Skip to main content

Day 8: Yellowstone and Grand Teton

Drove through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, still awestruck by the beauty of these parks. I last visited these parks 25 years ago, a family trip with my wife and kids plus my brother, his wife and kids. It is still as spectacular, though seems more crowded and commercial now.  There is also an awful lot of road construction going on.




Since I only drove through the southern part of Yellowstone, did not see any signs of damage from the devastating floods that have closed the northern entrances. I did see many signs of recent forest fires and the recovery in progress.  

 

 

 

Visited several geyser basins in Yellowstone on the way to Old Faithful. Got my fill of hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles, geysers.

 






 


Next up was a short hike to Mystic Falls. The temperature was around 80 F, and it felt quite hot in the bright sun. I was glad the hike was not too long. The hike through the trees, along the creek was quite scenic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 The grand finale in Yellowstone was visiting Old Faithful geyser. It is an amazing sight seeing the big geyser go off like clockwork. I had to wait over an hour for my chance to see the next spectacle of steam and boiling water.  That cut down on the time I had available in Grand Teton, but it is what it is. 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way to Grand Teton National park, I stopped at a very interesting vista point that had a unique looking wooden logs building. It is the Chapel of the Sacred Heart,  a popular place for weddings.

 

 

 

 



 The Grand Tetons were hazy in the late afternoon and there was no snow on top, so it did not look as majestic as I remembered it from 25 years ago. I still had a good time with a short hike along Jenny Lake and taking lots of sunset pictures.

 

 

 

 


 



 

In addition to visiting both Yellowstone and Grand Teton today, I had a fair bit of driving and I was glad to reach my motel in Pinedale, Wyoming and get to sleep.

The raw numbers for the day:

  • 260 miles driving, 12500 steps walking
  • 2 Tesla supercharger stops, 1 NEMA 14-50 overnight charging session at motel
  • 2 states - Idaho, Wyoming

Next:  Day 9: Long Drive in High Desert (Sept 12, 2022)

Comments

  1. AJSeptember 15, 2022 at 9:46 PM

    Remember doing this with you... First day they opened up after winter!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VisheshSeptember 17, 2022 at 5:07 PM

      :) I have a deep fondness for Yellowstone that seems disproportionate to my vague memories of the park. I must have taken a piece of it during that trip and nestled it in some crevice of my heart.

      Delete
  2. ManeeshaSeptember 16, 2022 at 6:21 PM

    Wow! Views are tree-mendous!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 22, 2022 at 5:04 AM

    Great pix.. :) how comfortable is sitting in a Tesla (bucket) seat for a person of your height, for hours on end?
    (Tesla seat padding is lacking, would you say?) - bay area resident, from india

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 14: Enjoyed with Friends in Minnesota

A long drive from Bismarck, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota today. The drive was mostly on the I-94 interstate freeway, so it was very smooth, high speed limits and lots of Tesla superchargers along the way. The first three hours of the drive was through heavy rain, which was for the first time during the trip. It was nice to transition from the dry grasslands of North Dakota to the lush green trees and grasses in Minnesota, the land of 10000 lakes.  During the drive, I reflected a bit on all the different places I had been to over the past two weeks. I have enjoyed each day since it brought something different and unique. However, one thing is sure that my favorite days so far have been the ones in the big mountains of Mt. Rainier, Glacier and Rocky Mountain National Parks. The imposing mountain ranges, snow capped peaks, the lakes, the waterfalls, the rivers and creeks, the tall trees, the fresh air, all combine to create something magical. I can't get enough of it.  ...
2 comments
Read more

Day 5: KOA Cabin in Glacier National Park

  A long drive today from Spokane to the West Glacier KOA Resort, which is close to the Glacier National Park entrance. I had to slow down or stop many times during the drive due to road construction underway at multiple places. There was also a traffic jam to deal with at one place. Lastly, I had go past the most direct route for about 15 miles to get to a supercharger in Superior, MT and then retrace back.  I reached my destination for the day, a cute looking KOA log cabin in a beautiful KOA resort surrounded by mountains. The cabin has electricity, heater, refrigerator and a microwave. Not too shabby, changed my perception of what a KOA kampground is like.  The nearest supercharger from Glacier National Park is over 120 miles away. The primary reason I chose to book at KOA is because they provide access to a NEMA 14-50 220V charger. A timeslot for the single outlet they have needs to be  reserved ahead of time. I was very relieved when all of this worked and my...
3 comments
Read more

Day 11: Wind Cave and Mt. Rushmore

  Today was a long drive from Estes Park near Rocky Mountain National park to Custer, South Dakota. On the way, my plan was to stop at Wind Cave National Park and do the guided cave tour. I checked online, but they stop issuing tickets 3 days prior to the actual date, which meant that on reaching the park, I would have to try for the few first-come first-served tickets. Since the tickets sell out about 2 hours before the tour start time, I started from the hotel early at 7am.  On the way, I took a 20 minute detour to drive through Nebraska for a few minutes. It is the first one of the states I have covered so far that I am only touching, just so I can claim I visited all 48 states. I finally reached the Wind Cave National Park at 1:45pm and got into the line for the cave tours. As luck would have it, they sold the last ticket of the day to the person just ahead of me in the line.   Who do I blame for this? My bad planning for not having bought the tickets more than 3 da...
3 comments
Read more