Yellowstone NP: Amazing Scenery

(2018 Alaska Ep 16)

At practically every turn Yellowstone offers inspiring beauty.

We arrived on a sunny Friday afternoon after driving west from Cody. After entering the park from the eastern entrance (park map), we were reminded that parts of the park were still emerging from winter. Throughout our week in Yellowstone, the remnants of the past winter’s snowfall were just about everywhere and temperatures were chilly – most days in the 50s/60s and nights in the 30s. Rather cool for us Floridians!

Soon we were passing by Yellowstone Lake and looked back to see the snow covered mountains we has just driven through.

Yellowstone River flows out of Yellowstone Lake. Several miles downstream it cascades over Yellowstone Falls and continues through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The falls are impressive – the 308-foot drop of lower Yellowstone Falls is nearly twice that of Niagara Falls!

2018 Alaska Trip 1287 - 1805291434 — View from Artist’s Point

We tested our endurance by walking down a trail to the brink of the lower falls – the drop was equal to a 60-story building. We were rewarded with a different perspective of the falls that made the hike back up the trail worth it!

Yellowstone has stunning mountain vistas…

…and broad valleys where wildlife abounds.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the scenery we enjoyed during our visit.

You might be wondering about the Yellowstone fires that burned almost 800,000 acres or more than 1/3 of the park in 1988. Pat and I were amazed at the recovery of the burned areas – thick new stands of lodgepole pines and other trees are more than 20 feet tall in many areas. The forest is well on its way to recovery after 30 years!

2018 Alaska Trip 1145 - 1805261232 — New forest growth near Old Faithful

Of course, there is much more to Yellowstone than scenery. We’ll cover thermal features and animals in upcoming blog posts, as well as some of the hiking and biking we enjoyed.

Yellowstone NP

(2018 Alaska Ep 15)

(Sorry for the delay in blog posts. There is no (free) wifi in Yellowstone and cell service is voice only in very limited areas)

We’ve just returned from a great week in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone was established as America’s first national park in 1872, and is widely held to be the world’s first national park.

Yellowstone is treasured by Americans and visited by persons from all over the world. We met persons from numerous US states and from Canada, Japan, China and India. They were as awestruck with the scenery, thermal features and animals as we were!

This is our fifth visit to Yellowstone since we were married 38 years ago.

2018 Alaska Trip 1398 - 1805311906 — Cooking dinner after a busy day touring Yellowstone…Dutch oven chili with cornbread.

This time we stayed in three different campgrounds in the park (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map pts #20-22). This allowed us to spend less time driving to/from hotels and campgrounds outside the park and more time in the park seeing Yellowstone.

Watch for upcoming blog posts about Yellowstone scenery, thermal features, animals, hiking and biking, and our list of things we like and don’t like about Yellowstone.

Until then…

A Two Day Visit with Buffalo Bill

(2018 Alaska Ep 14)

We’ve been at Cody, Wyoming (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map pt #19) for the past four days. Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone National Park for eight days. After Yellowstone, a quick return to Cody for a couple nights and then ON TO ALASKA!

We decided to visit Cody in part because of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a museum that is actually FIVE museums:

Buffalo Bill Museum – tells about the life of William Cody, aka Buffalo Bill – Army scout, entrepreneur, showman, founder of Cody and American icon.
Whitney Western Art Museum – western-themed paintings and sculpture, with originals from Remington, Proctor, Sharp and many more.
Cody Firearms Museum – impressive historical firearms collections from many manufacturers – Smith and Wesson, Winchester, Colt and others.
Plains Indian Museum – exhibits of Plains Indian peoples, their cultures, traditions, values, and histories, and the impact these on their lives today.
Draper Natural History Museum – immersive, informative and inspiring displays about the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, from alpine regions to the plains.

In front of the museum, in keeping with the western theme, was a chuckwagon and gentleman who was making coffee in an old time coffee pot, campfire beans from scratch and sourdough biscuits.

Anyone who stopped by got free samples and a bit of cowboy cooking history.

Never one to turn down free food and VERY INTERESTED in Dutch oven cooking, this was a highlight of my day!

It took us two full days to see the museums. If you are ever in the area, be sure to visit this great museum!

We spent the other days doing more mundane things getting ready for Yellowstone: cleaning the camper and truck, laundry, haircuts, adjusting camper tire pressure and checking lug nuts, grocery shopping, buying hiking boots…and of course, a couple hours walking downtown Cody looking for neat western souvenirs!

