Rhody Goes West: Mount Glory and Goodbyes

On our last full day in Wyoming, we all woke up very early to go for one last hike.  This hike is one that doesn't exist on trail maps or on any brochures of the area. Known only to the locals, we parked on the side of the road by what is known as "the pass" and then crossed the road to start our hike up Mount Glory. This was one of the most difficult hikes of the entire trip, and I would compare it to the hike we took to get up to Delicate Arch in Moab.

The first part of the hike was a 1600 foot climb, but that was only 3/4 mile of the 6 mile hike! Going essentially straight up was so difficult, especially since we were starting at an 8400 foot elevation. If you have never experienced athletic activities at an elevation that is so drastically different than the one that you typically reside in, then you really can't imagine how hard it is to breathe. While I'm not in as great of shape as I used to be, I really didn't think I would have such a hard time breathing while just walking at a quick pace, never mind walking straight up 1600 feet!

View from Mount Glory, Jackson, Wyoming

But, as difficult as the initial climb was, it was so worth it, because the view from the top of Mount Glory was beautiful.  With it not being a part of the Grand Tetons, you could see the backside of those mountains in the distance among all of the other smaller mountains in the area.  We took some time up here at the top while we waited for the rest of the group to finish up the steep climb, and since we had left so early, we ate breakfast while we waited. After all, it was only 7:30am!

You can actually see our cars parked along side the road in this picture - Top of Mount Glory, Jackson, Wyoming

Me at the Peak of Mount Glory, Jackson, Wyoming

Once everyone had reached the top and had enough time to recover, we started our trek down one side of this mountain and then up to the top of an adjoining one. The top of the next mountain was very rocky, such a different landscape than the grassy pebble filled peak of the last one.

Rocky Peak of Mount Glory, Jackson, Wyoming

Once we got to the other side of this mountain, of which was very steep and slippery because of the rocks going down, we came across the most beautiful wildflower meadow that was leading us into the woods for the next leg of our hike.  I was really looking forward to seeing these large areas of wildflowers, however, this ended up being the only one that we actually saw! Most of the large fields in this area of the country are actually grain and grass fields and not wildflowers, like I originally thought.

Wildflowers on Mount Glory, Jackson, Wyoming

The rest of the hike was very cool too, leading us through the forest, then down some winding hillsides, leading us to a lake nestled between the mountains.  We rested here again, waiting for the rest if the group to catch up, and then we finished off the last mile and a half, where we came off the trail at an entrance at the bottom of "the pass."

Ski Lake, Jackson, Wyoming

In order to get back up to the cars at the top, we had to hitchhike, so me and D's uncle flagged down a guy in a pickup, who let us hop in the back of the truck bed and brought us up to the top of "the pass."  We grabbed the cars and drove them back down the mountain and picked everyone back up.  This was actually my first time hitchhiking! 

On our way back to the house, and on our last day, we finally saw one of the animals I was looking forward to seeing most - the moose.  New England has moose, but not in Rhode Island, and aside from seeing them on TV and in print, I had never seen a moose in person. But, lo and behold, standing on the side of the road in someone's front yard was a young male moose.  He was so interested in eating the leaves off of the trees that he really didn't care how close we got to him, so I ended up being only about 30 feet away from him.

Moose - Jackson, Wyoming

Moose - Jackson, Wyoming

I was so surprised at how skinny they were! I knew that moose were really tall animals, but I didn't think they would be this narrow. I was figuring that they would be built more like a deer or a horse, but they are so skinny!

Just before sunset, when we were back at the house, I set myself up right next to the hummingbird feeder on the back deck to see if I could grab some pictures of the hummingbirds.  There must have been eight or nine hummingbirds swarming around the feeder, and they were so calm that they allowed me to get four inches away from their feeder with my camera. I was standing so close to the feeder that I could feel the air moving from their wings fluttering at the feeder.  It was so amazing, and using the continuous shot feature on my camera I took over 300 pictures of the little birds.

Hummingbirds - Jackson, Wyoming

This last evening was the perfect way to unwind at the end of the vacation - we relaxed in the river, hung out, had a delicious dinner, and then said our goodbyes to family and new friends, as we had a five hour drive back to Salt Lake City in the morning to catch our afternoon flight.  

