Got as far as Jackson Hole on Saturday ... decided to stay there as looked like a cool town & was getting dark. Drove through a variety of landscapes to get there - arid desert for miles & miles (with those rock formations that make you think you're in a western) to the mountanous scenery approching the National Parks. Got some footage of a local football (Gridiron) game in Kemerer on the way.
Then next morning it was onto Grand Teton National park (I was told Tetons is French for tits, & that's what the mountains are named after. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I like that idea). It was kind of like driving the Mt Aspiring region in NZ - alpine beauty. My $50 National Parks pass has already paid for itself, as Yellowstone is only 20-odd miles up the road. (The parks all seem to be $20 to get in).
Yellowstone is HUGE - 3,500 sq miles. There seems to be alot of some sort of bug or blight killing lots of the trees, but otherwise it is stunning. Plenty of big SUVs & RVs (read massive motorhomes) occasionally clogging the roads. Yellowstone is also a big thermal area - like Rotorua, only bigger apparently (according to the Yellowstone brochures). There's around 300 geysers, & I got to see Old Faithful go off - it regularly fires on average every 90 minutes.
Plenty of Wildlife - saw Buffalo, Elk, deer, but no bears. Had to observe all the stashing food rules tho, as it is Grizzly country. The bull Elk make a hell of a racket if you approach them with their cows - they were hanging around Mammoth Hot springs, where I camped in the van for the night. They can be quite dangerous - there were rangers keeping the public away from the bull that was hanging around Mammoth's visitor center. Heard coyotes at night around the campsite - cool!
Will post photos when I can - looks like this PC will do it - I'm in Cody's (named after Buffalo Bill Cody) public library - so will try tomorrow. Will check out Buffalo Bill's museum in the morning ...
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