August 15, 2020 - Big Sandy Reservoir to Fort Collins, CO

We were on the road about 9:15 this morning heading home. The drive out to the highway – about 3 miles – took 20 minutes! While Big Sandy is a nice place to camp, getting there is challenging!

We heard about a fire that is burning near Cameron Pass – about 65 miles west of Fort Collins. It has grown to over 5,400 acres and we could see the smoke from I-80 near Laramie! Those are not clouds in the picture, but smoke from the fire! We were about 60 miles north of the fire when I took this picture!It makes me so sad because this is such a beautiful part of our state!I am always happy when I see this sign! We are almost home. As we came into Fort Collins, the smoke just filled the sky. It was only 3:30 in the afternoon when we came down Overland Trail Road!We arrived home about 4pm to one happy dog! We sure missed her and she missed us. It was hard to unload the RV because Penny kept trying to help us! By 5:30 tonight, the sun was glowing red behind the smoke.We had a great time, but we are happy to be home. Tomorrow the RV will get some deep cleaning and chores here finished. In the meantime, our prayers are with the firefighters and first responders, not just at the Cameron Pass fire, but at the three other fires burning in Colorado.

August 14, 2020 - Threemile Campground to Big Sandy Reservoir, Wyoming

Ann and Gary left early this morning – shortly after 6am – to head home. We headed out around 8am. We drove into Yellowstone and  stopped at Sylvan Lake for breakfast.We had a beautiful view from our dining room table!

We are still amazed at all of the dead trees. We aren’t sure if this burn area is from 1988 or 2016. The 1988 fire burned almost 794,000 acres and the 2016 fire burned about 21,000 acres!We were able to use the dump station at Bridge Bay and refilled the RV with water. Our journey took us south past the West Thumb geyser area to the south entrance station. Just south of Yellowstone is the Teton National Park. We could see a herd of bison off in the distance; there were more than we saw the entire time in Yellowstone! The view of Jenny Lake with the mountains to the west is amazing.Further down the road we stopped for lunch and were treated to more views of the Tetons.We are so lucky to have such amazing national parks so close to where we live!

Jackson, Wyoming was our gas stop. As we approached town we saw signs saying that masks are mandatory EVERYWHERE in town, but we saw little evidence that anyone was following the rules. After filling we headed south to Big Sandy Reservoir. We both chuckled about the same time because the miles of road construction reminded us of Mexico!We finally arrived at Big Sandy Reservoir and had a three mile road in that was washboard gravel. It made for very slow going. We hoped to go kayaking but the wind was blowing so hard, we could hardly open our back door!

We are camped overlooking the reservoir. There are a couple other campers in the area, but it is very quiet. This is a free campground and even offers picnic tables and restrooms!

We did find a path we could take down to the beach, but we won’t be taking the kayak out tonight.We have decided we will head home tomorrow and not spend another day. Just before going to bed, we did look out and see clear skies filled with millions of stars. It was a beautiful sight!

August 13, 2020 - Yellowstone

We had a lazy start to our day and didn’t head into the park until 9:30! Our only destination was a small hike before the Fishing Bridge/Lake Village area. We asked about the Avalanche Peak hike at the entrance station and changed our minds – it has a 2000’ elevation gain in less than two miles and is rated as strenuous. We opted for an easy hike at Storm Point. About 2-1/2 miles and mostly flat. I think Tobey was disappointed, but he was a good sport!

The hike crossed a meadow and through forest before reaching the tip of Storm Point which gave us some great views of Yellowstone Lake and the mountains.The guys scrambled up the rocks to prove they could do it.After the point, we followed the trail along the shoreline. It was chilly and windy!We passed many sections of forest with downed trees along the inland side of the trail.Further along, Gary spotted something moving along the hill. We pulled out the binoculars and decided they looked a little like marmots but we weren’t quite sure. The closer we got, the more of them we could see.The trail then turned back through the trees. Many of them are dead and with the wind it was a little disconcerting to hear them creaking. I think I was more afraid a tree would fall on me than I was of encountering a bear!

