The Twin Falls at Twin Falls, and more besides

Monday, 30th June

Last Look At Craters Of The Moon

Whoosh! It’s pack and go this morning! One last walk around some of the lava fields, where I re-inspect the lovely yellow flower I found last night, when I had chosen to take evening pictures rather than go for a run.  That was pleasant, but limited as there was no real sunset, apart from the sun going down behind a rather large hill, though I found a plant that looked very much like a thistle, but with a lovely yellow flower, but I did not get a very good pic as it was getting dark, hence my return in the morning.  The plant I have now found out is called Blazing Star (Mentzelia laevicaulis) and is a night flowering plant, which I think is quite unusual (but then that is possibly just me) as well as beautiful.

Blazing Star - Night Blooming Flower!

Goodales Cut Off

Our plan to day is straight forward, but will be modified as we progress. Our original plan has been to drive West and camp at Hegarman, but we are now going via a southerly loop to take in the waterfalls of Twin Falls. We drive out of the COTM NP leaving the lava behind, only to find that the road simply skirts along the edge of the lave field, which stretches for mile after mile after mile. Did I mention about Goodales Cutoff? No it is not a surgical procedure. For an empty space on the map Southern Idaho has a lot of history. We have now found ourselves driving along the very route that many of the settlers travelled in the 1800’s to take up the land freely given to them under the Homesteaders Act. The whole route is called the Oregon Trail, this section was an improved part of the route which cut across the lava fields. It has constantly been in our minds the human endeavour that went into those people crossing such inhospitable lands, I think I mentioned it back at Columbia Gorge and the Scrublands of Washington State, but here the emigrants had to travel across miles of black, very sharp, very hot, very craggy lava beds, often barefoot, and get wagons across it as well.

The Manhattan Diner in Shoshone City

After about 30 miles the lava fields of COTM NP gave way to the lava fields that were not part of the park, amazing scenery, but boring to describe, apart from rough black rock covered by sage and scrub. We stopped in Shoshone for a cuppa. Talk about one horse, one stop light, sleepy railtown, wow Shoshone has got it all. The railroad (only freight now) runs down the middle of the town and the Victorian fronted saloons and shops sitting in the sunshine of clear blue skies actively exude sleepiness. Anyway we found the Manhattan Café and stopped in for our drink, slipping badly on the diet front I had a cinnamon roll, which although only $2.19 was massive, fresh and home made, Sally slipped into a ‘scone’, which I think was really a posh word for Navajo Fry Bread, which is a donut style dough deep fried sprinkled with cinnamon sugar – Oh Yummy. Like those old horror films of people arriving and being overcome with sleepiness and being trapped forever, and our bodies would then be used for all sorts of interesting practises, we could feel the soporific nature of this place, so we got out quickly and continued South to Twin Falls. However we had been warned in a dream (no actually the waitress mentioned it) that we should look for the Perrine Bridge on our way to Twin Falls. 

The Perrine Bridge

We didn’t have much trouble there as the road goes across this massive steel arch bridge, where it meets and crosses the Snake River. Yes we have returned once more to this great river. The bridge crosses a gorge, 1500ft long and 486 ft above the river it is pretty impressive, as the is the river gorge. We stopped and took pics, talked to a lovely couple from Texas who were here on a course to learn about Ancient Roman History. We then crossed the river to go to the visitor center, just on the south rim of the gorge, to get directions to the waterfalls (remember the waterfalls, that is why we are here), once we have this information we are about to leave when I spy a couple of people sat at the gorge rim where they appear to be packing tents into rucksacks, they have helmets, rock climbers? No, Base Jumpers. We find out that these guys throw  themselves off the bridge with a parachute. In fact the bridge is famous for its base jumping because (and here we learn a new facet of Idaho culture) it is one of the few places where it is a legal activity, no permit required, no insurance required, you can just throw yourself off the middle of the bridge and no one minds. This meant another delay while we watched the guys preparing and then watched one of them actually jump off. Quite amazing (I am sure that this is another way of describing insanity, but they were really nice guys). Our vantage point was also where Evil Knievel did his Snake River Jump/attempt in his rocket powered Sky Cycle.

