DAY 1 – 29/9/2019
We took a last long admiring look at the magnificent mountain range and carried our bags down the stairs and packed them into the Lincoln and left Jackson Lake Lodge at about 11 am. The drive North through Grand Teton National Park to the South Gate of Yellowstone took only about 40 minutes as the two parks are contiguous. We had expected it to take longer as the speed limit in both parks is 45 mph (75 kph) and sometimes as low as 25 mph. We joined a long line of cars waiting to pay the $35 entry fee and crawled along for about 10 minutes before reaching the ranger’s booth. We didn’t know exactly where we had to go, once inside Yellowstone so we asked him for directions. He was very helpful but surprised us when he said the drive would take us another two hours! Such is the size of Yellowstone!
Naturally, when we arrived at The Lake Hotel and timidly asked if, perchance, our room might be ready, the standard reply (of course without checking!) was, “If you come back at 4.30 pm, we’ll hope to have a room available.” At least the lady was attentive enough to tell us what walks and other attractions were near to the hotel. We drove out to the Gull Point scenic drive by the lake and had our first animal sighting, an Elk grazing on tree fronds high up on the embankment beside the road. From there we drove to the West Thumb thermal area. From a long way off you could see the steam rising from the many fumerols and boiling pools. The area was quite extensive, with a long, boardwalk circling around the main vantage points. As our first experience of Yellowstone’s thermal wonders, we were amazed. The heat, the steam, the mineral accretions and the bacterial activity that creates a rainbow of colours, is nature’s magic.
From there, feeling like we needed a refreshing brisk walk, we drove to Bridge Bay. Off the main lake, a narrow channel, crossed by the road bridge, opened into a wide bay that housed a large marina. The marina was now closed for the season, so canoeing was no longer an option. But it wasn’t the road bridge that gave the bay its name. It was a natural stone bridge created by erosion from a small stream passing under it. According to the hiking guide, it was supposed to be a “1-2 hour” walk. But we managed it in 40 minutes. Perhaps our pace was quickened by the chilling signs cautioning the presence of bears! We went quickly in a state of hypervigilence. However the only ‘wild’ life we saw was a tiny squirrel.
We returned to the hotel at 4.40 pm to find a throng of people at the check in counter. But we were approached by a distinguished grey haired man, Edward, who effectively allowed us to bypass the queue. He proved to be the Manager of the hotel! Our room was a third floor lake view room. The lake over which it looked is at the highest elevation of any on Earth, at 7,200 feet above sea level. The Lake Hotel was first built in 1891 and is the oldest hotel in Yellowstone. The room was very comfortable, with excellent amenities and toiletries, but sadly no wireless internet, nor ANY mobile signal at all! Mobile coverage is only available a few limited areas of the park, but we never found a signal anywhere! But our room had an Ethernet cable in it. We were given an adapter for the iPad which worked on the first night, if at painfully slow speeds. But it never worked again after that! It was terrible to have two essential lines of communication, phone and email totally unavailable. In an emergency, out in the park, there is simply no mobile coverage at all, even for 911 calls.
DAY 2 – 30/9/2019
Despite all the well meaning warnings, we have been pleased to find that there haven’t been the expected crowds of people. That is partly due to this being the end of the season. Temperature are dropping, snow is falling, and annual road closures are only weeks away. But the roads can be closed at any time, without warning, if the circumstances require it. One road closure had already occurred on the way to the Lamar Valley. We drove out to Canyon Village. The Park has its own ‘Grand Canyon’, a spectacular deep gorge, with a thundering waterfall at the entrance of the valley. The views were breathtaking, but once seen there was no reason to linger (the tour bus that arrived had nothing to do with it!).
From there, we drove on heading for the Mammoth Hot Springs. That took us through the Hayden Valley, an open plains area where it was expected to see more wildlife. We were not disappointed. It wasn’t necessary to be particularly observant as whenever animals were present, numerous cars would be parked on the side of the road or in wide roadside parking areas (or ‘pull outs’ as the Americans describe them). That usually signified something worth seeing and photographing. Small herds of Bison or grazing Elk were the usual animals to be seen. Every so often, a lone Bison would wander nonchalantly out onto the highway, causing traffic to stop completely. One walked right by our car. Less than a metre away!