After the hike we headed back to camp. We had a traffic jam on the way out of the park.This big guy was just walking down the road and had traffic stopping in both directions. We finally got close enough to pass. Tobey probably could have put his arm out the window and tapped him on the bum as we went by!We stopped at the Lake Butte Overlook for one last view of the lake and surrounding area.Our final stop was at Corkscrew Bridge overlook. What a disappointment. We can only assume that it was one of the original bridges in the park, but there was no signage explaining anything about it! The best part of the stop was when another family stopped and they told us that two guys on motorcycles came zooming up to the bison we had seen and stopped. The bison kept going toward them and they jumped off their motorcycles and ran. The bison just stopped and smelled their cycles, then kept on walking. Wish we had seen that!Back at camp, we had lunch then spent some time reading and played board games and cards. Ann and Gary are leaving early tomorrow so they will travel on their own. We will make a leisurely trip home and spend at least one more night before getting there.

August 12, 2020 - Yellowstone National Park

Today we headed back into the park to finish our grand tour. We hadn’t stopped to take our picture at the Yellowstone sign, so today was the day! We needed to confirm that we are still tourists!Near Fishing Bridge we spotted our first wildlife – a small deer heading toward the river in the construction zone!From there, we headed back to finish the section between Midway Geyser Basin and Madison that we missed yesterday. We took the one-way Firehole Canyon Drive south. It has beautiful views of the Firehole River and Firehole Falls. There is a swimming area in the river but it is closed this summer because of the Covid virus. It is usually jammed with people swimming, so there would be NO social distancing. That was disappointing because it is really fun to swim there in the thermal water!Firehole FallsWe stopped at a small geyser basin pullout and saw the “bobby socks” trees. They are a common sight near active thermal features. The lodgepole pines drowned in the super-heated water of the shifting thermal activity. Silica penetrates the trees and hardens their bases and turns them white and they look like bobby socks.

The next section we missed was the Firehole Lake Drive. Tobey and I have been to Yellowstone several times and this was the first time we took this drive which was quite interesting! The massive dome of the White Dome Geyser  (above) indicates that it has probably been erupting for hundreds of years. It has a narrow vent, so nearly the height of the eruption is only about 30 feet. Afterwards, we continued north to Gibbons Falls. There is an interesting sign there describing how the “new” road that is currently in use was built in the 1920s. It only took about 120 days!Artists Paint Pots was our next stop on the way to Mammoth Hot Springs. The walking tour is just over 1/2 mile and provided amazing views. Our last destination of the day was Mammoth Hot Springs. We stopped in the village and saw some of the old historic fort buildings. Unfortunately, the visitor’s center here, as well as all the locations in the park, are closed. The gift shop was open so we stopped in for ice cream before tackling the trail! Outside next to the parking lot, elk were grazing in town. On the trail of the Lower Terrace, we stopped by the Opal Terrace. In 1926, Opal Terrace began depositing up to one foot of travertine per year.Following the trail we also saw the Minerva Terrace and Palette Spring. We all decided that the Lower Terraces walk was enough for us for the day! We had walked over seven miles today so we headed back to the campground. After dinner we played a couple games of cards and called it a day! It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be our last day here.

August 11, 2020 - Yellowstone National Park

Today was a long day, but we saw so much of the park!

We headed off and turned south at Lake Village to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Located on the south shore, it overlooks Yellowstone Lake which is the largest lake above 8,000 feet elevation in North America. We took both loop trails around the geyser features which was about 1 mile total.

The outer loop takes you along the shore and we could see the Lakeshore Geyser and Fishing Cone. Lakeshore Geyser’s two vents are underwater in the spring and early summer. Once they are exposed, the geyser may splash a couple feet. It has been mostly inactive since 2003.

