(2019 Grand Teton Ep 15)
Yellowstone National Park is north of the Tetons. Although we have visited Yellowstone a half dozen times in the past (including more than a week in 2018), we decided to visit again while we were in the neighborhood.
From Gros Ventre, we headed north a few miles to camp at Colter Bay (map point 10), still within Grand Teton National Park. Colter Bay is on the eastern shore of Jackson Lake. The Tetons rise majestically beyond the western shore of the lake. Unfortunately the weather turned cold and rainy, and we were unable to hike or take boat tours available in the area. Instead we did our laundry and toured the visitor center.
Two mornings later, we left for Flagg Ranch (map point 11) as the weather cleared. The tops of the mountains were dusted with fresh snow, a sign that winter was on its way.
Flagg Ranch is between Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, along the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway. We decided we would camp at the ranch for three nights and take day trips into Yellowstone.
Our Yellowstone visit bypassed most of the places we visited in 2018 – Old Faithful, Mud Volcano, several other groups of geysers and many of the viewpoints of Yellowstone Falls. Instead we focused on areas we had not visited during recent trips or ever before.
We decided to go to Tower Fall in the northeast corner of the park. En route we drove past Fishing Bridge, a Yellowstone River crossing just south of Yellowstone Lake. The bridge has been rebuilt since 2018 and is now MUCH smoother. Other road construction continues in the area and Fishing Bridge Campground will remain closed until sometime in 2021 (as an aside, Fishing Bridge is the only campground in the park with water and electric hookups).
It was strange not see herds of bison as we drove through the Hayden Valley. They had migrated to other parks of the park. We took a short detour along the south rim drive to see the Upper Falls on the Yellowstone River from Uncle Tom’s Trail. The trail was closed for redevelopment during our 2018 visit.
About an hour later we arrived at Tower Fall, a 132-foot cascade along Tower Creek just before it merges with the Yellowstone River. We viewed the falls at the start of a one-third mile trail that winds down 225 feet to the river. At the bottom there is an interesting view of the multicolored canyon carved by the river.
As we returned to Flagg Ranch, we stopped to photograph snow-covered Mt. Washburn. Pat and I (kind of) enjoyed a hike to the top of the mountain in September 2014 – breathless from the views and the 1400 foot climb to the peak!
The next morning we drove to the west side of Yellowstone to hike the Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail. Parking at the trailhead was very crowded and we shared the trail with many others as we hiked one mile to the overlook. We took our turn enjoying the view of the colorful spring.
Later in the day we visited the Norris Geyser Basin to see Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat is the world’s tallest currently-active geyser and has been in an active phase since March 2018, with 71 eruptions through our visit in late September. The erupting geyser plume is more than 300 foot high and usually lasts between three and 40 minutes.
A worker at the adjacent National Park bookstore told us Steamboat eruptions were very load. “It roars like a locomotive,” he said.
Signs in the nearby parking lot warned vehicle paint could be damaged by fallout from the geyser. Some area workers even had covers on their cars.
The geyser did not erupt during our visit. We had to settle for spritzes of about 15-20 feet. Our truck was unaffected.
After more than a week in the Teton/Yellowstone area, it was time to start heading home. We had a decision to make – head north to Montana and the Dakotas, or south to canyon country in Utah. We’ll let you know the outcome next week.
Take the LONG Road... 