At Last The Twin Falls

We really had to move on, so we now drove to Twin Falls, the waterfalls, which is now a park and an HEP station, however the falls are not quite what they were as one of the falls has been dammed to help with the power production. We then travelled a few miles to the Shoshone Falls, now these were spectacular, they say they are twice the height of Niagara Falls (the American side I expect, which is smaller than the Canadian bit). Here we had our lunch being most impressed with the lovely sight of this waterfall, reinforcing our respect for the power and size of the Snake River.

We were now running out of energy so decided not to make a further detour to Balancing Rock SP (another time perhaps) and instead used the Interstate 84 to drive directly to our campground in the almost equally sleepy (as Shoshone) town of Hegarman, where we stopped in the local and very pretty Hegarman RV Village.

Craters Of The Moon National Park

Sunday, 29th June
We are now running against the tide of our time available here. Having planned to visit Craters Of The Moon Nat.Monument (COTM), we have had to shorten it to a one night stay in the campground, hoping to get there early enough to ensure a campsite and leave us enough time to see this wonderful park. Then, Oh Dear! Our neighbours at Snake River RV told us about Shoshone Falls, near Twin falls, so now we have to squeeze that in, which involves a 30 mile detour and allowing time to visit the falls and see where Evil Knievel jumped the Snake River. OK, we can do that tomorrow. Then as we drive towards the COTM we remember that we have to pass EBR-1, Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1, the worlds first nuclear power plant, which started producing electricity (albeit for research) in 1951. It was quite interesting, but really it was about seeing where it was done first. Interestingly we have driven about 30 miles down out of the mountains to Idaho Falls, where there is lots of agriculture (potatoes) along the Snake River, but to get to the COTM we drive away from the river and straight into desert for 80 miles. The point about the nuclear facility is that if something happened the land is so desolate that they thought no one would notice if a nuclear explosion happened there.
 
After the nuclear power plant museum we found time to stop in Arco at The Pickle Place, which was a very 70’s diner, for a cuppa and share a cinnamon roll before we arrived at COTM by about 12.00, to find that there was indeed space for us to camp, though it was filling fast while we were setting up and having lunch. This campground is right in amongst the lava flows, similar to the Valley Of Fires SP we stayed at in New Mexico in 2011. Very strange environment, but interesting. We then spent the afternoon driving round the lava field trail, visiting all the different forms of lava and looking at the variety of life that can survive in this bleak environment. We even ended up in the middle of a Spatter Cone, a “small”, hollow cone, created when molten rock is spat out of a hole in the ground, building a wall of rock around itself. As usual, quite fascinating.

Idaho Falls

Saturday
We left the Grand Tetons on Friday, having really enjoyed the wonderful scenery, the mountains, rivers, lakes and plants were all wonderful.
Our plan was to drive to Idaho Falls, which is the name of the city, as well as the waterfall, and then on to Craters of the Moon SP. The most direct route out of the park is over the Grand Tetons Pass, but many other RV owners said that this was not a good road to use as there were parts that had a 10% incline, but we drove it anyway. the road is a good road, but steep, one section was so steep the van would only pull at 20 m.p.h. but we made it. The downhill seemed even steeper, but 1st gear and the brakes sorted that out. we stopped in Victor for a cuppa at the Victor Emporium, very interesting shop, but did not have hot tea!, so we left them some tea bags to sell to others. The mountain pass road eventually rejoined the main road at Swan Valley and we now followed the Snake River, I think we will see quite a bit of this river in the future. We drove past it's source as we entered the Grand Tetons NP, the river runs right through Jackson Hole (most of the park) and now we were following it to Idaho Falls. We also saw our first Idaho Potatoes!!!!
We arrived at Idaho Falls and pulled into the Snake River RV Park, OK but sites very close together. Although on the bank of the Snake River we could not access the river from the campground.
Today was 'Return to Civilization Day' as we have not been near a large town since Helena, 2 and a half weeks ago. We celebrated with a pancake breakfast at 'Smitty's' and a day in Walmart and the local mall and then shared a steak at Sizzlers. On the way back to the trailer we took a walk across and round Idaho Falls, which are quite impressive. Though only about 20 feet high they are about 400 yards long, crossing the river at an angle.
 Combined with this in the background is a Mormon Temple as well as a small island which they have made into Japanese garden, which is very pretty.

