Yellowstone and Tetons . . .

Lamar River in Yellowstone

Yellowstone and the Wildlife . . .

Yellowstone's wildlife was abundant. Bison dotted the landscape, as well as ground squirrels, ravens, pronghorn, moose, marmots and mule deer. We also came across a pair of swans swimming in the river.

Our first wildlife in Yellowstone - shedding his winter coat

Beautiful large elk

Yellowstone Bison

Large Bison shedding his winter coat

We searched and searched for bear but kept missing them. A couple of times we came across cars parked along the side of the road  with numerous photographers taking photos. I assumed they had spotted either a bear or wolf, but there was nowhere to pull our little rv over to park. Very crowded places.

Mule Deer crossing the road

Trumpeter Swan on Fire Hole River

Ground Squirrel at Lamar River in Yellowstone

I did spot a wolf one day but he was too far away and there was no where to park to capture his pic either, but I did get a good look at him.


Yellowstone and the Hot Springs . . .

Hot springs abound in Yellowstone, from the Mammoth to Paint Pots and everything in between.

Steamboat Geyser

Hot Springs along Fire Hole River

Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardner, MT below

Mammoth Hot Springs

Artists Paint Pots

A Drive thru The Tetons . . .
We took a day to drive down to the Tetons . . . beautiful drive past Yellowstone Lake, Jackson Lake, Jenny Lake, the Teton Mountain Range, Colter Bay Village and then downtown Jackson Hole. It was a long drive due to the road closure around Old Faithful, but well worth every minute. We were only in the Tetons for a short while and I wish we had taken the time to stay at least a couple of nights there. So much to see . . . I feel like I missed a lot. That will be another trip out West, to spend time in the Tetons.

Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone Lake with Mountains in background

The Teton Mountain Range

Mount Moran

Guy with a large sculpture outside the Teton Visitor Center

Antler Arch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Jackson Lake

Leaving the Tetons

Departing Yellowstone for the Big Horn . . .
Our stay in Yellowstone was special, but we had to get on down the road. Our last night brought a snowfall that worried us as we headed out toward the Big Horn Mountains, but fortunately the roads were just slushy. As we drove further toward the East Gate the snow became deeper and then just disappeared all of a sudden as we headed into the Big Horn Mountain Range.

Early morning snow as we depart Yellowstone thru the East Gate

Our only bear sighting as we were leaving

Overlooking a little frozen lake on the East side of Yellowstone

Mountain Range on East side of Yellowstone that we had to cross

Big Horn Mountain Sheep

We had given up on seeing any bears when we spotted a black bear on our way out of Yellowstone near the East Gate. He was a little distance from us and my 300 mm lens couldn't pick him up very well, but you could clearly see he was busy digging under the snow for food. Perfect end to our Yellowstone trip and then as we got a little further down the road we came across a Big Horn Sheep beside the guard rail and of course I got a pic of him - lousy as it was because we were moving. But a pic all the same worth treasuring for memories.

Idaho thru Montana to Yellowstone

Montana Scenery

Leaving Washington for more Adventure . . .
The eastern section of Washington was a rather flat landscape, unlike anything we had imagined. We over nighted at a nice Wal-Mart in Cle Elum, Washington where we started having problems with our generator. Fortunately we really didn't need to use it.

Couer d Alene Lake in Idaho

And then we hit Idaho . . . Oh my, absolutely amazing landscape. Idaho is one state I would like to revisit and spend some time in.







The little bit we saw of Idaho from I-90 was mountains covered with evergreens and some very picturesque farms. I could only imagine what the rest of the state might look like.

Idaho Wildfire

Idaho

Montana . . .
Montana's campground stay was at West St. Regis Campground in St. Regis. A small campground, nice scenery and very clean, and we were able to catch up on laundry during our stay.  The staff here were super friendly and I would highly recommend this place to anyone. We were woken up one morning with the sound of bugling elk in the field next to our rig. 

Montana Farm

Then Bozeman, Montana was our next destination with an overnight at Wal-Mart. The weather was cool and we were able to use our furnace and still keep the battery power up. That was something new to us. We had never had to use the furnace much without electricity, so this was a bonus for us. We are more self sufficient than we realized.

