Drive to Omaha Day 11

May 29, 2019 Wednesday Day 11

We a woke early and made our own big breakfast at the lodging. Packed up the car and got out by 9:30. After driving through Cheyenne directly to I-80, contrary to Google Maps directions to go out of the way west and south on I-25 to get to I-80, we headed east for the longest drive of the trip.

We had a 350 mile trip ahead of us to Omaha and a one hour time zone change so we did not have the opportunity to make stops in Nebraska if we were to get to my son's house before bedtime. The terrain  leaving Cheyenne continued to be wide open spaces with lots of bluffs and rolling hills. I-80 follows the Outlaw Trail scenic Byway through Nebraska. Initially not much farming, it seemed to be lots of ranches. I guess I was so engrossed in the landscape that I missed the welcome to Nebraska sign. We passed under the Archway spanning I-80 near Kearney. There were several Electrify America fast charging stations strategically located along the freeway, usually in Walmart parking lots, but the Volt is not equipped for that. This network is a product of Deasilgate and Volkswagen's penalty for its fraud.

We stopped in Gothenburg and toured a restored Pony Express station that was set in a pretty and very green park. These stations were set up every 12-15 miles and were basically just horse changing stations. The larger stations were about 90 miles apart and the riders changed at those sites. The riders made $25/week.

The volunteer was very knowledgeable and spent 30 minutes explaining its history. He claimed that for a long time Congress had been deadlocked over a charter for such a service between the north and south, each of whom wanted a route that began in its area. A similar dispute held up the authorization for a transcontinental telegraph line and railroad. All these projects were authorized and moved forward only after the southern representatives left Congress. The service sought , young, light weight and preferably orphans as riders. They wanted speed and riders whose deaths would not cause a stir. In fact only one rider died in service and that was in a snow storm in the Sierra Nevada Mts. The youngest rider was 11 and he lived to be 105 when he died in 1955 in NYC. Buffalo Bill also rode for the service. The service was never profitable. It was started by a group that was already losing money on a stage coach service and thought that it could get financially healthy with US mail contracts. It did not work out even thought the Express received those contracts and others from the government and delivered on its promise to deliver the mail within 10 days. $5 for a letter. It was purchased by Wells Fargo who shut it down after 19 months in operation, 2 days after the telegraph line became operational.

Pony Express station

The town seemed to be a picture postcard version of prosperous, small town, middle America. Mature trees lined its streets and covered nice sized and well maintained homes that were set back from the streets by large front yards. It had a two block commercial center that had no bordered up shops.

We ate dinner at the Nebraska Bar and Grill, in Gothenburg, a large barn like building. Terrific steaks, but way too much food. It had a single level 2 charging station that provided us with 16 miles of charge, as well as a multi port Tesla charging station.

We exited the interstate before Omaha and took some back roads through farm country to get to my son's house in Bellevue, which is south of Omaha. Those 30 minutes at the end of the drive were very dark. So we got to visit with son number 3 and  I got to charge up the car in his garage.

Cheyanne Rain Day 10

May 28, 2019 Tuesday Day 10

I had to get up early (for me now) at 7:00 to move our car out of the driveway so our host could exit the garage. We prepared and ate a large breakfast in the unit. Best breakfast on the trip so far.

Cheyenne is a few miles north f the Colorado border. The Indians used it as a trading site and it was named by the Sioux for one of their trading partners, the Cheyenne. It lies at the eastern foot of Sherman Hill where the Union Pacific's route for the first transcontinental railroad raise from 6,062 to 8,282 ft. in only 30 miles. Not good for rail transport, but it caused the Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific, General Grenville Dodge to create a maintenance and supply station and establish the town of Cheyenne on July 4th. Several months later as the rail line advanced to Cheyenne the town had grown to 4,000 inhabitants and the eastern press began to refer to Cheyenne as the "Magic City of the Plains" because it had sprung up like magic. The town suffered what could have been a devastating blow when near-by Laramie was selected for the Union Pacific's maintenance yards, but the yards were shortly moved to Cheyenne.  The city then became a major rail head for cattle drives and became the second home for English and European cattle barons. By 1885 it became the richest city, per capita, in the world.

The sky was gray and the clouds forecast a wet and rainy day. I had planned out a walking tour, but in deference to the rain we drove downtown, a 10 minute drive, with a new plan to explore Cheyenne's indoor exhibits. Not much vehicular or pedestrian traffic. We parked near the Capital only to discover that it is nearing the end of a 2 year renovation on the 1913 golden domed building and so it is closed to the public. We then walked a short distance in the rain to the Wyoming State Museum. T his documents the state's history including prehistoric Wyoming and its dinosaurs. Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote when it was a territory.