Signal Mountain

Thursday, 26th June
We decided to stay for an extra day so that we could use the launderette, so we also did little site seeing, except we had to wait until after 4.00p.m. so that we could eventually drive up Signal Mountain. Though quite small in terms of the mountains around the view was spectacular, enabling us to see all of Jacksons Hole (the name for the huge valley which forms a large part of the GTNP). While standing at the top I noticed a deer running through the trees which surround the hill top, followed about 10 secs later by a black bear. It seemed to amble across the clearing, but covered the clearing in about 10 seconds. It then turned round and went back again, as though it had set out to catch the deer but when it was obvious it couldn’t it pretended that it was doing something else much more interesting. I was so busy watching this that I didn’t get a picture of it. Still I have the memory. We drove back down the mountain and had a pleasant meal at our favourite GTNP eating place – Signal Mountain Lodge, with its fabulous view of the lake and mountains.

Moose and The Mormon Row

Wednesday Looking for a gentle day today we drove south past Jenny Lake and stopped at the Thompson Visitor Center near Moose (a place, rather than the animal) where we watched an interesting film about how The Grand Tentons is about living on the Edge, only to realise that we had seen the same film in Colter Bay VC on Monday Durr!!! Still it was a good film. We had lunch looking at some nice flowers then visited Mormon Row, where a bunch of Mormon Settlers lived for a while, until the drop in food prices and increase in living prices forced them out, leaving the abandoned houses there as a memorial to their passing. We met a very nice family from Michigan while we were there and talked for a while, it was fun. While having our lunch I spied a white swallowtail butterfly which was enjoying feeding from the profusion of Indian Paintbrush flowers.

Viewing the High Spots in the Grand Tetons

Tuesday We packed a lunch and set out reasonably early to visit the high spot of the Grand Tetons. Except of course the High Spot here is over 13,000 feet and takes two days to climb, but we could look at it anyway. We drove South round the Eastern edge of Jackson Lake to Signal Mountain, only to find that it was closed to clear wood (the hill is completely covered in trees, so I don’t know why they bother, but there you are). So we stopped in for a nice cuppa at the Signal Mountain Lodge, with its lovely views of the lake and the Tetons, which one can see in a long line on the far side of the lake. This also included a v. nice blueberry muffin which we shared. We drove on to see the small lake to the south. String Lake, Leigh Lake and Jenny Lake. The view of String Lake was just like a National Geographic photo with the mountains, trees, lake and tourists playing in canoes in the sunshine or splashing around in the swimming hole. It was very picturesque. At Jenny Lake Visitors Center we took our packed lunch and strolled across the little wooden brdge to the Exum Climbing Center, a very famous climbing school, where they go from to climb the Grand Teton, which you can’t actually see as it is behind a smaller, but closer mountain. We returned to the trailer fairly early so after dinner we went for a gentle stroll down to the lakeside. Only to see some wonderful squalls way out on the other side of the lake, which as we walked round the shore seemed to be sweeping up the lake, at least that is what we thought, until we were struck by a solid wall of wind, accompanied by horizontal rain. We stood behind trees, rather than under them, to get out of the rain. The severe weather only lasted for about 5 minutes, but it was quite scary and shows how quickly the weather can change in mountain areas. The way home was lit up by a very strong rainbow which looked very pretty.

The Grand Tetons Are Calling

Monday

We planned to get up as early as possible today and travel the relatively short distance to the Grand Tetons to the south, only to sleep in until 8.00! Still we quickly packed up and had breakfasted and were on the road by 9.15, pretty good for us. The drive south was delightful – there was thick mist on the lake, which we left behind once we passed Grant Village. The we dropped down along the Snake River, to Jackson Lake and had our breath taken away by the breathtaking beauty of the Tetons on the other side of the lake. So spectacular.