We drove on to Mammoth Hot Springs. Along the way, at many points, active fumerols filled the chill air with thick white plumes of steam. We climbed higher into the mountains toward Mammoth. The weather had closed in by the time we arrived there. The cold, conditions made the calcified terraces harder to see through the mist, added to which, the very steam produced by the cascading hot springs and fumerols filled the air. Gusting wind would sometimes blow the steam aside enough to justify yet another photograph. But, nevertheless, the mineral deposits of Travertine, layered in grand terraces, one upon another, are a true wonder of this amazing thermal area.
DAY 3 – 1/10/2019
Today we planned to visit two of the Park’s best thermal areas, Old Faithful and the Norris Thermal Basin. We drove the 38 miles to Old Faithful. We’d been told that this iconic attraction would be quite crowded. When we arrived, the vast car parks and the huge modern visitor centre were testament to the size of the crowds that visit there. But the amazing thing was that the car park was almost empty! Again, the plummeting temperatures as the season ended, reduced the visitor numbers. The geyser is incredibly predictable with its ‘eruptions’ and the next one was due at 12.41 pm! But that was 45 minutes away. We went into the General Store and did some shopping. Still with time on our hands, we went to the iconic Old Faithful Inn, the original hotel on the site and the largest log built structure in the world. Looking for a ‘good’ coffee, we were thrilled to discover it possessed something rare in America, a proper espresso machine! But that time for the geyser was approaching so we went first to the observation platform. As the predicted time approached, the geyser hissed and spluttered boiling water as well as the thickening plume of steam. Right on cue, Old Faithful vented a steaming, scalding water spray high into the cold sky.
As the venting was dying down, we made our way quickly back to the Inn for a great coffee. But, we took more time there than we had anticipated. So, instead of going down to Norris, we decided to return to the Lake Hotel, but we decided to visit Norris next day. When we got back, there in the middle of a grassy area dividing the car park a massive Bison was reclining, completely unconcerned at his proximity to civilisation.
DAY 4 – 2/10/2019
While we were scheduled to check out the following morning, on 3rd October. It had been our plan to leave at 6 am for the long drive back to Salt Lake City. But now having experienced the roads, we were concerned that, at that time, black ice on the road could be a real concern. Added to that, animals wandering onto the roads was another likely hazard. Yet another issue was the total lack of any mobile signal if you had an accident on the way. So, we cautiously decided that it was best to leave one day early. Our decision was validated when we woke in the morning to a heavy snowstorm to find all of the Park’s roads were closed!
We waited throughout the morning, watching the gradual opening of portions of highway until we had a clear path to the West Entrance. We drove out onto the roads tentatively. They were still icy and snow covered in parts and called for a careful approach. Having missed seeing Norris the previous day, as it was on our way out of the Park, we decided to stop there. The Norris Thermal Basin has the most powerful geyser in Yellowstone, shooting as high as 140 feet into the air. It is much more powerful than Old Faithful, but has none of the former’s impeccable regularity. We waited as it waxed and wained, bubbling furiously at times, forewarning of an imminent eruption. But when a regular watcher arrived and told us it had erupted two days before and that it might be another week to the next one, we decided to leave.
We drove on for another three hours to Idaho Falls. We had booked at Hilton Gardens for the night to break the long drive to Salt Lake City. The restaurant there didn’t look appealing, so we walked a kilometre down the road to ‘Jakers’ a restaurant filled with locals (including two police, in full uniform, with their young ‘girlfriends’!). The food and service was great, without the pretentiousness of some of the more upmarket places we’d experienced.
Next morning, we had a good breakfast at the hotel and we set off for Salt Lake City. Once the car was returned, we checked in for our Delta flight to Las Vegas and looked forward to checking our three pre-paid bags. Of course the largest bag was heaviest, and being 45kg was classified ‘overweight’, incurring a $100 fee on top of the $75 already paid! But we had no option other than to pay.
Now we were off on our next travel adventure, our last stop before returning to Australia. Las Vegas airport had a large reptile model in the foyer that immediately made me think of how much Astrid would have lived it. It must nearly be time to get back to them!
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