Yellowstone Stage

We then drove through the rain to the Union Pacific Railroad Depot. On the way there we passed a synagogue advertising a Yiddish food festival. The depot was built in 1886 and was once considered the finest depot between Omaha and San Francisco. It was renovated and reopened in 2004 and now includes a Depot Museum and restaurant. The museum's exhibits focused on the impact that the railroad played in the development of Cheyenne and west. There were fantastic old photographs and model train exhibits.

We ate dinner in the Assent Restaurant in the Depot. It had 14 draft beers that were sold by the ounce. The food was good, but they failed to bring our second food order.

We drove to the Civic Center auditorium and saw The Lighting Thief based on the Percy Jackson books. Lots of teens there who wildly cheered. I was not so well entertained. Then back to our lodging.

Hail Storm Day 9

May 27, 2019 Monday Memorial Day, Day 9

Ate a very mediocre breakfast at the Days Inn, but it was filling. While we were eating we listened to warnings of sever storms on the Weather Channel, but they seemed to be further east. The car was charged up to 80%

As we drove east out of Casper on I-25 we saw glimpses of the "new" Casper, malls megaplexes and the same chain stores that are present throughout America. They came to an abrupt end and then we commenced a long drive through lots of seemingly empty land. I suspect that based on the exhibits we have seen that the land is not really empty, but rather there are lots of small mammals, snakes and birds hidden in the brush, along with the cattle that seem to dominate the ranching. However we did periodically see deer and buffalo I fenced in areas which I assumed were ranches.

About 50 miles east of Casper we turned off to see the Ayers Natural Bridge. This is a 100 ft long  50 ft high natural arch spanning the LaPrele Creek which over the many years carved out a canyon and the arch. The Native Americans of the region thought the bridge was a sinister place because a brave was struck by lighting in the canyon. The Mormon Trail passes two miles north of the site and travelers would flee to the site if they felt threatened by the Native Americans.

As we were hiking around the park, which had lots of well maintained picnic areas and trails we encountered a heavy-set woman. She was turning around as the trail to the top of the Bridge was too much for her. She had driven down with her three grandkids (she didn't look old enough) from Montana and had not planned to come to this site. Actually she said, that she had not planned anything and was just driving around and stopping at seemingly interesting sites during the three day holiday weekend.  She said that she was largely raising the grandkids and had some not so nice things to say about her daughter. But she was very fond of Trump!

As we approached Cheyanne and passing the Warren AFB and golf club (I was told by a Navy veteran that the Air Force has more golf courses than any other service.), suddenly, without warning we experienced a ferocious hailstorm while on I-25. Within seconds we were being pelted by hailstones 1/2 inches in diameter that were pounding on the car and quickly covered the roadway in an inch of ice balls. It was noisier than being in the NYC subway and I was certain that the car would be pock marked. Surprisingly, it was unharmed. I pulled under an overpass, along with other cars and waited about 10 minutes for the hailstorm to pass. Most of the ice balls quickly melted. I was later told that this was not an uncommon occurrence in Wyoming.

In the excitement I missed the exit for our Airbnb so we entered Cheyanne closer to downtown. Another hailstorm arrived and I pulled into a gasoline station, both to purchase gasoline, but also to park under the awning to get out of the hail barrage. As I got out of the car the pelting from the hailstones was painful. I notice that the well between the windshield and the hood was filled with lots of the ice balls..

As the storm turned to rain we headed downtown. The place was a complete ghost town. I saw less than a handful of cars and only one pedestrian. Not one business or cultural attraction was open. After one more hail attack which we weathered under a pedestrian bridge, we headed out of downtown to check into our Airbnb. Although it is the largest city in Wyoming and the state capital, the town is pretty small and it was easy to navigate. We passed the airport and then found an open supermarket where we purchased some items for dinner and breakfast. No ice cream.

Our  Airbnb was only a few minutes away from the market. We have the upper floor of a townhouse with a full kitchen and living room. Our host is an older, but vibrant woman. A kindergarten teacher. She said that she doesn't understand computers or how Airbnb works, her daughter-in-law who is the face of the lodging and lives in Gilette, set it up. We spoke at length about our lives and children and she facilitated an arrangement to charge up the car from an outlet in the garage.

After unpacking we took a walk through the residential neighborhood. It seemed solidly middle class with lots of small developments. We came upon a large pasture with a heard of cattle that seemed to mark an abrupt edge between residential and agriculture.

Made dinner and watched a bit of TV. Very slow news day with Trump out of the country and it being Memorial Day. 

Casper

May 26, 2019 Sunday Day 8

After another mediocre breakfast at the hotel, but enlivened by a conversation with a couple of women who were traveling west, we opted to skip the Legend Rock Petroglyph site because it would have required us to backtrack and continuing south we left Thermopolis we quickly entered the Wind River Gorge. That was a speculator 45 minute ride. The canyon walls rise over 2500 ft. and have beautiful colors. We spotted some wildlife scampering around the canyon walls.The Wind and Big Horn Rivers surged along us and would have made for a great river run. Perhaps next trip.

