Cody

Jackson is some 50 miles South of Yellowstone NP so we got an early start as there was plenty of things that we wanted to see on this visit. Our first encounter for the day was a group of Bison right next to the road, several cars were parked too close to them and the Bison soon spooked. We can see why people get gored by them given the amazing turn of speed and agility that a couple of them displayed, one even jumping a fence,
We continued into the Teton NP and then to the South entrance of Yellowstone NP in good time. We again were thankful for the annual park pass that we purchased on day one this pass has saved us a couple of hundred dollars already.
Our first stop was at West Thumb where we walked a board walk around a collection of small pools of geo thermal activity. This site bordered the lake and these vents were even in the lake bubbling their hot water into the freezing lake water. We were pretty amazed by this but there was bigger to come.
We headed into Yellowstone village where most people just go to see “Old Faithful”, I had read about another location at the back of this geyser, so we took that boardwalk that went for about 1.5 miles. Absolutely stunning views and geology with water filled vents bubbling and boiling with different colours based on the bacteria or minerals present. There literally hundreds of these and they all had views to old faithful which as an added bonus erupted whilst we were there.
Our trip continued taking in other sites like Black Sand basin, Fountain Paint Pot, Grand prismatic Springs, The Mud Volcano, The Sulphur Caldron, Firehole Canyon Drive along with other stops to view water falls, rapids and canyons. All of these sites offered something different and were on the southern loop road. We stopped for a late lunch at Canyon Village and then moved into the Hayden Valley our exit road to Cody Wyoming. Bison grazed in the fields, more photos were taken and we ooed and ahhed at the vistas. We came around a bend with a group of vehicles parked and all of a sudden, the car exploded with the shout of GRIZZLY and eagle eyes Noela spotted the elusive beast on a distant ridge. It was a long way off but still close enough to identify. After 15 minutes of bear gazing we continued and soon enough we exited the park.
Our drive continued, and we recapped the day like kids on a school excursion just near the town of Witica it happened, another innocuous group of cars. There she was another Grizzly along with her two cubs blissfully feeding with the cubs playing. This time though she was 50 to 75 metres away, close enough to make sure that while taking photos you had a clear escape path. We must have been there for about 45 minutes until some peanut drove his car up to them and upset mum. Carl did not want to leave but we dragged him kicking a and screaming back to the car.
Finally, we got to Cody at around 6.45 feeling pretty happy with the days events. But guess where Carl and Paola are going back to tomorrow morning………….Yawn, see you tomorrow.Read more