On Saturday, Aug. 24th we drove over the Teton Pass one last time from Driggs, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming. I think Dad breathed a sigh of relief, even though he seemed much more relaxed after traversing that steep mountain grade more than a dozen times in the last week. The most exciting trip was when the car in front of ours blew his engine as we neared the top, and the smoke was so bad that Dad had to slow to a crawl and pray the pickup truck behind us wouldn't hit us in the dense smoke.
We drove through Jackson again where Dad had to stop and clown around under the antler arch in town.
Then we drove back into the park for the last time.
We had tried to drive up Signal Mountain earlier in the week, but it was closed off due to increased bear activity. As we drove by the entrance to the mountain we noticed that it was open, so Dad drove us to the top where I met more nice people and made friends with them. The view of the Tetons is spectacular from Signal Mountain, and anyone visiting the park should make an effort to see it.
We took one last glance at these majestic peaks. With that, we drove a few miles to the North end of the park which ends right at the southern doorstep of Yellowstone, National Park.
Of course, we stopped at the entrance so we could take our traditional picture at the entrance sign. A nice young couple obliged us by taking our picture and we reciprocated.
The first things we saw were the signature Lodge Pole Pine trees that inhabit most of the lower portions of the park. These trees grow to about 90 feet and have little or no limbs until they reach nearly to the top. Unfortunately, these are also the trees that burn very quickly in a forest wildfire which makes it very hard to put out since the fire travels through the foliage in the treetops.
We stopped for lunch at Yellowstone Lake, the second-highest natural lake in the world (there is one in Bolivia, South America that is slightly higher).
We tried very hard to get pictures of a bald eagle that was hunting for his lunch in the lake, but he was flying too fast to get a proper picture.
Next, we drove through Hayden Valley in search of the Bison herd, but only found a few there.
From there, we went onto the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. These pictures are from Inspiration Point looking up the canyon toward the lower falls. I met lots of people and made friends with many of them.
Then we drove on to the Lamar Valley where we soon discover why we hadn't seen many Bison in Hayden Valley. The huge herds were there in the Lamar Valley, having fun stopping traffic and creating Bison roadblocks. Also, it is "rutting season" for the Bison, which puts the males into a bad mood and makes them more likely to charge any tourist stupid enough to leave their car and get too close. These huge animals can accelerate up to 40 miles an hour in a matter of seconds, which is roughly twice as fast as any human, even a highly trained athlete.
The Bison are very effective at traffic control because some of the big bulls are as big as a car and if one is foolish enough to drive too fast and hit one; well the animal usually wins. I was willing to help herd them off of the road, but Mom said that wasn't a good idea because they might try to stomp on me.
We drove on to Cooke City, Montana where we will be staying for the next two nights.
Tomorrow we will be getting up early to drive back to the Lamar Valley to hopefully view some of the wolves who live there and maybe see some grizzly bears too😀.
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