Joe and his family planned to visit Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks and asked us to come along. We of course said yes. When Anne decided to get her hip replacement surgery, we were less sure this would be a good idea, but decided to wait and see.
Wednesday 6/26. This would be the first flight for Anne since her hip replacement surgery in May; she was cleared for flying the week before. We had ordered wheel chair service for the EWR-BZN flight, in case the walk to the gate proved too long. The assigned gate changed many times (actually even the terminal changes), but we decided to not use the service when we got to the airport. After we went through security, we did catch a cart which took us to the gate; it saved us some walking.
UA1771 EWR-BZN was full. The 737 Max 8 has 2 bathrooms for its 150 economy passengers, for a short flight it isn't a problem, but I was worried whether the lines would be long for our 4:30 hour flight. It turned out to be okay, at least for the one time I had to use it. Of course the bathrooms are notoriously small.
Joe's Jetblue flight was delayed by a couple of hours. We went to Budget to inform the agent of the delay, and were told it wouldn't be a problem. Indeed when Joe showed up the Fast Lane had one party ahead of him, and he checked out this Chevy Suburban with dimensions of 226"Lx81"Wx76"H (per web search). It seats the 7 of us comfortably, and has enough room for all our luggage. Joe only packed three carryons, so that made things easier.
We stopped by the Albertson's in town (technically Belgrade, not Bozeman) to stock up on some groceries, and Joe's family ate nearby (pizza and Ramen). Anne and I already ate at the airport.
It was a relatively short drive to Old Faithful Inn. With Anne's Senior Park Pass we saved on the $35 entry fee. Our original hope was to tour a couple of places, as we were late getting in, we just stopped at a couple of spots along the way. We did get to see Old Faithful erupt twice that evening.
The BZN (Bozeman) airport has a rather dated feel to it. Perfectly functional, and compact.
Joe rented a Chevy Suburban which seats 7, and has plenty of trunk space.
We were greeted with steam vents at about 15 minutes before Old Faithful.
Son and mother.
We were equally impressed when we saw this 4-story atrium in 2011.
We had dinner at Old Faithful Lodge, and stayed behind to view an eruption of the Old Faithful. Prediction of eruption times are within 10 minutes for this geyser.
Accommodation: Old Faithful Inn Snow Lodge (1 night).
Thursday 6/27. The day was spent visiting different areas around Old Faithful. Joe, CC and I walked a trail that passed by several geysers, hot springs, and steam vents. After visiting Prismatic Springs we started our way towards Canyon Lodge. (We managed to book only one night at the Old Faithful Lodge). The drive from Old Faithful to Canyon Lodge takes less than two hours, and we drove by the "West Thumb" of the Yellowstone Lake, saw a group of bison, and stopped by Falls Lookout to have a quick look at the Lower Falls.
The Canyon Lodge check in was slow; lots of guests showed up at the same time. Dinner was at the Cafe in Canyon Lodge. There is an ice cream shop that we ended up frequenting several times. A few stayed to attend a Ranger talk. The children were given Junior Ranger books by Jess's parents; they have room for stamps for National Parks; they (and Jess) would try to get as many stamps as possible during the trip. A good memory maker, I suppose. Jess's NP Passport dates back to 1994.
Joe P and I were walking a trail when Old Faithful erupted. Anne took this photo.
When the spring is hot, the water is blue as no living organism survives.
When it's not that hot, we can have a murky looking spring.
The Grand Prismatic Spring has different color bands as a result of the different bacteria that form these "mats."
There are many springs in the West Thumb area of the Yellowstone Lake.
A herd of elks.
CC in front of the Mud Volcano. The lonely bison here probably is an older male that's been rejected by his herd.
A herd of bison with many calves.
First sighting of the Yellowstone Falls (lower) and the Yellowstone River.
Our room in the Canyon Lodge is quite basic. But the charges are luxury hotel prices.