Wind River Canyon

The remainder of the 2 hour trip to Casper was uneventful. We passed by Boysen State Park which has a large reservoir and through Shoshoni, but we did not stop as we were on our way to the  National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. This is a wonderful museum that is operated by the BLM and tells the story of Manifest Destiny and westward expansion over the four pioneer trails, Oregon, California, Mormon and Bozeman, in the mid 19th century. Over 400,000 pioneers trekked west in what was the largest voluntary mass migration in history. There were lots of interactive exhibits, a very helpful staff and an interesting multi-media show.
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The exhibits highlighted the hardships of the early pioneer travels. The first group of 69 pioneers, the Bidwell-Bartleson Party left Independence Missouri with no road to follow, no guide, a wildly inaccurate map, no experience with overland long distance travel and no guide.  They subsequently were joined by a mountain man, Thomas "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick, who lead them over the plains and into the mountains in present day Idaho. There he abandoned them and by themselves they finally made their way to Oregon after blazing a trail that in part was later used for the trans-continental railroad.  Subsequent groups created the Hastings Cutoff Trail, but that went through the Great Salt Desert and killed off many of the livestock. Salt Lake City became the half way house on the California Trail in 1849 and afforded the Mormons the opportunity to profit, many said to a larcenous degree, off the gold rushers.

The Pony Express arose indirectly out of the Utah War. Russell, Majors &Waddell contracted with the War Department to haul military freight to Utah. That firm lost scores of wagons and hundreds of livestock to the Mormons who "liberated" them. Seeking a government mail contract to ward off bankruptcy they organized a horse and rider relay to carry mail between St. Joseph Missouri and San Francisco.  The service worked well, deliveries were regularly made within 10 days, but it was not sufficient to rescue the firm and it had to sell the service to Wells Fargo. Two days after the telegraph line across the continent opened, the Pony Express shut down. We spent most of the afternoon there.

Pony Express Recruiting Poster seeking young, light weight, orphans

Pioneer covered wagon

Birds eye view of Casper

We the drove into town to check in at the Days Inn. Easy to find off the freeway and they permitted me to use an outside outlet to charge up the car. We were given a large room and the bed was good. Hot cookies and lemonade at check-in was a nice touch.

After unpacking we walked to the Platte River. The neighborhood that we walked through was pretty run down. A large trailer park and the free standing homes were not well cared for. This belied what we had read about Casper as a prosperous town built on energy. The river view was nice, but it appeared that the river walk was on the other side of the river. So we turned back and picked up the car for a drive through town. We drove south toward Casper College and this tour revealed a more prosperous looking Casper. Tree lined streets with medium sized, well maintained older homes. The two renowned museums on and near the campus were closed and the campus looked deserted.

Platte River

We then drove into downtown. It was easy to park as there was very little activity and most of the businesses were closed. Memorial day weekend. Most of the buildings were old, built in the early 1900s, the tallest being the 10 story Petroleum Building, but there were no boarded up storefronts, the place was clean and we saw no homeless. I was struck by the presence of three active movie theatres downtown. There were very few restaurants open, but we soon found the Branding Iron that had been recommended to us during our walk to the river. Primarily a brew and burger place, but they also served pork belly mac and cheese. The first two were good.

Casper got its start as a hub of the four major pioneer overland trails in the mid 1800s. Independence Rock which is where the trails start to diverge is about an hour west of the city. An oil boom beginning in 1910 sparked development of the town and notoriety followed in the wake of the Teapot Dome scandal that lead to the imprisonment of two Cabinet Secretaries for bribery. It was a military hub during WWII and now it is a center for a coal mining industry which produces 24% of the nation's coal.

We drove back to the hotel through the east part of town and charged up the car.

Hot Springs Day 7

May 25, 2019 Day 7

Thermopolis is located at the southern end of the Big Horn Basin. It is not much of a town with a population of slightly over 3,000, but it has significant mineral resources in the area and a surprising number of fantastic attractions. Teddy Roosevelt and Butch Cassidy and his gang have been among its visitors.

We ate breakfast at the motel. Cold items only, but adequate to get going.

I was very confused about the locations, costs and amenities at the various hot springs. The travel books and the hotel clerk offered differing information. So as we drove out to the hot springs area I stopped at the town information office. It was shocking that it was very hard to park in this little town, but there was a 3 on 3 basketball tournament was going on at the high school across the street. As we learned people from all over the region had come to attend that event.

The information clerk sent us off to Hot Springs State Park. Originally part of the Wind River Reservation, the hot springs were believed by the Shoshone to be a gift from the Great Spirit. The US Government purchased the Big Springs and surrounding territory from the Arapaho and Shoshone tribes (They have shared the reservation since 1877 after a shotgun marriage arranged by the US Government. It was not until the 1930s that the Government compensated the Shoshone for this arrangement.) in 1896.
 
