Pictures
Due to popular demand, I’ve posted the remaining pictures to Flickr. You can view the entire trip collection here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shrugged/collections/72157602586153835/ Or just my personal favorites here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shrugged/sets/72157602440503599 If you have the Google Screensaver, you can subscribe to these pictures so they appear on your desktop. I’ll continue to add with subsequent trips. Just enter this as the RSS address for the feed. http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=38484710@N00&lang=en-us&format=rss_200 Bookmark & Share ...
The Road Home
I drove out to Jackson Hole directly, in one very long day. I thought the experience would be akin to ripping off the band-aid. Getting out of Dodge and quickly beginning my vacation. I wanted to take my time driving back, exploring places and meeting people. Day 1 I left Jackson early on Thursday morning, intending on spending a little time driving through Grand Teton and Yellowstone. I was not disappointed. Yellowstone had received more snow on the southern road, and the scenery was magical. There is this long stretch of unbending road in southern Yellowstone that I captured. I could have parked my car in the middle of the highway as the traffic was that infrequent. It was questionable whether this road would be open. Yellowstone received...
Wednesday, Snowfall in Yellowstone
I’ve been here three days, and I’ve seen three seasons in the parks. Monday saw clear skies and warm weather. Tuesday saw rain and cool autumn temperatures. Today, snow! Gus and I had an early start today, driving early to Yellowstone. Just north of the Grand Teton/Yellowstone southern entrance we encountered strong snow in the mountains. I ran into a few people, and they all commented, “what a perfect day.” The pictures don’t do the scene justice. Today was largely a driving day, with us continuing northward to the Upper Falls of GCoY. We encountered a few herds of buffalo. What does it say when herds of buffalo crossing the road becomes a non-event to you? I love that these animals have no fear of man. This is...
Tuesday, Yellowstone (day 1)
Yellowstone is about 80 miles north of Jackson. After grabbing a hearty breakfast and caffeine for the road, I headed out. Morning seems to be the best time for wildlife and photographs. The air is still, frost covers the plants, and animals are beginning the migration back to the safety of the woods. Near the Moran junction in Grand Teton National Park, I came across this great river scene. Even though it’s a river, the water was not moving. The drive from Grand Teton through most of southern Yellowstone is uneventful. Looking at a map of Yellowstone, the entire southwest corner seems inaccessible except to hiking trails. I drove for 50 miles on this tranquil, fog covered, winding road with Stan Getz playing over the speakers. The only...
Monday in Grand Teton
Gus the MSH (Mighty Squirrel Hunter) needs to study. When I mentioned we were going to see ‘Bullwinkle’s', he clearly mistook this for ‘Rocky’s’. That seems inconsequential until you’re surrounded by 10 Bullwinkles in the evening with a barking Schnauzer. But before I get too far… Elk Reserve I left before dawn to drive to Grand Teton, heading north out of Jackson, trying to get an early start to the day and catch the good light. Just outside of Jackson is an overlook to the Elk Reserve, where each Winter 25,000 Elk gather to graze. The water in the rivers and lakes is warmer than the surrounding air at this hour, creating steam from the surface. The clouds in the horizon were amazing, and it was a view I thought would...
Arrival, with a side order of Nowhere, WY
My apologies to the residents of Cheyenne for my previous post. I unknowingly questioned why anyone would live in Cheyenne. I now understand why. Beyond Cheyenne is Rawlins, after which is a surreal scape leading to Landler. High Plains Drifter meets Total Recall. You reach the crest of a hill, and look down into a valley 10 miles wide and 30 miles long seeing only road and scrub brush. I drove towards one large hill for an hour, and after that time it still appeared in the distance. Lewis and Clarke crossed this path, as did countless thousands of settlers later in the century, with no sign of water or direction. I drove across this space in several hours – each hour which would have taken a week for them – and I wanted to turn around. ...