Yellowstone National Park

We finally made it to Yellowstone National Park.   It is difficult to get a spot at the campgrounds inside the park  and most of the spots aren't big enough for our 5th wheel so we stayed at Henry's Lake State Park which is in Island Park, Idaho about 15 miles from the West entrance to Yellowstone. 

Yellowstone was great - the only complaint was the amount of driving we had to do - this park is enormous.  We put on several hundred miles inside the park just to see the highlights. We also experienced some lengthy delays (30 to 60 minutes each)  - two of them due to road repairs/construction and one due to a "bison jam".  A herd of buffalo decided to block the road for a while so we had to wait for the rangers to come and clear the road.

Our Route

Lots of bison in the park

One of the many geyser basins

Hot spring pool

Boiling mud pot - look closely and you can see the mud bubbles

One of hundreds of geysers

More hot pools

Life forms growing in the near boiling water

This steaming pool was about 30 feet deep

Another geyser getting ready to spout

Old Faithful - just starting to spout

Old Faithful - at her max height for this eruption

 Yellowstone Lake from a distance

You cross the Continental Divide several times while traveling through the park

Quite a few elk around also

Several waterfalls on the upper loop - don't remember the name of this one

Another geyser basin

This was in the middle of town in Mammoth Hot Springs - the elk pretty much have the run of the place 

Fort Yellowstone at Mammoth Hot Springs - this is one of the original buildings from the 1890's when a fort was established here to allow the US Army to manage and maintain the park.  This was the main barracks building.  Thirty-five of the original seventy buildings are still standing, most of which are still in use - several as residences for park employees.

Tower Falls - 132 feet high

Another geyser basin in the background with a herd of buffalo in the foreground

This is a part of the West Thumb geyser basin located on the shore of Yellowstone Lake

One of several active geyser cones in the lake 

  More geysers

Craters Of The Moon National Monument - Hayspur Fish Hatchery Campground

We moved from Three Island Crossing State Park to Hayspur Fish Hatchery near Picabo, Idaho.  The hatchery has a free campground  run by the Idaho Fish & Game Department.  The campground is pretty nice with large open and level sites, picnic tables, fire rings, etc.  - no hookups however.  While here we visited Craters Of The Moon National Monument which is an 1100 square mile area of lava fields caused by volcanic activity along the "Great Rift" of Idaho as recently as 2000 years ago.  The Monument is mostly large fields of lava with occasional spatter cones and cinder cones but no singular volcano.  The lava erupted from large fissures along the rift.

Our Route To Hayspur Hatchery

Our Site

Entering Craters Of The Moon

Lava field with cinder cone in background

Many of the lava fields are comprised of large chunks of lava like this

 Lava fields

Spatter Cones caused by huge chunks of molten lava are thrown up into the air and when they land they form there own mini-volcanos

Spatter Cones

Lava

Vent Tube - this one was about 30 feet deep

Cinder Cone (mini volcano)

This pic was from the hatchery - some of these rainbows are over 2 feet long

Next Stop - the Yellowstone Area!

Darby's Operation - We Finally Left Oregon

Just another quick update - we haven't been able to do much since Darby's operation.  He had a titanium hinge type thing put in his knee - the operation went well and he is recovering nicely - no major problems other than he is miserable because he is confined to the living room area of the camper and can't spend much time outside.   We built him a ramp to get in and out of the camper and he has adjusted to that pretty well.

We left Crook County RV Park (near where Darby had his operation) and traveled to Chickahominy Reservoir Campground (near Burns, Oregon), then on to Malheur County Fairgrounds in Ontario, Oregon - all pretty unremarkable.   We are now at Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho.  This is a beautiful State Park with well maintained grounds, large sites, and friendly staff.

Our Route

Our site at Three Islands Crossing State Park.  Three Islands Crossing is on the Old Oregon Trail and was the most hazardous river crossing for the pioneers who traveled the Oregon Trail.  We went to the crossing and the visitors center but I didn't have my camera with me (was a spur of the moment thing on our way back from getting groceries) so no pictures.

Darby's shaved leg and back

Much of the time we were in Oregon, the skies looked like this - this is a midday picture on a mostly cloudless day believe it or not.  The smoke in the air was coming down from multiple massive wildfires in Washington, Idaho and Canada and some of it was coming up from wildfires in California.

Another midday picture on a reportedly cloudless day

Sunrise in Oregon - this was after partial clearing of the smoke but still enough smoke in the air to affect the sunrise (normally I don't do sunrises but we have been getting up early with Darby since he had his operation).

We are heading to a site near the Craters Of The Moon National Monument tomorrow and will be there over the Labor Day Weekend.   Then, we will finally be on our way to Yellowstone.