Yellowstone National Park: thermal wonders

Boardwalk trails

 

A walk among thermal wonders…water bubbles and hisses, bacteria creates otherworldly colors, hot water trickles, the ground holes with puffs of steam. 

Amazing landscape. Fumaroles, hot springs, geysers, mudpots, vast areas of surreal color and shape.

Yellowstone National Park: delight of geysers

 Even more exciting was stumbling upon a geyser eruption!

This was Beehive Geyser, we were drenched, walking to the Old Faithful Inn to have lunch and suddenly hundreds of thousands of litres of hit water spewing into the air!

Beehive Geyser,

Later in the afternoon driving along Firelake Drive we were waiting for a potential eruption and in the background of the photo below is White Dome, a conical geyser. We decided to walk towards the feature to photograph its volcano like shape when it erupted. No words but 'woohoo'.

White Dome Geyser erupting, that's Shawni in the foreground

Late afternoon light frustrating the photographers, but what a sight.

The White Dome Geyser, gently puffing after its eruption.

Yellowstone National Park; meeting Old Faithful

Yellowstone National Park. 

When I was planning our USA adventure Yellowstone was one of the cornerstones of the trip and here we are.  The day arrived overcast, rain, cold, grey but I felt like waking up on a Christmas morning - anticipation! 

Mid July is peak season, the park feels like Sandton City on a saturday morning month end, nose to tail traffic, parking lots overflowing with buses, RV's and cars, traffic jams at a wild life sighting and lines of people.

Old Faithful was the first stop and despite the people and the weather what a thrill. The wait, watching the ever changing steam, then the first signs of the boiling water and at last the whoosh of the geyser. 

What a thrill and we got to do it twice.

View of the geyser mount from the Observation Point half a mile away

The thousands of people on the boardwalk seating waiting for Old Faithful to erupt

Old Faithful Geyser

Big Sky, Montana: Fox and a full moon

Settling into our last timeshare of the trip here in Big Sky, Montana after an epic 2 day cross country drive.

Two surprises, a resident fox ambled past and the beauty of the full moon rising from our veranda.

Good evening Montana and looking forward to fetching Shawni and Craig from Bozeman tomorrow and seeing what the week holds for us at Yellowstone National Park.

Our trip in numbers…

Joy of a summer berry.

We have been on the road for 10 weeks in the US.

•   travelled 8457 miles, (13610 km)

•   northern most point of the road trip, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 47 degrees 41' N

•   southern most point of the road trip, Salton Sea, California, 33 degrees 31' N

•   been in 6 US states – California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho

•   explored 9 National Parks - Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Golden Gate Alcatraz, Lassen Volcanic, Redwoods. Lava Beds, Crater Lake

•   visited 7 State Parks - Big Sur, Salton Sea, San Jacinto Mountain, Hearst Castle, Red Rock, Red Rock Canyon, Humboldt Redwoods

•   National Forests; 6 Sequoia, Sierra, Tahoe, Lassen, Fremont Winema. Mt Hood

•   slept in 20 beds; 6 hotels/inns, 6 motels and 7 timeshare units, 1 private home (make it 26 with Bahamas)

•   ate Ben & Jerry ice-cream, 11, Cherry Garcia; Chunky Monkey; Triple Caramel Chunk; New York Super Fudge Chunk; Americone Dream; Cheesecake Brownie; Everything but the….; Coffee. Coffee Buzz Buzz!; FroYo, Half Baked; Pistachio, Pistachio; That’s my Jam Core

•   added 51 birds to my US bird list which is now 215 and my world list is 1498, top bird Roadrunner

•   popped into 5 museums, Palm Springs Art, Cable Car (SF), De Young (SF), Maritime Museum (Lake Tahoe), Latimer Quilt and Textile

•   farmers markets, 3; Oakhurst, Ferry Building (SF), Portland

•   decaprio 3 movie catch-up, Aviator, Gatsby and Departed

•   Oscar 6 movie catch-up, Dallas Buyers Club; Nebraska; August: Osage County; Zero Dark Thirty; Charlie Wilson’s War; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

•   relished organic extra virgin olive oil, 3 farms 

•   walked 187 miles; beaches, mountain trails, coastal meadow, high altitude lakes, golf courses, climbing red rocks, canyon rim, valley trail, desert paths, Las Vegas Strip, mountain hikes, many city blocks

•   walking well ahead of schedule, 18 miles credit, (for each 50 miles driven we want to walk 1 mile)

•   longest hike 10 miles on Four Mile Trail with 3200’ climb on steep switchbacks

•   took a bike, cycled along the Truckee River for 16 miles, (26 km)

•   canoed 9 miles along the Upper Klamath Canoe Trail

•   watched 7 episodes of Game of Thrones, season 4

•   lowest driving elevation, 214’ below sea-level at Furnace Creek Golf Course, Death Valley

•   highest driving elevation, 9945’ Tioga Pass, Tioga Road, Yosemite

•   got cold at the lowest temperature below 40 degrees F in Tehachapi (3 degrees C)

