7/27/1991 - Saturday

John:  We headed out about 8AM and got into Yellowstone in about 5 to 10 minutes.  We snarfed on a camp spot ASAP.  We then drove 114 miles within the park.  We did “the longer loop”.  We decided not to go to the Northern Loop as there isn’t that much up there.  We saw all the Yellowstone features... such as Yellowstone River and a lot of the spectacular waterfalls, the many hot geysers, mud pots, Yellowstone Lake, and saw Old Faithful blow up twice.  We stopped at a visitors center and listened to a park ranger give a talk about Yellowstone’s wildlife.    We then viewed a video about the 1988 Yellowstone Fire.  You can’t believe how many acres or should I say miles & miles of burnt forest there is.  What a waste.  It’s really sickening.  In our travels, we ran into several bison jams, saw elk, deer, bald eagles, pelicans, and a marmot.

ODOM: 31303

Summary:  After six weeks, we’ve spent a total of $3590 cash, plus 550.78 on gas credit cards for a grand total spent of $4141.  Total miles driven = 7441

Deer among Yellowstone's burned trees

Large Mud Pot

Upper Yellowstone Falls

Upper Yellowstone Falls

Bison Jam

Bison

Pelican

Butterfly

Indian Pond Lilies

Indian Pond Lily Closeup

Karen, Kari & Susan at a small waterfall

John, Susan & Kari in front of a geothermal feature

Bubbling Mud Pot

Susan & Kari in front of a geyser

Susan & Kari in front of the burned forest

Grand Prismatic Spring

Road through the burned forest

Blue Star Spring

Susan & Kari pose in front of Old Faithful

Old Faithful

Very clear hot spring water

Old Faithful

Susan & Kari in front of the second eruption of Old Faithful

7/21/1991 - Sunday

John:  After we woke up and had breakfast etc, we drove into the town of Banff.  We did our laundry (bummer) and found a place to park to have lunch.  We went to a free museum in town.  Right in town Kari spotted a giant bull elk.  It had a rack with over a six foot spread!  I was able to get pretty close to take pictures of it.  Guess it’s pretty common to see elk right in the town like that.  We also went on the Sulfur Mountain Gondola... very neat ride which provided super scenery of the town of Banff surrounded by very majestic mountains and rivers.  At the top of the mountain were lots of big horn sheep... some with little lambs.  After all this, it was getting to be late in the afternoon, so we decided to hit the road... just outside of town we decided to check how much Canadian money we had left and found we had about $29.00 left... so I whipped the truck around and headed back into Banff.  We found a money exchange place that does not charge a fee and stayed open till 10pm... (open today also which is Sunday).  So I cashed another travelers check and down the road we went.  We took a dirt road out of Canmore that eventually comes out on Rt. 40.  On this road we saw a mother moose with a baby, some white tail deer, and a coyote.  At the end of the dirt road (about 60-70 miles), we got to a blacktop road (which we thought was Rt. 40)... and took a right turn and found a nice campground called “Elkwood” in Alberta Recreation Area of Kananaskis.  It was a beautiful spot.  Turns out you needed the exact amount of money to put in the self registration envelope... and we didn’t have the exact amount.  The camp host was gone... After supper I flagged a park ranger down and figured he’d have change... but he didn’t.  He said if no one comes around before you leave in the morning not to worry about it.  So being a guy that doesn’t worry about too much, went to bed.  We drove 100 miles today.  

ODOM:  30446

Sulphur Mountain Gondola

View from the top of the gondola

Babies

Just chillin'

Giant Bull Elk right in town!

Giant Bull Elk right in town!

Momma Moose

Deer