20th May 2014
We drove from Rawlins Wyoming through a
largely boring, desolate landscape, but which has some incredible
geological formations in places. I have no idea what these are called
or what their origin is, but they are interesting to look at. I
photographed only one, a red rock formation. With about 50 miles to
go to the entrance to Grand Teton National Park, we drove through a
snowstorm! This was somewhat unexpected in late May, but it didn't
last long, as we descended rapidly below the snow line. We arrived
early at the Jackson Lake Lodge, and were told that out “cottage”
wouldn't be ready until 4pm. We passed the time by driving to see
some of the nearby sights. The park is set among the Teton range of
the Rocky mountains, which are still covered in snow. We tried to
drive to the top of Signal Mountain, but found the road still closed
due to snow. Instead we stopped at the Jackson Lake dam, which
doubles as the main road, and took photographs. The place was black
with Orientals, Chinese and Japanese, covered in Canons, Nikons and
tripods.
We eventually checked into our
“cottage”, somewhat like a motel room, but minus the television,
microwave and fridge. But, it has two great beds, a nice bathroom, a
coffee machine and free wifi for any number of devices. We couldn't
find it at first for the simple reason that the signboards were
covered in snowdrifts. But, first thing the next morning, two men
with shovels uncovered all the snow- covered signs. There are mainly
two types of people here, young Chinese and very old Americans.
21st May 2014
We visited Jackson in the morning. It
should not be confused with the much bigger Jackson Mississippi, of
“lookout Jackson town” fame. It is a lovely town, which is quite
a surprise. In the preceding two days, we had traversed three western
towns, Cheyenne, Laramie and Rawlins, all in Wyoming, and one more
run-down and boring than the next. Do not bother to visit any of
these towns. They have no redeeming features. “The man” should
deny that he is from Laramie! But, Jackson is pretty. And Jackson
Hole, where the town and much of the park are situated, is a very
scenic place, with snow-covered mountains all around. The main range
is the Tetons, after which the park is named.
22nd May 2014
I have risen for dawn the first two
mornings to get photographs in the early light. It was minus one this
morning at a quarter past five! I've been lucky with clear skies. Of
course, a red sunrise would be better, with a thundery sky opposite,
but these miracles rarely happen. When they do, the resulting photos
can be worth a lot. Landscapes are supposed to look better under the
early morning or late evening light.
For the Mormon barn photo I had to
drive over 20 miles in the pre-dawn light, carefully avoiding herds
of elk on the way. Several other people had the same idea, all
wrapped up from head to toe against the cold. Just as I was leaving
to go for breakfast, a herd of bison (buffalo) appeared from nowhere,
and sauntered away into the distance. (I'm not sure why they don't
call them buffalo any more). The barns were part of homesteads built
by the Moulton family who came from Utah to promote Mormonism. They
gave up, and abandoned them a long time ago.
23rd May 2014
We make the short(ish) journey to
Yellowstone, stopping here and there to look at the sights. The first
impression of Yellowstone is that the snow is much deeper than in
Grand Teton. As we drive along the shores of Lake Yellowstone we
notice that it is still iced over. This is a big surprise, as it's
late May. Apparently, Lake Yellowstone spends seven months of the
year covered in ice and snow.
When we reach the Lake resort, we get
checked immediately into our “frontier cabin” even though we're
two hours early. There is no wifi, but it's available free in the
business “center”. The cabin is similar to the “cottage”
apart from the lack of a wardrobe.
One of the interesting features of
Yellowstone is the preponderance of dead trees almost everywhere. The
reason for this is the 1988 fire which affected almost 800,000 acres,
almost a third of the park's area. But, in most places, a new forest
has grown up. Many of these forests are made up of ponderosa pine,
whose seeds will only sprout following a fire.
While Grand Teton is noted for its
mountains and lakes, Yellowstone is famous for its geysers, hot
springs and its wildlife. The most famous geyser is Old Faithful, so
named because it explodes faithfully approximately every 90 minutes.
By far the biggest in the park is the Steamboat Geyser, but it erupts
only when it feels like it, which isn't very often. Its last eruption
was in July 2013, almost a year ago. It shoots water 300 feet in the
air, or three times the height of Old Faithful.