And this is the final post of my Rhody Goes West series. I am finally done recapping this incredible trip.  All in all, this was one of the best vacations that I have had - it was full of activities, most of which were physical, and we were also able to visit with family.  I actually am really looking forward to another vacation out to this area, and can't wait to explore more of the West side of our amazing country!!

Rhody Goes West: Grand Tetons

After we left Yellowstone National Park, we began our drive down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, driving through the Grand Tetons on our way.  

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

The drive was beautiful, and the roads were narrow and winding around the border of the mountains.  You could even see snow at the top, and it was actually snow this time, not sulfur, like I had thought in Yellowstone.  

Grand Tetons - Wyoming, USA

Since we had spent the morning in Yellowstone checking out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Grand Prismatic, we didn't have time to hike that afternoon, and the next day was the Bar Mitzvah, the entire reason for taking this trip, so we just spent the afternoon settling in and visiting with D's family.  

Neither D nor I had ever been to a Bar Mitzvah, so it was very neat to see D's cousin choose to make Judaism part of his life.

D and I at Teton Village - Jackson, Wyoming

The day after the Bar Mitzvah, we went back to Grand Teton National Park and decided to a hike along one of the trails.  D's uncle is a park ranger, so he brought us along to one of the trails that he and his family like best.

All along the trail, you could see the tops of the mountains, and it was beautiful.

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

In the middle of the trail was a beautiful lake that overlooked the mountains.  The lake had all of these dead tree trunks in it that made the water look so cool.  And speaking of cool, the water was so cold! We stopped here for a while and had some lunch and then once we were done with our sandwiches and snacks, we got back on the trail to walk to the end and then head back to Jackson.  

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

D and I at Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

It was a great little hike, and a warm up for what was to come tomorrow, our last full day of vacation.  

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming, USA

We ended up just hanging out at the house and spending time with D's family that was still in town from the Bar Mitzvah, which was a welcome treat since they live so far away.  We walked up to the river behind D's aunt and uncle's house and we all went swimming, but when we were walking up the path to the river, I heard a screech.  I looked up into the trees and saw two Bald Eagles sitting on the branch of a tree.  

Male and Female Bald Eagle - Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

One was a male and the other was a female, and you can see the size difference more in the picture below.  They were only about twenty feet above my head, and they were so cool to see this close - much better than the Eagle we saw in Yellowstone.  

Male and Female Bald Eagle - Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

We must have spooked them though, because they didn't stay for long. In fact, they started looking around for an escape route since we came down to the river with eleven people. I actually caught their taking off on camera too, so take a look at the video below.

Male and Female Bald Eagle - Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The river was so relaxing, and judging by the Eagles sitting on the tree branch, they would agree.  It was a perfect, relaxing, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of day.  

Snake River, Jackson Wyoming

With only one more day in Wyoming before our drive back to Salt Lake City, we had a big hike planned and some more family time.  This was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

Rhody Goes West: Yellowstone - Part 3

Back in vacation land, with only one more stop left on our itinerary for Yellowstone National Park, we woke up early on Friday morning, checked out of the hotel, packed up the car, and made our way to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  

Morning Sunrise on the River - Yellowstone National Park, USA

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is a large canyon in the middle of the park, where the river has run through creating a valley in the middle, and making gorgeous waterfalls over the rock structures.  It's really beautiful, and is surrounded by these amazing cliffs that have pine trees growing out of the sides.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park, USA

There are a few different spots that you can get out of your vehicle and walk along the side of the canyon to get a good look at the waterfalls.  Waterfalls are not something that we really have much of in Rhode Island, never mind waterfalls of this size, so seeing these was incredible.  Even being that far away from them, you could hear the water running down the rocks.  

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park, USA

You can only take so many pictures of the canyon before things become repetitive and boring, so when we saw a large tour group coming, we took that as a hint, and decided our time here was done. 

Because we left the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone earlier than anticipated, we ended up with a little extra time on our hands before we had to exit the park, so I requested that we go back to one of the sights we had seen previously.  Can you guess which one?

