An American Rocky Road Trip - Part 2
- Lucy and the lens
- Sep 7, 2018
- 2 min read
In this post, we travelled to the spectacular Yellowstone National Park and the equally gorgeous Grand Tetons National Park, as well as the Jackson Hole Rodeo.
Yellowstone National Park, Montana/Wyoming
What can I say about Yellowstone that hasn't already been said? It covers such a large area, you really can't explore all its top sights without a car. It's a volcanic hot spot, so you're basically walking on active volcanoes. It's an incredible showcase of the wackiest things nature has to offer.
We began our Yellowstone adventure at Old Faithful, the geyser that erupts, on average, every 74 minutes. With a good hour or so to go before its next eruption, we wandered the area, checking out smaller geysers and hot spring activity, inhaling the delightful sulphurous air. But when Old Faithful erupted...it ERUPTED! I'm a pretty stoic person, not very good at showing excitement or emotions in general, yada yada, but I was so audibly impressed with Old Faithful that a strange man standing next to me started laughing at me. And this is why us introverts keep our emotions to ourselves!
As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we then headed to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is a frankly mind-blowing testament to the beauty of nature - I mean, just look at those colours in the photo below!
To examine this and other hot springs, you have to follow a winding network of boardwalks, unless you want your feet to be melted off your body. We also climbed a hill to view the Prismatic Spring from a birdseye viewpoint, which I absolutely recommend, although getting back down is a bit of a task.
Our final stop was Mammoth Hot Springs, a landscape so bizarre it makes you feel like you're on another planet - several tiers of hot springs formed by a complicated process of red-hot magma and dissolving limestone. By this point, my mind was so blown I was a bit quiet on the journey to our campsite that night.
Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming
Firmly in Wyoming now, we headed to Grand Teton NP. The best thing about the Tetons is that you drive straight at them for miles, and they just keep looming bigger and bigger in your windscreen.
And then you actually arrive at the jagged mountains and it's beyond anything you could have comprehended while driving towards them. We decided to take a 5 mile hike around the lovely Jenny Lake, and then - despite the heat and my better judgement - an uphill hike to Inspiration Point that nearly ended me, for views down over the lake.
Jackson Hole Rodeo
One of the most entertaining experiences on the trip was attending a rodeo at Jackson Hole. I'd never been to a rodeo before, but if Jackson Hole was the standard, then I'll definitely be going again. I was amazed at what a diverse range of rodeo styles there were - from steer roping to races to bucking broncos to a round where actual children from the audience chased a goat around the arena...there was something for everyone! I loved every minute of it.
Comments