Bugs, Bears, and Wolves

Dave and I left West Yellowstone this morning around 9:15.  While being attacked by mosquitoes, Dave carefully cleaned the motorhome windshield.  The windshield didn't stay clean for very long as you will be able to see in the following pictures. 

Disclaimer: Some mosquitoes were harmed during today's trip to Helena, Montana.

Only a few bugs on the windshield

Our route was Hwy 191 North from West Yellowstone, following the Gallatin River for quite a ways.  We then drove west on I-90 until we turned north on Hwy 287 after crossing the flooded Missouri River.  We followed the Missouri River for a while.  Pretty much the whole time we were on 287 we had road construction to deal with.  It's summer, you know. 

More bugs and more pretty scenery

Just outside of Helena we stopped for gas--the Exxon price was $3.59 per gallon and $3.69 for diesel.  Shortly after the gas stop, we stopped at the Helena Walmart Supercenter to get restocked for our week at Glacier National Park.  Then it was on to I-15 North for nine miles until we exited for our stop at the Lincoln Road RV Park.  It's a nice enough park, nothing to write home about, a bit pricey at $38.52 after the Good Sam discount, but the temperature is in the 90s, so we wanted full hookups and that's what we got, plus free speedy wifi.

The bugs don't show up as much in this scenic picture.

We didn't unhook the car, so we didn't get to see any of Helena this trip.  It was too hot to go exploring and now the sky looks like there's going to be a thunderstorm. 

Mucho bugs and less-pretty scenery

Sunday afternoon Dave and I went to the Wolf and Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.  This is a great center that features rescued bears and wolves.  We watched an interesting movie about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone. 

Tomorrow we plan to arrive at St. Mary, Montana.  We'll explore East Glacier Park for a couple of days and then head to West Glacier.  Grab your can of bug spray and join us!

Grand Teton National Park

Today was our last day at Yellowstone and we decided to take a drive (236 miles round trip!) to Grand Teton National Park.  The weather was beautiful today, but last night the temperature got down to 27.  It was still a bit chilly when we entered Yellowstone Park at 8:15 this morning.

We passed by the Continental Divide several times today.

As we traveled south of Grant Village on a road that was new to us, one of the first sights we saw was Lewis Falls.

Then it was goodbye to Yellowstone and hello to Grand Teton and one of our first views of the Teton Mountains.

We stopped first at Colter Bay.  We had stayed in the Trailer Park there in the early 1990s when we had our Fleetwood Jamboree Rallye Class C motorhome, and we wanted to see if we could still fit in the sites there with our 35E Fleetwood Bounder.  We determined that yes, this would still be a good place to stay.  Our motorhome would fit, even with the slides extended, and the sites have been upgraded to 50 amp electric along with the water and sewer hookups that we remembered. 

We visited the Visitor's Center, walked down to the Jackson Lake marina, took some pictures, and then had lunch at one of their picnic tables. 

We drove on to Jackson Lake Lodge, went inside and admired the lodge, and then went out to their patio to take some more pictures of the fabulous Grand Teton Mountains.

We drove on to Willow Flats Overlook but we didn't see any animals hanging around the meadow.  I was on a search for moose and bears!

Our next destination was Jenny Lake.  This was a part of the park that we hadn't seen.  What a lovely drive and beautiful lake!

We stopped at an overlook area and then drove to the Jenny Lake Visitor's Center and walked down to the lake.

We saw more pretty wildflowers.

I never did see any real live moose, so this picture on the wall at Jackson Lake Lodge had to suffice...

...along with these iron moose in the fireplace at the Lodge.

On our way back through Yellowstone National Park, we said goodbye to the park and enjoyed one more look at the steam from the geysers.

Tomorrow morning we leave West Yellowstone and travel north to Glacier National Park, with an overnight stop at Helena, Montana.  Thank you for following along on our trip to Yellowstone!

Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park, West Yellowstone, MT

This morning we made the big move (6 blocks) to Grizzly RV Park.  This was our first choice place to spend all seven nights we were here, but they were booked for the first five, so we ended up at Wagon Wheel Campground for those nights.  West Yellowstone is a busy town in the summer, so we were lucky to get reservations anywhere!

Grizzly RV Park is a very nice park, and it turned out that since we were assigned a back-in site in the back of the park, the price was 48.95 per day--minus the Good sam discount, plus tax, we paid $96.91 for the two nights we'll be here.  That's expensive, but a pretty good rate for this park and for this town.  We are within walking distance to everything, and even closer than we were at Wagon Wheel.

Back-in Site #28 at Grizzly RV Park The staff here are friendly and efficient.  This is a big park and we were lucky to be able to check in at 11 am because their recommended check in doesn't start until noon.  We had to check out of Wagon Wheel at 11, so that would have left us "homeless" for an hour.  Well, not really homeless, since we have our home with us, but without a place to park it.

