July 2, 2023
6/26- So we are not big planners. We love to fly by the seat of our pants which is great because it allows us to stay longer in a place if we really like it or detour to something we see near where we are going, but this week it kind of bit us. When I called to start booking sites for Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons I was told these sites were often booked up to a year in advance, so we had to do a bit of maneuvering and going a bit out of our way to get into anyplace close to these National Parks.
Today we drove a bit out of our way to Greycliff, Montana to a Harvest Host location and a beautiful spot. The hosts moved from Texas to Montana and building of parts of their farm was featured on the show Restoration Road. https://greycliffmill.com/ Greycliff Mill is a water powered grist mill inside a building made using the timber from a New York Dutch barn from upstate New York that was originally built in the 1780’s. Having Dutch ancestors that go back to the 1600’s in New York I wondered if some relative of mine originally owned this barn so I had to touch that bit of history.
The host had 7 campsites along the grey cliffs and we were able to get a long pull-out which was perfect for our RV. From our campsite we could look out over the fields that they worked with an old plow drawn by horses. Usually they have a cheese cave you can tour that is cooled by a spring but it had flooded recently and so we were unable to see it. But we enjoyed exploring the rest of the area. They had a small restaurant where Frank got his dinner and we both got Italian Sodas. As we sat in our RV that evening we watched a storm roll through and the sunset.
Then it was time to get back on the phone and try to find a place for us to stay by Yellowstone for the next couple days. We lucked out and found a place called Yellowstone Edge which had a cancellation tomorrow and a KOA nearby where I was able to book two different sites for two different days so that will allow us time to see Yellowstone. I was also able to find a place just outside of Jackson Hole for two nights so we will be able to visit The Grand Tetons from there.
6/27- Before heading out this morning we went back to the grist mill for breakfast where their claim to fame was Cinnamon Rolls which Frank enjoyed immensely. Then it was off a few miles back the way we came and down Highway 89 to our spot for the night. It is a beautiful campground right on the Yellowstone River.
We got in early since our trip was so short so we were set up by noon and ready to go and explore Yellowstone. The park is about 40 miles from our campground but that was as close as we could get. Unfortunately the place we are staying tomorrow is 10 miles further down the road so it was a long drive to get into the park, but the views along the way of the river and rafters keep us entertained.
Yellowstone National Park is huge, about 2.2 million acres with five different entrances. To see the whole park would be impossible so we had to pick the places we really wanted to see and head there. https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm We came in through the North entrance which was near the Albright Visitor Center and Mammoth Hot Springs.
It was rainy and continued to rain off and on throughout the day which kept the crowds down and made it easier to get into the pull outs along the way to see all the sites. We wanted to drive the entire loop around Yellowstone, but it is 198 miles slow miles. The loop is divided into two parts so we thought we could cover the upper part of the loop in one day and the lower part the next. We just didn’t realize how often we would want to pull over to take pictures and hike around.
We managed to get from the North entrance to Norris Geyser Basin before it was getting late, so we had to call it a day and head back to our campsite. But along the way we saw waterfalls, cliffs, hot springs and geysers. We were able to see Roaring Mountain which lived up to its name as multiple geysers emitted steam make a roaring noise. When we arrived to Norris Geyser we were able to hike around the basin and visited Steamboat Geyser. It can erupt from 3 to 40 minutes and the major eruptions vary in the amount of days between eruptions which came vary from 23 day to over 50 days. The last major eruption was early June and although it had a few very small eruptions we didn’t get to see a big one.
Before heading back to our campground for the night we stopped by Yellowstone Hot Springs for a soak. It is a free flowing springs which they cool to various temperatures stating at 106 degrees. We enjoyed soaking for about an hour and seeing the beauty around us before heading back to our campsite.
6/28- We had to move this morning up the road, but Yellowstone Edge check-out time was 11 am and the KOA check-in time was 1 pm and they were only 10 miles apart. So we found a rest stop where we killed some time exploring and had lunch before heading to the KOA. We spotted an eagles nest up on a telephone wire but no eagles where around.
When we arrived there we found that instead of booking us for two different sites on two different days the booked us for two sites on the same day. They allowed us to pick which site we wanted to stay in and refunded the cost of the other site, but they didn’t have a spot for the next night and we now didn’t have anywhere to stay. Before resorting to finding a spot on BLM land to boondock tomorrow we decided to call Yellowstone Edge to see if they might possible have another cancelation and they did. So we will be moving once again tomorrow, back to the campground that is much prettier and we really liked it.
Once we were settled at the KOA we got in the car and headed back up to Yellowstone where we wanted to drive the loop around the other side of Yellowstone passing the Northeast entrance. The views along this leg of the loop were vastly different from the other side. Although we did see some hot springs, we saw that it was mainly just beautiful countryside for as far as you can see. We did see a mama mountain sheep walking along a cliff with her baby. When we reached the bottom of the upper loop we hoped to go on down to the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Caldron, but it was a clear and beautiful day and the park was packed. The rangers had closed off the road at Canyon Village so we had to turn toward Norris and headed around and back out of the park. https://boundtoexplore.com/driving-yellowstone-loop/
On our way through yesterday we had seen a neat 1 mile drive through the rocks but didn’t take it, but today as we were leaving the park we turned onto it to take the drive. We had barely gotten on the road to find three cars parked and taking pictures. There was no pull-in and despite signs everywhere in the park saying don’t stop on the roads they decided they could. So we weren’t able to get many pictures as we worked our way around their cars.