Chief Washakie negotiated on behalf of the Indians. He was born to a Flathead father and Shoshone mother. He grew up with the Shoshone in the Wind River Valley and in his twenties he met and befriended Jim Bridger, who became a legendary trapper and mountain man. Their friendship was so great that one of Washakie's daughters became Bridger's third wife. Washakie became the leader, chief, of the Shoshone at an early age. The skills Washakie acquired through his association with Bridger and other trappers and traders took him in a different direction from other Indian leaders in advocating for the rights and needs of his people. The Shoshone were one of the few tribes which never fought a war against the US Government and indeed fought alongside the US Calvary against other tribes. He made several trips to Washington DC and became convinced that the Indians could not stop the tide of white immigrants into the plains. Instead in 1863 at Fort Bridger he negotiated a treaty that created the Wind River Reservation. He was baptized twice, first as a Mormon by Brigham Young and shortly before his death in 1900as an Episcopalian. He was buried with full military honors and we saw many public places in Wyoming that were named for him.

In negotiating the sale of the Big Springs Chief Washakie stipulated that the hot springs should be freely available to all so that anyone could receive the great health and healing benefits from the waters. That is one of the few Indian treaty promises that the US has honored. As a result, Wyoming's first state park was created along with the Bath House.      

The State Bath House

The outdoor hot springs

They remain free and open to the public, although there are several commercial establishments that also draw upon the hot waters. Several are essentially water parks and others are park of RV parks.

The springs are the largest hot springs in the world and the waters coming out of them are 135 degrees and discharge about 8000 gallons per day. In the park's hot springs the temperature is kept at about 104 degrees. The bathhouse was clean and had an indoor pool. We opted for the outdoor pool. It was wonderful. Very calm and relaxing and made your body feel very clean. No kids, whom I assumed go to the commercial pools. You are supposed to stay in up to 20 minutes, but it was not crowded and we stayed in30 minutes. I spoke with an older fellow bather who said that he had retired to Thermopolis a few years ago from Montana and said he came to the baths daily. He said that the hunting was very good in the area, but that quotas and hunters from all over the country had cut down on his meat gathering. He recounted that Thermopolis did not get too cold, but that like most places the temperature goes down to zero a few times each winter.

After a good soak and shower we drove over to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Dig Site. It was less than two miles away on the outskirts of town on a ranch where dinosaur fossils have been found, housed in 12,000 sq. ft. in what appears to be an old warehouse. (It is moving to larger and presumably more appropriate quarters in the near future 6 miles out of town.) It bills itself as the 6th best dinosaur museum in the world. It had over 20 full sized dinosaur skeletons and casts from around the world, as well as lots of exhibits about geology. We spent most of the afternoon there.

We then returned to the hot springs for a second soak. It was very pleasant soaking in the hot waters as the late afternoon sun was descending behind the mountains. After the soak we walked around the State Park. The terrain had unique rock formations and brilliant hues of red, orange, green and brown from the minerals and various life forms that are deposited on the rocks. The park was well maintained, very green and almost empty. We walked on a suspension bridge that crosses the Bighorn River. It appears to go nowhere, but when it was built in the early 1900s it permitted patients at a now gone hospital and sanitarium to access the springs.

Bridge to Nowhere

Bighorn River and hot springs run-off

   
We then took a drive a drive outside of town to view the Buffalo herds. These are the largest collections of buffaloes outside of Yellowstone. There were a lot of buffalo

We ate dinner at Bangkok Thai restaurant in town on the recommendation of a fellow bather. Other than a cook, the owner was the only one working. It was busy, he said busier than ever due to the basketball tournament. The meal was very good. We walked around town after dinner and purchased some ice cream which we ate while watching the Kill Bill movie in our hotel room as the car slowly charged up.

Cody to Thermopolois Day 6

May 24, 2019 Friday Day 6

We awoke late. I purchased on-line tickets for the Buffalo Bill Center of the Old West. The Museum was a short drive out of town and housed in an attractive building. It had a charging station in the back lot, but the charging rate was .08 cents per minute, which is the highest I have ever seen and more expensive than gasoline, and since I had 37 miles of charge from the overnight charging at the hotel, I passed.

The museum was terrific. It had 5 different sections. We started in the wildlife and geological area which interprets the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem and wound its way down into the basement. At 1:00 we went to a raptor exhibit in which they brought out two large birds, a Golden Eagle and a Turkey Vulture.

