Photos of Yellowstone trip and report

Here's the link to our late June trip to Yellowstone. The photos are best viewed by clicking on the little magnifying glass at the first photo and viewing them in original size.
cllick here for album


Trip Report

Cast: Just the wife and me
Date: June 24-July 3

Friday 6/24
Left work at 12:30 and was on the road by 1:30.
We had to change our route due to flooding of I-29 by the Missouri River between St.Joseph and Omaha. Our target for the night was Sioux City, Iowa. Since we had to travel some non-Interstate highways it took us about two hours longer than normal to make it.
I normally do all the driving on our trips, but I had been up since 4AM and it was now around 10:30PM I was having trouble staying awake so my wife took over. After about 10 miles a deer comes leaping out into the highway. I thought we were hit it dead on, but it turned at the last second and I then thought we would miss it. Instead I hear a bump near the rear of the car. She pulls over and no damage to the car. The deer must have just brushed along the side. So like an idiot I start walking back in the dark to see if the deer was back there. That's when I started thinking "what am I going to do if I find it flopping around back there in the dark?" So I got back in the car and we made it to Sioux City with no further incident. I was driving, the deer situation woke me up.

Saturday 6/25
We left Sioux City and headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This city has the nicest park called Falls Park. It is on the Big Sioux River and is where the city gets it's name. The area was very neglected, in fact a dump, but a group of citizens got together and really did a good job fixing it up. This is a hidden gem and if you are coming from the east it's a nice one or two hour stop. With the rivers running so high it was a nice show.
From there we headed west on I-90 to Chamberlain, South Dakota. There is a rest stop here with a nice view of the Missouri River.
On the road again we had to pass by Badlands National Park and Wall Drug this trip due to time restraints. These are right off the Interstate. You also pass Mount Rushmore this way, but it is quite a drive off the highway.
My goal this day was to make it to Devil's Tower and we able to see it that evening. This is another beautiful stop. If you have seen the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" you have seen Devil's Tower. I recommend the Joyner Ridge Trail and the trail around the base of the tower. After the tower we headed down the road a ways to stay for the night.

Coming up: day 3 and the Beartooth Mountains

i have done the road trip in reverse, from Yellowstone to Sioux City. It's a great drive. Wall Drug 50miles, Wall Drug 40miles, Wall Drug 30miles........and I could not talk my husband into stopping!!!

We're coming up on the first anniversary of our trip to Yellowstone. I'm looking forward to reading your reports and re-living our adventures in Nature's Disney World!

Report will continue when I get my computer fixed.:(

Great report and pictures! Thanks :thumbsup:

One question.... Last week I read about a hiker being killed in the park. If you keep to the main trails are you safe?

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Originally Posted by NJGIRL

One question.... Last week I read about a hiker being killed in the park. If you keep to the main trails are you safe?

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These hikers were not far from well traveled areas near Artist Point in the Canyon area and attacked by a bear not seen in the area before. Even so, bear attacks are extremly rare. We have never encountered a bear on a hike, but make noise and to avoid surprising one.

Your pictures are like postcards! You must have a great camera. This deepens my desire to visit that part of the country. Glad you had a great time. :)

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Originally Posted by Altair

These hikers were not far from well traveled areas near Artist Point in the Canyon area and attacked by a bear not seen in the area before. Even so, bear attacks are extremly rare. We have never encountered a bear on a hike, but make noise and to avoid surprising one.

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Where did you see the bears that you had pictures of?

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Originally Posted by NJGIRL

Where did you see the bears that you had pictures of?

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The one near the road was off the main road between Norros and Mammoth. The captive bears and wolves were at the Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NJGIRL

One question.... Last week I read about a hiker being killed in the park. If you keep to the main trails are you safe?

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The man killed was hiking on the Wapiti Lake trail. Most visitors stick to the trails/boardwalks around the geyser basins, near the waterfalls and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, etc. The bears generally want nothing to do with those areas because of all the people.

If you'll be hiking in some of the non-touristy trails it's always a good idea to buy some bear spray and have it handy. Keep in mind though, that this was the first bear killing of a human in 25 years in Yellowstone. The park has averaged about 2 million visitors a year for as long as I can remember. You don't want to be careless -get the bear spray if you'll be doing some actual non-congested-area hiking, but this guy was just that unlucky, wrong place at the wrong time and without bear spray 1 in 50 million chance.

Back to the trip report after the computer problem

Sunday 6/26
Today was mainly Beartooth Scenic By-way day. This is rated one of the most beautiful drives in the U.S. It starts at Red Lodge, MT on US212 and ends at Cooke City, MT which is at the NE entrance to Yellowstone. It run through Alpine climate so you can find some snow there all year long and be at an elevation of about 10,000 feet above sea level. This puts you about 2 miles higher than you are at WDW.
There was no problem finding snow this year since they had a record total. The highway just opened a week before we went and can close at any time, so check on road conditions before you take this route.
There are lots of pullouts so you can check out the wonderful views. This is also a good place to find Mountain Goats, but none this time probably due to all the snow.
As we reached the highest section of road light rain and snow started to fall as did the temperature. It dropped from the 60's and kept dropping until it hit about 35. I was worried about the road freezing up when we started the downhill side of the mountains and the temperature started to rise again.
We were not planning to enter Yellowstone today, but deciding to explore the NE entrance road. When we got to the entrace station we were told the road was washed out ahead. This was no problem for us since we were driving to Cody to stay the night, but if you were staying in Cooke City for your Yellowstone visit it meant a 2 hour trip to get into the park instead of about 10 minutes each day. The road did not open again for a few days until we got back. We were able to drive down the road far enough to take the Trout Lake hike. The lake is a breeding are for Cut Thoat Trout and otters can be found there quite often. No otters this time though. We did see out first Grizzly Bear before we left. It was way up on the mountain side and had to use someones spotting scope to see it. The NE entrance road though Lamar Valley is a good spot to see Gizzly Bears.
After that, it was on to Cody, Wy for the Night. The next day is into the park for good via the east entrance. The good thing about Cody in you have easy access to either the east of northeast entrances because these roads can close at any time from all sorts of reasons.

More to come.:thumbsup:

I was amazed by the amount of snow in some of your pictures! We did the Trout Lake hike last year, and were lucky enough to see a mama otter and her two babies - they were adorable! Thanks for sharing your adventures!