Yellowstone

Thursday, June 29, 2006 - Angie turned 16 today. We drove up through Jackson, into Grand Teton National Park. Admission to Grand Teton is $25 and includes Yellowstone. We passed many elk. We stopped at Jackson Lake Lodge and walked through. While leaving we saw two moose.

Elk	View from Jackson Lake Lodge

We continued northward into Yellowstone, There are two large driving loops in Yellowstone arranged like the number 8. We started around the lower loop clockwise and went to Old Faithful, Black Sand Basin, and Biscuit Basin. We walked through the Old Faithful Lodge. The fireplace was enormous and the natural tree limb architecture was interesting. It was getting late so we drove to the Canyon Campground, made camp, and then drove down to the Lake Hotel for dinner. We passed many buffalo on the drive to the restaurant.

Old Faithful	Buffalo

Driving back to the campground we saw more elk and some buffalo that were keeping warm next to geysers. We stopped at the Mud Volcano. The Black Cauldron was impressive.

Elk	Buffalo at Geysers

Friday, June 30, 2006 - We started driving counterclockwise around the upper loop and arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. From there we continued on to the Norris Geyser Basin and Artists Paintpots. We took the Firehole Canyon Drive which passed Firehole Falls. Our last stop, before returning to the campground for dinner, was the Lower Geyser Basin.

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces	Artists Paintpots

We only had three days here so we had to make the most of it. After dinner we drove to Inspiration Point and Grand View, hiked to Lookout Point for a good view of the Lower Falls, hiked to the brink of the Lower Falls, and hiked to the brink of the Upper Falls.

Yellowstone River from Grand View	Lower Falls from Lookout Point

Saturday, July 1, 2006 - We hiked the Mt. Washburn Trail from Dunraven Pass. The trail is about three miles one way and climbs from 8859 feet to 10,243 feet. There is a fire tower at the top. We passed goats along the way. In the afternoon we drove to Artist Point and back to the Mud Volcano to get some video. Yellowstone was amazing. The park service does a great job managing all of the visitors. The campgrounds are huge but spaced so the crowds aren't obvious. We were there at a busy time of year but there were only occasional traffic backups for the wayward buffalo. Even at Old Faithful, the huge amount of traffic and people is well managed.

Goats along Mt. Washburn Trail	Missy at Brink of Lower Falls