Return to Start Page
Part 2 of the Summer 2022 Vacation.
When we drove up to Yellowstone, we decided to drive up through Jackson Hole, WY so that we could journey along the Teton Mountain Range. The mountain range did not disappoint. We didn't stop to take any photos as it was snowing, but thought we would stop on our way home and get some photos of the mountains.
As we entered Yellowstone from the south, you travel along the Lewis River. Here are the Lewis falls. They are located near Highway 191 and we stopped and walked down over the bridge to get a photo with them in the background.
What is not shown, is that the road we stopped on has a 12" snow bank off the shoulder. There was still plenty of snow in the park that we had to contend with. Luckily the snow was in the eastern and southern parts and not the western part where we spent most of out time. In fact, both Lewis Lake & Yellowstone lake were frozen over.
We didn't do much stopping as we drove in due to it being late in the evening. We did stop a time or two to look at some animals that were near the road. I was very impressed at the many pockets of steam rising from the landscape in and around the roads.
The Buffalo or Bison freely roam around the park and are given the right of way in the park. Thus, when they are crossing the road, traffic backs up as people are waiting for (and in some cases photographing) them.
We met up with Wyatt & Mia, Zeke & Mylinda, Braxton & Sabrina along with AJ & Brittany in Island Park, ID. We all stayed in same house during our 3 day, 2 night stay. The plan was for each of us to deal with our daily plans and sleep at the same place allowing for common dinners and breakfast. This worked but not well. Schedules were different and out vehicle didn't allow for us to keep many of the plans we made.
The vehicle saga will be detailed below.
Shown above and to the right is Old Faithful. This geyser is not the largest, but it is the most regular. They predict its eruptions days in advance with a +/- 10 minute accuracy. It erupts about every 90 minutes. While we enjoyed it grandeur, we enjoyed more the smaller geysers that are found in parking lots, along the board walks, and the side of the road all over the park. These erupt at random and we caught several of these eruptions as we were passing by. They usually are a few feet in height, but some were taller than we were.
According to the literature we read there are over 10,000 thermal items in the park. This includes geysers, hot springs, mud pits, bubbling rivers, steam pools, etc. We were taken with the different colors of the pools and the sights. Yellowstone is essentially a caldera of an old volcano that has multiple lakes within it, but the magma is still providing the source for the thermal anomalies. Due to its elevation and location it gets plenty of snow and is the head of 3 major rivers in the US.
As we drove around, the National Park Service has built boardwalks around so that you can walk across them and view some the thermal features. The boardwalks are build above the ground to facilitate them being moved when the thermal features change. In fact a few of the parking lots we entered had wooden barriers around steam vents that were coming through the asphalt. The thermal features change from time to time as the magma/water shift underneath.
Here we are in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This is the Yellowstone river going over a series of water falls. The "upper falls" are 110 feet in height and then less than a quarter mile down stream the river goes over the "lower falls" at 310 feet of height. We hiked down to the head of the lower falls. It was about 600 feet of elevation change from the road down to the head of the lower falls, but what a neat view. The lower falls are visible in the photo to the left. The kids had a good time viewing the river and the animals that we found around the park.
The photo to the left was taken on a small hike we did. In the background (and hard to see) is a buffalo. They are all over the place. While they are pretty docile, you need to be careful. They are very powerful and will (and do often) hurt and kill people that get too close. We planned to do some more hiking, but the trail we wanted to take was closed due to bear activity. I am convinced you could spend weeks in the park and still not see all that it has to offer. I would like to go back again and do some more hiking. We only drove the lower loop. We never got to the upper loop nor the fingers that come off of the upper loop. Some day we will make the trip back and see some of the other sites the park has to offer.
Part 1 of the Summer 2022 Vacation.
While on the trip we saw buffalo, elk, moose, grizzly bears, mountain goats, beavers and bald eagles. This was from only 3 days of driving around. Spending more time there particularly while hiking through the many trails would undoubtably have provided many more wildlife viewing opportunities.
Ethen came with us on this trip, and I think out of all of the kids he enjoyed it the most. He was really taken with the wildlife that abounds there. Perhaps he needs to also venture north to Denali, AK as I understand it has even more wildlife than Yellowstone.
AJ and Brittany ended up joining us throughout the visit of the park. This was primarily due to our unreliable vehicle. Here we are at the part exit. We took a photo by the sign. The photo of the Tetons was taken out of the car window. Again we had planned to stop, but this time the weather cooperated, but the vehicle didn't. On the trip the car didn't start 4 different time. It appears that for some reason the vehicle anti-theft system activates when you are trying to start the car and doesn't supply any power to the fuel pump.
This makes the car at first start then promptly run out of gas.
On the first day as we entered the park, our plan was to drive through it and then head to Island Park, ID. When we stopped to look at what we thought was a moose (but ended up being an elk), we got in the car to leave and it wouldn't start.