If you guessed Grand Prismatic, you would be correct!  As you know, I was so disappointed that we were unable to see what it truly looks like since it was so cold out that morning, so with the temperatures in the air getting into the 60s at this point, I was really hoping that the steam wouldn't be as dense coming off of the water and we would be able to see the colors on the hot spring.  

As we got to that area of the park again, we were able to see the small bacteria waterfall that is created by the run off of all the hot springs that are situated on top of the sulfur plateau.  Like the bacteria at Lonestar Geyser, this bacteria was orange, and the hot water ran into a cold water river. 

Midway Geyser Basin - Yellowstone National Park, USA

We walked up the boardwalk towards the hot springs, and it was like we were at a completely different place than we were at a few days prior.  You could actually see!  And the first thing that was saw was Excelsior Crater, which had the most amazing turquoise color and water that was so clear you could see the bottom.  

Excelsior Crater - Yellowstone National Park, USA

We followed the boardwalk around the hot springs, but this time, we went the opposite direction so that we would hit Grand Prismatic Spring first instead of last. But, when we rounded the corner and got up the slight incline, what we saw was incredible.  There was so little steam coming off the water that we could see all the colors. The orange bacteria was on the outside, followed by the yellow, then the green, and finally the blue with the slightest hint of purple in the center and just below the surface of the water.  

Grand Prismatic Spring - Yellowstone National Park, USA

I could not be happier that I requested to revisit this part of the park. The weather was beautiful and cooperative, and seeing the natural colors of the water was gorgeous.  Even the other smaller hot springs had much better colors than a few days prior, and those were not only smaller, but closer to us.  

Hot Springs - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Opal Pool - Yellowstone National Park, USA

With that last stop out of the way, it was finally time to leave Yellowstone National Park to make our way into the Grand Tetons and down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I do, however, have one last Yellowstone post for you, though, so stay tuned, because this one may be the most fun!

What do you think my last post on Yellowstone is about? Have you noticed anything in my recaps that has been missing?  

Rhody Goes West: Yellowstone - Part 2

Our second day in Yellowstone, we drove to the North Entrance of the Park, which is technically in Montana.  Up in this area of the park is Mammoth Hot Springs, one of the places that I suggested that we go, even though the drive up there from the hotel is over an hour and a half.  It's crazy to think that this park is larger than the entire State of Rhode Island.  In fact, the road that makes a circle in the center of the park just to the Northwest of Lake Yellowstone is only 40 miles shorter than the perimeter of Rhode Island.

On our way up to Mammoth Hot Springs, we stopped at Mud Volcano, to see Dragon's Mouth, which is a cave that has boiling water coming out of it.  When the original settlers of the area came upon this cave, they had thought that there was a Dragon that lived inside, because of the steam coming out of it and the roaring noise that the boiling water was making as it was coming out.

Dragon's Mouth - Yellowstone National Park, USA

The cave was very neat to see, but once again, with the morning temperature being in the low 40s, it was difficult to see the actual cave with all of the steam coming out of it, but the actual concept of the cave was very cool. It's just amazing that boiling water can come out of the Earth, naturally.

In that same area of the park are some other hot springs, some of which are really large and others that are on the small side.  From the top of the hill in that area, you could see the steam from all of the hot springs because it was so cold outside, and it was a really neat view with the mountains in the background.

Hot Springs - Yellowstone National Park, USA

The hot springs that were smaller were much more interesting to me than the large ones were, mostly because they were surrounded by beautifully colored grasses that I was surprised could survive near the hot sulfur-infused water.

Hot Springs - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Also in this area were the Mud Volcanoes, which instead of just water boiling, these are mud ponds that boil.  Seeing mud boil was actually a really weird thing to see. You don't really think about boiling things with the consistency of mud, at least I don't, so actually seeing it boil is a strange occurrence.  The cool thing about it, though, is that the boiling seems to be slow, and not as rapid, which means that when you take pictures, you can actually see the ripples and the bubbles in the boil.