Petroglyphs NM: Antient Art or Graffiti?

(2018 Alaska Ep 13)

A fascinating part of our travels has been to visit several locations with petroglyphs. Some 400-700 (or perhaps more) years ago, people chipped away the thin desert varnish on rock faces to reveal the lighter gray rock underneath – this left lasting marks we wonder about and enjoy today.

The marks certainly had cultural significance – they give clues about what was on the minds of the people at that time. Some say they have religious significance as well.

We visited Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map pt #13). The sprawl of the city now encircles the monument. Hundreds of petroglyphs can be viewed in three main areas. We endured a very warm couple mile hike to one – Piedras Marcadas Canyon. It was worth it!

A few days later we visited another site within Dinosaur National Monument (Map pt #17). Actually there is a lot to do there besides dinosaur stuff.

There were a number of lizards on one rock face. We wondered how the large lizard was etched, considering it is nearly 15 feet above the ledge below.

Finally, when we were in Thermopolis (Map pt #18), we saw a modern petroglyph. Perhaps today’s graffiti will be studied and valued hundreds of years from now!

Epic Wheel Spins Across the West

(2018 Alaska Ep 12)

A few years ago, we became interested old train lines that have been converted to recreational bicycle trails. Many of our camping trips, including this one, involve riding these and other recreational bike trails.

We’re not skinny tire, spandex britches, 60-miles-in-a-day sorts of riders. Our bikes have wider tires, we wear comfortable clothes and our rides are usually 15-20 miles. This gives us something healthy and fun to do while camping.

Our bikes and associated gear travel in the back of our truck. Here are some rides we’ve done so far:

Austin: Ann and Roy Butler Trail at Lady Bird Lake

(RabbiTRAILS Alaska trip pt #8) We were amazed at the number of riders, walkers and runners enjoying this trail in the middle of a workday. The trail circles Lady Bird Lake adjacent to downtown Austin (click for more). The trail is mostly shaded and an easy ride.

This ride was a welcome diversion while our camper was being repaired.

Santa Fe: Arroyo De Los Chamisos Trail

(Map pt #13) Our ride in Santa Fe was disappointing and brief. Although this trail is a good connector to a number of other bike trails in Santa Fe, it was not easily accessible from our campground. In addition, parking in Santa Fe was a challenge.

So, we enjoyed walking the streets of historic downtown Santa Fe instead. There are many colorful shops and vendors selling jewelry and other items in the historic town square area.

Carbondale: Rio Grande Bike Trail

(Map pt #15) The Rio Grande Trail is a 42-mile rail trail that follows the Aspen Branch of the historic Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. It parallels the beautiful Roaring Fork River in numerous places.

We rode from the campground a short distance to downtown Carbondale and loaded our bikes on a public bus. The bus took us about 15 miles up the valley towards Aspen. The ride back to Carbondale and our campground was mostly downhill!

The day was an 11 on a scale of 10! Our ride took us past yellow-flowered fields and dense wooded areas in a valley between mountain ranges. We ate a packed lunch overlooking the Roaring Fork River.

Glenwood Springs: Glenwood Canyon Trail

(Map pt #15) Interstate 70 spans Colorado east-west. After crossing the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, the highway passes through Glenwood Canyon for 12.5 miles on its way to Grand Junction and beyond. The highway is an amazing engineering accomplishment, with extensive viaducts and elevated roads as it winds through the steep-walled canyon. It follows the Colorado River (that eventually reaches the Grand Canyon!), a Union Pacific rail line and includes a paved bike trail.

An outfitter in Glenwood Springs transported us and our bikes up the canyon and dropped us off for the mostly downhill 16-mile ride back to Glenwood Springs. We got to to see I-70 engineering from the bottom, rafters on the Colorado River, an Amtrak train and much more.

Rabbit Tracks / Map

(2018 Alaska Ep 11)

We’ve been on the road a month today! What a journey so far…and much more to come.

A couple of you have asked if we could post a map of our trip.

Try this link (RabbiTRAILS Alaska trip) and let us know how it works. If it works, we’ll keep it updated and include the link in future postings.

Along the LONG ROAD

(2018 Alaska Ep 10)

We’ve driven nearly 5000 miles and have many to go before we reach Alaska.

Overall, the roads and related traffic have been good. The scenery has been outstanding. Construction has been infrequent for very short distances.