Another feature of the park is the
smell of sulphur and other chemicals from the ubiquitous hot steam.
Some visitors, Chinese in particular, wrap their heads up like
astronauts to keep out the unpleasant fumes and smell. Surely, it
can't be worse than the pollution in Chinese cities?
The sheer size of Yellowstone surprised
me. It is over 100 miles from bottom to top. By the time we leave, we
will have driven at least 750 miles within the park. For that reason,
we split the 4-night stay into two days at Yellowstone Lake, near the
bottom, and two at Mammoth Hot Springs at the very top. Most of the
park is in Wyoming, but 3% of it is in Montana, and Mammoth is right
at the Montana state line.
There are speed limits in the park, the
maximum speed being 45 mph. But, it's as low as 15 in places.
However, it's still dangerous, as some idiots who think they've
spotted a bear, or even a dinosaur, slam on the brakes to get a
better look. There are specific stopping places every few hundred
yards, and you are warned to stop only in these spots. But, when
wildlife is spotted, drivers pull in everywhere, and often just stop
without pulling in at all. Like the way they used to park in
Castleblaney. The bear often turns out to be a rock.
24th May 2014
I get up for dawn, and drive to the
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, to view the two waterfalls, Lower and
Upper. There is one Chinese man at Lower Falls, along with his wife
and father. His wife complains to me that he gets her up for every
sunrise and drags her to every sunset. He's covered in equipment,
including every filter ever invented. Both falls look well in the
morning light, so I head for breakfast tired but happy!
We drive to the Old Faithful area,
named after the most famous geyser, and are rewarded on arrival with
a prompt eruption, in bright sunlight, to the delight of the hundreds
of spectators.
We drive to the Norris Basin, which is
where many of the steaming features are grouped. Seated on the
largest volcano in the world, the area hisses and sizzles all day
long. However, it hasn't erupted in a major way in 640,000 years, so
it's due to blow any day now! One of the features of this area is the
Steamboat Geyser, the biggest in the park, but which erupts
irregularly, usually less than once a year. We met a woman there who
had once actually witnessed an eruption. I suggested that she should
play the lottery!
We also visit the most spectacular hot
spring, Grand Prismatic, which attracts very big crowds, and makes
parking difficult. Like many of the features here, it has a large
boardwalk around it, to facilitate spectators, but also to keep them
at a safe distance. However, to see it properly, it is necessary to
climb the mountain behind it and look down on it from a height. The
climb is worth it, even though it's a little hazardous for someone
with a recent hip replacement!
25th May 2014
We check in to our second Yellowstone
accommodation, another frontier cabin, almost identical to the first
one. Except that this one has a hair-dryer but no coffee machine!
But, it has six elk grazing out in front, and a view of the Gallatin
mountain range from the front verandah. We tour the “Travertine
terraces”, some by car and some on foot. These are spectacular
manifestations of all kinds of volcanic and chemical activity and
skulduggery, resulting in all kinds of shapes and colours.
We ate in the hotel restaurant, where
one of the servers was Siobhan from Galway, who tired of big-city New
York living (not to mention Galway!) and came out west for adventure.
Later on, we drive to Hayden Valley for the sunset.
26th May 2014
I get up at six to see, and capture,
the effect of the rising sunlight on some of the shapes and colours
of the “terraces”. There are about half a dozen cameras there,
including that of a man from Texas, who is making the trip with his
wife for their 35th wedding anniversary. He's not
impressed by the fact that I'm married 43 years! In the afternoon,
after a tour of Lamar Valley, where we spotted a real live bear among
other wonders, we sit down to read in the hotel lobby while the cabin
is being refreshed. I suddenly realise that I'm being addressed by
the same big Texan, who is now wearing a medical boot apparatus on
his right leg. He said that he went over on his left ankle in a car
park, and fell over, screwing the right knee in the process, and
dislocating his unfortunate kneecap. It being Memorial Day, a bank
holiday, the local medical centre is not open, so he had to drive 56
miles on one leg to Livingston Montana to get medical attention.