A pet peeve of mine is how easy it is to vandalize these liquid dispensers that hotels use these days. This sign is reassuring.
Need I say more?
Accommodation: Canyon Lodge Chittenden Lodge (3 nights).
Friday 6/28. Joe had booked two private tours for the 7 of us: one to "hunt" for wildlife, the other to see the sights of Yellowstone.
We left the hotel at about 6:15 am to drive to Tower Junction, about 30 minutes away, to meet with Gabe from Yellowstone Guidelines. Our route was basically along the Lamar Valley where animals are known to hang out (by people who know, so not us). Except for bison and one cinnamon black bear, none of the sightings were close encounters. Gabe brought along several high power telescopes (we are talking around 60X) and set up the views for us. So the animals may be miles away.
It was amazing how many nature observers were out and about by 7:30 am (our first stop). Animals we saw included a wolf, a mother grizzly with three cubs (I saw two), pronghorns, mule deer, ground squirrels, and mountain goats. A few remarks about these animals. The wolves were reintroduced into the park in the 1990s, and they number about 100 per Gabe (the Park website says 124, 10 packs). The wolf we saw was an alpha female, about 11 years old, and is blind in one eye and lost quite a few teeth. Considering she is a very old wolf (life expectancy 11 years or so), she still manages to be the queen of the pack. Pronghorns are more closely related to the giraffe - think long eyelashes and dark tongue - than the sheep, although they are often erroneously referred to as pronghorn sheep, if not as antelope. In the summer the mountain goats white color make them quite easy to spot, even with "regular" binoculars, but the color serves them well during the winter. Early afternoon usually isn't good birdwatching time, but we managed to see quite a few interesting birds: the yellow-headed blackbird (exactly what its name suggests), coots, and the ruddy duck with its distinctive blue bill. As to the bison, the estimate is there were 40 million in the area before the Europeans came along, they now number about 20,000, which is considered the "desirable" population (from what perspective?).
Most of the time the animals were too far away for us to take pictures.
We had dinner at the Canyon Lodge. Afterwards we visited the visitor center. The film being shown isn't particularly informative; Anne said the one at the Old Faithful Visitor Center was a lot better. The last two major area earthquakes happened 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago, so now if the time for the next big one? (Of course the error could be +/- 50,000 years, or more.) The other interesting fact is that the glacier covering the area was 4,000 feet thick; how do they know?
Joe P and I took a walk to the Grandview and Lookout Point lookouts, covering 2.4 miles (total). It was way before sunset when we got back, but I got a new appreciation of the phrase "not out of the woods yet."
On our way from Canyon Lodge to Tower Junction we reached an elevation of 8880 ft (per iPhone compass). Many of us would find the rarefied air a bit of a problem.
We used the restrooms at this Lodge at Tower Junction before heading out for a day of wildlife viewing.
This van has ample seating for the 7 of us.
Gabe from Yellowstone Guidelines set up viewing scopes for us. In this instance it was to look at a wolf pack.
I didn't see this bear. Anne took this photo.
We would encounter a couple of cinnamon black bears during our trip.
The guided tour came with a sandwich lunch.
Pronghorn, not antelope.
Joe and I took a walk after dinner.
Result of a search for "Yellowstone sights."
Saturday 6/29. We started the day at 7 am with Gabe picking us up at the hotel. Our first stop was to observe a pack of wolves (at least two adults and three pups), again quite a distance away. The rest of the day was to cover Yellowstone sites we didn't get to on our first day. The places we visited were the Norris Geyser Basin, Swan Lake, Artist Point, Roaring Mountain and Upper Falls View.
