Dietz Summer Road Trip

We left from Glacier and had a beautiful, yet relatively uneventful drive from Northern Montana into Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We came into the park through the North Entrance. The Roosevelt Arch had some construction around it so we weren’t able to get there for a picture. But the north entrance leads you right into America’s First National Park as you cross into Wyoming. As soon as we pulled in there were a ton of elk, just hanging out. They were just sitting and walking around all over the parking lot.

We made a quick stop at the Visitor Center and then checked out the Mammoth Hot Springs. These were really cool because these were the first hot springs we have seen on this trip and defiantly the only thing we have ever seen that looks like this. Yellowstone has a ton of hot springs, since it is located on top of a caldera as a result of a volcano eruption. So it has a lot of activity going on, and a lot of sulfur smells. Mammoth Hot Springs has a boardwalk that you can walk around to check out the area. At first glance the rock looks like snow, but its not. Its really hot and really active.

After a little while there we drove towards the Tower-Roosevelt area and checked out Tower Falls. Its a cool waterfall, pretty steep.

We then continued our drive to the Canyon area and checked out some great scenery along the way. There was also a baby black bear right on the side of the road as we drove by! We wanted to see our friend Kelli, she also teaches with us but works at Yellowstone during the summer. We stopped by while she was working and had some dinner. We still had to get to our campground which was about another 30 minutes. Yellowstone is a huge park and gets a ton of visitors. However, there are numerous visitor centers, gas stations, restaurants, lodges, all within about 30 minutes of the next one. So it spreads the enormous amount of visitors out across the park, and with so much to see at Yellowstone, not everyone is all one place at the same time (i.e. like at Mt. Rainier).

After we left Canyon we drove to the Bridge Bay Campground (Fishing Bridge area) where our campground was. It was right beside Yellowstone Lake. At this point it was dark out so we set up our tent quickly and went to bed. It gets pretty cold here (44 degrees when we woke up) so we really bad to bundle up. Goodnight Yellowstone!

On Wednesday we woke up and drove to the Grand Tetons National Park. You access the Grand Tetons National Park by driving straight out of the south entrance to the park. You then drive along the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Parkway (this is a beautiful area of land that connects the two parks that JDR, Jr. bought and gave to the Interior Department to preserve).

As soon as you get to see the Tetons your breath is taken away. We stopped first at a lake and got some great pictures.

The Tetons are just so impressive with their sharp, now points and it was all so serene. We stopped at the Visitor Center and then headed up a road to Mt. Signal for a great panoramic overlook of the park. 

Next we headed to Jenny Lake with the intentions of taking the shuttle boat across the lake to Inspiration Point (apparently it was by standing at this point the decision was made to preserve the park). You can hike around the lake, take the shuttle boat one way and hike, or take a road trip boat ride. We were planning to take the boat ride when a storm moved it. It got really dark and cloudy and then it started to rain. So we were just going to dig out the ponchos but then it started lightening. When it is lightening they suspend the boat shuttle for 15 minutes. So every lightening strike, you had to wait another 15 minutes. We realized that if we waited for the storm to pass (not knowing how long it would be) we probably would not get much of a view anyway due to all of the clouds and fog. So we decided to head back to Yellowstone and try to actually get back to our campground before it was dark.

You also cross the continental divide a few times if you drive around the park enough.

We managed to make it back and have a fire. Tomorrow we will be meeting our friend Kelli who is planning to show us some of the highlights of Yellowstone! If you ever go to Yellowstone the Tetons is a necessary side trip. It might not have all of the variety of a big park but the range is just awesome.