We payed with it for about 30 minutes and then decided to push it off the road at a side road. As we were stopped, many people would continue to pull over with us to look at what ever we were viewing. This quickly got annoying so we pushed the car down the road.
While pushing it I tried to start it a couple of times with no luck. Once we parked off the vehicle it started up and we all got in and drove to Idaho. After we arrived (all be it late), we ate and then I showed Wyatt what happens. The car again would not start, and regardless of what we tried it would not start all that night. We did, however, notice the rear tire was low due to a nail in it.
The next morning, we took changed the tire and when trying to take it to the shop, the car started and off we went. We went through out the rest of this day without any issues. The next morning we packed up our stuff (checked out of the house) and went to pick up the tire. The car again behaved normally. We put the fixed tire back on the car and drove around the park. After exiting the park we were driving along the Teton range and there was a bunch of people stopped. We joined them and stopped as well. It turned out there was a Grisly bear with two cubs eating an elk kill. After viewing this for 15 or so minutes, the car would not start again. AJ towed us off the road to the first place to pull over and we played with it again.
After about 1.2 hours of pushing it around the parking lot and pausing for rain twice, some park rangers also came in the parking lot. I asked them if they had any wire (I was going to bypass the fuel pump relay to power to fuel pump in an attempt to start the car). They didn't have any but the car decided to start after sunset and we drove back to Idaho Falls, ID.
The next day we headed to Utah. In Utah, we found a dinosaur museum and walked around. Upon leaving the museum, the car again would not start. This time I have bought some wire and decided to bypass the fuel pump relay. Powering the circuit directly from the battery worked and the engine started, but ran very poorly. I suspect the air/fuel ratio logic was not active, and the car died after a short while. I replaced the relay and the car started. We left and didn't have any further issues with the car on this trip.
After we returned home, I rotated the tires, and the car became very unstable/squirrely on the road especially at higher speeds. Given the troubles we have had with it, and the fact that 3 trips to a Chevy dealer couldn't fix it, we decided to replace it. The next weekend (yesterday) we traveled to Kingman and bought a different car. This time an expedition with the same drive train as the truck has. It is smaller, and I have some concerns about how it will handle the boat (particularly with launching). Stay tuned.
The Yellowstone trip was a lot funner than I anticipated. I really enjoyed it and plan to visit again in a few years.
Return to Start Page
|
Part 2 of the Summer 2022 Vacation.
When we drove up to Yellowstone, we decided to drive up through Jackson Hole, WY so that we could journey along the Teton Mountain Range. The mountain range did not disappoint. We didn't stop to take any photos as it was snowing, but thought we would stop on our way home and get some photos of the mountains. As we entered Yellowstone from the south, you travel along the Lewis River. Here are the Lewis falls. They are located near Highway 191 and we stopped and walked down over the bridge to get a photo with them in the background. What is not shown, is that the road we stopped on has a 12" snow bank off the shoulder. There was still plenty of snow in the park that we had to contend with. Luckily the snow was in the eastern and southern parts and not the western part where we spent most of out time. In fact, both Lewis Lake & Yellowstone lake were frozen over. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
We didn't do much stopping as we drove in due to it being late in the evening. We did stop a time or two to look at some animals that were near the road. I was very impressed at the many pockets of steam rising from the landscape in and around the roads.
The Buffalo or Bison freely roam around the park and are given the right of way in the park. Thus, when they are crossing the road, traffic backs up as people are waiting for (and in some cases photographing) them. |
|
|
|
|
We met up with Wyatt & Mia, Zeke & Mylinda, Braxton & Sabrina along with AJ & Brittany in Island Park, ID. We all stayed in same house during our 3 day, 2 night stay. The plan was for each of us to deal with our daily plans and sleep at the same place allowing for common dinners and breakfast. This worked but not well. Schedules were different and out vehicle didn't allow for us to keep many of the plans we made.
The vehicle saga will be detailed below. Shown above and to the right is Old Faithful. This geyser is not the largest, but it is the most regular. They predict its eruptions days in advance with a +/- 10 minute accuracy. It erupts about every 90 minutes. While we enjoyed it grandeur, we enjoyed more the smaller geysers that are found in parking lots, along the board walks, and the side of the road all over the park. These erupt at random and we caught several of these eruptions as we were passing by. They usually are a few feet in height, but some were taller than we were. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
According to the literature we read there are over 10,000 thermal items in the park. This includes geysers, hot springs, mud pits, bubbling rivers, steam pools, etc. We were taken with the different colors of the pools and the sights. Yellowstone is essentially a caldera of an old volcano that has multiple lakes within it, but the magma is still providing the source for the thermal anomalies. Due to its elevation and location it gets plenty of snow and is the head of 3 major rivers in the US.