We drove into Colter Bay Campground at 11.05, hoping we were early enough for a walk in site with electric hook up. Fortunately  there was one ADA site available with electricity (not water or sewer), which we gratefully accepted for a planned three night stay here.  We had time before lunch to have a look in at the visitor centre, oh dear, there seems to be a lot to do here, some rangers had some solar telescopes set up on the centres veranda, so we were able to see for the first time in real life, some sunspots and a solar prominence, quite fascinating. We also saw an Indian Artist in residence from Pine Ridge in South Dakota. While talking to him I realised, and he confirmed it, that the Indians did not get the vote until 1969! Unbelievable, I shall have to investigate more. We went back for lunch and then slept for the afternoon.

Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful Revisited

Sunday

Our last full day.

 We really pushed ourselves by going to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which we had missed due to bad weather when we were at Old Faithful. We set off with a packed lunch and arrived at Old Faithful just in time to find a seat and watch the geyser do its thing, I suppose that’s why it’ called Old Faithful. The weather was now warm and sunny, but there were some big clouds away in the distance. We ate our lunch and traveled on to the Midway Geyser Basin, where the Grand Prismatic Spring is. This spring is absolutely amazing, the colours produced by those little thermopiles is quite spectacular. We stood for some time taking in the scene, even though at ground level one cannot see the whole lake, oh for a helicopter. I managed to get some nice pics, probably too many, but it was very enjoyable just snapping away. We were now in a race with the weather as a huge storm cloud was approaching against the wind, so we knew it was bad news and we were quite exposed, still we saw all we wanted and returned to the car, just as the first spots of rain fell.

We continued round the southern loop road through Norris, leaving the rain behind,  and stopped at Canyon Village for just one more Prime Rib meal at the Cafeteria, where we had enjoyed talking with the staff there, who are all student summer employees from many parts of the USA and abroad. We had met young people from North and South Carolina, Delaware, Oregon, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Colorado as well as a girl from Poland. They were very interesting to talk with.

The evening was sunny as we drove down the Hayden Valley, where on looking down at a roadside lake we saw something swimming in the water, we stopped and watched – it was an otter. Lovely to see it swimming in and around the reeds at the waters edge. We also saw many bison and elk along the roadway.  We took a short ride past the campground to Pelican Creek, where I had taken some evening pictures a couple of nights back, now however the water was absolutely flat and I took some more pretty pics, a lovely one of a grebe. We returned to the trailer tired out, to find that the big storm we had seen and missed had spread snow and ice rain through other parts of the Yellowstone National Park, so we were pleased to have missed that. 

The Northern Loop - Part 2: The Blacktail Plateau Trail Safari

We drove back to the trailer from Mammoth Hot Springs, the countryside on this road is very pretty, with views back to the Hot Springs and some more waterfalls to gawp at. All the time of course one is looking out for BEARS!, although Sally has been saying all week (we have been here for a week) that she wants to see MOOSE! (I have kept explaining that moose are becoming rarer as the YNP stock of ancient forest is depleted due to fires and they are now moving further north out of the park.)

One option on the road to Roosevelt Lodge is to take the Blacktail Plateau Trail, a six mile one way unpaved track. So we did. It is a very quiet but rough road that takes you high up above the main road through alpine meadows with wonderful views,. We hardly saw another car and were able to travel dawdle along, looking at everything. I said that it’s like taking a walking hike in the wilds, but accessible for Sally. Sally said that this must be ideal bear country (more in hope that fact), to which I enthusiastically agreed (crossing fingers). Anyway we had a lovely drive across this countryside seeing some beautiful flowers, willing the bears to appear. Knowing that every corner we turned they were all coming out onto the trail behind us singing and dancing just like a Disney cartoon.

Then there was one! A BEAR, this was a black, Black BEAR. It was on the road in front of us. I got out of the Chevy to get closer, but when it moved in my direction I decided that the Chevy was a nicer place to be. We watched it for some time, I managed to get some pictures of it before it wandered off up the hillside. This was our closest encounter with BEAR, they are lovely creatures (from inside the Chevy), to think that they are there at all seems amazing.

