About Those Animals at West Yellowstone (May 5 - 11)

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from West Yellowstone, Montana! Our trip from Salt Lake City on Sunday, was uneventful (the way we like it). We arrived to find sporadic snow on the ground, but basically the area is clear. The pics below show our travels from SLC to West Yellowstone. Our drive took us from I - 80 to I - 15.  We turned east onto US 20 at Idaho Falls and took that all the way to West Yellowstone.

Hello Idaho

Idaho is so much greener than Moab

Roger having a quick bite along the way.

Yellowstone in the distance.

Not quite through with Winter.

Our home for 2 1/2 weeks

Grizzly RV Resort

Our purpose in visiting Yellowstone in May is primarily for the animal viewing in the park without the crowds of people that we saw last August. On that last August visit, the only animals that we saw were the ever present bison. Thursday was a red letter day for animal viewing.

Our first trip into the park took us to Old Faithful. We drove up in time to see a little bit of the famous geyser.

West Yellowstone Entrance

Yellowstone is huge and has five entrances.

You can see snow that is everywhere in the park.

Though this entrance is located in Montana, the majority of the park is in Wyoming.

Not all of the park is open due to snow.

 Elk are everywhere at this time of the year. Last August they had gone to higher country.

 Two elk enjoying the meadow.

 Our first bison of the visit.

 Old Faithful

On Thursday, we ventured into the park early in the morning. The bison were definitely out scrounging for food.

This large male rolls in the dirt to impress the ladies.

What a thrill when we happened on a large grizzly (there is a definite hump behind his neck) along the way to visit Tower Roosevelt via Mammoth Hot Springs. The Park would like for tourists to stay at least 350 feet away from the bear. Apparently there are tourists killed by bear and other animals in the park every year.

As if one bear was not enough, we were amazed to find two black bear further down the road. They were playing with each other when we first arrived and then started chasing each other.

They ran around the bush

Elk in the meadow

Bison brought traffic to a halt

The Madison River

Along the road we saw several lakes with lots of snow nearby. Then we encountered another surprise, swans with their babies at one of the lakes. The pictures may need to be blown up to get a better view of the swans.

South Twin Lake with ice on top. 

Swans with their babies fishing for food

The white blobs are swans fishing

A swan taking a break from fishing

Bison stopping traffic again

Couldn't resist one more picture of the grizzly.

Friday was a bike ride near one of our favorite lakes called Lake Hebgen. This beautiful lake abuts the Gallatin National Forest. Beautiful pine trees, part of the lake frozen and the mountain range made it a wonderful ride on the mountain bikes. The pictures below show a great afternoon.

 Hebgen Lake with snow covered mountains in the background.

 Ice covered the lake on the east end.

 Getting ready for the ride.

Thank you for checking in with us. We will be at West Yellowstone for another 2 weeks, exploring this magical place.

Happy Mothers' Day to all moms! I expecially want to wish my mother a very happy day! I am so proud of her! At the age of 88 she drove to the Apple Store, purchased a MacBook Pro and is taking lessons weekly. Congratulations Mom!

About That Mountain Bike (April 28 - May 4 )

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from Park City, Utah! Roger, Bear and I have been here for four nights visiting Warren and Lea. It is always so much fun to spend time with them. Although the visit has been brief, we were able to pack in a lot.

Before we left Moab, on Wednesday morning, we worked in one more hike and a couple of bike rides. The hike took us to the Moab Rim, which is a shared (four wheelers use it) trail. This was great because we got to see what four wheeling is like at a very advanced level. This particular trail for four wheelers is considered a 7 out of 10 on the difficulty rating system. After seeing what these off road vehicles can do, it makes me wonder what a 10 would entail. The pictures below show a group of four wheelers (around 8) climbing the 1 1/2 mile vertical road over slick rock. Roger, Bear and I made it to the top and returned to find the group making only their second turn. This process takes a long time for those off road vehicles.

 They are on the first turn at this point.

 The Colorado River in the distance. The Four Wheelers can be seen in the foreground.

 Roger watches an expert driver coming down the trail.

At the top of the Moab Rim Hike (also called the Moab Stairmaster because of the steep vertical climb), we were rewarded with a beautiful 360 degree view of the canyon and the town of Moab. This was well worth the hike.

 Downtown Moab from the top of the hike.

On the way down, we ran into the Four Wheelers on their second turn. The hike took us two hours, up and back. It was going to take the off road vehicles a lot longer.

                                     

Although our month in Moab was so much fun and flew by, we were ready to leave. Our drive to Park City on Wednesday morning  was great! We took US 191 to I-70, where we picked up US 6 to I - 15 to Salt Lake City. We took the loop around SLC to I-80 and found Park City RV off of I-80. The drive started out with lots of sun and blue skies.

                                      

Roger is ready to be on the road again.

                                      

At this point, we have left the sandstone of Moab.

Around Provo, we found ourselves driving into clouds signaling the storm that we knew we would encounter.

Once we started climbing to Park City, we encountered snow. Yes, even though it was May 1st, Winter is not quite over in northern Utah.

Though Park City is closed to skiing, there is still lots of snow on the runs.

The view from our parked Tour at Park City RV Resort

Roger and I have been discussing the possibility of buying mountain bikes for over a year. Although our first cycling loyalty lies with road bikes, our RV lifestyle does not always lend itself to cycling on paved roads. With the abundance of Rails to Trails paths and the popularity of mountain biking in the areas that we love to visit, it just made sense to try something with more flexibility. After investigating several mountain bike models (not an easy task with so many choices), we decided on two Specialized bikes. Upon our arrival in Park City, we called a bike shop in nearby Heber City and they happened to have exactly what we wanted. Early Thursday morning, we picked my brother (Warren) up and drove out to Slim and Knobbies to buy the bikes. Three and a half hours later we drove away with our new purchases.

 Mmmmm, tubes or tubeless?

 Roger and Eric going over Roger's Stump Jumper EVO 29er.

My Camber 29er being set up.

The mountain bikes are very different from our road bikes. I have a new gear system, plus lots of give due to shocks on the front and back. We practiced on a trail near our RV park with my brother's tutelage. I need lots of practice on narrow trails with ascents and descents, rocks and dealing with other cyclists. The bike is wonderful, the rider needs practice!

On Friday, Warren and Lea took us mountain biking on some of the beautiful trails in Park City. Both are excellent riders and we learned so much from them.

Lea, Suzanne and Roger

Now we can go places that we could only get to by hiking.

We leave Sunday morning for West Yellowstone. Thank you for checking in with us. We appreciate your interest in our travels.