Day 13 Arco ID to Livingston MT



Day 13 - 29 June 2006 - Thursday

--- Starting in Arco, Idaho ---

We woke, and started driving toward Yellowstone. The scenery was dotted with potato barns. We stopped briefly in Idaho Falls and I mailed most of my postcards. We crossed the Snake River yet again, and then took back roads up and to the other side of the Grand Tetons.

--- Entering Wyoming ---

We arrived at Grand Teton National Park. The park was crowded, and we did not do much more than drive through. Here are the Tetons, some of the newest mountains in America:
Grand Tetons

Here they are reflected in Jackson Lake:
Grand Tetons

We finally parted company with the Snake River. We drove briefly through the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway and then into Yellowstone National Park

We crossed the continental divide, bringing us back into the Atlantic Ocean drainage basin. We stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin:
West Thumb

There are numerous hot springs and geysers here. See also our trip report from the last time Kristina and I were here. Here's a pretty green hot spring:
Green Hot Spring

And here's another pretty hot spring:
Pretty Hot Spring

We then drove on, crossing the continental divide back to the Pacific then back permanently to the Atlantic. We stopped at the Old Faithful area, and found out the time of the next eruption. We didn't have much time before that happened, so we quickly ran errands in the area. I got very lost trying to find the post office, but eventually found it and made it back in time to see Old Faithful do its thing:
Old Faithful

We then walked around the area looking at hot springs. We only had one day here, so we walked pretty quickly. We walked past Castle Geyser:
Castle Geyser

There was a 3 hour window of when it could erupt, so we didn't stay. But not long after we passed by it erupted:
Castle Geyser

It was very impressive. Most of the geysers at Yellowstone are more impressive than Old Faithful; they are just harder to predict. This particular geyser erupted for more than 20 minutes.

We then moved on, stopping to see my favorite hot spring, Sapphire Pool:
Sapphire Pool


Continue on to the second part of day 13