The picture below is the Fishing Cone. According to legends, mountain men told of a geyser along an alpine lake where one could catch a trout, swing the pole around, dip it into the boiling pool, and cook the fish without taking it off the line!

The cooking on the hook feat became famous after 1870 and visitors to the park often dressed in a cook’s hat and apron to have their pictures taken at the “Chowder Pot”. Anglers often injured themselves while straddling the boiling water and their feet damaged the geyser cone. Fishing is no longer allowed from Fishing Cone. Abyss Pool

The Abyss Pool is one of the deeper hot springs in the park; it descends about 53 feet. It erupted for the first time in recent history in 1987, then was quiet until 1991. The next active period lasted from December 1991 through June 1992. Since then, Abyss has been quiet.

Below is the Black Pool, which, at one time, really was black! Lower water temperatures allowed dark green and brown thermophiles to grow in the pool causing it to appear black. In the summer of 1991, the water temperature rose killing the organisms. Black Pool erupted that summer and several times the following winter. It is now a quiet and beautiful pool!Black Pool

From West Thumb, we headed over to the Old Faithful area with a quick stop at Kepler Cascades. Upon arriving at Old Faithful, we were once again in the minority of people wearing masks throughout the park! Ann and I estimated about 25% of the people wore masks, and there were plenty of people there!We did time it just right – Old Faithful erupted less than ten minutes after we arrived there!We had a picnic lunch after watching Old Faithful then took the Old Faithful Geyser Loop trail, around Geyser Hill, and out to Morning Glory Pool, before swinging back by Daisy Geyser and the Old Faithful parking lot!Doublet PoolDoublet PoolSpasmodic GeyserGrotto GeyserRiverside GeyserRiverside Geyser

Luck was also with us as we approached Riverside Geyser. Its 20-minute eruption is supposed to be one of the most predictable geysers in the park. It started about ten minutes after we got there! The water reaches a height of about 75 feet and arches over the river.

We made it to Morning Glory Pool and just love how beautiful it is.On the way back we took the Daisy Geyser loop and arrived in time to see it spouting!Daisy Geyser

Next stop on the agenda was the Black Sand Basin which you can hike to, but we drove! This basin has the Emerald Pool, Rainbow Pool, and Sunset Lake. Emerald Pool

There was an elk resting in the brush across the field from Emerald Pool. He would NOT turn his head toward the camera – now how rude is that?!!The Sapphire Pool below is in Biscuit Basin and has not erupted since 1991. Gary was most disappointed that we couldn’t soak in it like a hot tub!Jewel Geyser (above), also in Biscuit Basin and erupts every 7-10 minutes!

It was late afternoon by the time we reached Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic Spring. You can see the hot water pouring into the Firehole River.I always love seeing the different colors in this spring.

So far we have not seen very many animals in the park which has been disappointing. We spoke with a ranger and he said our best bet to see bison in in the Lamar Valley (very far north and east) or the Hayden Valley. We decided to head toward the Hayden Valley and try out luck. On our way south from Canyon Village we spotted a mountain goat on the hill. And just north of the North Canyon Rim Drive we saw a small herd of elk.We stopped for dinner at one of the pullouts along the Hayden Valley in hopes of spotting bison. Gary brought his camp stove and cooked for us. Dinner was great, but no bison!

Down the road further, we saw more elk along the Yellowstone River.We had our binoculars and were scanning the far hills for bison and saw one lonely bison making his way across the sage. He was too far away to even take pictures of! We did have a good view of these two hawks (I think that’s what they are) in the same tree.We finally spotted a couple bison closer to the river so Ann and I hiked down to see. This guy was lying next to the steam vent on the other side of the river.It wasn’t much of a picture, but we were figuring that beggars can’t be choosers! The sun was starting to set, so back in the truck and heading south we saw one more fellow closer to the road. My feet were definitely tired and Ann’s Fitbit confirmed why – we walked over 9 miles today. It was almost 10pm by the time we got back to our campground. Thank you Gary for driving!