New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon & California
07/03/2003 - 09/08/2003
Many natural wonders revealed themselves during visits to the parks.
During a six week sabbatical in 1998, Robin & Duncan visited Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks. At this point, we were hooked on visiting and staying in the parks. So, one of the main objectives for this trip was to visit lots of National Parks, Monuments and National Forests. The original itinerary called for visits to Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Crater Lake and Lassen Volcanic. Along the way, additional parks and forests crept in to the journey.
Adolph Bandelier, a self-taught anthropologist and historian, spent most of his career studying social organization, customs and movements of southwestern and Mexican people. "Men from Cochiti Pueblo guided Bandelier to their ancestral homes in Frijoes Canyon in 1880." This area containing their ancestral dwellings is now known to us as Bandelier National Monument.
Gila National Forest is located in the southwest corner of New Mexico. Evergreens and deciduous trees line a beautiful drive north toward Albuquerque.
A ranger guided tour explained the history of ruins of talus cliff dwellings, cave dwellings, kivas (ceremonial rooms) and pueblos.
Ladders allowed us to climb into some of the cave dwellings. Removing the ladders from the caves or pueblo dwellings thwarts potential evildoer access.
Crossing over the border from New Mexico to Colorado transitions from the high desert to the incredible San Juan National Forest. The drive from Cortez to Telluride weaves through mountains ranging from 6,000 to 14,000 feet high. The drive from Durango to Ouray on the "Million Dollar Highway" winds through the gorgeous Uncompaghre National Forest
Not enough time was allotted to explore the San Juan National Forest. Later in the trip, we decided to rent an RV to return to this area. Based on this picture, you may understand why.
A variety of peaks, buttes and prairies fill the landscape. Prairie dogs popped up at every turn. As we started to hike to a scenic overlook, Robin silently thought something was going terribly wrong with her body. Sharp tingles pierced her skin. At the same time, Duncan noticed a girl up ahead frantically brushing herself off. Then, he realized everyone was covered in tiny biting bugs. Quick, skip the scenic overlook hike and rush back to the car. The remainder of the Badlands were seen from inside the car.
The brochure for Badlands National Park states "For centuries humans viewed South Dakota's celebrated Badlands with a mix of dread and fascination". We did not know what to expect of the Badlands.
Mt. Rushmore National Monument was more of a curiosity stop than a "got to go there" stop. "The formal rendering of the philosophy of our government into granite on a mountain peak" sums up Mount Rushmore.
Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln portraits in the side of the mountain resulted from dynamite blasting, pneumatic drills, chisels and pneumatic hammers. George Washington's head is as tall as a six story building. The monument is an amazing artistic and sculpting feat.
Next stop, Grand Teton National Park. In the Teton Range, "Twelve glacier carved summits rise above 12,000 feet, crowned by the singular Grand Teton (13,770 feet)." The park, located just south of Yellowstone National Park, offers lots of wildlife, mountains, forests, sagebrush flats, wet meadows, lakes, and rivers. Several rewarding hikes resulted in wildlife and waterfall viewing.
We stayed at the beautiful Jackson Lake Lodge. The view from the lobby is gorgeous. One afternoon, we enjoyed listening to a symphony perform in the lobby. Looking out at the Tetons while the symphony closed it's show with a medley of patriotic songs managed to get us both choked up.
Needing to get out on the water, we rented a canoe. On Jackson Lake, we rowed the canoe to a picnic spot.
"Yellowstone, established on March 1, 1872, is the world's first national park. The Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, a 43,750-sq-mile area in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho encompasses Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, seven national forest and three wildlife refuges". Good thing we planned on staying here 6 days.
Duncan's excitement over viewing thermal features almost reached the boiling point. Many hot springs and fumaroles have temperatures over 200 degrees. We better watch where we walk.
By far, the most popular geyser, Old Faithful draws quite a crowd. Some of the popularity is due to the fact that it erupts more frequently than any of the other big geysers. In the Visitor's Center, rangers post the range of times possible for eruptions of the major geysers.
We hiked up to Observation Point to get this picture of an Old Faithful's eruption. "An eruption lasts 1.5 to 5 minutes, expels 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water and reaches a height of 106 to 184 feet." We spent an entire day watching geyser eruptions. Castle Geyser's eruption lasts about 20 minutes followed by steam for 30 to 40 minutes.
Morning Glory Pool is one of the many hot springs throughout Yellowstone. Hot springs differ from geysers in that they do not erupt, yet they are closely related. Unlike geysers, hot springs underground channels are not constricted. Heat escapes through evaporation and runoff. There were so many beautiful hot springs it was hard to pick just a couple pictures.
Here's another "cool" thermal feature.
Who knew? The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone drops 1000 feet as the Yellowstone River carves its way through the canyon. Hot water reacting with volcanic rock creates the myriad of colors on the canyon walls. Steam gusts point to thermal features in the canyon walls.
We hiked the north and south rim trails to get every possible perspective of this magnificent canyon. Two major waterfalls highlight the canyon. The wimpy trails only allow views of the brink of the falls.
With a description stating "For an unparalleled canyon and waterfall experience, take a deep breath and descend this trail", how could we resist? Of course, the warnings about heart, lung and health conditions made us think twice.
Trails and more than 300 steps down to get a closer glimpse at the Lower Falls were well worth the aerobic stairclimber trip back up.
The height of Upper Falls is 109 feet. No matter where we were hiking, we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife.
The Lower Falls fall 308 feet.
While visiting Yellowstone National Park, we stayed at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. It is a classic lakeside hotel with a beautiful dining room overlooking the lake. We love staying at the park lodges and hotels.
This classic bus has retired to Jackson Lake Lodge.
At Yellowstone, the yellow bus sits in front of the Lake Yellowstone Hotel awaiting it's passengers for the nightly sunset tour.
The pictures from Craters of the Moon reflect the moon-like landscape. Lava, cinder cones and lava tubes on a cloudy day are interesting yet not photogenic. A traveler quoted in the brochure states "The strangest 75 square miles on the North American continent". We agree.
Crater Lake, the nation's deepest lake, has a maximum depth is 1,943 feet and a maximum width is 6 miles. Mount Mazama, a massive volcano in the area, had a climactic eruption 7,700 years ago emptying it's magma chamber and collapsed. Crater Lake formed as volcanic activity from Mount Mazama subsided.
Having lived in California for twelve years, we cannot believe we never made it to Lassen Volcanic National Park. Finally!
Lassen Peak reach 10,457 feet above sea level and we decided to hike to the top. The upside is the hike starts from an elevation of 8500 feet. We huffed and we puffed the thin mountain air until we reached the summit. We opted for the summit hike rather than viewing Lassen's thermal features area. At this point, we were thermal featured out.
Reaching the summit treated us to the feeling of being inside a dormant volcano. Lassen Peak burst into eruption in 1914. In 1915, "the peak blew a enormous mushroom cloud 7 miles into the stratosphere" Prior to the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, Lassen Peak was "the most recent volcanic outburst in the contiguous 48 states". Upon reaching the summit, we trekked across the snow of the glacier, snacked on our picnic and snapped lots of photos of the surrounding area. Then, fully recharged, we relished the much easier trip downhill.
Visits to a variety of National Parks, Monuments and Forests reaffirmed our love for the land and history preserved for us to visit. Next time you are thinking of a vacation, buy a National Parks pass and go visit the parks.