There are always interesting things to see along the road. Like a sign in Oklahoma Hitchhikers Could be Inmates, or the town of No Name near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Here are some more:

On an Interstate highway near Dallas, a rest area had silos for men’s and women’s bathrooms. I wonder what the windmill was for?

For you country music fans, we passed by Luckenbach, Texas, made famous by the late Waylon Jennings (click to hear). Ain’t nuthin much in the area, except a couple sound stages, a gift shop and lots of laid back country attitude. Closest decent-sized town is Fredericksburg, Texas, about 15 miles away.

Here is the world’s largest pistachio nut. There are numerous groves of pistachio and pecan trees in the New Mexico desert north of White Sands/Alamogordo.

We saw a jackelope (mythical jackrabbit with antelope horns) at a roadside stand in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Finally, we camped near a turtle-shaped rock in the Colorado mountains near Buena Vista, Colorado. It was a beautiful vista indeed!

Lots of Sand But No Beach

(2018 Alaska Ep 9)

We headed west from Blanco on May 1.

Our next stop was Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

The drive was a bit too far for one day, so we spent the night at a west Texas state park known for its large sand dunes. They don’t call then dunes however – at Monahans State Park they are known as sandhillls.

One theory is the Monahans Sandhills were formed by remnants of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico that eroded in the Pecos River. The sand was eventually blown by the wind into the area.

The sandhills are located atop the Permian Basin, one of the largest oil-producing areas in the world.

We visited some world class dunes in New Mexico also. Outside of Alamogordo is White Sands National Monument. The dunes are indeed brilliant white.

White Sands is the largest gypsum dunes on earth (275 square miles), the dunes are clearly visible from space and they are constantly moving – some as many as 32 feet year!

A couple interesting facts:

The White Sands dunes, created from eroding mountains to the west, are only about 10,000 years old.

In many areas, the water table is just a few feet below the dunes.

A dune selfie…hats and sunglasses are essential equipment at White Sands!

Touring San Antonio

(2018 Alaska Ep 8)

My brother, his wife and their daughter live in Boerne, located a little less than an hour from the campground in Blanco. We had a delightful dinner with them one evening and were joined by my other niece, her husband and their eight year old son.

The next day we toured San Antonio.

Alamo? No. Riverwalk? No. Hemisphere Plaza? No. Been there, done those!

Instead we started with the site of the Pearl Brewery.

Pearl Beer is a well-known in Texas. The former brewery has been converted into a beautiful shopping, entertainment and residential district.

We had an authentic Mexican lunch at Mi Tierra Café y Panadaria in El Mecado/Market Square. The food was wonderful!

To finish our San Antonio tour, we visited the San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden. It was developed in an abandoned limestone quarry donated in 1899 and developed starting in 1917. See the link above for the interesting history of the gardens.

We Took an Enchanted Excursion

(2018 Alaska Ep 7)

Camper repairs behind us (hopefully), we set up camp in Blanco State Park for a four-night stay. The campground is centrally located between Fredericksburg, Austin, San Antonio and my brother’s home in Boerne.

We were also close to Enchanted Rock and enchanted BBQ.

The Rock

Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain about 17 miles north of Fredericksburg. According to Trails.com, a hike to the summit of Enchanted Rock has been a right of passage for every teenaged Texan since the 1960s. Although we are neither Texans nor teenagers, we decided to tackle the short (.4 mile) and steep trail (332 ft elevation gain) to the top.

From a distance Enchanted Rock somewhat resembles Ayers Rock in Australia and Stone Mountain in Georgia. Up close, it is rather daunting – a steep hike up the side of the mountain looks challenging. From the top, what a view! Long vistas of the stunning Texas Hill Country.

Why Enchanted Rock is enchanted (and more)

The BBQ

Having successfully ascended and descended the rock, it was lunchtime and we HAD to experience the enchanted BBQ of Cooper’s BBQ in Llano, about 15 miles north.

Smokey ribs, fork-tender brisket, cowboy pinto beans, white bread and MUCH more – there’s no better BBQ on the planet!

We saved a little room and finished our lunch with some pecan cobbler.

On the way back to Blanco we stopped at Fredericksburg, a town with many interesting shops along a wide main street through the center of town. Fredericksburg is surrounded by many bed and breakfasts and wineries. It’s a great place to visit for a special occasion or stop-off during a trip like ours.