Yellowstone

   From Aug. 18-25 we explored the Yellowstone region. For years now when people would ask where we spent the summer and we would say Wyoming they would next say, "have  you been to Yellowstone"? I'd always have to say no and explain that we like southeastern Wy. but plan to make it to Yellowstone some day. Well, now I can say "yep" done Yellowstone! It was worth every minute of our stay. We could have easily spent another week there and really thought about it but decided to make our way back toward Saratoga.
   The thing about Yellowstone is that it's just so big! You spend a lot of time driving to get to the various sites but you really don't mind the driving since the scenery is so beautiful. Yellowstone isn't so much of an in your face magnificent views park. Instead, it is a wild place with so much variety and wildlife. I'd heard stories about how crowded it is in the summer but it wasn't too bad when we were there. We only got caught in one roadblock due to people stopping in the middle of the road to view wildlife, not too bad. I guess most kids were back in school by the time we were there but we did see lots of foreign tourists, mostly from eastern Asia. If you came across a tour bus watch out, you'd better find the next set of restrooms.
   We got on a schedule of leaving our campground by 9:00am and arriving back by around 5:00pm. Most evenings I fished for an hour or two after which sat around the campfire until bed time. It was so relaxing, cooking potatoes and fish on the campfire followed by marshmallows. One thing I will note here is that we never went anywhere without our bear spray we picked up in Cody. The camp host stated that grizzlies are frequent in the area with several sightings over the past several weeks. It was exciting and a little strange to be in such a wild area where you're not at the top of the food chain.

 

Barbara and I at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

 

 

Our first day in the park we came across this guy walking down the middle of the road like he didn't have a care in the world.

 

 

Of course, everyone coming to Yellowstone has to see Old Faithful. The lower geyser basin has around 30% of the world's geysers. Yellowstone has around 60% of the entire world's geysers!

 

 

There were many beautiful hot pools. This one is called Crested Pool.

 

 

Morning Glory Pool. The different colors are bacteria that grow at different water temps.

 

 

We walked down a trail and came across these two elk.

 

 

Lamar Valley. Bison are starting to gather together in larger groups for the fall rut.

 

 

The Old Faithful Inn...a beautiful large log structure...one of the world's largest.

 

The Lake Hotel...the first built in Yellowstone.

 

 

Barbara, in the chair at the General Store.

 

 



 

Relaxing by the fire after a long day. As soon as the sun goes down it cools down fast.

Yes...those are marshmallows near Barbara, yum!

 

   A few final thoughts on Yellowstone. It's definitely one of the best national parks I've been to so far. The size of the park is astounding to me but the biggest impression I take away is the variety of  park. There's a lot of driving and with a 45 mph speed limit, it takes a while to get to places so patience is needed. From the geyser fields, lakes and streams, mountain ranges, and wildlife, we could have spent another week exploring parts of the park we didn't get to...gives us reasons to go back someday.

The one problem I have with the park is all the development I wasn't prepared for. I think there are too many hotels, campgrounds, grocery stores, gas stations, and gift stores. It really takes away from the wildness of the place in my opinion. I know there are a lot of people that come here but they could stay in areas outside the park and drive in to visit for the day. We camped just outside the park and didn't have any problems getting to all areas of the park in a days time.

 

Our next blog will be about the day we drove to Grand Teton Nat. Pk.. I'll go ahead and say it's the most impressive mountain range I've ever seen...more later. 

 

 

 





Arrival at Yellowstone

   On Aug. 18 we left Meeteetse and drove 83 miles to a wonderful campsite in the Shoshone Nat. Forest. The name of the campground is 3 mile campground, appropriately named as it is 3 miles from the eastern entrance to Yellowstone Nat. Park. It is located next to the Shoshone River in a deep valley among the Absaroka Mountain Range. There were no hookups however there was a clean vault toilet a short walk from our site. We had a full tank of water and plenty of propane for cooking and powering the generator and batteries. It was a wonderful place to camp.
   After we got set up the camp host came by to talk for a few minutes. She indicated this is grizzly country and she has seen one walk through camp every couple of weeks or so. That explains why they only allow hard sided RVs in the campground. She said the valley is like a super highway for grizzlies, making it easy for them to cover ground quicker than going up and over the mountains. She has seen them fishing for trout in the river as well. We stayed here for 7 nights and absolutely loved the beauty and solitude.

