Day 79 - Yellowstone Midway And West

Our first stop this morning was to the Midway Geyser basin, site of the famous Grand Prismatic, the largest hot spring in the world. I had remembered this place from our drive in for its bright orange drainage channels falling into the nearby river. The morning was foggy and the pools were too misty to see the depth of the major pools, but the setting was dramatic.

A few miles up the road we saw a huge Bison (correct name for a Buffalo) on a side road. We drove in, only a few feet from the mean-looking Bison, enjoying the uniqueness of this animal, before driving through the Great Fountain geyser basin and back out to the main road. A few miles later we came across a herd of hundreds of Bison as they were grazing and crossing the road. As we passed slowly a Bison snorted at me or maybe at the biker crossing in the other lane.

Arriving in West Yellowstone, a town just outside the west gate, we had a Mexican lunch and then drove north through Montana to Earthquake Lake, a lake formed by a landslide from a 1959 7.3 Richter scale earthquake that took 20 campers lives. Trees had already began to grow on the massive landslide hill, an example of the natural processes-- earthquakes, floods, et. -- that formed this great western mountain scenery over the millennia. The trees in the lake and the landslide in the distance can be seen in the picture below. And a reinactment of the effect of 100-mile per hour winds after a landslide.

We drove back through pretty Montana and Idaho countryside before settling into our hotel room for a relaxing quiet evening.

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Day 57 - Rocky Mountain National Park

Ever since I decided to go west for my big trip, I had dreamed of high mountain lakes with snowy peaks arching in every direction, with chilly air making every moment crisp, and with clear skies bringing all into perfect focus-- pure bliss. Today was the first of many great mountain lake days to come. Hiking here was far easier here than in the San Juans because the snow was packed down on the trail, but I brought my mini crampons for the downhill. I made it safely past a narrow ridge with narly black peaks across the gorge (pic 1), then up to Mills Lake (pic 2) then Jewel Lake then the Loch (pic 3) then down before the afternoon rain started falling. I hiked around some lower, more accessible lakes but the sky was now overcast and pictures no good. I drove up the open portion of the Ridge road amid a very light dusting of snow before heading back to camp for dinner and bedtime. I did manage to capture some fine Elk grazing in a meadows on the return trip and a g...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

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