Golden Eagle. Bigger and swifter than the Bald Eagle

Turkey Vulture. Defends itself by throwing up on a predator

We had lunch at the museum cafe, $20 for soup and salad, and then went to the William Cody a/k/a Buffalo Bill exhibit. He led a remarkable life public and private life. Orphaned at age 11, he worked as a cowboy and Pony Express rider. Moving on to soldier, to explorer, to US Army scout to performer to finally international entertainer and producer, he apparently became one of the most well known men in the western world. For 30 years he performed and then produced, while also performing in the Wild West show that was seen all over the US (every state except Nevada) and three tours of Europe. He even performed for Queen Victoria of England at Buckingham Palace. He earned his nickname by shooting 4280 bison in a span of 18 months to provide food for construction workers on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The gun wing was closed, but we ran out of time after touring the western art exhibit. Lots of works by Fredrick Remington.

On the way out of town in the late afternoon we gassed up for the 1.5 hour drive to Thermopolis through empty, (listened to Sirius Radio) but scenic landscape.

We checked into checked in at the Fountain of Youth motel in Thermopolis. Not much positive to say about the motel, except that it had a good bed and an external outlet to charge the car.

We walked around town and ate dinner at the One Eyed Buffalo. Brewery pub. Very loud, but the food was good.

Mud Pots and Buffalos Yellowstone 4 Day 5

May 23, 2019 Thursday Day 5

When we woke up we experienced our first sunny day in Yellowstone. I thought that it might even be relatively warm and after eating breakfast again in the cabin from the cooler I ventured outside without multiple layers. I needed to go back in and put on my vest.

After packing up and checking out we back tracked and drove a few miles to Midway Basin. Midway Geyser Basin contains a small collection of mammoth-sized springs. Midway is part of the Lower Geyser Basin, but because of its isolated location between the main features of Lower and Upper geyser basins it became known as Midway. Rudyard Kipling, who visited Yellowstone in 1889, immortalized this basin by referring to it as "Hell's Half Acre." It warrants that name. Despite its small size Midway possesses two of the largest hot springs in the world. 

Grand Prismatic Spring, nearly 370 feet in diameter, sits upon a large mound surrounded by small step-like terraces. Grand Prismatic is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone, and is considered to be the third largest in the world- New Zealand has the two largest springs. Grand Prismatic sits upon a wide spreading mound where water flows evenly on all sides forming a series of small, step-like terraces. The artist Thomas Moran who traveled out here in 1871 made water-color sketches depicting the rainbow like colors and the wide distribution of his paintings helped to make Yellowstone a National Park. The colors begin with a deep blue center followed by pale green. Green, slippery algae forms beyond the shallow edge. Outside the scalloped rim a band of yellow fades into orange. Red then marks the outer border. Steam shrouded portions of the spring, but aerial pictures when it is clear are spectacular. It releases 560 gallons of hot water into the Firehole River per minute. the combination of the river and hot springs waters creates a designated swimming area where the water temperature is about 80 degrees. No one was swimming.

The other feature, Excelsior Geyser, erupted nearly 300 feet high before the 1900s. It is now a dormant geyser and is considered a hot spring, discharging more than 4050 gallons of boiling water per minute. Other colorful springs include Turquoise and Indigo springs, known for their pale and dark blue colors. Across the Firehole River from Excelsior and Grand Prismatic springs are a series of small isolated, pristine springs and mud pots. The Rabbit Creek drainage possesses some colorful and unusual features and most are unnamed.

We then drove south and turned east over Craig Pass crossing the continental divide twice.

We pulled into the West Thumb Geyser Basin on the west side of Yellowstone Lake. It was very cold. This small basin has a collection of all four geothermal features, geysers, mud pots, hot springs and fumaroles. It has an excellent boardwalk system that takes you right along the lake which was largely frozen, but which had circles of ice free water where hot springs or geysers were bubbling up. The wind blowing off the lake was bitterly cold. Yellowstone lake is the largest freshwater lake in North America above 7000 ft. As recounted in the Lake Yellowstone hotel which was built in 1891 and recently restored, early visitors to the park in the summer would catch cutthroat trout in the lake and then swing them on their line over the hot spring for cooking. The hotel's deck overlooked the lake, but it was too cold to sit out there.

Yellowstone Lake near the center of the Yellowstone Caldera which was created by a gigantic eruption 640,000 years ago. The Caldera covers most of the Park and the magma under it creates geological bulges, or domes which push up the surface of the earth. The Sour Creek Dome on the far side of the lake is rising at a rate of 1.5 inches per year causing the Lake to tip southward.

As we walked the boardwalk we saw: the Abyss Pool which was very deep and many colored; the Black Pool which is no longer black due to the death of the black colored thermophile; the Big Cone and Fishing cone which both sprouted and bubbled in the lake and the Thumb Paint Pots with their miniature reddish mud volcanoes.