 

 

The Shoshone River ran along side the campground. I was able to spend a little time fly fishing and caught enough rainbow trout to have a couple of dinners. The river is a little muddy due to a thunderstorm the night before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting setup we drove on to Yellowstone.

 

East entrance to Yellowstone (we're actually on our way back to the campground). My next blog will be about the park. It was a truly beautiful and interesting place. A later blog will be about side trips to Grand Teton Nat. Park and a drive over the Beartooth Highway.

 

 

 

 

 

 



One day while in Meeteetse we drove up to an old abandoned mining town called Kerwin. It got started up in the 1880's when gold and silver were discovered and had between 200-300 residents at it's peak. It didn't last long however because in 1907 an avalanche struck, killing 3 people. As soon as people could get out, they left and never returned.

 

On the drive up to Kerwin

 

 

 

Many exploratory pits were dug. When a promising spot was found, a substantial structure was built.

 

 

The town is located at 9200' so long hard winters were common

 

 

Parking area is in the distance

 

 

Kervin is 31 miles from Meeteetse, the last 8 miles is a one lane very rough road.

 

 

Several river crossings had to be made

 

 

We drove into Cody today and walked around. It's a fun town, a little too much touristy for my taste however.

 

 

We stopped by a miniature museum, really enjoyed it. This is Custer's last stand

 

 

 

 

   We left Saratoga on Sat. Aug. 10 and arrived in Meeteetse, Wy. late in the afternoon. Meeteetse is a small town (pop. 362), 30 miles south of Cody, Wy. We were told about this area by a friend, Kyle, we met while camped in Saratoga. Meeteetse is known as the place Butch Cassidy was arrested outside the Cowboy Bar which is still open. There is a really neat western museum here as well. There's a fair amount of traffic on Hwy. 20, people heading to Cody and Yellowstone. Meeteetse is what I would say is a cross between a small tourist town and a town devoted to support the many ranches scattered up the Wood and Greybull River valleys. We're here until Sunday when we leave for a campground 3 miles outside the east entrance to Yellowstone. There are no hookups so we'll be depending on our batteries and generator for power and our 100 gallon fresh water tank for a week. This will be our base for exploring Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nat. Parks.
    Before we left Saratoga we drove up to Rawlins for lunch and to tour the Carbon County Museum. We're finding that most towns, no matter how small, have a museum devoted to early days of settlement. The quality of exhibits has been very impressive in all of the museums.

 

Lunch in Rawlins at Cactus Jacks

 

 

We think this must be Cactus Jack

 

 

Really good barbeque!

 

 

Across from the museum was parked a VW flatbed...people can do the strangest things to an automobile!

 

 

Museum

 

 

One of the interesting exhibits were the gun and spurs of Tom Horn. Tom was a well known hired gun involved in the Lincoln County war. I remember the movie of Tom, played by Steve McQueen.

 

 

Downtown Meeteetse

 

 

Inside the Meeteetse western museum

 

 

There are many photographs by a famous western photographer, Charles Belden. He also did many photos for advertisers, this one being the Marlboro Man.

 

 

Here is the grizzly named "Little Wahb", the largest grizzly shot in the lower 48 states.

 

 

 

 

The museum had an antique coffee grinder. There were small bags of coffee beans you were allowed to grind.

