Terry Bison Ranch RV Park - Cheyenne, Wyoming

Today we spent most of the day stocking up on groceries and supplies (Target, Sam's and Walmart). We did take time to pick up four geocaches. The RV Park sits on the Wyoming/Colorado state line and there is a cache at each of the state welcome signs.

The RV Park is in the background on the right.

This one was a little tricky. It was inside a fake sprinkler head.

After dinner, Terri & John came over to make plans for our short drive to Loveland, Colorado. We then we played a couple of games of cards and called it a night.

Happy Birthday Cici - from Cheyenne, Wyoming

We left Island Park yesterday and spent the night in Boulder, Wyoming. This morning it was 24 degrees, but warmed up fast when the sun rose. We should be in Cheyenne this afternoon to meet up with our friends, John & Terri.

But, more importantly, today is our granddaughter's 4th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Cici !!!

love,

Nanna and Pappy

Cave Falls - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

On our first day in Yellowstone NP, a ranger recommended that one of the "best kept secrets" at YNP was Cave Falls. It is located in the far southwest corner of the park and is only accessible by a road that includes ten miles of gravel. This was our destination for today. We drove south to Ashton, Idaho to pick up the National Forestry Road that leads to the falls. The road was a little bumpy with "washboards", but most vehicles would make it without any problems. The falls are not very high, but are the widest in the park. There were a couple of guys fly-fishing and a few more people viewing the falls. We brought a picnic lunch, so we "grabbed" one of the few tables around. We had a nice lunch and then headed back toward Ashton.

The colors changing...

A view of the Teton Range from the wheat fields of Ashton.

On our way back, we decided to find a few geocaches that were in the Ashton area. One in particular, that we had failed to find on a previous attempt. We spent 3-4 hours driving from cache to cache, seeing the countryside. The cache that had alluded us in the past has now been conquered. It was an ingenious location. The cache was a hollowed-out bolt on a city Stop sign. Click on the picture below to see the log in the bolt.


After we arrived home, we called John & Terri on the Skype phone and made our plans for "meeting up" in Cheyenne, WY next week.

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Today we visited Grand Teton National Park. We entered the west entrance of Yellowstone NP and made our way to the south entrance (the north entrance to Grand Teton NP). There was about 6.5 miles of road construction between the two parks. Since we were only going to spend a day in the park, we opted for the road tour.

Mount Moran

Our first stop was the Oxbow Bend of the Snake River. Here we got our first glimpse of a moose. I took a few pictures, but the moose was so far away, they are not very clear. We also saw some otters playing on the bank of the river.

Kayakers on the Snake River

Our next stop was the Jackson Lake Dam. The dam raises the level of the lake by 39' and then exits into the Snake River.

The Teton Range from the Jackson Lake Dam.

We then took the Signal Mountain Road to the top and got some great views of Jackson Hole Valley, the Snake River and the Teton Mountain Range. There was a controlled-burn going on in the Bridger-Teton National Forest east of the park.

Our next stop was Jenny Lake to see the Hidden Falls. They have a shuttle boat to take you across the lake, but we arrived too late.

Jenny Lake

Our final stop was the Chapel of the Transfiguration. From here you could get some great shots of Grand Teton Mountain.

Grand Teton (13,770')

Grand Teton from inside the Chapel of the Transfiguration

On the way home, we picked up one cache at a roadside pullout. This was a unique hiding spot...pvc pipe placed in a bored-out hole with a reflector.


The whole trip was 275 miles and took 12 hours. I think tomorrow will be another slacker day.

Lake Hebgen - West Yellowstone, Montana

This morning was a little chilly...29 degrees. The sun came out and it warmed up nicely. We decided to explore the north side of Hebgen Lake. We drove northeast out of West Yellowstone to the Horse Butte Lookout. At a little over 7000', you could get a good view of the lake. We found a geocache at the lookout. We continued driving west, along the north shore, stopping and finding caches along the way.

Tomorrow, we plan to leave early for a road trip to Grand Teton National Park.

View of Hebgen Lake from the Horse Butte Lookout.

Big Springs - Island Park, Idaho

Today we took a short drive over to Big Springs, the source of Henry's Fork of the Snake River and the source of the Upper and Lower Mesa Falls (visited previously). The springs are home to rainbow and rainbow-cutthroat trout. The water is so clear, you can easily see the fish.

Big Springs

Rainbow or Rainbow-Cutthroat Hybrid Trout?

Ducks waiting to be fed. Food is available and people toss it from the bridge.

There is a cabin, built in the 1930s by a German immigrant named Johnny Sack, that still sits on the property. Johnny built the cabin and furnishings by hand. There is also a water wheel that provided electricity and water to the cabin. The cabin was closed for the season.

View of the cabin from across the springs.

The cabin.

The water wheel is still running. Don't know if it still provides the electricity and water.

View of the springs from the cabin.

We also did a little geocaching in the area and picked up six caches.

This one was magnetically attached to a bridge support!

Happy Birthday Tyler - from Island Park, Idaho

Since yesterday was a long day, we decided to be slackers (previously defined) today, and hang around the rig. More importantly though, today is our grandson Tyler's 6th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Tyler !!!
love,
Nanna and Pappy

Lake & Canyon Regions - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Today we got up early to head back into Yellowstone NP. We arrived at the park at 10:00am. Our goal today was to see the Lake and Canyon areas of the park. Shortly after entering the park we came upon a bison, just exiting the Madison River and crossing the road.
The Yellowstone Lake area begins at 47 miles into the park. Our first stop was Indian Pond which was created when hydrothermal pressure reached critical mass and blew its top, much like a volcano except with water and steam. The pond is the result. While there we saw some bison grazing at the far right of the pond.

Our next stop was Fishing Bridge which is a cutthroat trout spawning area. Up until the early '70s, people were able to fish from the bridge, hence the name. Due to a decreased number of trout the practice was stopped and now you just observe the trout.
Our next stop was the Hayden Valley...known for having an abundance of wildlife. The only thing we saw was a couple of bison in the far distance and on our return trip (more on that later) we saw a coyote.
By now it was 3:00pm and we were getting hungry. We stopped at the Otter Creek Picnic Area for lunch.
Next we drove into the Canyon area of the park. This area includes the Upper and Lower Falls, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Upper Falls are 109 feet high and the Lower Falls are 308 feet high.

Rick at the Upper Falls Lookout on the South Rim Trail.
A black-white shot of the Lower Falls from Artist Point.
The yellow in the walls of the canyon is where the park gets its name.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the Grand View lookout.

Earlier, I alluded to the return trip. In the middle of August, the park closed a section of the Grand Loop Road. That meant instead of a 40 mile trip back to the West Entrance, it was an 84 mile backtrack trip. It took 2 1/2 hours to exit the park (8:30pm). It was dark the last 30 minutes of the trip and there were several times we had to stop for animals (bison, elk and deer) on the road. It was a long, but enjoyable day!

Sunset of Yellowstone Lake (sunset from behind)

Our New GPSr - Island Park, Idaho

Today we were slackers (defined as: one whose lounges around the rig and doesn't get cleaned up until after lunch) until the afternoon when we decided to try out our new GPSr. We picked a cache that was about eight miles up a NFS road to Two Top Mountain. The GPSr led us right to it. The road was a little bumpy, but didn't need 4x4. Tomorrow, we head back to Yellowstone NP, for more sightseeing.

Y finding the first cache with the new GPSr.

Rick, contemplating navel fuzz.

A couple of shots taken along the route.