West Yellowstone

We almost made our target time (9AM) for departure yesterday, but it was 9:30 by the time we got everything packed up and filled the Jeep with gas. It was a fun day, even though the smoke and haze were still present.

There was more smoke on the Idaho side of the Tetons than in Jackson. There were a couple large fires still burning in Salmon and Sidney that were creating more trouble for viewing. We drove through some nice areas of fall colors, but most of the areas were too hazy to get good shots. This is one that shows both the haze and the colors (somewhat) in an especially pretty area:

Our destination was West Yellowstone and we arrived there shortly after noon. We wanted to stop at the Grizzly RV Park located there to pick up information and to check it out:

It is a very nice park and is only about 1/4 mile from the west entrance to Yellowstone. We stopped in the office, picked up some literature and then drove through the park. It is definitely a place we would consider spending a summer workamping. The fact that it is right outside the entrance to Yellowstone has great appeal, the town is nice and the park is beautiful.

As we drove through the entrance road into the park, we spotted this lone Bison in a field:

After stopping for a picnic lunch along the river, we made a decision to take the west side of the lower loop road from Madison, past Old Faithful, to West Thumb and out the southern entrance:

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

 

The smoke and haze were making it difficult to see long distances and the wildlife was probably bedded down as a result of all the smoke. Also, there were few areas for color as most of what we saw were evergreens in this part of the park.

We did, however, make a couple stops along the way. The first was on the Firehole road that we went on 2 years ago when we came here on one of our trips from Cody. There was the Firehole Falls:

and then the Kepler Cascades which we had not previously visited:

The smoke and haze was still in the Tetons as we entered that park at around 4 PM. It's a real shame about all the smoke as the colors in the Tetons were just absolutely beautiful. Here are some of the photos we took on that drive through the park:

You can imagine how beautiful these pictures would be on a totally clear day.

Finally, we saw the Bison in the park for the first time since hunting season started in mid August. The herd was together in a field in the northern part of the park where they could roam in safety:

Our final trip to Yellowstone was, as usual, a great experience and lots of fun. We will miss these parks until we return again next year.

One more week of work starts tomorrow. Actually, it is 7 days of work as we still get one more break next Thursday and Friday before winding up on Saturday and Sunday. There is lots to do between now and then so our trips will be mostly very short until we leave on the 3rd of October...