So, we are spending August in Idaho, and we will have a blog post about Idaho soon, but eastern Idaho (where we first arrived) is just over the mountains from Wyoming. We decided to take advantage of our proximity to revisit two national parks we spent time at in September 2019: Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
Grand Teton National Park is famous for its craggy peaks that rise straight up from a flat valley. We took a day trip to the park, crossing from Idaho over Teton Pass and passing through the tourist town of Jackson, Wyoming.
We were surprised at how crowded both Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks were, a contrast with our recent experience at other national parks we visited in Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. While Americans are not traveling overseas, neither are foreigners coming to see our parks. Also, tour companies are not bringing buses to the parks. However, many people have been buying or renting RVs as a "safe" vacation plan during the pandemic, and clearly visiting these two iconic parks were on a lot of people's must-see lists.
The Tetons are just as beautiful from the Idaho side, as attested by this picture taken from our campground in Tetonia, Idaho. Ironically, our Idaho campground was only about 25% full.
The other place we visited was Yellowstone National Park, where we spent four full days. It's mostly in Wyoming, although parts of it also poke into Idaho and Montana. On this return visit, we decided to revisit some old favorites and do some hikes in a few new places. We stayed at a campground in West Yellowstone, Montana, just outside the western entrance to the park.
As with the Tetons, Yellowstone was filled with visitors. However, many people were wearing masks (more so than at the Tetons) so we felt safe even in the crowds.
One of our days was devoted to the various geyser and hot spring areas in the western side of the park. Although the Upper Geyser Basin (which includes Old Faithful) is the most famous, there are many geothermal features elsewhere. Given the crowds, we decided to skip the Upper Basin and visit some of the other geothermal areas.
The Grand Prismatic Spring is the world's largest hot spring, and you can see it both up close and personal and also hike up a little over a mile to an overlook. Water from the spring spills into the aptly-named Firehole River. Although people have to walk on a boardwalk by the spring, it appears that moose can walk wherever they want.
Yellowstone's hot springs come in multiple colors, arising from the various bacteria and algae that thrive at different water temperatures.
Yellowstone's geysers are also varied. Some erupt only occasionally, others almost continuously. Some come out of holes in the ground while others have formed cones over time.
Less colorful but just as exciting are the boiling mud pots.
In the northwestern section of the park is Mammoth Hot Springs, a GIANT construction built up over thousands of years from springs forming travertine terraces. The locations of the springs can change from year to year, and the old locations dry up and slowly crumble. Mammoth is so large that you can see it from miles away.
Driving through some of the wider valleys of the park brings you in sight of the wildlife, including some of the 3,000+ bison that call Yellowstone home.
Yellowstone was formed by a gigantic volcanic explosion 700,000 years ago. In addition to the many geothermal features, you also see other volcanic relics such as these basaltic columns. The hexagonal columns form when lava cools and crystalizes.
We also revisited some of the park's other famous features such as Yellowstone Falls in the colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone...
... and huge Yellowstone Lake which has geothermal features of its own on its shores.
Finally, during our stay in the Yellowstone area we also drove out the northeast entrance of the park and along the scenic Beartooth Highway up into Montana. It crosses above the treeline and is only open about 3-4 months each year.
Although we've tried to not repeat too much of 2019 in our 2020 travels, it was great to see these two places again.
Keep an eye out for our next blog post in early September detailing our travels around southern Idaho.
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