Stardates: June 28 & 29, 2009

Grand Teton NP to Paria Contact Station (about 40 miles east of Kanab, UT) Hwy 89/ Zion National Park
658 miles
South Campground


Drove all night after a quick shower at Jackson City, WY. We drove to Paria Contact Station.
We tried our luck at getting next day permits to hike the Wave on Coyote Buttes Area.
Here is a link for some more information if any of you are interested http://www.zionnational-park.com/coyote-buttes-paria.htm

We got there at 5 am and slept a few hours until they open at 8:30am. By 9am they had 47 entries with only 10 permits available for the next day.
Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to get a permit.
I highly recommend any and all of you to make it to this place. We will be applying for permits through their online lottery. It takes about 3 months to get a permit if you are lucky.

Here are some pictures .

Just like the Big Lotto.



There were other hikes and places to explore but we were dead tired and just wanted to get some sleep so we bailed to Zion NP where the temps were a balmy 104F under the shade.



Cool multicolored cliffs adorn the hwy back to Zion.



Tomorrow we will be up and early to ride one of my favorite places, Gooseberry Mesa
After a few hours of riding we will be on our way home back to LA.

We had an awesome time doing this trip and like all great things in life it has come to an end. However, it also has opened other doors for places to explore more in depth for the future.
Thank you for all your comments here, facebook and IH8MUD.

Hasta la vista baby !!!!

Stardates: June 27 & 28, 2009

Grand Teton NP
20 miles (round trip)
From String Lake to North Fork Campground

Yesterday we got a permit to go and snow camp (do a loop) up and down the Paintbrush Divide.
However, we ended up making up to Solitude Lake just below the 10k mark at the divide due to inexperience in our part.


Early on the day it was gloomy but an hour later the clouds lifted giving us amazing shots of the Tetons and other surrounding mountains


Owen's Peak but not 100 % sure.



Possible climb for the future ??



So we made it to Solitude Lake after setting up camp just below the lake and watch how this team of two slowly inch their way down the mountain.
Here is a close up of the two.


We waited for them to ask about conditions on the other side of the divide. An hour later they glissaded down on one of this chutes to the far right.
We got the skinny and although with not much experience they informed us that the other side had quiet a lot more snow and they were apprehensive of glissading on the other side due to avalanche danger.


We stayed almost until sundown admiring these amazing mountains.
It is nice to have snow at the end of June isn't it ?



Our campground. We wanted to camp on snow but this place has strict rules on where to camp.



Picture of the Grand Teton at sundown. View from the North east side.



Next morning we decided to hike down and on the way down, we were informed they had closed the Paintbrush divide due to avalanche danger.



Beautiful Alpine view on our way down. Marmots were abundant around here.



View from south side of Jenny Lake.



Driving away from the Teton's Range.

Stardates: June 25 & 26, 2009

Yellowstone NP to Grand Teton NP
103 miles
Lizard Creek Campground

Today we drove only 100+ miles as we found out through the Ranger Station that the only campsite with open spots was the closest to us. Off we went.....


Mammoth Campground doesn't look like much but the views to the other side were awesome and we spotted a black bear on the way back from seen Old Faithful.



Last night during a campfire we tried the local brewers and this morning we saw the message on the back of this bottle cap. That was a good laugh !!








If yah click on the pic yah will see the post piles on the very top of this land slide. It all dumps to a river below...



Tower Falls, although we hiked to the bottom to see them the trail was washed out and had to settle for the river shore.


We saw this big guy off of the hwy.



Here is a video of the big guy.


A whole herd of them at a distance.....



Llanos (plains) like this were common around here with fishing spots all around..


Dragon's mouth was one scary (somewhat) spring that made this Dragon like (thus the name) sound. See the video below





Churning Caldron, but dont let the name fool yah. The water is not at boiling point. The boiling-like are gases scaping from under the earth... It was still pretty hot.



Lewis Lake



Lewis Waterfall


Leaving Yellowstone with about one gazillion mosquitoes trying to get a bite at me.
Onward to El Parque Nacional de Las Tetas Grandiosas (Grand Teton NP) !!!


Colter Bay Campground
We did not do much today as we were planning to go snow camping, but the weather did not break until late on the day, so we'll do so tomorrow.

Stardate: June 24, 2009

Yellowstone NP
50 miles
Mammoth Campground

After driving late into the early morning hours we got up and drove to West Yellowstone and then off to Mammoth Campground to secure a campsite as they get full right after midday.
The drive on the NP is restricted to 35 mph due to wild life on the road and there is construction going here too. However, this is one place were I dont mind getting stock in traffic.



Young Reindeer just a couple of feet from us.


One of many hot springs near the campground.
That tree has been there for a few years now.



Selene wondering what happened to the trees. :)


I wonder why she told me to stand here and smile..... !!


Taking some poser shots..and boy does she looks good or what ??


On the way back..
Now I gotta say a had a few peeps take pics of our rig as we parked or where driving away from many of the geysers and spring we saw through out the day, I thought that was really cool.


We came to see Old Faithful but were blown away by this Geyser called Bee's Hive. It went on for almost 5 minutes and it shoot upwards of 150 feet.... AMAZING !!!


The Old Guy shooting up !!!


Grand Prismatic dumping hot water on the creek below.



Selene walking around the Grand Prismatic. Love the clash between the top and bottom of this pic.


Looking down at the rock/minerals formation on the floor.
The smell on this spring is of a strong hydrogen Sulfide.



Beautiful colors formed by the minerals.



Checking out the colors and texture up close.



FYI Eh !!


Grand Prismatic... it really is quite a natural wonder and we feel very fortunate to be able to experience a place like this.


Sun hitting the bottom of the floor.



Trees like this adorn the hwy through out the park. The lighting was just perfect.


This is the reason the speed limit is 35mph in and around the NP. To-date 15 of this big guys have been killed by drivers going too fast. This big guy was just around the bend and came fast at us.



He owns the road around here.... very cool experience to see them roam freely around the park.



Lake at the bottom with the sundown fast approaching us.


Another poser shot with the right lighting on the background....
Man We love this rig !!!



Video of the old man blowing his load !!! hehehehe...