Idaho and Wyoming

To be fair Idaho is quite a state which deserves to be seen and enjoyed as much as any other state, but honestly speaking being so close to Yellowstone National Park ( actually 1% of the park is in Idaho, 3% in Montana and 96% in Wyoming) which was our main destination, we thought it was a good idea to combine both states and revisit Idaho next year as we come back from Alaska / Canada approached from the north. This time we went to Idaho Falls and Swan Valley which would become our base to visit the famous and unique Yellowstone Park. Enjoy the reading!!

Idaho Falls is a small city ( 68,000 inhabitants) and its name was given due to the fact that a river ( in principle seen by Rapids but later transformed to falls by men) passed right in the middle of the town.

It was time to check-in at the RV park, take a good rest, plan the activities for the next few days and prepare for what we are about to see….. no more canyons, no more arches, no more sculptures made of sandstone but animals…. very special living bodies…

In the RV community and in camping in general, there are certain areas that have won special status for some reasons ( too high, too large, majestic, unique, etc) and Grand Teton National Park is one of them, This mountain range is actually part of the Rocky Mountains and extends for approximately 40 miles in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state. And the attraction is not only the nature, lovely trails and cycle tracks but also the road that takes you to the summit…. spectacular!! More of this later.

We decided that we should go for a walk and went ahead on a 2 mile trail. Funny that as you bump into other people while walking, we all ask one another …. have you seen a bear? have you seen a wolf? Have you seen a bison? Truth is you better watch what you wish for…. these beasts are serious stuff when you have to face them…. thank you but no, thank you…

Okay, time to enter Yellowstone… this park is so big, it has 550 miles of roads and 3,500 square miles of area…. huge!!! There are 5 entrances and there is plenty of information about what species of animals would normally be in those areas. You really need at least a week to see the most important areas, and of course practice your favorite sports ( fishing, hiking, bicycle, photography, rafting, etc).

Since our closest entrance was from the south, we chose to see this area fist which included nothing more and nothing less than the most famous of all Geysers…. Old Faithful. Explorers in the 1,800s travelled the area and noticed the regularity of its eruptions, therefore calling it Old Faithful. These days it erupts every 65 minutes or so. Yellowstone has more than 550 Geysers (word originally from Iceland) and you can see a fraction of them, but still a good number!!

See the “small” Visitors Center just for the area where Old Faithful is located among others

Old Faithful always brings large crowds to watch the eruption

You can spend hours driving in the park’s roads and chances are that you will be surprised by something……

Or this…

From the beginning we asked the rangers at the park entrances, where was the area bison and bear would normally stay; they gave us some indications but to be honest, you must be very lucky to bump into any one of these creatures… well, this is exactly what happened with us!! We were very lucky that day… Watch the video:

And something that doesn’t happen everyday… being just 10 feet away from a bear where your barrier is just a car door with a window down.

This was a truly amazing experience that we never had before.

But something that put a smile in our faces was that many onlookers stay in certain places showing off their expensive cameras for hours waiting for the best video or picture; and we got the best of these two animals right in front of us and with our phone cameras…

Geography is also impressive in Yellowstone.

There was another bear wandering in solitude

Geysers, apart of being active by nature, also impress by leaving wonderful signs represented in truly spectacular sculptures like the one below

It was time to leave Idaho and Wyoming behind; experience that we will never forget as animals represent something very special for us. Reading about the misfortune of Bisons and bears, the way human have almost exterminated from the face of the earth, is just absurd and sad, very sad.

It was time to leave Wyoming bound to the next state, South Dakota. That means we had to cross the famous Grand Teton Summit, 8,400 ft above sea level!! Scotty said: daddy!! That was fun!! Can we do it again??? Oh gosh…. Scotty loves riding mountains!! Daddy said: wait until we come to Black Hills or Colorado.

But then the rain came…

Tree Number 10

And tree number 10 is planed at the campground (Sleeping Bear RV Park) of Swan Valley, Idaho.

Tree number 11

And tree number 11 was planted at the campground Deer creek RV Park in Glenrock, Wyoming