6/29- We moved our RV again this morning this time back to Yellowstone Edge then we were off for a day of off-roading outside of the park. We had driven by Old Yellowstone Highway several times on our way to and from the park and since it ran close to the river on the opposite side we decided to explore it. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92204 It has always been an unpaved highway that ran through several parks toward Yellowstone. The section we drove had been badly damaged by flooding with a bridge being washed away at one point and eventually the road closed before we reached the park.
When we reached the road closure we backtracked along the Old Yellowstone Highway looking for other places we could explore and we found a Forest road so we headed up. It went up into the mountains and had amazing views along the way. We marveled at what we saw but the best part of that road was we hit the jackpot and saw several wild animals along the way.
First we spotted a majestic elk gazing out at the valley. We stopped in the road and managed to get one picture of him before he took off. We saw bunnies and multiple deer and were able to get pictures of several of the deer. After driving for a couple hours we turned to head back down the road. Just as we turned the corner near where I had taken some pictures of the beautiful wild flowers Frank spotted a mama grizzly bear and her cub. Our Jeep was literally 50 feet away from them and Frank was able to quickly snap some pictures of them before they lumbered away. It was really an amazing day!
6/30- Left Yellowstone today. We had to drive through the park on Highway 89 so we made sure we got up early and got going so we wouldn’t face all the traffic from people sightseeing. We were hoping to see some sights along the way including Paint Pot and Old Faithful but when you are in a 38 foot RV towing a Jeep you length comes to 63 feet and there aren’t many places you can find to stop. We were able stop at Beryl Springs and get some pictures of the smaller geysers in the lower geyser basin from the road.
We were lucky that we were able to find a nice shady pullover near Lewis Lake where we could stop and eat lunch. Apparently it looked good to others too because by the time we finished our sandwiches we were blocked in by three other vehicles. Two were very gracious and moved out of our way so we could easily get out but one wasn’t wanting to move an inch so we kept our fingers crossed and managed to get around them and back on the road. You truly meet some of the most interesting people in your travels. Most are nice but there are the occasional ones who make you want to scream.
As we left Lewis Lake and Yellowstone we immediately started seeing the Grand Tetons. They were impressive. In fact so impressive that we ended up taking way too many pictures of them.
Once we got to our campsite we set off and headed to Teton Village to ride the tram. https://www.jacksonhole.com/aerial-tram The tram holds 100 people and climbs over 4,000 feet in less than 9 minutes. The views on the way up and down where impressive.
When you reach the top you are at over 10,000 feet. We hiked a bit but with the higher altitude we were both short of breath and exhausted so we took the tram back down. We saw a couple hang gliders launching themselves off the mountain. We were told at the bottom if we wanted one of them would be glad to strap us to him and give us a ride down. We politely declined. Maybe when I’m in my late 80’s I will consider it.
Once we got down we decided to try one of the ski trams that is used in the winter. They only hold about 4 people. They had two running up different trials. Turns out our tram was running where they were building a summer bike run down the mountain. It looked like quite the adventure.
Then we headed into Jackson Hole for dinner and to walk around the town and checkout the sights there. We saw the elk antler arches that were in a downtown park. We checked out some statues and stumbled upon an ice cream place, so of course we had to get ice cream before heading back to the campsite for the night. Heading back to our campsite we came upon the rafting bears and cracked up.
7/1- Both Frank and I woke up feeling off. We were so exhausted and short of breath. We felt like we might have a bit of altitude sickness so we laid around this morning and took it easy and drank lots of water. By this afternoon we felt better so it was off to explore the park and do some off-roading. While we were wandering we came upon Mormon Row so we had to check it out and see what it was. https://www.nps.gov/grte/learn/historyculture/mormon.htm There was quite the crowd there so we took a quick picture from the Jeep and headed out.
We went up Shadow Mountain which was a great trail. There was a lot of dispersed tent camping along the trail going up and that side of the mountain was a pretty easy trek. We climbed 2500 feet to over 8200 feet. Then on our way back down the other side we saw the true adventure of this off-road trail with its mud holes and small gullies running through the road. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/btnf/recarea/?recid=71665
Once we got down we drove through the rest of The Grand Teton Park. We stopped and saw Jackson Lake and Teton Glacier before heading back to the RV.
Shortly after we got back a big storm blew in so we pulled in the slides and watched small branches falling to the ground and the awnings of people who left them out while they were away dancing in the wind. Once things calmed down we headed out to do our laundry before going to bed for the night.
7/2- We had debated how we were going to get from Wyoming into Idaho because everyone kept telling us how difficult it would to pull our RV over the “17 miles of 10% grade” in Teton Pass. That had us pretty spooked but going a different way would add more than an hour to an already long trip. We said a prayer that we would feel comfortable with the way we should go and both agreed to give Teton Pass a try. https://www.wyoroad.info/Highway/Teton.pdf Although there were 10% grades, most of the way we were driving up hill for more than half of them and as we headed down we only had about 5 miles of 10% grades. Once we got off the road we both said “Man the people that say this is a rough drive have not driven over 50 miles of Canada’s Highway 3 through the mountains.”
We found our campground in Twin Falls, Idaho and went out to explore. We saw where Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River in 1974 and the ramp where Eddie Braum successfully made the jump in 2016. https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2961
We checked out the Shoshone Falls which was impressive but it was so hot we didn’t want to stay long.
But what was even more impressive was watching BASE jumpers jump from the I B Perrine Bridge which is over 486 feet above the canyon. https://visitsouthidaho.com/adventure/base-jumping/
Tomorrow we start making our way through Idaho down to visit our son in Utah before heading further East.
Nicely put.