We continued on, Sally said that was lovely, amazing, wonderful, being that it was a black, Black BEAR, and not just a cinnamon black bear, but she really wanted to see a MOOSE!. Lo and behold as we continued, we turned a bend and there ……….. on a big boulder….. sat in the sun……….. was a ….. big……. Marmot! So I took a very nice picture of it before it ran away.

We continued on. Only about half a mile left of the trail. Up ahead a couple of cars had stopped, people were watching. Bison? Elk? A BEAR? We stopped got out and there, only about 300 yards away at the edge of the trees  was a MOOSE. For an ungulate they are quite amazing creatures and big! This one was very dark brown with, long legs, a big head, but only a small (early in the season?) rack. We stood and watched for some time, one kind person had a spotting scope so we could see it close up, before it slipped quietly away into the trees.

We were most impressed and as we journeyed on back to our trailer we recounted all our encounters with the wild life in Yellowstone National Park. Both agreeing that the ride along the Blacktail Plateau Trail was a crowning triumph of nature viewing.

The Northern Loop to Mammoth Hot Springs Part 1

Saturday

After our rest day we opted to do the Northern Loop Road to visit Mammoth Hot Springs (MHS). We were fortunate in meeting very little traffic on the way, it being Saturday and all. Now that the sun was shining we revisited  the Le Hardy Rapids and found some Harlequin Ducks swimming in the fast flowing water.

We then sped up the Hayden Valley, cut along to Norris and up to MHS.

You enter this section of the Park via a very narrow gorge, where the road has been literally built on a cliff face – like a concrete  bridge supported at the side rather than below. This was originally built of wood in the 1930’s, before that the journey south took an extra half day to go round a longer way. The initial view as you drive down here is stunning, with the gorge walls on either side, a waterfall behind and Mammoth Hot Springs in front of you and sets the tone of expectation for things to come.

Ignoring all stops we drive straight into MHS to find a morning cuppa and the restroom. Of course being Saturday MHS is complete chaos. Because it is kept open all year round it is the administrative  HQ for the park, which is housed within MHS in Fort Yellowstone. The public bits appear quite limited. The general store is very small, and the most obvious eating place is the grill (think MacDonalds without Ronald), when we arrived there were only a dozen people waiting, when we left the line was out of the door. Once re-energized and relieved we returned up the road to the hot springs.

The central attractions of MHS are the hot springs and Fort Yellowstone (which we ignored as we did not have time to visit both).

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(If easily bored then please miss out the next two paragraphs)

The unique factor about these hot springs is that deep underground the superheated ground water passes through a thick layer of limestone as it is forced to the surface, so is rich in dissolved Calcium Carbonate. On welling out onto the surface it depressurizes and cools, forcing the Calcium Carbonate to come out of solution as a mineral called Travertine, which is essentially the same as the form of Calcium Carbonate which forms Stalagmites in caves. Except in caves the deposits are measured in millimetres per century, here in the open air with the high concentrations of mineral due to heat and pressure the deposits can be measured in millimetres per year.

As the water emerges , often with very small springs, the water forms puddles or pools, the Travertine deposits more rapidly at the edge, building a little wall round the pool, enabling the pool to be a little bit deeper before it overflows, this lets the wall build higher. The effect is a number of pools which form terraces as the water flows down the hillside. The water contains Thermopiles (bacterial and algae) which give the Travertine a range of colours. As the level of the pools builds up the water may find a different pathway, so some terraces are abandoned and new ones constructed. I assume that the Travertine has an H2O content to produce this mineral form (like calcite), so after a period of exposure (several years) the Travertine reverts to Calcium Carbonate, more like chalk. These chalk formations may be several hundred feet thick, with the dramatic, rapidly changing, multi-coloured, flat terraces with little walls round them.

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With lots of shiny surfaces and water the effect is amazing. We started at the Upper Terraces and using the handicapped accessible boardwalks wandered in amazement at the wonderful effects that such a simple recipe could produce. As usual pictures do not show this, they simply record  it, leaving the memory to fill in the wonder element.

By the Upper Terrace Boardwalk we had our lunch and then took the drive round the loop road past several other Travertine formations, which also passed through some very pretty flower meadows.

