Yes, we went back to Yellowstone again. We probably should have been heading south for the winter, but thought we would make a quick run to the park to observe the geysers one more time. I can say now that we wouldn’t do this again so late in the year. Another lesson learned. Next year we will be heading south by October. There were still a lot of things we enjoyed, including the geysers, wildlife and a return visit to the Periodic Spring in Afton, Wyoming.
One of the highlights of Yellowstone in the fall are the bugling elk. There are many large elk harems that hang out
Bull Elk in Yellowstone
around Mammoth with their bull bugling and nipping at any female that dares to get out of line. It is really amusing and must be exhausting for the males. They spend so much time running around rounding up their females, it’s a wonder they ever get to the actual mating.
The lack of crowds in the fall makes the iffy weather worth risking. We spent several afternoons hanging out in the Upper Geyser Basin with only a few other people. 25,000 visitors a day in the summer is normal. Only seeing 4 or 5 people is a real treat. We were hanging out because we were hoping to catch an eruption of Giant Geyser. Giant can erupt to 200 feet tall and last as long as 90 minutes. There are years where it is active and other periods where nothing happens. Giant has been erupting fairly regularly this year, about every 5 days. It erupted 3 times while we in the park in the spring, but we didn’t see any of them. In fact, in all our visits to the park, we had never seen it. This time, we were very lucky and saw it erupt. We missed the first 10 minutes or so, but the remaining 80 minutes was impressive. The massive column of water is fascinating to watch. Seeing this geyser for the first time made the whole trip worth it.
After leaving the park, we headed out through West Yellowstone, MT. We wandered down through Idaho and checked out the Falls on the Clarks Fork of the Snake River. We were expecting a couple of small waterfalls. We were
Clarks Fork of the Snake River
wrong. There are two waterfalls and they are massive, mainly due to the volume of water and width of the falls. The river was a beautiful green and the entire area was very unspoiled. We would highly recommend this side trip. Next time we go back to Yellowstone I am sure we will be spending more time in this area. We didn’t stay long as we were headed back to the Star Valley in Wyoming.
While Dan worked, I went to
Grand Teton NP in search of moose. I was determined to see a moose. After searching all day, I finally came across a beautiful bull moose. He was on a back road in the park and I sat and watched him for about 30 minutes. He was happily munching on willows, but kept an eye on me. I could hear him cracking and chewing the trees. I wouldn’t mess with one. Moose are strange animals. They are kind of homely, but fascinating. I have a lot of respect for them after hearing how loud they eat. We boondocked at the same place in the Caribou National Forest that we used in the spring.
Check out this picture of us in the snow It was a little cold. We found time to go back to the
Periodic Spring in Afton, WY. This spring comes out of the hillside and starts and stops about every 20 minutes, only in the fall and winter. We had seen it at full run-off in the spring. This time it was starting and stopping. We sat through several cycles and it was pretty cool. There is a whole section devoted to it in the photo album.
Bull Moose near Jackson, WY
On the way back to Colorado, we stopped briefly at Fossil Butte National Monument. We didn’t have time to do more than go through the visitor center, but we will be back. The visitor center has some beautiful fossils on display and does a great job of explaining why the fossil record is important. We spent a couple of days at Curt Gowdy State Park outside of Laramie, WY.
We were surprised by the number of mountain bike trails that take off from the campground. The trail we picked was a nice mix of steepness and fun through the trees. There are many more to ride and seeing as we seem to like Wyoming, I am sure we will be back.
