On our way south, out of Yellowstone, we stopped at its biggest attraction, Old Faithful. To me, it was pretty crowded, but of course this is the low season. Here's a shot of the huge main parking lot by Old Faithful.
This must be a zoo in the summer.Old Faithful wasn't that faithful for us: about 30 minutes late for its scheduled eruption.
We got a raincheck for a free second viewing, but it was time to push on. BTW, we saw a smaller geyser in Oregon that I liked a lot better. See later posts for more info.The lodge at Old Faithful was quite nice. Many of the lodges and concessions have apparently been outsourced to a company call Xanterra. We saw this here and at Crater Lake (see later posts). The lodges look great, but there's something overly commercialized about them. More "Trump-Tower" than "National Park."
Plenty of great views on the way out, and along the Grand Tetons. BTW, the fire damage from Yellowstone's 1988 fire (which burned 38% of the park) is still very much apparent. Many of the trees are less than 10 feet tall, and they are towered over by the dead ones, and surrounded by fallen trunks. You can see that in the first two photos here.
Here are the grand tetons.
Since it was a Friday night, we were worried about finding a campsite, so after a good lunch in Jackson, WY, we stopped early in the afternoon at the East Table campground in the Targhee National Forest. It was on the Snake river, and very close to Idaho. It was totally deserted when we got there.
The river was high, and large tree trunks would occasional flow down, making loud wood-splitting noises when they hit things. We also saw rafters and plenty of pelicans and geese.
The clouds looked menacing, so I prepared the tent for storms that never came.
These packets contain pheromones designed to discourage beetles that destroy the trees.
Great dinner, slept well, blah blah blah. Stay tuned for thunderstorms and people sleeping in filthy bathrooms.
0 comments:
Post a Comment