Surrounded by color

The Vanagon is on the road again, and the adventure continues. The problem turned out to be air in the clutch line, or something like that, so we had the fortune of not having to replace the clutch, and were able to get back on the road last Friday afternoon. We made it about an hour south of Belgrade before pulling off at a beautiful creek campsite and calling it a night.

Saturday afternoon we arrived in West Yellowstone, which I'm sure is booming during the summer months, but felt almost deserted while we were there. We decided to do Yellowstone in two days, one day the upper part of the park, then come out for the night back to West Yellowstone, and drive the remainder of the way through to the south on day two. The hardest part about being in parks is that Kiska can't really get out of the car, so we do lots of little short hikes instead just a big long one.

Day One: A couple minutes after entering the park we passed two bison just off the road. Shortly thereafter We then ran into a heard of elk, and saw many more bison throughout the day.


Elk in the grass, his ladies were all close by


The Bison were plentiful in the park


And elk crossing the road, with traffic stopped all around, in what we pictured to be a common Yellowstone experience

Besides the wildlife, the first day was full of waterfalls, geysers, steam vents and gurgling mud pots. We visited the Norris Geyser Basin, the Artist Paintpots, and finally Lower Yellowstone falls and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.




The one waterfall close enough to pavement that Kiska was allowed to walk with us to see


Paintpots, the photo only barely captures the colors


Mineral and mud buildup on the side of a hot spring


Geyser


Kis with a stick we brought her back from a hike so she wouldn't be so pouty about being stuck in the car... Yes, she's a spoiled princess :)


The warm steam from the geysers and pools felt so nice on the cold afternoon!


Grand canyon of Yellowstone, at the brink of the lower falls



Day two: We woke up to a cold morning, and bundled up to head back into the park. We only made a couple stops, seeing some more paint pots and small geysers, before the downpour started, and really didn't let up all afternoon. We did arrive at Old Faithful just as it was erupting, which was perfect, and then explored the visitor center and lodges a bit while staying dry and getting warmed up. We had planned to camp between Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks, but when the ranger told us there was a 90% chance of snow and the weather wasn't looking up, we headed clear down to Jackson. The rain made the colors throughout both parks beautiful, but we unfortunately didn't spend much time out of the car exploring after seeing Old Faithful.


One of the geysers


Brilliant blue of the spring water, it looked so tempting to take a warm soak in!


Old faithful, near the end of it's performance


Meadow in Grand Teton, in front of Jenny Lake


Mountains trying to peek out from behind the clouds in Teton

After a cold wet night in Jackson, we awoke to a marvelous day, barely a cloud in the sky! We did some hiking just outside of Jackson proper, and then explored Teton Village, Jackson Hole ski area, and went a little ways back up into GT park.


Yay for the sun!


Hiking in the beautiful autumn colors


Bones was happy to be in the sunny weather again too





The ski area with no snow and no people, can't imagine what this is like on a packed winter day!


Snow covered peaks of the Tetons!

We spoiled ourselves with a shower on our last evening in Jackson, and then went out for the night to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar for a drink and some pool. The unique thing about this bar was that the bar stools are actually saddles, complete with stirrups to.

The next morning we headed south from Jackson to the small town of Pinedale, where we have spent the last two nights and wonderfully sunny days camping at Half Moon Lake. We were the only ones at the campground and had a private beach on the very peaceful lake. We spent yesterday hiking around part of the lake and up to a nice little creek, and then just relaxing and reading for the afternoon. It was so nice to bring out our chairs, set them up on the beach, and feel warm and relaxed looking out on the water and mountains. Kiska also got plenty of entertainment from chasing all the chipmunks nearby.



Nathan fishing at our little private beach on Half Moon Lake


Creek where we had a snack on the hike

The nights here at 8000 ft have been quite chilly, and we awoke both mornings to Kiska's water bowl being frozen over and a thin layer of ice instead of condensation lining the inside of the camper. Time to head further south!