Day #29 - July 12, 2010

Cody, WY to Yellowstone National Park to Pocatello, ID
540 Miles

I left Cody early today, before 7:00 a.m., to get to Yellowstone before the crowds.

Along Route 20 there is this Mummy Cave Rock. Apparently the articles found there date back 10,000 years. It is quite impressive as seen from the roadway.

I arrived at Yellowstone about 8:00 a.m. and drove to Fishing Bridge and then south to West Thumb.

This is the Lake Area and there is still quite dramatic evidence of the recent fires in this area. As you can see from the photos, some areas are beginning to have new growth.

This is Yellowstone Lake and it is quite beautiful.

Here are a couple of wild flowers growing in this area.

At West Thumb, I turned right on the road to the Geysers and Old Faithful.

Along this road I crossed the Continental Divide.

And now here are the mandatory photos of Old Faithful. I arrived about 10 minutes before it was to erupt (good timing!)

Here is the crowd eagerly awaiting.

This photo was taken when I first arrived.

It really is an exciting event.

The Old Faithful Inn is within walking distance of the geyser and many of those watching Old Faithful this morning retreated there for food afterward.

I then drove north to Madison. There are many geysers in this area. I had visited here in 2007 and at that time walked along the paths and trails of these geysers, so I skipped them today.

On my drive to Madison I spotted this elk in the water close to the roadway - very impressive antlers.

At Madison, I continued on toward Mammoth Hot Springs. The scenery changes rapidly. Here are several photos taken along this route that show the varied topography.

I arrived in the Mommoth Hot Spring Area about 12:30 p.m. and decided to hike some of the paths.

Here are photos taken on the hike.

By the time I finished my hike, it was about 2:30 p.m. and there were crowds of people and cars. I had planned to drive the Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon Village drive to see the waterfalls, but there was too much traffic to negotiate it. I decided to leave the park.

I had heard that the Big Sky area of Montana was beautiful, so I drove on Route 191 north to Big Sky, MT. It really is lovely and rivals the beauty of Yellowstone.

Here are a couple of photos I took of this area.

At this point I decided to drive south into Idaho. In 2007 I had visited Jackson Hole, WY for the Grand Teton Music Festival and had seen the Tetons from the Wyoming side. So I drove south on Route 20 to Idaho Falls and Pocatello and saw the Tetons from the Idaho side.

It has been a long day. I left Cody, WY this morning at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in Pocatello, ID at 8:00 p.m.