We then descended back towards MHS and explored the Lower Terraces. We then stopped back in to the Grill for an early meal before completing the Northern Loop Road.

Evening

I enjoy taking photos in the morning or evening, so as it seemed like it would be a good sunset I had a wander along the East Shore of Yellowstone Lake and a little way up the Haydon Valley. Unfortunately the sunset was not colourful, but I did see some elk, bison and a beaver as well as getting some nice pics of the mountains to the East and South of Yellowstone Lake.

Lake Village and Natural Bridge

Friday

Time for a quiet day. We took a little ride round to the Lake Lodge for a cuppa in the morning before a short walk up to Natural Bridge. The weather has now turned quite pleasant, but the mosquitos have turned ugly.

We're Going On A Bear Hunt

We're going on a bear hunt!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Not me!
Although it was not snowing the weather was overcast almost the whole day, so light was very poor, but today we set out from Fishing Bridge Northward to revisit the Grand canyon of Yellowstone and then to visit the Lamar Valley, to see more animals – especially BEARS!!
We visited the South Rim, where we could see the Upper Falls and Artists Point , to view the lower falls, to the South, and then we turned round to see the Grand Canyon as it continues North.  Then we returned to the North Rim to see the Lower Falls and the Canyon to the North, just about every aspect possible. Well, although the Grand Canyon is spectacular it is almost impossible to get photos that do justice to the scale, beauty and complexity of the landscape, very frustrating, especially to anyone looking at the blog hoping to share in the splendour of the sights we have seen.
After lunch we continued North from Canyon Village to Tower Falls for a cuppa and then turned off the main loop road to drive round Washburn Mountain and into the Lamar valley. Sure enough we came upon a bear at the side of the road – it was a cinnamon coloured Black bear (go figure), very nice and friendly looking, from the car. We travelled on and found a group of people who had spotted a bear and we then saw it a little distance from the road, but it was ambling along turning over stones and looking for food, showing no interest in us at all.
As we travelled on we saw a couple of pronghorns grazing, then another pair across the river. As we were thinking about turning back for home we came across a group of people looking towards the distant hillside. We stopped and they told us that there were a pair of grizzly bears up on the hillside. By using the maximum zoom and editing the pictures we were able to see the bears as two white (yes they are white grizzly bears) as a couple blobs, however the people there (from Virginia) were kind enough to let us see the bears through a spotting scope and there they were, almost as large as life.
On returning up the Lamar Valley we found another bear, some more bison and just south of Canyon Village an elk with a big rack!
We stopped at Canyon Village for another prime rib meal (we share one between the two of us) and had a good chat to some of the students working in the cafeteria there.
So all in all our bear hunt  ended quite successfully – three brown bears, two grizzly bears, four pronghorns, big racked elk and countless bison.

Old Faithful Postscript

If life is a tapestry then coming to Yellowstone has been the completion of one of the long strands that have run through my life. When I was a very young boy I was given a Children's Encyclopedia, which I would read with endless fascination. A section of that book described and explained some of the natural wonders of the world, one page of which was about Old Faithful Geyser. Many of those natural wonders I have seen, however Old Faithful Geyser has stuck particularly in my mind and, probably like most young people, it started a yearning in me, to want to see and understand our world, it was probably this that was the driving influence which resulted in my becoming a teacher. Well today I saw for real the page in my encyclopedia that so shaped my life. At this point I can only thank God that I have been able to see that fulfillment, not just because I am here, but also for the road that led me here. As I said at the beginning, a brightly coloured thread that started when I was a young boy, which has been woven in and out of the pattern and is still in the tapestry today.