Mud Volcanoes - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Boiling Mud Volcanoes - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Next, we finally arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs, where we saw some geysers, similar to the ones in the Old Faithful area of the park, and the hot springs, which over thousands of years, have formed a large sulfur mountain.  Like the sulfur in the geysers, there is also a lot of sulfur in the water in the hot springs, and as the water boils, a buildup of sulfur is created, making the white-faced mountain that you see in the picture below.  From far away, it looks like it was snow covered mountain, which I thought could be possible considering that it was getting so cold at night, but I was proved very wrong when we got closer.

Mammoth Hot Springs - Yellowstone National Park, USA

This mountain of sulfur was created from some of the larger hot springs, and the sulfur has actually killed the nature that is around that area.  Small grasses are able to survive, but trees that once stood with green leaves and branches are now just dead sticks that are being held up by the hardened sulfur around the trunks.

Sulfur Tree Forest - Yellowstone National Park, USA

It's actually a really interesting thing to see, and makes the hot springs just seem a little more ominous.  Over time, as long as these trees stay standing, they will likely petrify because of the acids and the minerals in the water.  It will take millions of years for this to occur, however, so unless technology really advances in the next fifty years or so, we will never live to see it happen.  

Trees at Mammoth Hot Springs - Yellowstone National Park, USA

After spending the morning and early afternoon at Mammoth Hot Springs, we started our trek back to the hotel, stopping on our way to see the Petrified Tree.  This tree is over 40 million years old, and at one point there were three of them this size that were all situated next to each other on this hillside of Specimen Ridge.  The other two trees were more accessible than this one, and tourists were picking them apart, taking pieces of the petrified wood as souvenirs.  This led to the park association fencing in the last remaining tree to preserve it.  It was a beautiful landmark, but it was difficult to get a good view of it, as you can kind of tell from the picture below - it's situated on the side of a ridge, and there is a small walkway that allows you to see it, although it is a little further up the hill, making for difficult photo taking.

Petrified Tree - Yellowstone National Park, USA

We hit some road construction on the way back to the hotel, which ended up delaying us slightly for our dinner reservation, and we didn't get much of a chance to do some hiking.  Instead, we got cleaned up and had dinner, just in time to watch the gorgeous sunset over Lake Yellowstone.  

Sunset over Lake Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park, USA

It was the perfect ending to a great day in the park, and our last night there as well, but the recaps of Yellowstone aren't over yet.  In fact, stay tuned for two more posts about Yellowstone, one of which is my absolute favorite part of the park, and then we travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the Grand Tetons for a few days.  

Rhody Goes West: Yellowstone - Part 1

Our time in Yellowstone National Park was great.  We ended up spending just about three days in the park, and while that wasn't enough time to do some of the long hikes, we were able to see almost all of the touristy attractions.

Welcome to Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park, USA

We entered the park from the West Entrance, and followed the main road until we reached Madison Junction, where we began our drive South towards Old Faithful.  The plan was to hit up all of the attractions along the West side of the park on our way to the hotel in Lake Village.

Yellowstone National Park Map via National Park Service

The first place along the road that we stopped was the Midway Geyser Basin, which is where Grand Prismatic Spring is.  D and I were so excited to see this because the pictures that are available online of this basin are incredible, as you will see below, in the picture by National Geographic.

Grand Prismatic Spring via National Geographic

Well, we weren't going to be able to see how beautiful it was. You see, when we woke up that morning to enter the park, it was a whopping 38 degrees outside. Yes, you read that correctly - 38 degrees. After having just spent a few days in temperatures over 90 degrees, that was quite the shock to our systems.  But, you may be wondering what this has to do with not being able to see the beauty of Grand Prismatic Spring.  Well, the water that's in the spring is averaging about 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it very, very warm. When the temperature in the air is cold, let's say under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the steam that rises off of the warm water blocks the view of the spring, and you can't really see much at all.  And since it was so freaking cold that morning and the sun hadn't yet broken through the early morning fog and mist, we essentially couldn't see anything.

Grand Prismatic Spring - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Honestly, I was devastated. Grand Prismatic Spring was probably the top touristy attraction that I wanted to see, and the weather was completely ruining it.  And I may have thrown a little fit. Just kidding...