Yellowstone Lake with Sour Creek Dome in the background

Intending to continue heading east to exit the Park, instead I missed a turn at Fishing Bridge and was headed north  through Hadyon Valley and to Mud Volcano. In the former we saw many wildlife, and also experienced much delay as cars just stopped on the road to observe. In the latter we saw a large buffalo herd and walked on a loop among many thermal features. Dragon Mouth Spring has steam belching from a cave. Very noisy. The Mud Volcano has a seething, bubbling mass of mud emerging from a back wall. Black Dragon's Caldron has multiple geysers and is fed by Sour Lake, which looks as if you can have a pleasant swim there but whose water would burn ones skin like battery acid.   Mud Geyser has lots of mud pots and sizzling features which have killed the vegetation around it while Mud Caldron has cooled off to the degree that the bubbling is caused by escaping gasses

Finishing with the Mud Volcano I mistakenly continued north until I saw signs for the Upper and Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon and realized where I was. I then turned around, made the correct turn to Fishing Bridge and took the very scenic drive to the Park's east entrance. The extra driving finished off the electrical power in the car. Back to gasoline.

As we exited the Park the land became far less mountainous and we began to see ranches, both real and dude, and farms.

We finally arrived in Cody. This town was the brainchild of Buffalo Bill Cody and we stayed in The Irma hotel he built in 1902 and named for his youngest daughter. Cody is small, less than 10,000 population, but during the summer season, we missed it, there are nightly rodeos and gunfights as it attempts to recreate the wild west.

Cherrywood Bar at the Irma Hotel

Downtown Cody

We checked into the hotel, changed rooms due to unmade beds and walked around town. Everything looks western from the boots to the fringe. We ate dinner at the hotel and had too much prime rib. I was able to charge up the car outside the hotel at the outlets used in the winter for engine heaters

May 22, 2019 Day 4

Four and a Half Old Faithfuls – Yellowstone 3

Woke up this morning to again find the car and the roofs covered with snow. We had breakfast in the cabin. From the cooler, yogurt, blueberries, tomatoes and an orange.

We walked over to the Visitor Center, a relatively new $27 million building and on the way mailed a letter at the Yellowstone Post Office and stopped for some coffee at the cafeteria. The next Old Faithful explosion was not for 20 minutes, so we watched a movie in the education center and briefly viewed the exhibits. It was not nearly as good as the movies I have seen in other National Park Visitor centers. This one devoted a lot of time to safety, staying on the boardwalks to avoid getting burned alive or eaten by acid. One should not need a movie to warn you not to stick your hands or feet into boiling water. Not too much about the origins or characteristics of hydrothermals, but that was covered in the exhibits. We sat next to an older (fewer and fewer meet that description, but I was assured that they were older than me.) couple from Kansas City who commenting unfavorably about the weather and who felt that their vacation was disappearing into traffic tie-ups on the park’s roads.

The Upper Geyser Basin has the largest concentration of geysers in the world, although the word geyser is of Icelandic origin.  Old Faithful is not the largest geyser in the area, but it is the most regular, although over the past 150 years since it has been known to Europeans its average interval between eruptions has lengthened. It erupts about every 90 minutes, spews out between 3700 and 8400 gallons of boiling water and reaches a height of 106 to 184 feet. Also lots of steam that from the wrong viewing sight can obscure the water plumes. Our eruption occurred just as scheduled. It lasted a few minutes and had pretty good height that seemed to be on the lower end of those scales. However, there was a lot of steam that obstructed our view from outside the Visitor’s Center. Even though I had seen it twice in the past 6 years, it still was awesome.

We then headed out for Geyser Hill which has several large geysers. Only Plume geyser erupted during our walk, but many were bubbling and loudly hissing. The Lion Group has four geysers, and all were noisily hissing steam. The Doublet Pool has lots of colorful edges and border ornamentation. In this area I first saw a three-year-old, Liam, with a green knit cap and his family whose paths we crossed for the rest of the day. He wanted to know when the next blast would be. He was a very good sport and kept up all day seemingly without complaint. Maybe he will become a geologist.

While my spouse returned to the Visitor’s center to answer natures call, I went on a trail up into the woods into a lodgepole forest. Lots of snow on the ground.  It was largely uphill to the Solitary Geyser, which bubbled and hissed a lot, but did not provide the promised every 7-minute eruption. Liam was there. Then more uphill hiking to the Observation Point, in total about a 200 ft increase in elevation, which afforded an expansive view of the Old Faithful area. By now it was time for another Old Faithful eruption and while this one was late, the higher vantage point offered a better view. Liam was there.

On Geyser Hill

Lion Group

Of Faithful from Obsevation Point

After hiking back down I met up with my spouse and we went into the Old Faithful Inn. This is a magnificent wooden structure, with a four-story lobby, a massive stone fireplace and mezzanines with live music and lots of chairs. It is best described as rustic beauty, but there is no internet. That is supposedly by the choice of the guests. We declined the lunch buffet at the Inn but made dinner reservations there. Instead we ate lunch, good bowls of chilli, at the cafeteria in the Lodge. Travelling from the Lodge to the Inn we saw our third Faithful eruption.