•   was hot at the highest temperature of 115 degrees F while walking in Death Valley (46 degrees C). Car registered 125 degrees F at one point – over 50 degrees C

•   wine tasting, 2 at Tablas Winery, Paso Robles and Souza Family Vineyard

•   modes of transport, 11, helicopter over the Grand Canyon, ferry to Alcatraz, cable car, bus, metro, streetcar, bicycle, paddle boat on Tahoe, canoe, Big Pink Trolley in Portland, ski-lift at Timberline, Mt Hood

•   shows/events, 5, in Las Vegas, O Cirque du Soleil; in San Francisco, Beach Blanket Babylon, SF Giants baseball in San Francisco; in Reno Extreme Bull Riding, in Reno, Rodeo

What is the chance of finding a tree with eyebrows!

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - our furtherest point north...

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: 47º 41' N, 116º 47' W

Sunny day in Seattle

The Interstate 90, a long day on the road, to be almost nowhere.

We have driven from Oregon way across Washington, whizzing past Mt Rainier, stopping off in Seattle Downtown to drop off Shawni and Craig, picking up the obligatory Starbucks coffee, lunching somewhere in the middle of very little, a surprising bump into the Columbia River again, flying past vast open flat plains - potatoes, peas, wheat, alfalfa, sweet corn…

On these long stretches I entertain myself by marveling at the size of RV's and what they drag behind them, cars, boats, bikes, bicycles. 

And also the fabulous colors of the huge trucks on the road - pastels, bold primary colors, metallic sheens all spotless with gleaming chrome.

And here we are, in a new state, Idaho, in Coeur d'Alene and the most northerly point of our road trip, the sun will start to set in about an hour, near 9pm this evening and the temperature is still 29 degrees. 

These transition days are a quick stop in a motel off a highway. Like a Motel 6 or Super 8, functional, TV and wifi, uncluttered, familiar and unfamiliar, a bed and hopefully a good sleep.

Tomorrow we continue east into Montana heading to Big Sky for our last week of timeshare on the road. What was four months has become a few weeks….

Mt Hood: Sky Mile Ride

Travel can be tough.

A few days before we were due to move on to Seattle for a weekend together, Craig got an email canceling the accommodation they had already paid for and had spent so much time and effort on selecting.

So plans changed, we had another day in our 'backyard', Mt Hood, rode the ski-lift high into the snow line and watched all the winter sports being played in summer.

And took in more views of the Cascades from Timberline Lodge, so different from the formidable range of granite peaks and cliffs of the Sierra Nevada's.

Beauty of Mt Jefferson and the Cascade Range

Ski-lift up Mt Hood, Shawni had to shop for a winter top!

A view of the summit of Mt Hood in the heat of July.

We have driven Shawni and Craig to Seattle for the weekend and are now on the road east to get to Yellowstone National Park  for the week.

Welches, Oregon: Mirror Lake Trail

Early morning 8 mile round trip hike that climbed 1400' to Tom Dick Harry Mountain past Mirror Lake.

The lake reflects Mt Hood and is a peaceful idyll.

Even more spectacular though is cresting the rocky summit of Tom Dick Harry at 5066', to have the 360 degree view of the Cascade Range and 5 volcanic peaks - Mt Jefferson, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier.

What a big bang for your buck hike, we all loved it.

missing Harry?

What a backyard we have at this timeshare in Welches, Oregon.

Mt Hood: Alpine Glow

An impromptu decision to take an evening drive along the Lolo Pass to Lost Lake to watch a sunset over  Mt Hood, saw us standing at the well known reflection vantage point with the view over the lake to the imposing volcanic peak.

As the sun sets the 'alpine glow' show starts, the warm yellow glow of the snow transitions to shades of pink and purple. Quite beautiful, worth the single track drive along the pass and getting back to our unit at midnight.

Mt Hood sunset over Lost Lake, Oregon 

Portland, Oregon: Beervana

More than 50 breweries make Portland a mecca for all sorts of beers, ales and ciders.

We hopped off the Big Pink and found a trendy spot in the Pearl District, where industrial buildings have been renovated into retail space, breweries and cool restaurants.

The orders of giant Cobb Salads and delicious beers made for four happy travelers.

Portland, Oregon: City of Roses

A hop on and hop off on the Big Pink to experience some of Portland.And particularly a wander around the renowned Rose Garden, a visual treat.

Foodie interlude: Keep Portland Weird.

I say!

Especially the Darth Vader, playing bagpipes on a motorized wheel….












All this while queuing for half an hour to buy donuts from a tiny downtown shop that is a must visit in Portland, called Voodoo Donuts.

So we sugar overdosed on oreo, chocolate with peanut butter, Portland cream, chocolate coconut donuts….when in Portland do donuts.

Carbon Footprint

So John wryly asked Fred about whether he was concerned about the carbon footprint of our epic 3 months in the US. And Fred replied as only he can'... more worried whether the tires are going to last'.

Well, they were down to canvas and we spent some time in Portland replacing all 4 tires. So ready for the next 3 weeks of travel.