The wolf pack we saw were more "cooperative" in that I could see two adults and two pups (others saw more). Norris Geyser Basin has a lot of steam vents. Joe, Jess and their two girls went on a longer walk, while Anne, Harrison and I were on a shorter loop. Gabe stayed with Harrison as Anne and I took our time on the trail. There is a pair of tundra swans on Swan Lake, with five cygnets in tow. There are 10 pairs in the park; for comparison, during spring migration Middle Creek in PA may see as many as 1000 tundra swans. Artist Point provides an iconic view of the lower falls, and over the years we have quite a few shots of the scene. Roaring Mountain has a large number of fumaroles, but not much sound was produced. On our way back we stopped by the Upper Falls View area, this was our first visit. While it is only about 1/3 the height of the lower falls, one gets to see it a lot closer.
Our lunch spot was at the Sheepeater Cliff picnic area. There is this cliff of basalt columns that extend quite a distance.
We got back before 2 pm, I managed a nap. It was then off to dinner, this time at the Grill where burgers were served. I also had a root beer float. All the kids had ice cream also.
After dinner we drove to the Lookout Point. While Anne stayed with Harrison and CC, the rest of us hiked down to the platform (about 250 feet elevation change) to have a better view of the Lower Falls.
Sighting of another wolf pack.
Norris Geyser Basin.
Explanation of different colors of bacterial mats.
Roaring Mountain. No one heard any roaring today.
Swan Lake. The bit of white on the right were the swans and their cygnets.
Lunch in front of the basalt column known as Sheepeater Cliff. Emmie would climb up the base at some point.
Artist point.
We had this photo taken during our last visit. June 21, 2011. We had zero grandchildren then.
The Upper Falls.
We hiked down to a platform about 250 feet below.
The high elevation may have affected the results. Others were showing more normal oxygen levels, though.
Sunday 6/30. Today was a travel day. It takes about 7:30 hours to get from Canyon Lodge to West Glacier, where we will spend the next four evenings.
We didn't visit Mammoth Springs as part of the guided tour yesterday as we would be driving past it today. I vaguely remember in our prior tour (about 10 years ago) we stopped by this place, and our guide was saying the water flow had reduced by a considerable amount. This time there was hardly any, so the place looked quite inactive. While there were some sections with interesting colors, it was an overall disappointment. The brochure for the site certainly would have you believe otherwise. The place was nonetheless quite busy, possibly because of its proximity to the Park's North Entrance.
Two words learned during this trip. Rhyolite - a kind of igneous rock rich in silica, typically low in nutrients; Travertine - sedimentary rock formed by deposits from hot mineral springs.
Lunch was at Panda Express in Helena. We then stopped at the Missoula Albertson to pick up groceries before heading to our lodging for the next four nights, arriving at close to 9 pm.
There are few active springs at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Flathead Lake.
While Big Sky Country may be a slogan made up by the Tourism Board, there is a lot of truth to the name.
Accommodations: Paddle Ridge Cabins, West Glacier, MT. (4 nights).
Monday 7/1. We left the cabin at around 10:30 am. We took the usual route of driving NE along the "Going to the Sun" Road. After reaching the end, we drove north on US89 for a few miles and turned west to get to Many Glacier. Joe P downloaded an audio guide, so we had interesting commentary along the way. Driving on the western slope was a bit of a white-knuckler because of the narrow and winding road, with very steep drops and low barriers over long stretches. The situation wasn't helped by the rain.
Many Glacier is a strange name. And we didn't see many glaciers from that MG Hotel. The view is very alpine and reminds one of Switzerland. Indeed the hotel architecture evokes that country, and has facilities called Heidi's Cafe, Lausanne Lounge. We ended up visiting all three Visitor Centers (Apgar, Logan Pass, and Saint Mary) so the kids could get their Junior Ranger book stamped.
For the active outdoor visitor, Glacier National Park offers many hiking and boating opportunities. We drove on the scenic (and at times scary) Going-to-the-Sun Road and enjoyed the views along the way, stopping by several places to take pictures. Even though we started late, we had time to drive to Many Glacier as well.
This was taken at the Lake St. Mary Park Entrance.
Sacred Dancing Cascade.
The area is the eastern range of the red cedar. The Trail of Cedars is an easy walk of less than a mile.
