Jackson Hole & the Tetons

   

 Teton Pass overlooking the valley where Jackson, Wyoming is located.

 Archway of antlers in Jackson.  The Boy Scouts raise money by colleting these elk antlers and selling them.

 Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

 Raft trip down the Snake River.  We saw several eagles perched in the trees along the way.

 Read, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable about the Park.  Bit of trivia:  John D. Rockefeller managed to acquire a lot of the land in the valley below the Tetons and donated it to our government to make it part of the National Grand Teton Park.

 This moose was hanging out in Moose Junction in the park.  Guess he thought it was named for him for a reason, so might as well claim this spot on the Snake River.

Last day in West Yellowstone.

 Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.  The 11 bears they have at this center are animals that could not be left in the wild.  Six of them were orphaned when they were very young and then brought to this facility to be raised. 

 Kids Keeper program was very popular.  The rangers first told the kids all about bears in the wild.  Then each kid was given a small bucket with fruit and other food to hide in the rocks in the bear pen.  After they got the kids back out of the pen, the rangers let the bears back in to find the hidden food.  The kids just loved watching which bear would find where they had hidden something.

 Northwest of West Yellowstone, there is a valley where a 7.5 earthquake in 1959 caused a major rock slide.  28 campers were killed and over 200 more injured.   The earthquake caused  Hebgen Lake formed by a man-made reservoir to drop by 15 feet.  The road in and out of the valley was blocked, so the rescue effort was very challenging.  The lake below is called Quake Lake.  The rock slide dammed up the river and formed this lake.  The camp site where several were killed is at the bottom of this lake.

Yellowstone 2nd Day

The last time I was in Yellowstone was about 60 years ago when I traveled here with my Mom & Dad & sister.  Things that have changed?  Old Faithful in still faithfully erupting every 90 minutes.  The geysers are still bubbling.  The bison are more plentiful (approx. 3600).  Wolves are new in the last 20 years.  Did not see any wolves in the park, but did see some in captivity.  We did not see any bear either, but they hide out in the upper elevations when it's warm.  We did see some very large herds of elk and antelope.  Old Faithful Inn built in 1904 is still as gorgeous as it was 60 years ago.  The biggest change is the number of tourists.  Roads are clogged during the middle of the day.  You have to get up early to get into the Park before the long lines or wait until middle of the afternoon to start.  It's still the most remarkable landscape in the US.  Aren't we lucky that our government created so many National Parks and kept them out of the hands of private enterprises.  We have Teddy Roosevelt to thank for a lot of our parks.

 

 

 

 

View of Old Faithful from the Visitor Center.

I took about 50 pictures of Old Faithful erupting.  Some of the water that seeps down into these geysers could be several 1000 years old.

Old Faithful Inn has 140 rooms which are all sold out during the peak summer season.

Excelsior Geyser ceased to erupt after 1890, but suddenly came to life again in 1985 erupting for 47 hours straight.  Has not erupted since, and they cannot predict when it might again.

This looks like an expensive hat someone lost  in the wind.  This is very hot acidic pool of liquid. 

Near Excelsior Geyser on the lower look.

Yellowstone 3rd Day

Red Lodge, Montana is outside the Northeast gate of Yellowstone.  Storeowners dog just watching the tourists come and go.

Sundance Kid robbed this bank in 1897.  Guess the law caught him but he escaped from jail again.

The drive from Red Lodge back into Yellowstone was very pretty.  This was a scenic overlook that we stopped at.

 

We got stopped by this herd of bison that crossed the road in front of us.

Mammoth Hot Springs on the upper look in Yellowstone.  More geyers.

 

We took an overnight trip to Cody, Wyoming to visit the Buffalo Bill museum.  It's actually 5 museums in one.  I found the museum telling about the life of William Cody to be the best.  He was born in 1846.  Joined the pony express at the age of 14.  He served in the Civil War.  In 1867 he began buffalo hunting to feed construction crews building the railroad.  He shot over 4,000 bison in a very short period of time.  Thus is nickname and celebrity status began.  In 1883, he founded his own show Buffalo Bill's Wild West.  He traveled all over the states and Europe.  He was so liked by Queen Victoria that she gave him a bar the cost of $100,000 in the early 1900's.  We got to view the bar in downtown Cody in the Irma Hotel.

 

 

 

This was a panoramic photo of the troop that put on his show.  The picture was about 4 times this length. A lot of performers.

Statue in the garden at the museum.

Yellowstone 1st Day

           

 

Along the Gallatin River on our way to the town of West Yellowstone.

 

This is called "Artist Paintpots".  Beautiful walk among the geysers on the lower loop in Yellowstone.

View of the "Paintpots" from above.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  An Osprey's nest is on the top of this rock.

 This overlook used to extend another 100 feet out over the canyon.  During the earthquake of 1975, part of the wall of the canyon collapsed.

   

     Upper Falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  The amount of water flowing over these falls was amazing.

Lower Falls.  There are several scenic view points on both sides of the canyon of these falls.