But, since there wasn't too much to see, we decided to keep on going, and our next stop was the Old Faithful area of the park.  With Old Faithful being pretty predictable, we were able to spend some time walking around the boardwalks to see the other geysers before we made our way back to the main attraction.  Before going to Yellowstone, I didn't realize how many other geysers there actually are in the area, so we spent a lot of time walking around, enjoying the area, and thinking we were going to see every geyser go off - and spoiler alert - we didn't see a single one.  Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of activity, but the only one that we saw actually erupt was Old Faithful.

Castle Geyser in Old Faithful Area - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Old Faithful Eruption - Yellowstone National Park, USA

After watching Old Faithful, we made our way out of the area and over to Kepler Cascades, which is just an overlook to an amazingly beautiful waterfall.  We actually ate lunch here, and when we finished up, we walked over to a hidden gem just around the corner, Lonestar Geyser.

Kepler Cascades - Yellowstone National Park, USA

The walk out to Lonestar is about 2.5 miles, one-way, but well worth it. I actually enjoyed Lonestar more than I enjoyed Old Faithful, and it was definitely the highlight of the day for me.  We were able to get really close to the geyser, even when it was erupting, and there were no where near as many people there as there were at Old Faithful.

Lonestar Geyser - Yellowstone National Park, USA

What you're actually seeing in the second picture with the orange color is bacteria.  Since the water is so hot coming out of the geyser, bacteria grows and lives in the warm pools of water that form. The bacteria is the color that you are seeing.  If we had a clear day at Grand Prismatic Spring, you would have also seen the different colored bacteria, but you know how that went...

Lonestar Geyser - Yellowstone National Park, USA

Also, the spout that it looks like the hot water is coming out of was actually formed over years and years of the geyser erupting.  Since the hot water comes from inside the earth, it contains a lot of sulfur, and when it erupts, the sulfur leaves behind small particles from the water run off, and over time, the sulfur builds up and forms that spout around the opening in the ground.  You'll see a lot more of this in pictures as my vacation recap continues, but this actually wrapped up our tour of the West side of the park.

Stay tuned as we continue our vacation in Yellowstone and explore some of the other awesome parts of the park.

Have you ever seen Old Faithful? Is Yellowstone National park on your bucket list?

Rhody Goes West: Salt Lake City

D and I stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah for one night between our travels in Moab and our drive up to Yellowstone National Park.

We had plans to see the city, but after it started to rain, we just decided to grab some food and spend the night in the hotel room, catching up on some much needed rest.

Salt Lake Temple at Night - Salt Lake City, Utah

The next morning, we had a few hours before we needed to head out to Yellowstone, so with the blue sky and no clouds, we packed up our things, checked out of the hotel, and saw the downtown area right around where we were staying.  

We walked around until we found a cute little side street and grabbed some breakfast at a delicious little restaurant.  Being the huge genealogy buff that I am, I begged D to go with me to the Family History Library, which unknown to me, was right behind the hotel we were staying at!  I have future plans to travel back to Salt Lake City to spend more than a couple of hours completing my family research, but being able to go inside the library and find some new information was good enough for me for this short trip.  

Me at the Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Utah

Me at the Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Utah

We ended up spending about an hour longer than D wanted to at the library, but he knew that this stop was important to me, so he was more than happy to accommodate.  After the library, we walked across the street to see Temple Square. The Mormon headquarters are in Salt Lake City, and Temple Square is the place in Utah to go if you are interested in Mormon history.  While it's not necessarily a religion that I have interest in, their temple's architecture is something like no other, so we wanted to check that out.

Salt Lake Temple - Salt Lake City, Utah

The Salt Lake Temple isn't open to the public, but even if it were, there was a wedding going on (on a Tuesday!) so we wouldn't have been able to see the inside, but the exterior is absolutely gorgeous.  

There wasn't much else for us to do in Temple Square, since we didn't have much interest in learning about the religion or listening to the lectures, so we wrapped up our time in Salt Lake City with some lunch at one of Guy Fieri's stops on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Drives places called Pat's In Your Face BBQ. It was delicious, and was perfect to hold us over for our drive North through Idaho to West Yellowstone, Montana.  

Welcome to Idaho!

This gave us two more states on our trip, Idaho and Montana. With Wyoming being the only one left to hit on our vacation, we were more than ready to get to Yellowstone.

What's the most number of states that you have hit up in a single vacation?