27th May 2014
We leave Yellowstone, and drive 175
miles to Billings, Montana. We
traversed a road called Beartooth Highway, over Beartooth Pass (I'm
not making up these names!), and it was an experience. It was
extremely scenic, but for about 40 miles it consisted entirely of
corkscrews, switchbacks, hairpins, and "virages", with snow
piled five feet high on both sides. We eventually reached Billings,
Montana, a significant, and apparently civilised city! The first
thing I have to do is to find a tyre centre to fix a slow puncture. A
display on the dashboard shows the pressure in each tyre, and the
rear right has been dropping alarmingly for over 100 miles. When the
repir has been done, I discover that the car hire company had
inflated the tires away above the recommended pressure, and also well
above the maximum safe pressure! 50 psi!! So much for car hire
companies. The car has only 3000 miles on the clock, but the boot lid
doesn't lock.
28th
May 2014
We
drove from Billings, Montana to Douglas Wyoming (320 miles)for
another overnight stop. This was a long and often boring motorway
drive, but the boredom was temporarily lifted by a visit to the
Little Bighorn Battlefield. This is a huge national monument, and
includes a national cemetery for fallen soldiers. There are detailed
accounts and illustrations of how the battle unfolded, and memorials
to the dead on each side, with the indian memorial being the more
impressive. Less than 100 indians died with some 250 soldiers, but
the cemetery has thousands of graves containing soldiers from many
wars, including Korea and the World Wars, where the Germans were
twice runners-up. Every year on June 25th, a ceremony is
held here, conducted by the indians, but all are welcome. The
descendant of Sitting Bull who currently runs the show is Donlin Ten
Bad Horses, as most people already know.
29th
May 2014
Douglas
Wyoming to Estes Park, Colorado (260 miles), which is close to the
entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drive south on
Interstate 25, then take US 34 West. It is fine for the first few
miles. Then it turns into Beartooth Highway without the snow! It's
hairpin after hairpin for 22 miles, like driving through the Grand
Canyon, with towering rock formations on each side, and a river (The
Big Thompson) flowing alongside. It is certainly scenic, but the
scenery begins to wear thin after a long drive two days in a row! It
does eventually bring us to Estes Park, a nice mountain town,
overlooked by the mountains and the Stanley Hotel, where “The
Shining” was made.
30th
May 2014
We
decide to travel Trail Ridge Road, 48 miles from Estes Park to Grand
Lake, and 48 miles back, opened after the winter only three days ago.
When it was first opened in the 1930s it was described as the “scenic
wonder road of the world”.
On
the outward leg, we enjoyed the scenery, with dappled sunlight
falling on many of the peaks, and numerous places to pull in, enjoy
the view, and take photographs. The road is good, but has a million
bends and steep climbs and descents, and has snow five feet deep
piled up along both sides for 90% of its length. It took more than
two hours to reach Grand Lake, by which time the weather had changed.
Grand Lake was barely visible through the rain, reminding me of
holidays in Donegal, hundreds of years ago.
On
the return journey we encountered the father and mother of all
storms, with rain, sleet and hailstones, driven by strong winds,
pounding down. The temperature dropped to freezing, 25 degrees colder
than it was 4,000 feet below. The highest point is over 12,000 feet;
it has sharp drops on one side or the other for most of the way, and
there are no barriers to prevent us becoming part of the scenery
hundreds of feet below! It is the highest continuous paved road in
the US. It is an adventure, but it's a relief when it's finished, and
we're back down at 7,000 feet!
31st
May 2014
On
our last day in the mountains, I get up at 05:00 for dawn, and drive
to an “overlook” on the near part of Trail Ridge Road. This time,
I'm lucky with the weather, with clear skies, so the morning rays can
fall directly on the peaks. There is only one other person there, a
woman from Wisconsin, who claims to have had open heart surgery three
times, as well as five pacemakers. She volunteered all this
information while capturing the dawn scene on her camera.
1st
June 2014
We
rise again at the crack of dawn, as we have to drive to Denver
airport, return the car, and check in the bags, all before 09:00.
And, the main road is closed due to roadworks, so we have to take a
“scenic” route instead. When giving the car back, I complained
about its shortcomings, and was immediately told that a significant
refund would be made to my credit card in two weeks. However, I'm not
holding my breath.
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