Sunday 6/1/98
Day 4: Grand Teton, Yellowstone & Craters of the Moon
I woke up at 3:30 pacific time and it was already light out but the sun had not come over the mountains yet. I was up and ready to start driving by 4:00. 
There was nobody on the roads and it would take half hour to get to th Grand Teton entrance which there was nobody there and did not have to pay. I continued on and the scenary was beautiful this morning wtih no clouds. I took a couple pictures of the Tetons and then I would see a wolf on the right side of me in a pasture by a fence. I took a picture as it ran off and I am able to point it out to people but I it was to far away to digitize it. I stopped next to a lake on the west side and took a picture of the mountains with the refelection on the lake around 5:00 a.m. I entered Yellowstone park around 5:30 and my first stop was west tumb geyser basin. It was still cool enough so that the pools were giving off a mist of steam from the water. I was there all by myself and it is such a different feeling when your by yourself. I will always visit the park at this time from now on wheneever I come back.
I followed Yellowstone Lake for the next 10 miles with the nice view looking out at the mountain range.When I took the picture this morning the reflections off the water provided a perfect image of the mountains in the background. I passed the Lake village as it would not be open this early. I started to drive across the fishing bridge to the east entrance but decided that I didn't have enough time in the day. I continued north and took a nice picture of the sun reflectin off of yellowstone river and tooksome pictures of the sun shining on Yellowstone River.
I would also be passing some deer and buffalo around here in the medows. There was one bison that was right next to the road that didn't seem to care that some cars had stopped to take a picture. The fire that occurred in 88 had really made a change to the park as it seems naked with no trees but there is also more scenary of mountains and animals to see without the trees. I would much rather have the trees as it just seems like something has been take away forever, but it is still worth coming to visit for. I took a picture of a couple deer that were walking thru the burned area and you can tell that they have adapted to the fire as there are fewer places to hide but they are content being in the area.
The next stop would be the lower falls of yellowstone as there is a large amount of water flowing over the falls at this time of year. There was also a rainbow at the end of the waterfall and I was able to get the bridge in the background. After the falls I woudl drive past Canyon Village and go north where I would get another view of the lowerfalls with the canyon in front of it. As I continue to drive futher north the dunraven pass that I drive over and not much to see s there are not any animals out. I stop at the tower falls which are close to the northeast exit and take another picture as this will also show the erosion of the rock in formation of hoo-doos.
The Mammoth Hot Springs are at the northern part of the park and they have changed since I was here last. Many of the hot springs are now dormant or very little running water. The park is starting to build some more boardwalk trails to some of the spring that are still pushing water aboovet the surface. I have heard that the fire was the cause of why some of the springs have stop running but don't know for sure. I drove a couple miles down the road and saw a bald eagle in one of the burned trees. I stopped to take a pictues and it didn't even move, it's obviously gotten used to having burned tree to sit on and people getting out to take pictures of them. I stopped at Norman Geyser Basin for only couple minutes as this is where some of the tallest Geysers are at but are not as popular as Old Faithful because they don't go off as often.
I left here and took pictures of Morning Glory Pool and Fountain Paint Pot on my way south towards Old Faithful. Morning glory is so colorful with the dark blue clear water. It makes for a good picture regardless what the weather is like. The Fountain Paint Pot was bubbling away with a white color mud. It didn't look real colorful but did put on a show by boiling and spitting mud about six inches into the air and making a loud noise when it does it. There wer also Bison and deer alson meadows in this area and I had also drove along Firehole Canyon Drive which had nobody there because is was off the main road. It looked like a good place to have a picnic away from the crowd as traffic was getting heavier now as it was around noon.
I finally get to Old Faithful about 1:00 and it would not be going off for 20-35 minutes. I decided to sit and wait as I couldn't afford to miss it and have to wait again for another hour. It went off about 1:40 and lasted for almost three minutes as it reaches an average of 130 ft in height and betwen 4 to 8 thousand gallans of water. There is also a trail that leads to many more geyrser around the area of Old Faithful. The visitor centre also has estimated times that geysers in the area will go off so that you can time your walk if you have most of the day to visit. I left after Old Faithful and went south where I would climb in elevation see some snow next to running water.
I drove back into Jackson Hole and decided that I better just keep on going or else I would stop at the Silver Dollar tavern and then never get home on time. I drove down south until I reached highway 26 and then into Idaho where I would go through the Targhee National Forest and Cariboo National Forest and back into Idaho. It is a nice drive as you go thru a valley with tall mountain ranges. There were very few cars along the road also on a Sunday afternoon. I took 26 back inot Rexburg and stopped to eat dinner at Skipper's since I hadn't eaten anything all day. About an hour later I was back on the road and drive east on highway 20 as I am now in flat land and coming upon a big black cloud that is ready to dump rain on me. It rains for about an hour and I can see blue sky in front of me. I finally get past the quick storm and reach Craters of the Moon National Monument around 8:00. This park was built to keep the land like it was from an eruption that occurred ???,000 years ago. This is one of the more unusual parks as it has craters to walk into and just hundresds of miles to walk on ash with nothing around. You can walk up little buttes that were formed during the volcano. As I was finally coming back around 9:30 from the 6 mile loop ride, there were people who were going to walk into the caves at night as they had their flashlights with them. The best part about this park is the isolation and freedom to do what you want to. I will have to come back here again sometime with Jacob as he would like the caves.
I stopped at Carey to get some gas and pop and ask a person how hot it gets here during the summer and he only said about 80 degrees. I was imagining 110 but he said nowhere near that hot. It's dark now and I'm just looking for a place to sleep tonight. I turn north on 75 and start driving thru the Sawtooth National Forest. I drive into Bellevue and Haley which were started up because of the mining that was going on around here in the late 1800's for gold, silver and lead. Both are small towns now that have a rural feeling to them yet have enough business to be independant from other communitites. As you continue ten miles north you will enter Ketchum, which is the place where Ernest Hemingway is buried here as he lived the last part of his life here. I drove to the next town, which wuold be Sun Valley and finally found a small romm to stay in for the night aas it was 10:30 now. Sun Valley is a mid-size city that is popular for their skiing in the winter. Union Pacific built a lodge and ski resort in 1936 and it became the most popular ski resort in the west. It is still the main attraction for this town as there was no problem finding a place to stay here during the off-season. I take a shower and fianlly get to sleep around 11:30. I drove 650 miles today and 2350 in four days