Trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone

Sridhar sir, You mentioned that you missed seeing Yellowstone during your last trip, so this one is specially for you. This is the least I can do for all your wonderful stories and articles! Hope you like it!

This was one trip that my DH wanted to do for sometime. I am glad at last it happened a few days ago.

After flying into Salt Lake City, we drove to Idaho Falls and stayed there for the night. Early next morning, we drove to Yellowstone enroute Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons on the Teton scenic highway 31.

The drive from Idaho Falls to Jackson Hole is miles and miles of lush countryside with atleast a dozen shades of green alternating with cows and farm animals dotting the plains and aspens and pine trees packing the plains and hillsides. The sunrays on the trembling aspen leaves give them a silvery shimmer. The vast fields watered by water wheels, the hay rolls like bedding rolled up and herds of cows with tags on their ears lazily chewing the grass.-- this whole breathtaking scenery makes justifies it as "Switzerland of the US".

At Jackson Hole we stopped to grab a bite and saw the Antler Arches park. As the name says, the arches at the four entrances were made of seasonal shedding by the elk at the end of summer.

Photos 1. View of of mountains from Jackson 2. Rolls of hay along the fields outside Jackson Hole

3. Antler Arches at Downtown Jackson.

 

We passed through the rolling hills of Idaho.There were quite a few barns along the sides. What is unique about them was they have roofs that are covered in soil and green plants growing on them.

We entered the The Grand Tetons through the Targhee national forest. The Tetons have a lot of snow on their peaks even in the summer , looking just like the Alps.
The lake below calmly reflecting the Tetons and its peaks reminds one of an obedient child reflecting the good qualities of his parents. The flora and fauna of the region is unique and amazing.

The Quranic saying that " Bread may feed the Body, but it is the flower that feeds the Soul" came to my mind. We stopped at a Ranger station and spotted some tall Sandhill Cranes at a distance.

We entered the yellowstone park through the south entrance after stopping near the Lewis Lake.

Photos:Grand Tetons

 

In the evening, we saw the Old Faithful geyser spewing from start to finish. In the lodges, they post the expected time that the geyser would spew and it is usually within 10 minutes before or after. This happens every 90 minutes. As the water is very hot, the entire area is cardoned off. There are benches in the periphery where people can gather and watch. Other than the Old Faithful, there are small and medium size springs all over. Stepping near them is not advised. One can view the steam coming out of the springs. Yellowstone is home to over 10,000 thermal features, over 500 of which are geysers. Much of Yellowstone sits on an exploded crater of a volcano.

The next morning, we went to the upper and lower falls, called Kepler Falls. All along, there were topless, fallen trees. Passing through through the Continental Divide ( elev8262) we reached the West thumb basin.

Photos: 1, 2 and 4 Medium sized geysers around Old Faithful

3. Old Faithful geyser

 

I was hoping to see a bison and there it was standing near a geyser. On our way to the Grand canyon of the Yellowstone and the upper falls, there were many more bison in herds. At some point they were stopping the traffic and the Park ranger had to come in his car to guide them away. Along the road, there are several look out points. When people were pulling out their binoculars and stopping their cars, we would too.
During one of these stops, we saw a grizzly bear at a distance and a Bald eagle. The elk and caribou were seen at close quarters.

 

Next, we went over to the Mammoth Hot springs after a cruise tour on the lake. It was so relaxing that I fell asleep. The main attraction of the Mammoth Hot springs is the Terraces. Heat, water, limestone and rock fracture combine to create these unique structures.The micro-organisms and living bacteria create beautiful shades of orange, pink,yellow, green and brown. There is a lot of climbing involved to see these terraces, but it is well -worth the effort.

 

The next day, we left the Yellowstone park and headed towards Salt lake city passing once again through the Grand Tetons.

When we were at Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone, it was pure delight to see artists putting their best efforts to capture the magnetic scenery into their canvas. DH, being one, already had decided by then this is how he would like to spend his vacation.

Along the way, the Snake river followed us through Alpine and Jackson Hole. The colorful rafts along the Snake river rapids make even one like me who is not comfortable in water, to want to take a ride and have a nice time.

A study of the iconic geysers predicts that the dry spells caused by the climate change may slow or even stop the geysers' clockwork-regular eruptions. I hope it does not happen and this eruptions in these continue to remind people about the wonders onf Mother nature for many more eons to come.

Photo 1. Artist at work 2. Rafts along the Snake river rapids

 

Some flowers in the region.

 

Dear Gowri

Indeed Nature is awesome. Thanks for the poem by Wordsworth. I loved your comments while I was writing, no problem at all.

Love