goteki

Day 3 (Sept. 15): Idaho Falls, ID to Yellowstone / Teton National Parks to Riverton, WY

A little background story: my father grew up in Nebraska and went to school there; as a summer job, he worked in for NPS in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. As soon as I was old enough to appreciate, we visited, and by now I've visited in summer, fall, and winter. (Hopefully I can fill in Spring some time soon!) I've been there half a dozen times by now so it is starting to feel like a home away from home.

Anyways, my plan for day 3 was all set: spend the day photographing some of the sights I love in Yellowstone and the Tetons.

I wanted to photograph the sunset from behind the Tetons, so I would hit up Yellowstone first, then travel north to south as the day progressed.



First things first, though: my car was utterly destroyed by bugs the night before, so I tracked down a self car wash and took care of business. Didn't really help that it was 6:45 AM and about 38º outside, but it had to be done!

Started getting genuinely worried about my poor summer-only tires as the temperature crept downward to 32º as I moved toward the mountains. Not the worlds most exciting drive from Idaho Falls to West Yellowstone, MT, but I wasn't super awake yet either so it worked out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8493327751/
Finally got to West Yellowstone and gassed up at a lovely Chevron with ethanol-free fuel! Snacks and Red Bull in tow, time to whip out my national parks pass and get in the park.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8538867228/
Once I was in the park, I had already been in 3 states, and it wasn't even 10 AM yet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8537762721/
Oh, right, everyone drives about 6 miles per hour in Yellowstone because they have been drone-driving across South Dakota for 2 days and this is the first time they've seen a turn in their life.

Driving through Yellowstone is probably best experienced at 3:30AM, when no one is around to block you from going more than 25 miles per hour. Even if you get around one car, you'll come up on another one within two or three turns.

That said… have some photos!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8494464378/
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One of my favorite roads in the US is Rockefeller Parkway, linking up Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, winding past Jackson Lake.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8021741770/
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Oxbow Bend offers an iconic viewpoint. The place is absolutely apeshit in the mornings… everyone lined up on the bank of the river with 3 Nikon D4s on Manfrotto Carbon Fiber Tripods… maybe 15 feet from traffic whizzing by, making you wonder how big of an insurance claim one stray car could generate. I made it in the afternoon, so the sun is basically right in your lens, but that didn't stop me from trying.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8021741426/
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The best place I've found to watch a sunset in the area (though I'm always looking for others) is Signal Mountain, right on the south edge of Jackson Lake.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8021742390/
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All of this time and still hardly any miles covered for the day's goal. Oh yeah, just 140 miles to go. O_O

It turns out that there aren't too many people in this part of the world. In retrospect, I probably should have appreciated it more - much preferred to the jammed traffic of the bay, but no cell phone signal for hours at a time in the dead of night on a highway with no intersections or cities and riding solo… it's enough to make you miss home a bit. Of course, that fact isn't without its benefits: you've never seen a clearer night sky in your life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8021739107/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8021743096/
Then, something amazing happened.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiel/8021743678/
A forest fire just beyond the ridge reflected off of its own smoke to create this amazing shot. I had seen forest fires at night before in Montana and I was so frustrated I didn't have my camera to capture it. It's a surreal kind of beauty. The fact that the fire lined up with the end of the Milky Way… well, that's just luck, I suppose.

Another hour or so later, I arrived in Riverton with a suspiciously high number of miles on my tank of gas, starting to become apprehensive of the seemingly-wrong reading on my tank gauge. It was a worry that would have to wait until morning.

Trustd_1

awesome pics! looks like you had a blast! my gf & i spent a couple months planning & charting a cross country trip thru Yellowstone (she had our itinerary & packing list on Excel spreadsheets) lol unfortunately, less than a week away from our departure, we had to scrap our plans, due to work commitments. we were really looking forward to it, but we'll take that trip some day. we're working our way back up to it. only had my S for a month, and we've already gone to Carmel/Monterey, Santa Cruz, Eureka/Humbold County to see the Redwoods, and oh, drove 1700 miles from Texas, where I bought the car, back through New Mexico, Arizona, and LA.

anyways, looking forward to your next installment!

rob-2

Man those are some good shots!