Old Faithful eruption

After lunch we returned to the Inn for a guided tour. The tour guide was a 32-year hotel (Xanterra, it of copywriting the name Ahwahnee infamy) employee who works in the HR office during the off-season. Her 45-minute tour was interesting, very informative and spoken in a loud and clear voice. The original part of the Inn, known as the Old House, was completed in 1904 at a cost of $140,000, The railroad financed it, but was unable to get permission to run a line into the park. Train passengers who wanted to visit the park had to disembark at Gardiner MT and ride a coach into the park. A five-day trip around the park including meals and lodging cost $50. Additional days at a park hotel cost $4/day.  Wings constructed in the 1920s increased the room capacity to 319 and the hotel boasts a 100% occupancy rate notwithstanding the very high rates and the absence of private baths in most of the rooms in the Old House. To compensate, the public bathrooms in the Old House have showers. We toured a vacant room in the Old House. It had the original furniture and was small, but tastefully decorated and well maintained.Reservations got the room back at 4:30 for a late arriving guest.

After the tour we returned to our room, but along the way we saw the fourth Faithful eruption, this time from the porch at the Lodge.

We picked up our car and drove a short distance north to the Black Sand Basin. This had several splendid and colorful hot springs that were usually enveloped in steam. At the edge of the basin was Cliff Geyser. This erupted frequently and violently spraying hot water in all directions. Liam was there.

Cliff Geyser

After that we drove an additional short distance north to Biscuit Basin. There we saw Sapphire Lake which had a beautiful blue color and several geysers. As occurred during the prior late afternoons, it began to snow, and the temperature dropped.

We returned to our room for a brief rest and then headed out to the Inn for dinner. By now it was hailing. Small ice balls were bouncing off our clothes as we walked. Not as bad as the snow which tended to melt into the clothes. Along the way we saw the beginning of our fifth Faithful eruption, but we did not pause to watch all of it.

The restaurant ambiance was nice, and our food was good. Too much prime rib for me. I cannot comfortable eat that much any more. When we were departing all the chairs in the lobby and the mezzanine were occupied. Turns out when there are no TV or internet people come out and mingle.

 

Geysers and Canyons

May 21, 2019 Tuesday Day 3

Norris Geyser Basin and the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone version

This day, as the prior day, offered an array of geographic features that continue to amaze. However, there were some obstacles before getting there.

We ate breakfast in the condo. Piazza from the prior night (warned in the microwave it tasted just as good as the prior evening), tomatoes and oranges. We have a lot of stuff, so packing and loading the car was an extended operation.

There was snow on the car and it was cold as we left. We were able to leave 5 minutes earlier that we did the prior day. There was a very small line to get into the park, but the Ranger confirmed what I had seen on a sign that the park road from Tower Falls to Canyon was closed. Due to snow in the Dunraven Pass this road typically does not open until late May, this year not until May 24, so we missed the opening by a few days. I rerouted and took the west road intending then to take the road east from Norris to Canyon. We stopped at a roaring waterfall that is part of the Gardiner River that was surrounded by snow covered trees.

We also stopped at an overlook at Swan Lake. Not only were there swans, but in the horizon, there were four 10,000 ft peaks in the Gallatin Range and buffalo on the other side of the lake.

On the drive I fell in behind a very slow van from Alberta. He eventually pulled over and we were making good time. I was not too concerned about the signs warning of rough road ahead, because I had driven this road on the way into the park and the road had not slowed us down significantly. However, that was Sunday night. Today there were work crews and we ended up in a very long line that resulted in a one-hour delay. We again saw several Buffalo, a few elk and many deer during the drive.

We arrived at the Norris Geyser Basin about 11:30. We were lucky and quickly parked in the crowded lot, but there were signs informing us that the only bathrooms (“comfort stations”) were in the parking lot, and there was a long line for the two of them. That wait took about 15 minutes. Sometimes I wonder if the National Parks are becoming too popular, particularly Yellowstone, Yosemite and Smoky Mountain. In the summer months I imagine that the roads in these parks are jammed and parking is scarce. I also noticed, as I have observed in the past, that at least half the visitors to the parks appear to be foreigners. In the 90s there were lots of Europeans. Now there appear to be large numbers of Chinese nationals, often in groups. I noticed many tour buses with Chinese signage. They probably have worked hard and now appear to be enjoying some relaxation.

The Norris Basin is the park’s hottest, most dynamic geyser basin. It sits on top of a pool of hot magma and much of it appears to be a wasteland. It has four of the most common hydrothermal features. Hot springs appear to be the most common hydrothermal feature in the park. They varied from frothing, boiling, bubbling water of varying color to clear and calm pools which in some cases appear to have tremendous depth. They are created when surface water seeps underground and is heated by the magma. The water superheats, in some cases to 200 F, it rises to the surface and bubbles and boils. Since there are no geographic constrictions, there are no geysers in these features.

