Tetons and Yellowstone Day 3
Tetons and Yellowstone
Day 3 - September 8, 2005 - Jackson, WY to Cody, WY
We were up at 7 AM again and showered and packed up our things before walking over to the Chili Pepper Grill for breakfast. At 9 AM we headed north to Yellowstone back on US 26. As we passed the elk refuge we saw thousands of Canada Geese and Trumpeter Swans in the marshes. It was only 45 degrees with clear blue skies, a perfect day for exploring the wilds of Wyoming. We stopped at the Grand Teton Park entrance turnout to get early morning shots of the bright sun on the snow capped peaks. At the Moran Junction we entered the Park again, showing our receipts and pass from yesterday. Just beyond Jackson Lake Lodge we saw a coyote standing in an open meadow posing for tourists. The road through this area was very rough and in need of repair. With all the heavy buses and RVs we imagine it is difficult to maintain.
We were following the Snake River Valley out of the Grand Tetons and into John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. There was a devastating forest fire in this area several years ago but the trees are starting to fill in and are about 5 to 10 feet tall. Just as we passed the last picnic area we saw a female and a young moose rambling back into the trees. We turned around and hiked back over the ridge to get a better look but they were gone. While we were stopped we put the top down on the car.
At 9:30 we entered Yellowstone National Park at the South Gate. There was a line of about 10 campers and cars waiting to show their passes. Just inside the park we crossed the Snake River - was a pristine scenic area! We followed the Lewis River Canyon, another part of the park that was recently burned. We took a few photos of Lewis Falls, a 30 foot cascade. Just a few minutes later we ran into another congested area - a sure sign of a "creature sighting". Sure enough, we walked into the fallen trees to see another bull moose munching willow branches.
The National Park Service has always had a philosophy to preserve the National Parks as a natural habitat. They want to maintain the park as it would be in nature so they do not put out forest fires, remove fallen trees, or dead animals, unless they block the roadway. We were surprised to see all the burned trees from fires as long ago as 20 years.
We crossed the Continental Divide four times today during our travels on the way to Old Faithful. We parked the car and went into visit the famous geyser but it had just erupted so we just walked around a bit, took pictures of an elk and her calf right by the parking lot and bought two bags of chips for our lunch. We drove out and headed north toward Madison, stopping at the Black Sand Basin. We were amazed by the many small geysers and mud pots. We heard a commotion and lot of noise and laughter behind us, so we turned around and saw people pointing at our car and a crow flying out with a bag of Dorito Chips in its beak. We had locked the car but the top was down and when the crow saw the bright bag, it flew in grabbed it and flew out. It landed and tore the bag and ate our lunch chips! What an amazing event.
At the Fountain Paint Pot we stopped to take the half mile hike on the path around and through the mud pots and geysers. The steam was so HOT! We returned to the main road and met a family of buffalo walking along on the side of the road - they were close enough to touch. We ate our picnic lunch beside the Firehole River, a beautiful trout stream glistening in the midday sun. At 1:45 we continued north where we saw four bull bison sunning themselves along the side of the river just waiting to have their pictures taken. We saw many fly fisherman as well as a giant gray heron and an osprey all competing for the catch of the day.
Just before Mammoth Hot Springs we saw a small herd of seven elk grazing under to lodge pole pines. This was our farthest point north and as we turned east, the road became almost impassable. This is the worst stretch of paved road I have driven in many years. 25 miles later, the road had just recently been paved and it was fantastic, following the Yellowstone River to the huge Yellowstone Lake.
We left the park through the east entrance, again noting the devastating fires and how much of this beautiful crown jewel of our national park system has been destroyed. As we circled the lake we saw another huge herd of buffalo, it is nice to know they are surviving and thriving in this environment. There was a lot of construction on this portion of the road and as we were leaving the park, we had to wait over 30 minutes to be allowed to pass. We dropped down to Cody, Wyoming and found our hotel for the evening - Comfort Inn at Buffalo Bill Village Resort. We checked in, checked our mail, went to gas the car and give it a wash. At 7:30 we drove back to the center of town and had dinner at Adrianos - a very good Italian Restaurant. We returned to our room at 9 PM to work on the pictures and journal. We had driven 289.5 miles today.
Please see MAP on Day 4 - Red highlights are roads that are almost impassable.
| Miles Traveled | Gallons | Avg. Price | MPG |
| 290.6 | 8.82 | $3.199 Prem | 32.95 |
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