Left Denver Airport with my rental car on Sunday around 3PM. A few errands and dinner and I bedded down in Rawlins, WY. Strange coincidence... I spent a night in that podunk town with my buddy Luke in August 2003 when I was moving to California.
Woke early Monday and was on the road in time to catch the sunrise over Wyoming. Cruised my way under crystal clear skies up to Grand Teton National Park. That's where the photo is taken below. That pic is from the north shore of Jackson Lake. I fell in love with that place. I ended up spending way more time there than I'd planned. It was all good... I loved it.
The long visit to GTNP left me with little time to drive thru Yellowstone let alone hop out and hike. I made the best of it... I checked out the stuff I've always wanted to see. I saw Old Faithful. Not exactly faithful... It squirted about 7 minutes late than anticipated. But it was amazing. I got pictures that I think are better than the one on the cover of the Yellowstone newspaper.
Next I checked out a boiling spring. All along the drive there was steam rising from the ground in all directions... Eerie but amazing. I also saw elk, deer and pretty sure I saw a moose, but that report isn't confirmed. It's kind of sad, but one can really see how destructive the 1988 wildfire decimated this place. There's young 20 year old trees growing up around massive dead skeletons of the original forest. I'll come back in 40 years to see how the regrowth is coming along.
F.C.F.S camping was booked solid in the park, so I headed west and car camped at a free primitive campsite in the Gallatin National Forest in Montana. Knocked the back seats down in the SUV, spread out my camp mattress and slept like a baby. This was my first time visiting Montana. It's all I hoped for so far. Big clear sky overnight, gorgeous mountains and rivers. I'm headed to meet a buddy in Missoula today... Then I'm pushing west to Idaho and Oregon on Wednesday.
Smokestack update... He enters Maine tomorrow! He'll face the nasty steep but beautiful Grafton Notch State Park. The terrain should stay challenging for a few days to Stratton but then smooth out to the 100 mi wilderness beginning in Monson. He's right on track.
-natedog
Woke early Monday and was on the road in time to catch the sunrise over Wyoming. Cruised my way under crystal clear skies up to Grand Teton National Park. That's where the photo is taken below. That pic is from the north shore of Jackson Lake. I fell in love with that place. I ended up spending way more time there than I'd planned. It was all good... I loved it.
The long visit to GTNP left me with little time to drive thru Yellowstone let alone hop out and hike. I made the best of it... I checked out the stuff I've always wanted to see. I saw Old Faithful. Not exactly faithful... It squirted about 7 minutes late than anticipated. But it was amazing. I got pictures that I think are better than the one on the cover of the Yellowstone newspaper.
Next I checked out a boiling spring. All along the drive there was steam rising from the ground in all directions... Eerie but amazing. I also saw elk, deer and pretty sure I saw a moose, but that report isn't confirmed. It's kind of sad, but one can really see how destructive the 1988 wildfire decimated this place. There's young 20 year old trees growing up around massive dead skeletons of the original forest. I'll come back in 40 years to see how the regrowth is coming along.
F.C.F.S camping was booked solid in the park, so I headed west and car camped at a free primitive campsite in the Gallatin National Forest in Montana. Knocked the back seats down in the SUV, spread out my camp mattress and slept like a baby. This was my first time visiting Montana. It's all I hoped for so far. Big clear sky overnight, gorgeous mountains and rivers. I'm headed to meet a buddy in Missoula today... Then I'm pushing west to Idaho and Oregon on Wednesday.
Smokestack update... He enters Maine tomorrow! He'll face the nasty steep but beautiful Grafton Notch State Park. The terrain should stay challenging for a few days to Stratton but then smooth out to the 100 mi wilderness beginning in Monson. He's right on track.
-natedog
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