As we drove around, the National Park Service has built boardwalks around so that you can walk across them and view some the thermal features. The boardwalks are build above the ground to facilitate them being moved when the thermal features change. In fact a few of the parking lots we entered had wooden barriers around steam vents that were coming through the asphalt. The thermal features change from time to time as the magma/water shift underneath. |
|
|
|
| Here we are in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This is the Yellowstone river going over a series of water falls. The "upper falls" are 110 feet in height and then less than a quarter mile down stream the river goes over the "lower falls" at 310 feet of height. We hiked down to the head of the lower falls. It was about 600 feet of elevation change from the road down to the head of the lower falls, but what a neat view. The lower falls are visible in the photo to the left. The kids had a good time viewing the river and the animals that we found around the park. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The photo to the left was taken on a small hike we did. In the background (and hard to see) is a buffalo. They are all over the place. While they are pretty docile, you need to be careful. They are very powerful and will (and do often) hurt and kill people that get too close. We planned to do some more hiking, but the trail we wanted to take was closed due to bear activity. I am convinced you could spend weeks in the park and still not see all that it has to offer. I would like to go back again and do some more hiking. We only drove the lower loop. We never got to the upper loop nor the fingers that come off of the upper loop. Some day we will make the trip back and see some of the other sites the park has to offer. |
|
|
|
|
Part 1 of the Summer 2022 Vacation.
While on the trip we saw buffalo, elk, moose, grizzly bears, mountain goats, beavers and bald eagles. This was from only 3 days of driving around. Spending more time there particularly while hiking through the many trails would undoubtably have provided many more wildlife viewing opportunities. Ethen came with us on this trip, and I think out of all of the kids he enjoyed it the most. He was really taken with the wildlife that abounds there. Perhaps he needs to also venture north to Denali, AK as I understand it has even more wildlife than Yellowstone. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
AJ and Brittany ended up joining us throughout the visit of the park. This was primarily due to our unreliable vehicle. Here we are at the part exit. We took a photo by the sign. The photo of the Tetons was taken out of the car window. Again we had planned to stop, but this time the weather cooperated, but the vehicle didn't. On the trip the car didn't start 4 different time. It appears that for some reason the vehicle anti-theft system activates when you are trying to start the car and doesn't supply any power to the fuel pump.
This makes the car at first start then promptly run out of gas. On the first day as we entered the park, our plan was to drive through it and then head to Island Park, ID. When we stopped to look at what we thought was a moose (but ended up being an elk), we got in the car to leave and it wouldn't start. We payed with it for about 30 minutes and then decided to push it off the road at a side road. As we were stopped, many people would continue to pull over with us to look at what ever we were viewing. This quickly got annoying so we pushed the car down the road. While pushing it I tried to start it a couple of times with no luck. Once we parked off the vehicle it started up and we all got in and drove to Idaho. After we arrived (all be it late), we ate and then I showed Wyatt what happens. The car again would not start, and regardless of what we tried it would not start all that night. We did, however, notice the rear tire was low due to a nail in it. |
|
|
|
|
The next morning, we took changed the tire and when trying to take it to the shop, the car started and off we went. We went through out the rest of this day without any issues. The next morning we packed up our stuff (checked out of the house) and went to pick up the tire. The car again behaved normally. We put the fixed tire back on the car and drove around the park. After exiting the park we were driving along the Teton range and there was a bunch of people stopped. We joined them and stopped as well. It turned out there was a Grisly bear with two cubs eating an elk kill. After viewing this for 15 or so minutes, the car would not start again. AJ towed us off the road to the first place to pull over and we played with it again.
After about 1.2 hours of pushing it around the parking lot and pausing for rain twice, some park rangers also came in the parking lot. I asked them if they had any wire (I was going to bypass the fuel pump relay to power to fuel pump in an attempt to start the car). They didn't have any but the car decided to start after sunset and we drove back to Idaho Falls, ID. The next day we headed to Utah. In Utah, we found a dinosaur museum and walked around. Upon leaving the museum, the car again would not start. This time I have bought some wire and decided to bypass the fuel pump relay. Powering the circuit directly from the battery worked and the engine started, but ran very poorly. I suspect the air/fuel ratio logic was not active, and the car died after a short while. I replaced the relay and the car started. We left and didn't have any further issues with the car on this trip. |
|
|
|
After we returned home, I rotated the tires, and the car became very unstable/squirrely on the road especially at higher speeds. Given the troubles we have had with it, and the fact that 3 trips to a Chevy dealer couldn't fix it, we decided to replace it. The next weekend (yesterday) we traveled to Kingman and bought a different car. This time an expedition with the same drive train as the truck has. It is smaller, and I have some concerns about how it will handle the boat (particularly with launching). Stay tuned.
The Yellowstone trip was a lot funner than I anticipated. I really enjoyed it and plan to visit again in a few years.
|
Return to Start Page