Inspiration Point

The last thing we took pics of on Monday was Inspiration Point. We'd spent a lot of time taking pics of the bear, and I was getting worried we might not make it out of the park before dark. I decided to forego Artist's Point and instead do the quicker but somewhat less dramatic Inspiration Point instead.

All Inspiration Point pics here.

The waterfall.


This area is known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


It's not as mighty as the one in Arizona, but I'd say they match up pretty equally in beauty.


Downstream.


Interesting rock formations a bit further down.

Black bear - again

I persuaded Siri (it didn't take much, she was already in love with Yellowstone) to cut across to Canyon junction to see the Artist's point area. Just before the exit, there was this huuuuuge congestion of traffic and I got out to investigate.

I quickly found out that a bear had been spotted stuffing face in a meadow up the road. I alerted Siri and we walked up to where a park ranger was fighting a losing battle with the onlookers, who were doing their utmost to ignore pleadings of staying the fuck in their vehicles or pulling back for their own safety. They had come for bear, and they'd found bear; no park ranger was going to stand in their way.

At first I thought it was a grizzly bear, and so did a lot of others. We couldn't get a clear shot; all I could see was a pretty good size animal of dark brown color. It wasn't really grizzly bear behavior to stay this unaffected so close to humans, but I just figgered we'd gotten lucky.

After I'd taken the car and gotten a bit further up I walked back to take more pics, and I soon realized it was in fact a huge black bear. He had pointy ears and no clear hump on his back, but since the color was a bit lighter I'd taken him for a grizzly. Now the behavior fitted too, of going about his sweet business and not giving a shit about people taking photos; a grizzly would likely have been much more shy.

At this point I still hadn't caught on.


Here I was getting suspicious.


Prominent ears. Case closed.


Pretty big fella.




My first pic from the first angle. See the color? No wonder I was fooled at first!

Soft water pics

As I've mentioned before, pretty much the only "cool" thing I can do with my new camera is take pictures of water. I still haven't read the manual for it, and I'm sure there's tons more I could do iffin I only had the get go. As it is, I'm a lazy slob so here are some nice pictures of running water for you to look at while I read the effin manual. Oh, and don't hold your breath.

All pics here.

First pic.


A bit softer.


Too soft, mayhap? A little on the arty-farty side?


Close-up.


Vewy, wevy soft and tender.

Old Faithful

After Grand Tetons, we entered Yellowstone. Siri was clear that she wanted to see the geysers, so I meekly aquiesced and drove west instead of east at the junction just before Lake Yellowstone (more specifically Grant's Pass). Truth be told, I was ok with the choice, since I'd never done the western part of the park.

After a while we got to the geyser place, but as it was some time till Old Faithful was scheduled to blow, we walked a bit around the grounds. Some very pretty nature and lots of smaller geysirs, most of which we never got to see, on account of us both being lazy slobs.

All pics here.

You can have any color of clothing so long as it's black.


These little fellas looked like a cross between prairie dogs and squirrels. Also, this one looks like he's just been caught smoking behind the bicyce shed or something.


There was a very nice creek behind Old Faithful.


You can see where the mountain has been discolored by the endless stream of nasty stuff going down to the river.


The water was soooo clear when it wasn't bubbling visciously, like some hellish pit.


Some initial sputtering.


Then the full blast. I gotta say it was pretty impressive.


Wheeee!


Hella fun!

An Elk Oxen

We'd gone a little while on the western road, when we saw lots of cars parked along both sides of the road. At first we thought the eejits were gawping at a huge herd of buffalos way, way out in the fields, but soon we realized there was an elk buck grazing on the opposite side of the road.

The animal was regally not giving a fuck about traffic, and strode slowly, majestically across the asphalt. He gave the assembled crowd ample opportunity to take photos before casually strolling into the field on the other side (where I can only assume the grass was greener).

He was a magnificent fella, with huuuge antlers and I can only hope he is smart enough to stay inside the park and not venture outside to where inbred gun maniacs are waiting to pin his lovely head on some grubby wall. May he continue to walk the woods and meadows like a king for many years to come.

All pics here.

*sniff, sniff* The plebeians are out in numbers today. Very well, a few pictures then.


Now if you'll excuse me, this grass does NOT eat itself.


Strolling through the meadow.


Hmmm... a very good vintage if I may say so.


King of all he surveys.

