The Wild West Part III -- National Parks

I tracked the tour for this segment of our road trip so if you'd like to follow it moment by moment, you can do so here. And of course, thanks Chris for the great app!

Our plan for our stay in the Jackson area was to spend a couple of days in the Grand Teton National Park, in Jackson Lake Lodge to be precise, and during that time visit Yellowstone and generally cram as much in as we could in the relatively few days we'd be there. Luckily, it was great weather so we didn't suffer too much seeing as we'd omitted to know that Jackson is 7,000 feet high with many of the places we'd be visiting substantially higher than that. with mid-summer average temperatures in the 70's, this meant it could get chilly at times. Personally I wish I'd thought of that and remembered to bring a pair of jeans rather than just the shorts and T-shirts. But you live and learn!

It wasn't long enough but the location and views were breathtaking.

One of the smaller lakes along the way. The tallest peak is something over 13,000 feet
 

View from our balcony

Our day trip to Yellowstone was great. Bus tour with a dozen random people. The area itself is underpinned by a dormant volcano with the bulk of the park's area being its caldera. That is why there are so many geothermal areas, over 10,000 at last count and increasing all the time as new hot spots suddenly emerge and burst into the open. Most are small but there are a few larger areas with larger pools. Old Faithful is but the most famous of these.

Old Faithful is the most predictable of the pools that erupt. It is about 1 hour 20 minutes plus or minus 20 minutes between eruptions. Of course we had to stay!

The park area itself is so immense that it was impossible for us to do anything other than a shortish circle and hit a few high points. People come from all over the country to spend their family vacations camping, in a RV, fishing -- trout fishing is amazing there apparently -- hiking, biking... you name it. Really a special place. I am really glad there were visionaries around to make sure it stays unspoiled.

One of the things I am impressed by are the rangers and forest management. You get the feeling from media reports these days that forest fires are all over the place due to drought conditions brought on by climate change or whatever, but many of the forest trees have evolved so that they may only produce seeds and spores once the tree has been through a fire. This is an all natural event which Mother Nature has devised ingenious ways to accommodate. Obviously some fires are more severe than others. The guide said that the last big one in the 1980's had over 10,000 fire fighters at its peak. It does help that the entire area is dotted with lakes which this year are overflowing given the amount of rain that has been happening (but thankfully not when we were there).  In the park are huge areas of dead trees from the last/recent fire but in all instances you can see small saplings pushing up to replace them. It also helps that areas like this make it easier to spot the critters that are meant to abound here. We didn't see many because traffic was so busy (it was 4th July weekend!) but did see quite a few bison, elk, brown and grizzly bears. Not Yogi though.

Great time. Sadly too short. This place is a keeper!