The view from behind our site.  A large dog walk path is in front of the fence and circles around the park.

A view down one of the streets of the RV park.

The playground

Check-in parking

The park's mascot in front of the registration building.

I always like to see a park's flag waving!

The game room, restrooms, and laundry all are very nice.  There is no pool or exercise room.  This park offers cabins as well as tent sites.  We get can a satellite signal here, but the speedy free wifi (Tengonet) is limited to 2 hours during every 10 hour period, or unlimited free wifi if you are in a premium site.  I recommend both of the parks that we've stayed at here in West Yellowstone! 

Wagon Wheel Campground, West Yellowstone, MT

After three action packed days in Yellowstone National Park, today Dave and I are relaxing in our motorhome in West Yellowstone.  We went for a bicycle ride this morning before it got too windy.  We rode through an area of very nice log houses with big porches.  I could just picture myself sitting there all summer, but not in the winter, of course!

Beautiful mountain scenery on the road to Henry's Lake State Park.

After lunch in the RV, we drove on Highway 20 back towards Island Park.  We drove five miles south to check out RedRock RV Park.  We didn't take any pictures, but it looked like a nice enough park located in a meadow surrounded by mountains.  The sites were smallish and close together, but roomy enough for big rigs. 

Henry's Lake with campground in the middle left of the photo.

Then we drove to Henry Lake State Park.  This park surprised us because all it consisted of was the lake, a day-use boating area, and a campground.  The campground was out in the open with very few trees, which we like because we like to get satellite and we LOVE to look at the stars and watch the meteor showers.  It was windy at the park, but it's windy everywhere around here today.  Sadly, the park doesn't offer sewer hookups, but it has water and both 30 and 50 amp electric hookups.  Our Verizon phones received 2 bars of 3G service at Henry's Lake Campground.

The following pictures are of Wagon Wheel Campground, West Yellowstone

After looking around at most of the RV parks in West Yellowstone, we are happy that we ended up at Wagon Wheel (http://www.wagonwheelrv.com/).  The people that run it are super-nice, we got the best site for big rigs (#2), and we have full hookups with 50 amp.  The only thing we lack is satellite because there are too many big trees blocking our signal.  But those trees aren't all bad because they provide a little shade and serve to somewhat block our neighbors from our site (and sight).

The site to our right and our site face an empty parking lot at a Mormon meeting house.  It's been empty all week, but I suspect it will be filled tomorrow morning!

 Wagon Wheels

A view down one of the streets of the campground.

The sites are located off to the right and left.  This is a small campground but the best amenity is that it is located right in downtown West Yellowstone, only about six blocks from all the stores and activities and from the national park entrance.

The park has a limited game room

Adequate laundry facilities

Clean restrooms and showers

Even a tub full of flowers!

I always consult  http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ the RV Park Review website when trying to plan where to stay.  Not every park is included, but the reviews give me a good idea about prices and desirability of the parks.  Most reviews include a link to the campground's website and show a list of other towns nearby with RV parks.

Our rig in site #2 at Wagon Wheel Campground

It will be interesting to contrast this RV park with the more expensive, upscale Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park where we will spend Sunday and Monday nights. 

North Yellowstone Circle Tour

Donna K, you are the lucky winner of the "name that picture" contest.  You have won a chance to see this feature for yourself when you and Russ visit Yellowstone in September!  You are absolutely correct, that was a picture from the Mud Volcano.  Here's the whole picture:

Dave and I finally wised up and entered the park earlier today.  We got to the entry at 8:30am and didn't have put up with any traffic jams.  We drove the 14 miles to Madison in 20 minutes, a new record for us.

Today we headed north to Mammoth Hot Springs, then on to Tower Junction, east to the Lamar Valley, back to Tower, south to Canyon, west to Norris, and back to Madison and then our home-away-from-home at West Yellowstone.  Dave put a map on his blog so check it out if you want to visualize our route. 

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.  First, Mammoth Hot Springs, which we were surprised to find was mostly dormant and dry.

Minerva's Terrace

Mound Terrace

Liberty Cap, a dormant hot springs cone

Elk hanging out at Fort Yellowstone

On the way to Roosevelt we saw a coyote hunting along the road.

Wildflowers at our picnic stop in the Lamar Valley

...and a hungry raven

The scenic Lamar Valley

Another coyote on the prowl

Following daddy!

Headed towards Tower Fall, took the Calcite Springs Loop Trail and got a great view of the Yellowstone River.

Our first-ever view of Rocky Mountain big horned sheep!   

More wildflowers

Then on to Tower Falls!

We were pretty tired by now, but we made one last stop at Artists' Paintpots.