Geysers are essentially hot springs with narrow spaces in their underground “plumbing”. These constraints prevent the heated water from easily rising to the surface. When the pressure underground from the heat builds up the water explodes to the surface and is propelled into the air, sometimes as high as 300  ft. Most geysers erupt intermittently under no predictable schedule. A few, such as Old Faithful, which is in another basin, can be predicted.

Mud pots are acidic hot springs with a limited water supply. Acid from volcanic gases and micro-organisms eats the rocks and creates clay which form a mud pot that bubbles and burps. Fumaroles are basically steam vents. Not enough water to form a geyser, so they just vent steam, often looking like a puffing steam engine.

Throughout the basin there are bubbling and flowing waters. The ground is largely barren of typical plant life and it is imperative to stay on the boardwalks to avoid being burned by hot or acidic water. The boardwalks do not have guardrails. I wonder, if during the summer months when they are crowded if people fall off into the hot sand or water.

Throughout the basin it was interesting to see the rainbow of bright colors of the micro-organisms that can live in this environment of high temperatures and high acidity. The varying colors in the water and rocks are like a thermometer showing the varying temperatures that they can live at.

We began our tour through the Norris Geyser in the Back Basin. Lots of steam rising from pools. We quickly came upon the world’s tallest geyser, Steamboat Geyser. The eruptions are very infrequent and unscheduled. We saw lots of steam shooting and hissing out.  Cistern Spring is linked to Steamboat and has a beautiful blue color. Echinus Geyser is a large acidic geyser that is as acidic as vinegar. The Porcelain Basin is a very barren and stark setting. It has pink, red, orange and yellow coloring in spots from mineral oxides that are deposited by the geysers and hot springs. Black Growler geyser is very black and very hot, 280 degrees, Ledge Geyser was spouting and hissing all over.

We were encouraged to visit the Norris Geyser Basin Museum which is housed in a log and stone building at the entrance to the basins. But it was “closed for the season.” What season?

After leaving the basin we headed east to the Canyon region in the center of the park. Yesterday we saw a large canyon, but we were now seeking the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was about a 14-mile drive to the north rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and its Upper and Lower Falls. We first observed the 308 ft Lower Falls (the larger one) and the churning river from several observation decks on the rim.  We then headed for the 3/8 of a mile trail that descended 600 ft to the top of the Lower Falls. I was a bit surprised at the entrance to the trail to find that the only remaining guide books were printed in Chinese.

It was a steep, but easy descent. Across the river we could see hikers on the South Rim on Uncle Tom’s Trail. It was built by Tom as a money-making proposition, charging 50 cents to traverse it. However, as we descended the trail, we increasingly saw weary and, in some cases, almost dejected visitors trudging slowly, and in some cases seemingly agonizingly back up the trail. Many others were seated on the plentiful benches along the trail, gasping for breath. All however said that the experience was worth the effort. It was.

The trek back up was tiring. There are 10 switchbacks and we took a breather after 9. It began to snow on the way back up, lightly at first, but as occurred yesterday, the snowflakes became increasingly large so that we broke out the raincoats and umbrellas. It was wet and getting late, (we still had a 45-mile drive to our Lodge in the Upper Basin) so we skipped some of the more trumpeted observation points and drove out. As we drove near Canyon Village, I noticed an electric charging station.  We stopped and began charging but learned that the nearest restaurant was a mile away. Not wanting to walk that distance in a snowstorm, we disconnected and headed for the Lodge. The snow stopped as we descended and after a few missed turns we made it to the Lodge. The complex of buildings around Old Faithful are laid out in an orderly fashion, but the circular, one-way roadways initially presented a puzzle.

We checked in at the Front desk and immediately sought a place to eat. The cafeteria looked uninviting, so we drove over to the Snow Lodge. We put our name on a waiting list and armed with a vibrating call back we headed for our cabin. The cabin is what might be cheerfully called rustic, or cozy. It has a bathroom, not all the cabins do, but no internet. In some respects, it will be nice to be off the grid for a few days, no obsessive reading of the news. But it has a great location, walking distance to Old Faithful, so it commands a premium price.

After unpacking I drove my spouse back to the restaurant while I drove off to locate the electric charging station to which the desk clerk had given me directions. (He seemed startled when I had asked him if one existed. I assume that it is rarely requested. I have not seen another electric car in the park. For understandable reasons, virtually all the private vehicles in the park seem to be vans, SUVs or trucks.) I located the charging station next to the common bathroom. One can charge up while taking a shower. I walked back to the restaurant which took less time than driving there.

The meal at the restaurant was very good, but pricy. That has been my experience at most of the sit-down restaurants in the National Parks. Internet was promised in that building, and although it existed, it was too weak to be of any use. Went to bed early.