I have a cousin who lives in Bozeman MT and I debated whether or not to detour to see him (and subject Ken to yet another family visit). I finally decided it’s a shame to be so close and not stop by so I called Sunday and left a message. When we hadn’t heard back by last night, Ken went ahead and made reservations in West Yellowstone for tonight and tomorrow night – that was all we could find open by that time. It wasn’t until just before we went to bed I realized that Duh! this was Labor Day weekend and they probably were off someplace! So I quick shot him off an email telling him of our reservations. Unfortunately, I sent it from an email address that I don’t check on my phone (one of the hazards of multiple email addresses) and didn’t see his wife’s reply until too late. We were already committed to our new direction.
And that route took us on US-212 through Red Lodge, over the Beartooth Highway, and into the NE entrance of Yellowstone. What a wonderful drive. Serendipity occurred when we approached Joliet and saw some roadside junk art. It turns out that this was the Charles Ringer Studio & Gallery. Don’t know if there is an “inside” or not, but the stuff outside really tickled our funnybones.
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 The big guy was the one that caught our eye first. => |  |
Then, maybe twenty miles later as we drove through Red Lodge, we saw this guy. He must have had a good downhill run! Naturally, we just *had* to stop and take his picture.
Finally we were on the Beartooth Hwy. This was a gorgeous drive even though it could have been even more spectacular. As you can see from the picture, it was very hazy. This was mostly (all?) from various forest fires around the West. BTW, people with big rigs, I think you could make it over this road if you’re OK with the strain it would put on your engine and brakes. I don’t remember any particularly narrow areas or overhangs. And the rest areas even had parking spots painted for long vehicles. As a former 5th wheel owner, I’m still somewhat conscious of these things.
After a stop in Cooke City for an early lunch (Chili with onions, cheese, and crackers. Good, but I don’t remember the name of the place.) we made it to Yellowstone National Park. My first visit, but, naturally Ken had been there before.
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| From the entrance, we wended our way to Tower-Roosevelt keeping a not-so-eagle eye out for wildlife. We didn’t see any. At Tower-Roosevelt, we turned south; our next goal was Artist Point. But first there was Tower Falls. Actually, first there was a traffic jam. They were either clearing the road after a landslide or they were removing the side in preparation for some road construction. This road was scheduled to be closed Sept. 22. |
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We reached Artist Point without any further incident and took our turn at the railing to get pictures of the Lower Yellowstone Falls. As you can see, it’s also very hazy here. Not the crisp clear picture Ken took in the past and has hanging in the living room. Of course, looking west in the afternoon doesn’t help. The afternoon lighting did give a nice glow, however, to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone when I turned around and took a panorama picture in the opposite direction.
From Artist Point, we turned around and did the rest of the South and North Rim drives. Naturally stopping at each pullout. It was still pretty crowded so we were lucky to get parking spots and needed to elbow our way through (politely!) to get to the prime spots.
At the Brink of the Upper Falls, Ken climbed up on these rocks to get a better view/picture of the Upper Yellowstone Falls. He wanted me to take a picture of him up there to commemorate the feat.
When we finished with the various Yellowstone River falls, we headed on over to Norris Basin to finish off the daylight before leaving for West Yellowstone and our hotel. This would be my first view of Yellowstone’s thermal features.
The path down into Norris Basin
Porcelain Springs – not very active
Actually, it was pretty disappointing. When Ken was here in the late ‘90s, he said this area was very active. He was especially looking forward to Porcelain Springs. Well, it certainly wasn’t very active when we were there. [Looking at the photographs now, I can see the great delicate beauty in the pastel colors and shadows of late afternoon. But at that time…]
After Porcelain Springs we decided to skip the rest of Porcelain Basin and look for something else before we headed to the hotel. When we got back to the museum area, we asked a ranger about the level of activity in the basin and if there was something else exciting to see here. We stressed that we weren’t going to be in Yellowstone very long and were just hitting the high points. She suggested Steamboat Geyser as a reliably erupting feature, so we hiked off to the Back Basin. And, sure enough, this was an active geyser. Not real spectacular, but bubbly enough to satisfy my desires.
Steamboat Geyser – at last, some action
After Norris Basin, we stopped at Artist’s Paintpots but it was really getting too close to sunset to see the colors. That was our last stop and we headed out to West Yellowstone to check into our hotel and get some supper.
Oh. We did see some wildlife. On our way out, there was a lone elk grazing by the river.
223 mi, 10:54 hrs total, 5:27 hrs moving. Highest point: 10,934 ft
[written 12/2/13 – long after the fact]
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