Yellowstone to Jackson Wyoming

I would like to like to thank our good neighbor, Chris Beck, aka Moviestar, for assisting us on our motel stay at Yellowstone River Motel at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The very best motel we have stayed in on this trip. Highly recommend. 👍

The motel is walking distance to the park entrance. As we entered we instantly had a herd of elk along the side of the road.

Dedicated by an Act of Congress
March 1, 1872

Our first stop took us to a waterfall in the Yellowstone River.

As we drove further into the park, we saw a lot of cars pulled off the road, and we instantly said, “there must be a bear”! Sure enough our first sighting of Yogi Bear.

He actually ran across the road towards all of the tourists and practically in front of our car. Ranger Mary was in a full sprint hollowing “Hey Bear”! She kept her cool in protecting the tourists from Yogi Bear. What a experience to see a innocent viewing almost go bad. My adrenaline was pumping now. A little late for the sign below.

Next we saw lots of thermal springs. I didn’t realize that they were all over the park. The colors were so pretty. Deep below the earth, magma from an active volcano heats water that rises to the surface through fissures in the rocks. The high temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit ensures that steam stays on top of the water.

As we moved along the park we saw lots of Buffalo.

We also saw Antelope

Further, into the park, we saw a petrified redwood tree from 50 million years ago. The volcanic ash and mudflow preserved this tree.

Last but not least at Yellowstone we saw Ole Faithfull. It erupted about every hour. It was really something to see. It erupted a lot higher than I imagined.

Yellowstone is such a big beautiful park, and I see why it’s the most visited park in America.

After leaving Yellowstone, we drove through The Grand Teton National Park. The Teton Mountain range we’re very large while being snow-capped.

From the Grand Tetons, we drove to Jackson, Wyoming. It was a charming real old western town. In the town square, there were 4 arches made from antlers.

We then decided to get a jump on our travels for tomorrow and stumbled upon Fort Washakie an Indian reservation of Shoshone and Arapaho Indians. Fort Washakie was a old U.S. Army Post that is closed and the government has given it to the Indians. Median income is $20,000. There is nothing there, the soil doesn’t look as if you could grow anything. Very desolate except for the Indian reservation. So sad to see that is all our government could give to Indians.

Just down the road was Sacajawea cemetery. It was my first experience of being on an Indian reservation and seeing a sacred cemetery. There was an Indian family tending to a family grave while I was visiting. The cemetery was poorly kept up. Most of the graves had handmade crosses as tombstones. The caskets must have been hand dug into the ground. Most of them had dirt thrown on top to cover caskets. One burial had a iron headboard and footboard from a twin bed. It was sad to see. I felt bad that our federal government hasn’t helped to keep these cemeteries in better condition.