Old Faithful Geyser

Into Yellowstone Park

Saturday
Saturday arrived, we packed up and set off from Rainbow Point to drive the relatively short distance to Old Faithful, which is the name for the geyser, the area and some of the accommodation, which can be confusing. Lots of people going into the park meant we had to wait in line to go past the Ranger Station. Once in we cruised along the road, stopping to get pics of a small herd of bison. We arrived at Old faithful to find that it was poorly signposted, big and very confusing, however we eventually found the Snow Lodge, which is a big wooden structure, and registered. We were able to park our trailer almost outside our cabin, which made transferring stuff and eating a lot easier.
In the evening Sally rested and I went for a run through the park, passing by a lot of geysers, though I was going so fast I didn't have time to look at them, but was able to pick out wheelchair friendly paths for us.
Sunday.
We decided that on Sunday we would stay close to Old faithful, take a picnic lunch, and just walk round the accessible bits. There is a path which enables a circular walk of about 3 miles, with side bits. This is on asphalt and raised wooden boardwalks. We set off and enjoyed seeing the many fantastic features that we had only seen pictures of. Being Sunday there were lots of people around.
Although a natural event many of the geysers have semi predictable eruption times, so we were able to time our walk to include a couple. We walked past Castle Geyser, which has a 14hr cycle and was not erupting and on to Grotto Geyser, which was erupting, although it was spectacular is was not a high geyser. While we were stopped there a coyote came wandering by, totally unconcerned by the presence of people. Our walk included many beautiful ponds and springs which, by the presence of bacteria, were a variety of colours, which combined by bubbling water and steam were a truly fantastic sight. The second part of our loop walk was on boardwalks and took us past some strange scenery. Highlight of this part was to see the Beehive Geyser erupt, as it spectacularly sends a column of water and steam almost 200ft in the air. Finally we returned to the Old Faithful geyser and sat with several thousand (yes) others to await a predicted eruption. The eruption occurred about 5 minutes after its predicted time, which was quite good really. We returned to our little cabin quite exhausted, but having had a wonderful time amongst this wonder of the natural world

Yellowstone National Park

Slightly out of chronological order, but helpful, a quick description of Yellowstone Park, as we have experienced it.  I am writing this while we are camped at Fishing Bridge, having already been to Old Faithful, unfortunately I have taken about 900 pics over the two days,  that we stayed at the Old Faithful Area, so sorting them into something reasonable has taken too long, which is why the blog is so far behind.
The trouble with going somewhere new is that it is difficult to work out the best way to explore it until you have explored it. Time and again we have got to a place only to find we have totally underestimated the time needed to see things and to work out what there is to see.  We have even left a place, only to find out that we have missed something crucial to that area, this can be quite frustrating, so I had tried very hard to ‘understand’ Yellowstone before we arrived, right back in March when we booked our hotel and campsite.
Yellowstone Park is big, its facts and figures demonstrate that, an area which is over 60 x 60 miles across. It is basically six separate parks right next to each other. They are joined by two loop roads, joined like a figure of eight, each over a hundred miles long. Branching out from them are five roads which take you to the edge, or out of, the park, perhaps another 150 miles of road.
The core of Yellowstone is a ‘supervolcano’, a caldera with walls forming a volcanic basin some forty miles across. Right in the middle of this is a giant lake, one of the largest  in the country.
Most of the geothermal features are on the west side of the Caldera, in the valley of the Firepot River, which runs round the inside edge of the caldera. Central to this is the Old Faithful area, which has the largest collection of geothermal features.
Further East the park becomes more ‘normal’, though spectacular, with combinations of water, trees, mountains, meadows, and animals that make this part of USA such a wonderful place.
So our plan is to spend three nights in a cabin at Snow Lodge at Old Faithful, because there are no campgrounds there to ‘do’ the geothermal bits and then to move East to Fishing Bridge, which is on Yellowstone Lake and explore the rest of the park for a further six nights. The on Monday we shall drive south out of Yellowstone park into the less well known, but just as wonderful, Grand Tetons National Park before we swing back West to finish up at Boise Idaho.
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/YELLmap1.pdf

