Yellowstone to Arches

At daybreak (OK OK, maybe the sun had been up for an hour or so) we set off to look for an elusive grizzly bear before leaving Yellowstone. But to no avail. Some lucky people had grizzly bears appear only 15 feet away from their campsite and had the opportunity to be really terrified before the bear just wandered away again.

No grizzly for us, so we drove south to Teeton NP and on to Jackson, Wyoming where we set up camp, then returned for a float down the Snake River. This is a white water rapids rubber raft ride except designed for people who don't want the trauma of too much white water. Perfect for us. But at least we saw some more wildlife. Such as the beaver in this photo.


No we can't see it either but it IS there.

At Salt Lake City we sought enlightenment at the Mormon tabernacle and Drew was almost converted by the 50 or so Mormon sisters who offered tours and spiritual guidance. Admittedly, each of the sisters was about 20 years old and quite attractive but they still could not help him reach the salvation that he so dearly desired. Even so, we did start to understand how so many people could find spiritual fulfilment with these people.


From the north rim of the Grand canyon, the south rim is several miles away and the canyon is about a mile deep.


But on closer inspection it looked like only 2 feet to me.

Zion NP impressed us with the diversity of rock and colour.


We walked to Weeping Wock where walls were weeping white wisps of weally warm water.



When driving through one of the tunnels in Zion, we tried to take a snap only to discover our 2 dashboard mascots looking suspiciously close.

Just outside Zion Canyon NP we found another great campsite. This time we camped in an Indian village, where the Indians allowed us to look around at some of their tipis, religious artifacts and historical sites. They also put on a presentation with some traditional dancing. This guy was actually a school teacher but helped out with the shows over his summer vacation.


In Bryce canyon the rock formations are called hoodoos and who do you think wants to be one????


Even Queen Victoria wants to be a hoodoo.


Just more spectacular scenery at Bryce canyon.


We walked down into this part of the canyon, from Sunrise to Sunset.
(Outlooks that is - that's what we call scenic viewpoints here in the US of A.) It was still a good hike of about 3 hours and b.. hot in the middle of the day. Our timing wasn't too good with these walks.


After trapsing around Bryce Canyon all day, we headed back to camp at Red Canyon where the campsite was almost as pretty as Bryce had been. Some of the locals seemed a little backward but the wildlife was surprisingly well educated.


As the name suggests Arches National Park was full of natural arches. This one was called Landscape Arch and was a 306 foot span.

The views were quite special when seen through the many arches and what a perfect day except for the 100F heat while we walked for 3 hours, again in the middle of the day.

In Capital Reef National Park we saw these amazing Indian aboriginal rock etchings. (You'll need to zoom in to see them.) About 6-700 years old they were unlike other artwork because they were etched and the other tribes had used paint similar to the ochre used by the Australian aboriginals.

Rockies road to Yellowstone

At Drumheller in Alberta we were surprised to find some artifacts and fossils from the Jurassic era, but the wildlife at our campsite that night was really terrifying.


Chris demonstrated her skills at taming the prehistoric creatures.



We did get some exercise in Waterton NP when we took a short hike up Bear Hump. The climb was quite challenging but the view did make it worth the effort.





The golf course at Waterton had some difficult holes but there were other, more serious, challenges also to contend with.


Nevertheless, Drew, the undaunted golf warrior pars another hole at Waterton. It's such an easy game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Of course, being the toffs we are, we had to have high tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton and take a photo inside and out to show we'd been here.






In Waterton NP, Canada, the wildflowers were all in bloom, reminding us of the West Coast of Australia in Spring. The deer roamed through the township and rested in the shade next to the verandahs of local houses.


Chris sits beside the stream in red rock canyon, Glacier NP- the colours were amazing


Just another beautiful stream. Ho hum!


At Logans Pass on the Road to the Sun in Glacier National Park, Montana, we took a shuttle bus and saw more wildlife, including a few coyotes (this one was gulping down some roadkill), long horned wild sheep (they didn't look to angry to us, but sure blended in with their environment) and more lovely scenery.






Considered a walk up Logans Pass but the snow was a little to thick for our sandshoes.


Taking a boat trip on the Missouri River we heard about how this area was flooded and there was a house that was picked up in the flood, floated around a lake about 2 km wide, then settled back about 100 yards from where it started. The owners moved back in and lived there for another 20 years.






The most beautiful part of Yellowstone was the colours of the hot springs, because of the differing temperatures and minerals in the pools.



The variety of wildlife in Yellowstone was incredible, including Black bears, grizzly bears, elk, deer, buffalo, assorted squirrels and chipmunks, and 100's of species of birds.


Of course we had to include 1 photo of old faithful geyser. It goes off about every 90 minutes. Not the most beautiful part of Yellowstone but probably the best known.

Canadian Rockies

Travelling the Icefield Parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper we saw some of the most beautiful scenery of our travels to date. Here we travelled onto Athabasca Glacier in a custom made glacier bus. As our water supply was low this seemed a perfect chance to replenish!!


Th view of the glacier was lovely but walkling on ice was a little cool.


Having scaled the mountain overlooking Jasper we appreciated the view from the summit
OK we took the chairlift but the view was still great.


From the mountain we could see the 3 blue lakes fed entirely from glacier melt.
The milky coloured creek was fed by rainwater and run off and the small green lake was fed by a combination of both.


Drew wanted to show off


In the national parks we had to share our environment with the bears and other wildlife, but these bins were provided so we didn't need to share our food.


Just another glacier fed lake in the Canadian Rockies


Radium Hot Springs at the south end of Kootenay National Park was a pleasant space to chill out for a couple of nights and the ribs at Back Country Jacks were delic!


The 4 national parks that make up the Canadian Rockies are Yoho, Kootenay, Jasper and Banff. This stream (with EL Van) in the background was in Kootenay, but there were so many beautiful streams, waterfalls, ice capped mountains and glaciers that they all started to look the same.


The walk around Lake Louise was another wonderful sensational kaleidoscope as you can see from the view here from Lake Louise Lodge. Definitely much better than drew's visit to the dentist in Banff where he was prescribed pencillin to cure an abscess. Later he needs a root canal to fix the tooth - yuk.


Vermillion lake at banff presented Chris with a great photo opportunity


Here's some of the wildlife we found in the parks!