I felt it was time to leave Glacier. I had done the hikes I wanted to do and it seemed like it was getting smokier. It was a also a week which is what I planned on since I still wanted to spend some significant time in Colorado. I have been to Yellowstone and the Tetons on other trips. They are great places but they were not the focus of this trip but I had to stop in a little. I decided to spend a full day at Teton and do the hike that a person I met at Glacier had recommended. I was also going right by Yellowstone so may as well drive through it at least.
On my way from Glacier to Yellowstone the smoke got pretty thick in one area and a town I drove through was setting up orange pools next to all the buildings and filling them with water. It looked like they were expecting a fire to go right through town.
There are all kinds of things to do at Yellowstone. I decided to drive in at the West entrance and go out the South spending some time doing some short walks to geysers and hot springs. Something different than what I had been seeing. At one point there was a jacket lying out in a boiling mud pit (picture below). You could not see the body below it but no helping him or her.
At the end of the day I stayed at Colter Bay camp ground in Teton NP. Nice camp ground near the lake. Quiet and in the woods. No problems just showing up at camp grounds at this time of year. Or at least I didn't have any problems where I went. The people next to me were from Tennessee. Older very friendly couple who invited me over to hang out by their camp fire for a few hours. They had a small trailer they were pulling with a van just like mine.
Lots of wildlife in Yellowstone and Teton NP. Elk, deer, and moose. Buffalo also near Teton.
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| Lake in Yellowstone with boiling pools right next to and in the lake. |
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| One less tourist to contend with |
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| Very strange. You can't really see from the picture but it looks bottomless. |
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| Lake next to camp ground |
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| Camp site at Colter Bay camp ground |
9/1:
This was the hike one of the people I met at Glacier recommended. Outstanding! Big loop with changing views the whole time. Saw moose in three different areas during the hike. 19 miles and 5K of elevation gain with lakes, mountains, and hiking through some snow fields. Two very different canyons with a lot of trail between both of them that has Lake Solitude and a view into a whole other area. Went up to about 11K elevation. Temperatures remained about the same as glacier. 40 in the AM, with temps in the 60s at elevation and 80 in the valley when you returned to the camp ground.
This is the Paintbrush Cascade loop. If you are going to do one hike at Teton I would say this is it.
Too many pictures but this was an outstanding day.
Driving to the hike:
And now the hike:
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| Trail crossed snow fields and headed up to a pass. |
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| Lake Solitude |
These are shots at the end of the day driving to the next camp ground...
A few more from the phone from this day:
9/2:
Stayed at Sleeping Bear camp site in Lander Wyoming the night of 9/1. Decent inexpensive clean camp ground where they gave you electricity also. Good for charging the camera battery. Spent the day driving to Rocky Mountain NP and spending some time at the ranger station there getting information for the upcoming week. I decided to stay in the park for some of the time and also was gathering information about Longs Peak.
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| Lander Wyoming |
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| Like the dinosaur |
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