June 16-Devil’s Tower, WY

We spent a good deal of the day on the road but the first part of the day was on the beautiful Bighorn Scenic Byway. We were excited to see 3 male Elk along the drive, what a thrill. The scenery was breathtaking. We stopped along the way and had a sandwich wrap for lunch, quickly made in the trailer and eaten on the road. Soon after that we were on the freeway heading to Devil’s Tower arriving just after 4pm. There is a regular Prairie Dog City here! It was a surprise to see two other Casita’s here in the campground! We chatted briefly with them and they joked it was an informal Casita gathering. After a quick campsite setup we headed up to the tower to do the Tower Walk. It was about 1.5 miles and it felt good to walk after being in the van all day. The National Park campsites here are only $12. ($6. senior) and there are only toilet facilities, but such a nice price. They even have a stack of firewood where you can help yourself!

Scenic Byway

Moose on Bighorn Scenic Byway

Devil’s Tower

Our Campsite

Devil’s Tower Walk

June 15-Cody Wyoming

It’s been a long and full day so I am tired when I am writing this. We had a nice trip out of the park with a super surprise of seeing Big Horn Sheep just before leaving the park, what a thrill. On to Cody…Seems like everything in and around Cody is named Buffalo Bill something or other! We went to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and had a guided tour and then explored on our own. We had a great time. We shopped at the local Wal-Mart and beefed up our supply of food and necessities. We are spending the night at Wal-Mart and that is fine since we are fully stocked and we took care of necessities like fresh water at the dump station when leaving Canyon Campground in Yellowstone. Tomorrow we will head toward Devil’s Tower.

Big Horn Sheep, Yellowstone

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Map

Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Moose

Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Chuck Wagon

Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Indian Headdress

Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Beaded Indian Girl’s Dress

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

June 14-Canyon Campground Yellowstone

I awoke to the sound of what I thought was rain drops but it was tiny hail for our morning weather. It stopped before long and the sun came out here. We drove to Tower-Roosevelt today and I have to say it was my least favorite drive. It rained off and on, even some more hail, and a bit of snow. It has been cold all day, it’s the first time we used the heater in the van and kept the windows up on our daily outing. The road going that way is cliff-side and many signs stating the obvious “slippery when wet” etc. We completed that road and stopped at the Roosevelt Lodge for a very nice lunch. We have enough left for another meal and we will eat our picnic lunch tonight back at the trailer. The lodge is very small and there are many tiny cabins for rent around the lodge. All lodging in the entire park is fully booked. It was warm and nice in the small lodge. We went on to Mammoth again for the last stretch of road we wanted to see. Since the weather hasn’t improved we opted to come home via Norris and then Canyon. This time we saw the Grizzly mama and her two cubs near Mammoth. Well, we did see the cubs but only when they jumped up a little bit as she sage brush covered them most of the time. We saw either a gray wolf, or more likely a coyote along the way as well. The only developed road we have not done in the park is the North East Entrance to Tower-Roosevelt. So, that said we had an amazing time here and feel we thoroughly saw everything we wanted to see. John is sorry to leave because we have had such a good time but I am ready to see something new! I wouldn’t mind having internet and better phone service as well!

Tower Falls

Petrified Tree

Petrified Tree Information

Roosevelt Lodge

Roosevelt Lodge Lunch

Grizzly Mama and 2 cubs (you can barely see one)

 

June 13-Canyon Campground Yellowstone

Today we moved to Canyon Campground, our site is K224, lovely and we have a little mound of snow in the campsite again. This is a huge campground with 276 sites.  When we arrived our site was not available so we parked near the Visitor Center and had lunch at the Fountain and Grill. I was hoping there would be some choices besides burgers, maybe chicken or fish, but no such luck. At least it was a good burger. After that our site was available and we set up, then played cards and relaxed. There is wind here that is making the trees swirl around and it is chilly. Fixed that beef fillet we got the other day, green beans, and added instant Rice-a-Roni in a cup for John. On our evening walk we saw a Casita in our loop and the people were just arriving. It was a 1994 Liberty that they picked up for $5K, such a deal! They’ve taken it on about 20 trips and they are heading back to their home in Sacramento via Zion, Grand Canyon, etc. We plan to go to Roosevelt and Tower tomorrow.