The Grand Tetons - again

Sunday, I drove down to Salt Lake City to pick up my old friend Siri. On the way down, just north of Pocatello, ID I drove over one of them big rubber flakes that sometimes get torn loose from big trucks. I heard a loud bang under the car and then there was this clickety-click sound when I drove. I stopped on the side of the road and saw that the front panel under the car had been knocked loose.

Cursing the trucks on American Interstates, the tire manufacturers and pretty much everything and everybody in the least bit associated with transportation in the United States, from the kids cutting rubber in Asia up to and including Secretary Ray LaHood and the entire Obama administration, I drove slowly on the side of I-15 until I reached Fort Hall, a tiny place just before Pocatello.

Here, there was a gas station where I asked if they had a garage or a repairman on site. They didn't, but the cashier guy, a burly looking injun with a long ponytail went with me to have a look at the car. He got down under there and after banging and cussing a little, he had put it in place again, with only a small piece torn off.

He said I needed to get another one, but them things are cheap, plastic thingies with little practical use, so I haven't bothered yet; the car is running fine. Having saved my lazy, useless bacon I gave him a 20 and continued on to SLC.

I picked up Siri without incident, and as of this writing she's still very much alive. We left Salt Lake around 7 AM on Monday and drove the slow way up through the Grand Tetons & Yellowstone National Parks to Butte. We've seen and done a lot in these four last days, and the first of which there are pictures, is the absolutely stunning Grand Tetons.

All pics here.

Siri at the pass just before the descent to Jackson. I know I said some nasty things about Jackson the last time I was here, in 2009, but having been forced to lunch here, I have to admit it's not all bad. Quite nice, in fact - the lunch I had was pricey but damn good.


It's so pretty up there.


The stunning Grand Tetons. Gawd, I love this place.




Pretty flowers.


Jackson Lake and the mountains and and and waaaaaaaaaaaah!




Lake Jackson. Sigh.

Glacier National Park

I last left you with an account of my trip through Yellowstone up to Montana. SO MUCH has happened since then, nearly all of it good, nay spectacular. I first stayed three nights in a town called Butte. As is my wont, I located the nearest Denny's, for the sole purpose of stuffing face. I've raved about this chain before, and I will rave some more about their restaurant in Butte, which is peopled by some of the nicest people ever.

In addition to stuffing face, I shamelessly stole internet capacity to upload the batch of pics preceeding these, including the Yellowstone ones. I waved my waitress over to get her opinion on the wolf pic that I was uncertain about and she immediately pronounced it a wolf, not a cougar.

Then the funniest thing happened. She looked at my computer and asked me where I was from. When I said "Norway", she squealed with delight and went on to tell me that she'd lived in Norway for eight months, and that she missed the nature there and so on and so forth. We began talking and she even sat down to reminisce and chat about Norway. We quickly bonded and I went back there a couple of times during my stay. Iffin you're ever in Butte, go to Denny's and ask for Alex, she'll take great care of you!

Saturday, I drove up to Glacier National Park, near the Canadian border. I've heard people rave about this place, and my waitress at Denny's was also adamant about its qualities. Having gone there I don't think it quite reaches Beartooth beauty but it's a close one. Sadly, I only got to upload a little over half of the pics from the park, the rest are still stuck on my old hard drive, but I think you'll get a pretty good idea of the beauty of the place.

All pics here.

The first lake was quiet and serene.


A bit further up the road there was a waterfall, one of many along the climb up the valley.


View from the narrow road winding its way up the mountainside to Logan's Pass.


There were lots of hidden valleys up there, usually lush and green with waterfalls spouting.


See the bridge? And the waterfall? And the lush, green scenery? And the bare, beautiful rock behind it? Wail, wail.


There were SO many places I wanted to put up that imaginary red cabin of mine.


The hanging valley just before Logan's Pass.


It looks so cozy down there. Red cabin, people. Red cabin.


Starting the descent on the other side of Logan's Pass, looking back to Logan.


The valley on the other side of the pass.


St Mary's Lake towards the end of the park.


Looking back from the park exit.

Involuntary pause

I've had a break in my blogging since Saturday, on account of my fucking PC deciding to give up life. Until I can find a way to access the hard drive, there will be no more quotes. Also, some unposted pictures are stored on it, along with all my travel documents and... well... most of my life. Cross your fingers and everything else for a quick retrival of data.