The landscape is punctuated by many waterfalls. Some with names. This was the haystack (I am quite sure).
The Weeping Wall was a result of the construction of the highway. Drains were installed so the road way won't be eroded. And it's a steep drop to the right.
Logan Pass also marks the continental divide. Kids would get their Ranger books stamped at the Visitor Centers we passed by.
Jackson Glacier is easily visible from the GTTS Road. The area is warming at a rate much higher than average, and the number of glaciers has decreased considerably over the years (don't have the specifics).
St. Mary Lake at the end of the GTTS Road.
Many Glacier Hotel.
Looking across Swiftcurrent Lake to see Grinnell Point. Picture reminds me of Grand Teton and Jackson Lake.
Matterhorn? Except the Swiss mountain at 14,692 feet is a lot taller.
Our cabin at Paddle Ridge. Three bedrooms.
Tuesday 7/2. Joe and his family went on two adventures today. In the morning it was Glacier Highline with rope courses and relatively short zip lines. There is also a rubber slide that both Harrison and CC had a lot of fun with. In the afternoon they went on a rafting trip that lasted about 2 hours. It started to rain about 20 minutes before their trip started, but the blue skies returned by the time they got to the starting point. As I went to pick them up at 6 pm, there was thunder and lightning. They got rained on the last 15 minutes, but managed to return before things got ugly.
Anne and I bought some steaks for BBQ this evening, and we kept CC company as she is too young for whitewater rafting.
So, all in all a relaxing day. Anne was glad to have the chance to rest up.
The Rafting Company had a photographer take pictures as the rafts went by. The middle four are Joe's family.
Cake mix, icing, and blueberries provided the ingredients for Harrison's birthday cake.
At this moment (around 11 pm), Anne and I are at the top of the FCA-ORD upgrade list. The first class section has 16 seats, with 10 booked at the moment. We already got upgraded for our ORD-EWR leg. At 12:10 am Wednesday I got notified that we got upgraded. Yay! Incidentally, our names are removed from the published upgrade list, and the number of first class booked increased to 12.
Wednesday 7/3. I was confused - or didn't register - about the decision to start the day early today, so didn't set the alarm to go off early. Nonetheless, we were out of the house at 8:45 am or so. Today's main aim was to drive to Logan Pass, and tried to capture those sights we didn't see on 7/1. The day (the morning, anyway) turned out to be quite nice, so we had a pleasant drive to the Pass, and spent some time in the Visitor Center. Following the pointing of some sharp-eyed tourists, we saw a mountain goat.
View from a cutout at one of the tunnels on GTTS Road.
Triple Arches was built by a group of Russian engineers. They have been fortified over the years.
The kids got deputized as Junior Rangers after completion of a certain number of activities.
For planning purposes we looked at the weather forecast on June 21. The max/min for July 3 were forecasted to be 79/50.
On day of (July 3), the actuals were 66/49. So the margin of error (to be charitable) is 13F. (The screen shot was at 5 pm, so 66F was most likely the high for the day.) As I type this (early July 8) the daily highs for the next few days are in the high 80s and low 90s.
Thursday 7/4. Today was travel day. Anne and I were upgraded for both our FCA-ORD and ORD-EWR flights. Nonetheless, we didn't get dinner and ended up eating ramen after we got home. The kids seemed a bit exhausted after all this, but we appreciated the time we spent with them (and their parents, of course). Joe did most of the planning, which made it very easy for Anne and me.
All of us are on the same United flight. Why is FCA the code for the airport at Kalispell? Well, it was Flathead County Airport in the past.
There is a lot of outside construction. The inside is brand new.
Not without its kinks, though. The four panels showing departure/arrival all showed different current time. How do they manage that? (Two panels here.)
A decent lunch for the 3 hour flight to Chicago.
The taxiing took a circuitous route, 20 minutes. The FCA-EWR flight was already boarding, so we didn't get time to buy any food (only light snacks - think crackers - were offered on the flight).
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