 

 

The Greybull River, next to the campground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Trip to Laramie

   We had a nice (but long) trip to Laramie on Friday. It was a 156 mile round trip in order to stock up on supplies at Walmart. The route we drove took us up and over the Snowy Range with Laramie located on the other side. We left around 10:00am and arrived at 11:30.
   The first stop was at possibly the best Mexican Restaurant I've ever eaten at. It was called Andale Rapido which is located in a small strip mall called Corona Village. I did a little research on line the night before, looking at the highest rated eating places in Laramie. This little place had 5 reviews, all of them of the highest rating so we decided to check them out. We're so glad we did.
   Before we hit the Walmart, we passed a Hastings Bookstore which we had to make a stop at. Barbara scans the shelves, writing down books and authors she is interested in. She then later uses her Nook to log into the Kingsport, TN. library to check them out electronically. They download to her Nook for a 21 day check out period. She really likes her Nook. I bought it for her about 8 months ago and I figure it has already paid for itself by her reading all the books she wants for free!
   After an hour or so at Walmart we made our way back to Saratoga, arriving back at the RV at 4:00pm. After packing away everything we decided to make a trip over to the hot springs for a soak...such a relaxing way to end the day.
   Tomorrow we're heading to Rawlins. We want to just look around the town, eat lunch, and I want to get a haircut while we're there. Rawlins is the county seat of Carbon County and has a population of 9,259. The county has an area of 7,964 square miles with a total population of 15,585. The county is just a little smaller than the state of New Jersey...talk about the wide open spaces!

On the road to Laramie.

Downtown Laramie. Home of the University of Wyoming. Population...30,000. I guess the population goes up by 13,000 or so when the college students get back.

 

Lunch at Andale Rapido, an excellent Mexican Restaurant

 

 

I had the Fajita Burrito...mum good! I ate half of it before thinking to take a photo.

 

 

While driving back to Saratoga we pass through the small town of Centennial with just over 400 residents. It was founded in 1876 as a location that provided railroad ties for the first transcontinental railroad. Soon afterward, gold was discovered nearby. Once the gold was depleted, the town lived on with merchants providing goods for ranches that formed in the area.

 

 

Once we got back to Saratoga a trip to the hot springs was in order...a good way to top off the day. This is the main spring area with the water ranging around 110 degrees.

 

 

About 18 months ago the city built this pool, beside the main spring pool. The temperature of this pool ranges around 104 degrees, a little cooler than the main pool and a lot more comfortable in our opinion.

 

 

 

 

 



Since our last post we've settled into a routine of my fishing in the morning and Barbara going for her power walk about town. After we have lunch we usually rest for a while, read, or watch a little TV. We also wash cloths once a week. Saratoga has a neat laundromat, two bucks to wash and one to dry most loads.
We tried out the pizza restaurant the other day and the pizzas were pretty good. Saratoga has several eating places that are all locally owned, no fast foods here. We haven't found a bad place to eat yet. You might pay a little more than at a fast food but I think the food is better. Come to think of it, there are no national chain businesses in Saratoga. I guess the main reason is the low population (around 1700) but being 70 miles from another town with a population over 10,000 you would think there would at least be a scaled down version of one or two major businesses. It's a big deal around here when people go to Laramie to do major shopping. Now Laramie is no big metropolis with less than 30,000 people but they do have a Super Walmart. Careful planning goes into the 140 mile round trip so you don't forget that special item. Our trip to Laramie is on for this Friday. We've been in Saratoga since July 7 and I can honestly say I haven't missed the big town or city with all they have to offer. Just give me a grocery store, a pizza shop, and a place to get a good cheeseburger every now and then and I'm happy. Plus, there's nothing like going down to the river and catching a trout dinner most any day you want.
Our stay here is slowly winding down. We're due to leave on Aug. 10, headed to Meeteetse, WY for a week. Then it's on to Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nat. Pks. We've never been to this part of WY so we're excited to see new places.
Yesterday we left for a night of tent camping at Turpin Reservoir. We had a good time, even caught a couple of nice sized Brook Trout for dinner.

 

Turpin is a long way from civilization. Wildlife abounds in the area. Barbara was headed to use the bathroom in the woods this morning and ran into a cow moose. She quickly found another place to go.

 

 

 

At the center of the photo is a cow moose with her calf

 

 

When the sun went down the temperature quickly dropped into the 40's so a fire was in order.

 

 

Barbara having breakfast after sleeping a little late in the morning

 

 

I washed both the truck and RV today. Wouldn't you know it, rain is on the way.