6/4/11 – Yellowstone National Park to Flaming Gorge Utah
Having reached the northernmost point in our journey, we would be re-tracing our steps south through Yellowstone and the Tetons to reach our penultimate stop on the trip, Dutch John in Utah. Quite possibly one of only two or three mornings on our trip, we got an “early” start (prior to 10:00am). We drove south to see the Biscut, Midway, and Old Faithful Geyser Basins.
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| Old Faithfull |
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Among the highlights were the grand spectral pool which at nearly 100 yards across reflected its colors into the steam that hung over it giving it a rainbow colored halo, the Castle Geyser which erupted through many outlets on its 8 foot tall geyser cone simultaneously, and the new boardwalks made of synthetic decking which when you shuffle your feet and swing your arms while walking on, allow you to repeatedly give static shocks to the person next to you. Sam and I undoubtedly looked like seven-year-olds, as we played the shocking game nearly our entire stay in the park.
Our drive south was uneventful with the exception of a couple of stops to observe some unique wildlife as honorary members of the roadside throngs. Firstly, we saw a momma grizzly and her two cubs through a generous onlooker’s telescope lens. At over a mile away from the road, they looked more like rodents than bears walking through the sage brush. At another stop, we were lucky enough to see a mother moose and her calf down by a pond beside the water. Supposedly, they are excellent swimmers and can dive to depths of 18 feet to eat aquatic vegetation.
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| Road-side "Drift Fences" |
We continued south, retracing our steps through Grand Teton National Park, and then through the town of Jackson Hole Wyoming before making our first real turn to the east. It took no time at all for the terrain to flatten out, setting us up for an intensely boring 7 hour drive south through Wyoming. Similarly to the landscape in New Mexico and Arizona, the ground here was covered with lush green grass and dotted with pronghorn. 
We stopped for dinner in the town of Diamondville, the quintessential American town which we found out later was built on its coal mine. When we finally exited the interstate to complete the drive in to Dutch John and the Flaming Gorge area in Utah, the darkness had set in making the twisting, undulating road more of a rollercoaster than we had expected. Had the road been less well marked, we would have likely had to pull over for the night. Luckily, we reached our campsite in the dark without any trouble, leaving me to try to sleep through my excitement for the fishing adventure that would begin the next day.
Having reached the northernmost point in our journey, we would be re-tracing our steps south through Yellowstone and the Tetons to reach our penultimate stop on the trip, Dutch John in Utah. Quite possibly one of only two or three mornings on our trip, we got an “early” start (prior to 10:00am). We drove south to see the Biscut, Midway, and Old Faithful Geyser Basins.
Our drive south was uneventful with the exception of a couple of stops to observe some unique wildlife as honorary members of the roadside throngs. Firstly, we saw a momma grizzly and her two cubs through a generous onlooker’s telescope lens. At over a mile away from the road, they looked more like rodents than bears walking through the sage brush. At another stop, we were lucky enough to see a mother moose and her calf down by a pond beside the water. Supposedly, they are excellent swimmers and can dive to depths of 18 feet to eat aquatic vegetation. 
We continued south, retracing our steps through Grand Teton National Park, and then through the town of Jackson Hole Wyoming before making our first real turn to the east. It took no time at all for the terrain to flatten out, setting us up for an intensely boring 7 hour drive south through Wyoming. Similarly to the landscape in New Mexico and Arizona, the ground here was covered with lush green grass and dotted with pronghorn. 
We stopped for dinner in the town of Diamondville, the quintessential American town which we found out later was built on its coal mine. When we finally exited the interstate to complete the drive in to Dutch John and the Flaming Gorge area in Utah, the darkness had set in making the twisting, undulating road more of a rollercoaster than we had expected. Had the road been less well marked, we would have likely had to pull over for the night. Luckily, we reached our campsite in the dark without any trouble, leaving me to try to sleep through my excitement for the fishing adventure that would begin the next day. 
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