and a hundred geysers, white torrents of boiling water and steam, like inverted waterfalls, are ever and anon rushing up out of the hot, black underworld.” – John Muir on Yellowstone National Park (1901)

Once again, I’m at a loss for words. The sheer beauty of Yellowstone National Park takes your breath away while rounding every bend on every road. This National Park, established in 1872, spans 2.2 million acres and is one of the greatest gifts Americans have given to ourselves. Simply put, Yellowstone is a national treasure. Fortunately, this treasure was preserved almost as soon as it was discovered. 

Helen and I left Jackson, Wyoming, after a delightful time with our kids and grandkids, and moved to West Yellowstone, Montana for a nine-day visit. Out of the nine days, we spent seven exploring Yellowstone. I kick myself for taking two days off–there is too much to see there.

As the headline for this post suggests, there are sights, sounds, and wildlife in Yellowstone that an average person, like me, would not see anywhere else. Fascinating geologic formations, thermal pools of every color and hue, and scenic waterfalls are everywhere. Gigantic geysers, bubbling mud pots, steaming hot springs, and hissing steam vents (fumaroles), bubble, crackle, and erupt throughout the day to entertain the young and the old, giving off constant oohs and aahs while capturing pictures on smartphones.

Wildlife abounds in Yellowstone. On our way to a trailhead for some hiking, we came across a gray wolf having brunch on an elk carcass. We met a huge bison, standing thirty feet from us on another hike. Elk herds dot the roadsides with their young, and the regal and majestic Grizzly bear is an incredible sight to behold for anyone fortunate enough to see (at a distance).

Our visits included trips to the West Thumb Basin, Gibbon Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin and Fountain Paintpot. My favorite trips were to the Artist Paintpot, a hike to Storm Point on Yellowstone Lake, and the Riverside Geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin, which erupted for 22 minutes, sending steam 75 feet into the air. This geyser was well worth the two-mile walk required to watch the show.

I have posted some of my favorite pictures here, but I have so many, I created a Picture Gallery (click here) that includes some of the scenes I want to share with Easin’ Along readers. I hope you will take a moment to visit the Gallery. I also posted a short (and shaky) video of our gray wolf encounter on the Easin’ Along YouTube page and hope you’ll visit that as well. Wolf sightings are rare, and we consider ourselves fortunate to capture a glimpse of this big fellow. He had to weigh over 125 pounds and looked very healthy.

Enjoy the pictures–we certainly enjoyed the park. Please come back next week and we’ll share our visit to the lovely village of Big Sky, Montana. I’ve said it before, retirement is a great gig, and we’re Easin’ Along on a retirement adventure to remember forever.

 

Words barely describe the beauty of the area around Jackson, WY, and fail miserably when describing Yellowstone National Park. Therefore, this post will rely more on pictures than text to share our eight-day visit there. Hopefully, the photos will somewhat resemble the staggering beauty we encountered. We had a lot of fun on this visit, and I want to share some of those details because we had a grand time at the base of the Grand Tetons. Note: click on any image to enlarge

To begin with, our campsite at the Kudar RV Campground could not have been better. We were assigned a grassy, level site on the front lawn of the Kudar Motel with electric and water hookups. The Motel is a block and a half from the town square and one block from The Blue Lion, our favorite restaurant. With Lucy, now perfectly positioned to take advantage of everything this scenic area offers, we were ready to explore and enjoy.

Our son, Collin, and his family arrived a week ahead of us to spend some time with Austin’s (our daughter-in-law) family. Justin, Collin’s older brother, and his family came from California to join us. Once everyone settled in, we drove to meet Collin and crew at the lovely home rented by Austin’s Mom at the base of the Tetons. The picture at the top gives you the reader a glimpse of their view. Again, words can’t describe.

The first item on our list of events for the week was a trip through Yellowstone National Park. Justin was on a time crunch for this trip to Jackson, so we decided to spend an entire day exploring the Park. One day isn’t enough, but we made a run at it anyway. The weather on this day was not cooperative. The high temperature hovered around 39 degrees (July?), and spotty drizzle followed us for much of the morning.

Nevertheless, we marched ahead and visited West Thumb Geyser Basin with its colorful thermal pools; the Lower Falls; went wildlife watching; strolled through Grand Prismatic Spring, and stopped to let Old Faithful put on a show for us. With no tour busses and very few international travelers, the crowds were much lower than we had experienced on previous visits, and we lost little time in traffic or waiting in long lines. We had a lovely day, cold weather notwithstanding.

Justin and his family left with their trailer in tow and headed back to California by way of Zion National Park. We loved being with them and miss them greatly. Meanwhile, good fortune fell on Collin and me when his friend Jake invited us on a fishing trip in his new Drift boat. We would try our luck on the South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho. Our good fortune extended to the weather as well–the day was beautiful. Our success with a fly rod was not as good as our luck with the weather.

We launched near a small dam on the South Fork. There were several boats in front of us, and more arrived as we readied the boat. Fishing guides busied themselves by rigging fly rods for their clients while the clients waited in eager anticipation of hooking a Facebook-worthy trophy.

Jake, Collin, and I launched the boat on some swift water as a result of recent rains. The wind was strong, and, for the first few minutes, I was afraid we would be fishing in adverse conditions. After rounding a bend in the river, the wind turned in our favor, and we remained in calm winds for the remainder of this glorious day. There was little we could do about the fast water.

I hooked a sizable trout early during our trip and got it close enough to the boat to get my eyes on it, but as soon as the fish saw me, the fly shook loose, and my fish swam away with a sore lip. It was a while before I hooked another one–slightly smaller than the first, but this beautiful Rainbow fell victim to Jake’s net. That was the only trout taken, although Collin hooked several and landed four Whiting. All agreed that we were only out for the trip and the scenery. On that score, we faired well. 

The Fourth of July would be a little different in Jackson due to the COVID pandemic. City officials canceled the annual parade, disappointing many locals and tourists. Three firework demonstrations would take place simultaneously at different locations to disperse the crowds, and the one scheduled for Snow King Mountain would occur entirely within our view…almost across the street from us.

The show would start at 10:00 pm. Helen warmed up for it by hitting pickleball with our granddaughters. The fireworks were outstanding. The grandkids, as well as us big kids, loved every minute. I had my tripod set up, attached a remote shutter to my camera, and fired at will. The best shot is pictured here.

 

 

On July 5th, we packed up and drove through Yellowstone to the charming town of West Yellowstone, MT, our home for the next nine days. Our route took us by Yellowstone Lake as well as a few Bison grazing beside the road. Words can’t describe (there I go again) our time in Jackson Hole, but…it was time to be Easin’ Along. Thanks for joining us. See you next week.