Montana

And Yellowstone . . .

On to Yellowstone . . . the main event for this trip! Some of the roads are being worked on and we had to traverse a washboard to get to our campground. We passed hundreds of acres of burnt forest along the way. I can only assume that most of this acreage was destroyed in the Wildfires of 1988. Many of the pine cone seeds have reseeded and there is a new forest growing on this scorched soil.

Gardiner, Montana at North entrance to Yellowstone

We booked a few nights at Madison Campground which turned out to be quite large and we were able to find a great flat area to park. Of course we had to wait for a large Bison to move out of our site. Guess he thought that place was his as he stayed around for a while.

Large Bison taking over our Camping Site at Madison Campground

Madison Campground

Since it was early in the day and we really didn't want to mess with this large animal, we headed on down to get a glimpse of Old Faithful. The drive from our campground followed a beautiful creek with wildlife and many geysers along the way. We were blessed to arrive at Old Faithful about 15 minutes before it erupted. She erupts about every 90 minutes and shoots up as high as 200 feet in the air. I would say she probably went up about 150 foot and it lasted about 3 minutes. What a sight . . . to see so much hot water flowing upwards. It was cold standing there but no one seemed to mind. All eyes were on Old Faithful. We saw the big lodge while we were there also. Following are a few pics of Old Faithful. Stay tuned to the next installment as we travel across Yellowstone.

Old Faithful before eruption

At eruption - too close for a good shot

Pic of Guy at Old Faithful as it was calming down

 

Pacific Coastal Images and More

Oregon's Pacific Coast

 Traveling Thru Oregon with the Elk . . .
We were heading down the road toward Oregon and we came upon a huge herd of elk at a really picturesque campground along the side of the road. Of course I couldn't contain myself . . . seeing such a large group of elk in the wild had me scrambling for my camera. I honestly didn't know whether to use my wide angle lens or my telephoto lens. I ended up using the wide angle as the elk were all around us and within fairly close proximity. Just wanted to get as much in as I could.

Picturesque Campground with Elk Herd

Elk Herd

Oregon barn on country road

Female, I think

Beach Time . . . 
We spent a little time on the beach. It was cold and windy. The tide was out that morning but quickly coming in as I ended up with soaking wet tennis shoes. Note the sign on the beach with tsunami warnings, large wave and rip current warnings. I guess the large wave caught me.

Cold and Windy Oregon Beach

Warning sign of Tsunami's, large waves and rip currents

Rocky Coastline . . .
Beautiful rocky coastlines with lighthouses abound and we chose to spend the night beside Heceta Head Lighthouse on the coast of Oregon. A rocky outcrop with a pullout was so enticing with the sea lions resting on the rocks below us and the lighthouse with it's searchlight across the bay from us. I have to admit that I didn't sleep well that night. With all the movies and news media reports that we had seen on the Pacific coastal region and the beach sign shown above, I kept envisioning a tsunami engulfing us or an earthquake shaking us apart. Silly, I know. But I think I was also concerned about sticking out so prominently next to the edge of the road and someone stopping by to harass us. In Oregon you are allowed to stay 12 hours as long as you don't call it camping, so we were just enjoying the view - not camping! LOL!!! But morning came and the sea lions woke Guy with their barking below which was quiet loud. And all was safe and sound as we had our breakfast and headed up the road toward the state of Washington.

Rough rocky coast with sea lions on rock ledge

The closest pic I could get of the sea lions with my camera

Western Gull

Heceta Head Lighthouse at Dusk

Sunset at Heceta Head

Border Crossing into Washington . . . 
Crossing the border into the state of Washington took us across the Columbia River. The large bridge looked very old and was undergoing some major repairs that had one lane traffic crossing some parts of the bridge.

Columbia River Bridge

Crossing Columbia River into Washington State

Washington had some beautiful lakes to photograph on the Western end where I managed to pull off a few clicks of the camera.

A Washington State Lake

Another of Washington's beautiful lakes

It was a quick trip through the state as we were headed to Yellowstone to spend a few days.