Yellowstone

 

We drove to Pinedale, where we visited the Museum of the Mountain Man. It is a pretty good museum, focused on the Pinedale area, where the mountain men had their rendezvous; it covered the mountain man beaver trapping era, which lasted about 30 years. The beaver fur trade era ended, due to the changes in fashion.

We continued to Jackson, where we had a nice lunch outside at Picnic restaurant, and dealt with Jackson traffic. We proceeded north, through Teton National Park and then through Yellowstone National park, to Madison campground, arriving at about 4:30. We were assigned a decent campsite, but without much sun; the campground is heavily wooded. There is no internet or cell phone service in Madison.

Friday morning, the outside temperature was 28F, and the battery had dropped to 70%. We drove into West Yellowstone, watching a solid stream of traffic coming into the park, and a backup at the park entrance. We heard later that the park set attendance records in July and August; we were told that it is always as busy as a weekend in Yellowstone. We had a snack at a coffeeshop, and checked our email. We bought gas and groceries, and headed back to our camper for lunch. We met and had a great chat with one of the seasonal workers, on her sixth summer. They are full time Rvers, working in Yellowstone six months out of the year. After lunch, we drove to Norris Geyser Basin. We walked both loops, going by a wide variety of thermal features, although we did not see any major geyser eruptions. The earth's crust is thinner in Norris than in anyplace else on earth, providing the heat. At points, you could hear the ground bubbling under our feet. We went back to the camper for a dinner on the grille, and then strolled over to the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers. We were treated to elk bugling, and were able to watch an impressive bull, who already had six females, gather up two more females. It was quite a show, and the hillside and bank had dozens of folks watching.

Saturday morning, we were focused on the camper, and moving the camper. We ran the generator in the morning, and then drove to the dump station. We checked into our new site on the ridge, in the sun. After lunch, we headed south, towards Old Faithful, checking out the sights as we went. Firehole Falls was impressive. We drove the Fountain Flat drive, where we saw a small herd of buffalo, and shook our heads at the folks ignoring the 25 yard rule; you are supposed to stay that far away from buffalo or moose. We drove through the lower geyser basin, and walked through Biscuit basin. By that time, a strong cold wind was blowing, forcing us to hold onto our hats. We continued to the Old Faithful Inn, where we admired the historic building, and bought a few gifts. We then sat on the balcony, soaking up the vibe, and admiring the 4:45 eruption. Late in the afternoon, the Old Faithful area was not crazy busy. Thanks to our new sunny campsite, the solar panels added quite a bit of charge during the afternoon. Sandi cooked dinner. There were elk in the same meadow as the previous night, but we arrived too late to get a good look at them.

 

Firehole Falls

Sunday morning was wet and cold. We ran the generator, and then headed to West Yellowstone to go to church. Our Lady of the Pines was built from large timbers and knotty pine; even the stained glass featured pine trees.. We went to the airport, to try the Smokejumpers Cafe, but the wait was long, probably due to limited staffing. We then headed for the Duckling Laundry, which was busy but well run. The cafe next door had a long line, and was not taking takeout orders. I walked to Ernies, where I ordered sandwiches to go. Sandi ran several loads of laundry. After we finished the laundry, we went to find ice cream, visited some souvenir shops, and then went to Big Sky Anglers, for some advice and flies. We came back to find that the solar had not helped us much, due to the heavy overcast, so we ran the generator some more. The rain resumed as we returned to camp. It is forecast to be about 19F tonight, so we will need the battery to run the heater.

It was wet and snowy during the night. The camper was cold in the morning, and the furnace was not running right. The control board flashed three times to describe its unhappiness. Various attempts to reset the furnace failed, and we decided to pack up and head home. After an hour or two of driving, we noticed the the furnace was running normally. We continued on, not being sure if the furnace was going to continue to work. The drive got snowier as we drove. 

 We stopped at the Falls of the Yellowstone, and were duly impressed. We did not take the hike to the brink of the falls, however. We continued east, towards Cody. At one point, we ran into a traffic jam, which turned out to be bison next to the road. Some folks were foolishly outside of their cars, taking photos with their phones. Sandi was on the bison side of the car, and got many photos, including of a bison calf nursing, as well as a video with Bison noises.

We continued east, over Sylvan pass, into a very snowy landscape, with snow on the trees. We drove down towards Cody through some very interesting rock formations, not quite like others that we have seen. In Cody, we checked into the Ponderosa Campground, paying cash to three elderly ladies behind the counter. The daughter of one of them stopped at our campsite, saying that there was some confusion about what site we were in, but they let us stay in our site. I ran to Walmart for an electric heater, to dry out the back of the camper, which is suffering from water leaks. It goes into the shop in October for a new roof. We decided to spend a second night in Cody, and visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West;