End of the road

I woke up in the dark on monday, the last day of our trip and walked past Old Faithful and throughout it's neighboring upper geyser basin. I was alone and much snow had fallen. I walked amongst elk and bison and made the long trek on the icy walkways to Morning Glory pool, my favorite thermal pool in the park. In 1883 Mrs. E. N. McGowan, wife of Assistant Park Superintendent Charles McGowan,named it "Convolutus", the Latin name for the morning glory flower of which the springs resemble.

I passed so many beautiful pools, it was a dazzle, chimney and castle and so many wonderful spots. My favorite was the riverside geyser, which was really going and then the castle, which had quite the head of steam.

Somewhere about two and a half miles past my starting point, I slipped on an icy walk. I fell on my left wrist, knocking my hip, knee and atlas out in one fell swoop. I should have known, the walk looked so barren and inviting. I instantly reached to protect the extra lens in my pocket. My body has been a basket of aches and tmj ever since.

Thank gosh there was nobody watching except this elk and she didn't seem too terribly impressed.

I hobbled back and we had breakfast and checked out but there was a catch. The road south was now snowed in. How long until it was going to be cleared, we asked? Maybe an hour, maybe 10 was the answer. The employee handed us a Xanterra map showing an alternate route through Montana and Idaho and we decided to try that instead of waiting around.

We drove through West Yellowstone  and into Montana, passing a creelfull of trout fisherman wetting their lines. Another fantastic region to be tasted and experienced.

This guy with the big hump mucked up traffic for about ten minutes and then nonchalantly sidled off, an arm's length from our car.

The trip into Idaho went reasonably well, the Targhee Wilderness and lots of very fantastic areas that I would like to explore one day. But we kept driving and driving until we realized that the map we got was shot and that we had missed the 22 south. We ended up going on gps through my phone and driving through a whole mess of one horse seed potato towns in Idaho Places like Felt. We managed to find the 20 once more after several hours driving and drove through Driggs and on through the Teton Pass, after being afforded a great view of the backside of the Teton range.

I won't bore you with any more details. We put 1094 miles on the car from touchdown to takeoff. Filled 4 4gb sdcards on the trip, close to 2500 photographs. Had an exceptional time and a nice time with one another. Met great folks, ate great food, saw so many beautiful things. A month after the black bear at Yosemite, I see three grizzlies at Yellowstone. Amazing. It will be tough to ever go back at a time when there are more people in the park but early spring might work. A great trip and except for the food, pretty much free. Hope that you have enjoyed this journal and the pictures.