Following the Madison River to West Yellowstone

Thursday
Before moving on once more we watched the spectacle of railway workers (?) arriving on their little commuter vehicles, quite amusing really. They even bring a portajohn with them!
On leaving the campground we followed the Jefferson River for a while before turning south towards Yellowstone. As we traveled we again found ourselves surrounded by mountain ranges - Tobacco Root Mt to the right, Spanish Steps to the left. After a short climb we dropped down into the Madison river Valley, another fork of the Missouri, this wide valley looked very much like it had been shaped by glaciation. The road was again a good road and we passed through several small villages, finding very little traffic. When we arrived at Ennis we stopped and had a stroll up Main St before stopping at a diner for a drink and a slice of Lemon Meringue pie before moving on towards our destination tonight. Just before arriving we passed what is called a 'Geological Point', of which there are quite a few in Montana. We decided to stop at this one. Rather that the usual information board this was a complete visitor center! It was there to provide information about Quake Lake and how it was formed in 1959.
On August 17th 1959 a very powerful, 7.4 magnitude, earthquake struck very close by causing a lot of ground movement. The bed of a reservoir nearby actually tilted, with the northern shore dropping 19ft and the southern shore lifting, providing 1000 acres of new land. The main effect though was to produce a landslide at the entrance to a narrow valley, blocking the Madison River and causing it to flood. Unfortunately there were some 250 people camped in the valley, as it is very close to Yellowstone. As a result 28 people died. The blocking of the valley has now caused a new lake to be formed, called Quake Lake. This was a fascinating geological event which has happened in our lifetime.
We traveled on to our campground, which is a Forest Campground with hookup just outside of the Yellowstone Park called Rainbow Point. Unfortunately at this moment Sally felt quite ill and has spent all evening being sick, not sure if it is a bug or something she ate, but praying that she feels better by morning.

Road to Lewis And Clark Caverns SP

Wednesday
Time to press on southwards, to Helena, the capital of Montana. Quite eventful today, the first stop was for petrol, where on moving off I caught the trailer steps on a low wall and twisted them by about an inch, they still work, but don't fit properly and have deformed the metal skirt along that side. I think some work with a big hammer and a jack may help. We stopped in Helena to pick up post, then to Safeway's for food. This will be our last major supermarket before Yellowstone Park, so we needed to stock up. By this time it was lunchtime, so we parked in the grounds of the Capitol Building and had our picnic, quite pleasant. By now we were moving through big rocky hills and could once again see snow covered mountains in our path. We had planned to stop at the Lewis and Clarke Caverns State Park, We were fortunate enough to get the last site with an electric hookup. The campground is just by the Jefferson River, one of the three forks which comprise the Missouri Headwaters. The campground itself is quite open and desert like, but very pleasant with many cottonwood trees to provide shade.


We found out that we were just in time to see the Caverns this afternoon, so we turned up at the visitor center and were treated to a personal tour of the caverns, using the special route that was for handicapped. Like Disney we went in the Exit. We were very impressed with the limestone cavern there, all nicely lit up. The guide, a young lad called Derek, gave us a lot of information, so we had a fun time. When we emerged it was time to go and get some tea. After tea I went for a nice run - 5.4K in 46 mins, climbing 600ft in the process.

Holten Lake Campground at Wolf Creek

Tuesday
Sat and recharged the batteries.

South across the Montana Plains and a Missouri Crossing

Monday
I would associate the Missouri River with the Mid West, a river just above the Mississippi. But no, the Missouri rises in the mountains south of Glacier National Park. Today we crossed the Missouri.
Not only did we cross the Missouri we also crossed it where the famous Lewis and Clarke passed by (well I suppose they traveled most of the Missouri River, so I suppose we would cross it where they passed. We set out from East Glacier and traveled south, parallel to the mountains, amazingly the mountains did not end at the Glacier National Park, but continued southwards forming a solid wall of rock for over a hundred miles. It mus have been quite daunting for Lewis and Clarke to have traveled for over a thousand miles on flat land (well river) and then to see this mountain range fill the entire horizon from north to south. However they had a plan, follow the river to its source, then hop over the Continental Divide to travel down a river on the other side, this would be the Columbia River, the river we have more or less followed Eastwards.
The land we now drove through was mostly flat, gentle green hills, though as we approached Wolf Creek the hills began to become higher and higher. we stopped at a State Recreation Area, beside a lake formed by damming the Missouri. It was another lovely campground, where we overlooked the lake, no forest this time, just some nice cottonwood trees for shade.
We decided that we would stay here two nights and recharge the batteries.