Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

We spent a week between these two parks, and have taken hundreds of photos! We'll try to select the "highlights" only - but there are still a lot!!

Welcome to Yellowstone

 Since Yellowstone is a giant caldera, the main attractions are the so-called "thermal features" - geysers, hot springs, steam vents, and mud pots.  Pretty cool:

Beautiful color

Hot Springs

Thermal features in Yellowstone Lake



Old Faithful Geyser

We went backpacking for three days in the backcountry area of the park. Unfortunately we decided to do so exactly as a cold front passed through the area.  Lows of 16 degrees F at night - thought my fingers would fall off setting up the tent and woke up with the tent coated with ice.  No more camping with temps that low for me!  I hate the cold! 

 

 

 

 

 

After the frigid backpacking trip, we decided to do some shorter day hikes for the rest of our time at Yellowstone. We still got to see some amazing stuff, and hiked over 10 miles every day!

 

 

We went to Grand Teton NP for only a day, but could have spent so much more time there!  Because of its ashy soil, Yellowstone's main vegetation is lodgepole pine - the only thing that will grow in such poor soil! They also generate a sap that when on the ground, doesn't allow for other plants to grow. Forest fires are a natural part of the pines' lifecycle - fire is the only thing that can open the pinecones to grow new plants.  But as a result many areas of the park appear burnt and dead.  In Grand Teton, on the other hand, we found much more variety in vegetation, even some nice fall colors, and also spectacular mountains!

 

 

 The sun felt so nice on our hike around the lake in Grant Teton, Ricardo decided to go for a swim. When trying to get his pants off, he lost balance and fell in the river, pants and all! We saved most of the electronic stuff in his pockets, but the binoculars were lost. And he still had to walk all the way back, about 5 miles, wearing wet pants in 40F weather! The water was COLD, about 38F!

 

We also got to see some wildlife in Yellowstone and Grant Teton.  Making noise in order not to startle any grizzleys, while hiking, I think we scared off every other living creature as well, Ricardo's voice screaming in the wild sounded like a demon from the very pits of hell! But we did see some animal antics while driving.  We saw TONS of buffalo and elk. 

 

Deer just playing and nuzzling by the road

Buffalo have the right of way



Ricardo getting a close up view of the male elk from the herd that hang out in the middle of Mammoth Hot Springs

No grizzley sightings, but we did catch this crazy little black bear climbing trees and entertaining the crowds of people who stopped in the middle of the street to watch it:


 

 

We had a great time and stayed longer here than we have in most places along the way so far.  We knew it would be an important stop on our way across the country.  Coming in the next post: Our trip to Glacier National Park.  Stay tuned!