Yellowstone North - September 2017

After Holly ran the Bozeman Marathon we left the city to spend two nights in the northern part of Yellowstone. It took about two hours to reach the first major attraction - Mammoth Springs. The ranger at the visitor center suggested taking the ten minute walk over vs. struggling to find nearby parking. Taking his advice was probably a mistake since Holly just ran 26.2 miles and it was kind of warm. The hot springs didn't help with comfort levels and the multiple stairs and ramps weren't doing us any favors. Of course, there were several nearby parking spaces. Holly almost died. At least the springs were nice to look at.

 

Enroute to Canyon Lodge (our hotel) we encountered a traffic jam caused by buffalo blocking the road. The buffalo were not as annoying as the stupid tourists in front of us who wouldn't move their cars when the opportunity presented itself. Stop taking your pictures... the thing moved and the road is clear.

Along the way we made a few stops that included Tower Falls and a quick sighting of a bear.

We made it to The Canyon Lodge just before it got dark and met up with Mike and Jan (they left Bozeman when Mike finished the half marathon) for drinks and dinner. The lodge was nice, but nothing was well-marked and all the dining options are in one big food court. The ice cream booth closed way too early.

The next morning the four of us hit the falls. Upper Falls, Lower Falls, and Artist Point. We must have left earlier than most people since we accomplished everything before the food court opened for lunch.

We spent the afternoon heading south to Yellowstone Lake. On the way we stopped to view buffalo and more stinky pits of bubbling mud and steam. Last time we visited Yellowstone Lake we were on the south shore under overcast skies. Today's weather held up much better.

On our way back to Bozeman the next morning we got a chance to see the Roosevelt Arch. Between this trip and last year's trip we saw most of the Yellowstone's highlights.

 

Touring South Dakota (and Wyoming) Day 3 - Devils Tower

The day after the Run Crazy Horse Marathon we had two flight options back home: take a direct flight home early in the morning, or connect through Denver and get home really late. We of course chose the second option. Why kill 1/2 a day off at home? We decided we would get up early and see Devils Tower in Wyoming.

The almost 2.5 hour drive took us through the Black Hills National Forest and through the town of Deadwood. Deadwood is famous for some western stuff like Wild Bill Hicock and Calamity Jane. We missed the turnoff for the historic downtown and decided not to turn back around in interest of time. On the way towards the tower we also passed a buffalo jump - an area used by Native Americans to hunt and trap buffalo. Surprisingly there is not a lot built up by the tower and much of the area is farm or ranch land.

The first view of the tower is pretty impressive since it just shoots up from nowhere.

Close-up it's also pretty amazing. It's not a perfect cylinder and it seems to morph shape and change color as you walk around. We got there before the place got crowded and did the 1.3 mile trail. The surrounding valley was also gorgeous.

We decided we'd have lunch in Sturgis at the Bare Knuckle Saloon. Decor was pure biker-meets-western, the food was good, they had their own beers, and the staff was friendly. Not sure it would be a place for us during Bike Week when they have bare fist-fights for charity.

Downtown was being ripped-up (literally the whole street was torn up) so our tour of Sturgis was short. We headed to the Rapid City airport and enjoyed two flights with no issues. We got home really late but we were happy we pushed our luck in order to see a truly great National Monument.

 

Side note: Check out Devils Tower on Google Earth. The 3-D is fun!

 

Pictures from Grand Teton National Park

With the Gand Teton National Park enterance just a few miles from our hotel, we slept in a little bit this morning. At 8am our group met for breakfast before heading up the road. Our first stop was a very nice visitor center. We spent a few minutes shopping and taking a look at the model of mountains while Laura conferred with the rangers to figure out what we'd do for the day.

Our first stop was Taggart Lake. When we pulled into the parking lot we could not see any water. We had to actually hike to this location. The weather was a bit annoying: jackets would be required for a few minutes, then the clouds would part and the sun would heat us up. Fortunately Laura picked a long, but not challenging trail. Each turn brought us beautiful mountain and forest views.

We made it to the lake without incident. It was gorgeous.

The trail is a loop so we didn't have to make the return trip the same way. Most of our way back to the car we followed a stream.

On our way to lunch we stopped at a pullover lot to take in the mountain glacial formations. Lunch in the park was lackluster (actually had) - prepackaged sandwiches from the Jenny Lake Visitor Center Gift Shop. There appeared to be a lot to do in the Jenny Lake area, but some of us were itchy for some relax time. We skipped the boat ride to the far section of the lake and decided to go to a few of the vantage points. We spent some time on the rocky shore tossing sizable rocks in the water for the fun of it.

As the day progressed and we visited scattered gift shops members of our crew were picking up the 100th anniversary sweatshirts. It got to the point where Dave and Lee were the last holdouts and Dave caved first. We decided our final nature thing of the day would be to see the Snake River. With beer on our kids we came up with the plan to drive out of the park to the bridge the runners crossed on the marathon course. It was only a mile or two away from Q Roadhouse. After taking in the river we visited Q and took up residence on our picnic table from Friday night.

The Grand Teton National Park is a place we would definitely visit again. There are several lodges within the park that offer boat rentals and paddle boarding. There's a ton of beauty with every turn making this a perfect spot for a mountain/lake getaway.