American White Pelican

Canyon Campground

Campground Snow Mound

Our Campsite K224

Dinner

June 12-Fishing Bridge RV Park Yellowstone

Maybe 4 days here was too long? We drove to the South East Entrance station. Of course we will do this again when we leave but many side trips will not allow trailers or RV’s so we had a nice time and saw some great views. I would say the most significant stop was Butte Point Overlook where you can see 35+ miles across Yellowstone Lake. they have signs and landmarks pointed out so it is quite interesting, you can even see the Tetons from there. We were back by early afternoon, ate our picnic lunch here, took a few walks around camp with Tony, and enjoyed the sunshine in our comfortable ergo chairs. No animal sightings today but plenty of lovely scenery. We had Jim and Ginger from TX stop by to see our trailer, they have a spanking, brand new Casita, our model a Liberty Deluxe 17” 2014. They took a look at ours and we compared notes, Casita has made a lot of changes but we are very happy with what we have. We watched a movie via iTunes on my laptop and by 10pm we were hearing rain drops again. I thought yesterday would be our only day without a brief sprinkle. 

Steamboat Point  from Butte Point Overlook

Eleanor Lake, John and Tony

Sylvan Pass

South East Entrance

 

 

June 11-Fishing Bridge RV Park Yellowstone

Today we did the portion of road from Fishing Bridge to Canyon, this included both the South Rim Drive and North Rim Drive. We only took 7 hours for this 40 drive, much less walking today. This beautiful Canyon is called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. While it does not compare in size at all, it is just lovely. Aside from that we also went on the Mud Volcano Trail, which was magnificent of course. Our last stop was Canyon Village and browsing the General Store and enjoying the Visitor Education Center. Canyon has the most extensive Visitor Center we have seen thus far regarding geology. It is two story with interesting exhibits. They have a movie at the top and half of the hour, we watched just one. Dinner under bright blue skies, with little puffy white clouds surrounded by lovely green trees. Thankful for the convenience of the microwave and individual Stouffer’s Lasagna servings, with a salad it was a treat.

Dragon's Mouth Spring, Mud Volcano Trail

Mud Volcano, Mud Volcano Trail

Chipmunk

Sulphur Caldron

Lower Falls, Artist Point, South Rim Drive

Upper Falls, South Rim Drive

Osprey Nest, North Rim Drive

Photo from Inspiration Point, North Rim Drive

June 10-Fishing Bridge RV Park Yellowstone

Our adventures took us south to Thumb area today. In the various pamphlets and books state dates that these geysers have been active. How do they know? Someone doesn’t sit by them year round to check. So I asked a Ranger. The ones they listed in this particular pamphlet today were seen by people, and one erupted in the night and left debris all over the boardwalk, so they knew from that evidence. Interestingly enough she said when the Abyss pool erupted (last to erupt in this area) all the other pools in this area dropped in water level, many are dropping now so it is likely the Abyss or another in this area will erupt in the next year or so. It was an interesting place. The Ranger said it is one of the least visited sites, not sure why because we loved it. There are at least 19 named sites and several things to see that are not listed, quite worth the stop. We didn’t pack a lunch today because we decided to splurge and eat a nice lunch out at Grant Village. The restaurant was lovely and we had a table by the window, but the only good thing was the view. It took 45 minutes for the simple food to arrive and then John’s burger was cold, so were his fries. My bison and elk sandwich was barely warm but I ate it anyway and my salad was okay cold of course. They brought John a complementary salad while he waited even longer for a second burger and fries and brought me a cup of soup. Nonetheless we were very disappointed. After leaving there we got a few supplies at the General Store in Grant and headed back to camp to see the few things on the way back. The wind picked up and the sky is getting darker by the moment. We took a side drive on Gull Point Road, which runs very close to the lake. We wondered if they water would begin to splash over the road! Just a couple of other stops along the way to read plaques and such, and we were home. Tonight we took our first showers in FULL SIZED showers since leaving Janice’s house in Folsom! When you camp at Fishing Bridge 2 free showers per night come with the campsite. If you are not camping here a shower cost $3.64 (not sure of the reasoning there). Our shower in the trailer is great and has nice hot water, it does the job but it is a “wet shower” (over the toilet and one must wipe down the area after showering). A full sized shower with unlimited hot water was GREAT! The advantage to our shower is the hand held shower head, or French shower. No Internet today, maybe the storm? At least we have phone service!

Yellowstone Lake

Black Pool and Yellowstone Lake

Collapsing Spring

 

Even Flowers Manage to Grow at the side of Abyss Pool

Blue Bell Pool

Best behave in the park or you can get in trouble!

Our View, which was the best thing about lunch.

The wind picked up, Rough Water on Yellowstone Lake

Gull Point Drive