Day 12 (Saturday May 23) West Yellowstone

Today we explored the northern loop through Yellowstone. Mountains, waterfalls, all kinds of geothermal activity and wildlife makes it easy to see why this is such a special place. It also lived up to my expectations of being pretty crowded due to the long weekend. Of course, after pre-season Glacier anything would be crowded.

We took our first hike around Mammoth Hot Springs, which had some intricately layered shelf-like deposits.

There were signs up near all the geothermal areas warning to stay on the marked trails because you could step through a thin layer of crust into scalding hot water or steam. I found the illustration hilarious.

We saw lots of wildlife: geese, bison, elk, pronghorn, and two bears. Of course, at Glacier our bear sighting was very intimate, only us and eventually another 2 cars. Here, it was a zoo. You knew there was a bear because the road was clogged, people were all lined up, rangers were yelling through the PA for people to move their cars out of the road, etc.

One of the campers in the next cabin had come out for the long weekend because it was her birthday, and had not been there in 15 years.  She said it was very noticeable how many fewer animals there were.  

We saw the trunk of a petrified redwood tree from back when this was a more tropical climate. There apparently used to be 3 of them but souvenir hunters chiseled little pieces off the other 2 until they were all gone.



We finished our day off with a mile-long hike around Norris Geyser Basin. This area had LOTS of geothermal activity. There was a storm coming in from the South but I accurately judged that it would pass us by, which greatly reduced the number of people in the basin. Here Max got to check out some of the geothermal vents, hot springs, and geysers up close. As we were leaving, one of the rangers informed me that dogs were not allowed in the geothermal areas. We were already on the way back to the Jeep so it didn't really matter. Of course, I did not see any signs to that effect, nor did it state that on the map, so technically we do not get credit for barging this one.

Minute Geyser is another example of how the multitude of visitors destroyed an amazing natural phenomenon. This geyser used to go off almost every 60 seconds until visitors threw rocks, coins, etc into it and clogged the opening.

We were in the park only about 6 hours but saw quite a large bit of it (the northern half, at least). We were both wiped out, I think from the altitude as much as the two longish hikes. We came back to camp, cooked some red beans and rice for dinner, then hung out with some of our neighbors. The ones in the cabin right next door have a tan and white Beagle named Tucker, and further down the row there is a year-old Beagle as well. I guess the other dogs around woke Max up because then he wanted to go on a long walk around the campground. He did not go to bed until almost 9pm Mountain Time, which was the first day he seemed to have adjusted to the time change. Of course, he slept quite a bit of the day on the ride as well.

Sunday: Through the southern half of Yellowstone to Jackson, WY for a couple of nights.

Day 10 (Thursday 5/21) Glacier National Park

We awoke to a clearer, warmer (relatively) morning and had a walk around the campground followed by breakfast. We set off by 9am to the North, first attempting to venture into Canada to see Waterton National Park, which is the Canadian counterpart of Glacier. Our campground was only about 14 miles from the border. I did not have Max's rabies papers so that was a no-go, although technically we did visit Canada since we had to pass through the border checkpoint to turn around.  

That's OK, there was plenty to see in Glacier. We went up the "Many Glacier" entrance near Babb, MT, as far as it would go- maybe 12 miles. Let Max out to walk around at a couple of spots and there was PLENTY to sniff and track. Doggies are not allowed down the trails, though (for good reason) so we did not go very far. We did find some goats rummaging through a campsite so Max got to check them out. During part of the ride he perched his head on the window sill like he was really taking it all in (sights and smells). Back to the cabin for lunch and a quick break before heading back out.

West Glacier was a little disappointing. It was about a 2 hour ride over there (which did have a couple of high points) but the park itself wasn't nearly as awe-inspiring as yesterday. True, the Going to the Sun Road was open longer there (16 miles vs. 13) but it was all down along the river bank, you never got up to any elevation. It was also more crowded so we did not see any animals on the road itself. At the bottom, we saw a little bike trail through the woods so we took a walk for a mile or so. I saw 3 deer through the forest, maybe 50 yards away, which I eventually got Max to see. He stayed quiet and we followed along next to them, then came to a trail through the woods that we could go down towards where they would cross it. Of course, as soon as one of the deer came out onto the trail Max bayed and they took off (right). We saw them again on our way back to the Jeep but they were much farther away and wary of us by then.

On the way to West Glacier, though, we did stop off at an overlook that one of the rangers told me about yesterday. It is called Goat Lick overlook and it looks across the river valley to an area where the erosion uncovers mineral deposits that the mountain goats like to lick. However, there are usually more goats than spots with exposed minerals, and some are pretty high up on the face of the canyon wall. This makes for good entertainment watching the goats try to get their fill. Lots of pushing, nudging, jumping, rocks falling in the water, etc.



Oh, also part of the drive there was somewhat interesting since we took a shortcut. What do they say about shortcuts? If it was easy it would just be the way. This was a very winding, very narrow two-lane road across many rockslides, with many sections of roadway that had obviously fallen away at some point, and others looking like they were get ready to go. And no guardrails. Some of the more fearsome drops had a yellow sign with an arrow on it, but this was not a road where you would pay more attention to the view than the road. I enjoyed it but I think Max just wanted to sleep at that point.

It is a little different to be in a place where you can be driving down a road with horses running free next to you, with no fence or anything in between. We saw quite a few of them but this mother and colt stuck in my head since they were running alongside us for a ways.

Cooked some buffalo meat for dinner, then we went back up the East side of Going to the Sun road to see how it is on a clear day, and also to see if more animals would be out closer to sunset.  So glad we did.  It was quite pleasant seeing it in the soft light of sunset, and there were definitely more animals out.  We saw lots of goats, bighorn sheep, reindeer maybe?, and then... I somehow spotted a black bear in the woods, maybe 50 feet from the road.  I thought it might be just a shadow but backed up and there he was, rooting around for some food.  I watched him for a while then had to move as cars came up behind me (someone had stopped next to me going the other way).  I went up, let the other cars pass, turned around and went back, and saw him again but farther in the woods.  We went up to the top of the mountain but didn't really see anything else, then didn't see the bear upon our return down the mountain.  

Quite a day.  Oh, most of the glaciers you have to hike in to see, but I did make sure to get a picture of one big one across the valley. Jackson Glacier: