To The Grand Teton National Park, with more music and bundles of corn

We left the West Yellowstone with some regret, and the Holiday Inn with rather less, bought lunch at the usual supermarket, and headed South towards Grand Teton National Park in Bo's coach.

Before leaving Yellowstone National Park, we stopped on the shore of the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. The lake has 110 miles of shoreline and is over 7,000' above sea level. There's another geyser basin at West Thumb, and some more board walks, and these were duly photographed and explored.

Apparently it was once common practice for fish caught in the lake to be dangled in one of the hot springs to be cooked, whilst still on the hook. Not a great plan, given the amount of sulphur around.

Then back on the coach for a 40 mile drive to Colter Bay, just inside the Grand Teton National Park and on the shore of Jackson Lake. Even on the approach, it was clear that the scenery was stunning - but more of that later.

We parked outside the Visitor Centre, used the 'facilities' and then took our lunches through an archway towards the lake. As we emerged on the lake side, a quintet of young wind musicians were setting up and about to play. Before long , they struck up with an excerpt from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony - the section known in our family as the 'Flying Horse Music' because of its use in Fantasia. It was great to see a group of young people playing with such energy, without 'the dots' and clearly loving what they were doing.

After watching and videoing for a while, we found some logs to sit on within listening distance. The quintet played another tune or two that we didn't recognise (one is one the video - please let us know if you can identify it).

With the amazing view of the Teton range, and the music, it was a perfect lunch stop.

We were guideless, so Mike led us us on a short 'tourist' walk along Jackson Lake, and up to Heron Pond and Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky was not present). Both the lakes were pretty, but the nicest spots were a bit crowded so we didn't stay as long as we might have. We spend a little time at the Visitor Centre before the final leg of our journey to our next base - the well-named Jackson Hole.

We were staying at the Lexington, where we had a massive and very comfortable room. There was no restaurant, so we would be eating out every day while here. On the first evening, we were bused to the 'Bar J Chuckwagon Super and Western Music Show' that was, as they say, an 'experience'. There were rows of trestle tables, each seating about a dozen people. The formal capacity was about 550, and it was almost full, and we were the last group to arrive.

As our holiday progressed, it was becoming clear that, each evening, everyone was trying to avoid having Sheila sit next to them at dinner. This evening, there was almost no attempt by anyone to do this subtly, and she I was left sitting on the end of one of the benches. Unfortunately, that meant she was next to me. I served my shift with as much grace as I could manage.

There were several 'wranglers' in full gear, and one of them took to the stage to explain how the evening would work. Once we'd got the hang of the accent, we understood that this was designed to be the sort of meal a cowboy on a cattle drive would have had. wWe picked up our tin trays, and queued for some beef stew, a chicken breast, a jacket potato, beans (Blazin' Saddles), cole slaw, apple sauce and 'biscuit'. The food was all pretty good (and much better than somewhere else I could mention). Drinks were lemon squash, water or coffee, with no beer available!

After dinner, the one of the wranglers took to the stage to explain the set-up - this was a real ranch raising cattle for sale to farms in the East, and the show had been set up by his father, who owns the ranch. This took rather too long, and was full of corny jokes and sentimentality. Eventually, he was joined by the rest of the band and they started to play. They sang 'Western' songs (no 'Country' here -  this is real cowboy territory) with immaculate  four-part harmony, and some great fiddle playing and guitar picking. We even got some pedal steel and dobro. However, the material was fairly corny, but nowhere near as corny as the between-song banter and 'comedy', which was buttock-clenchingly embarrassing. A few of our group left to sit in the coach - I think this was because of the volume, rather than a show of good taste. I just admired the musicianship. Sample it on YouTube.

However, at one point, after a little 'God' interlude, they paid tribute to people who'd served in the armed forces. No problem with that. Then they asked us to remember the 58,000 people who'd died in the Vietnam War as if only American deaths counted. I contained my urge to heckle for self-preservation reasons. A very uncomfortable moment. I think most of us were glad when the show was over and we could return to the hotel.

Yellowstone National Park: Mount Washburn, and then some music

The harder walk this day was scheduled to ascend Mount Washburn, altitude 10,243'. After a fair amount of discussion between Mike and Dave, they agreed that we would ascend the old road from the South, and descend the Northern spur.

The day started with the usual drive to Canyon Visitor Centre, where the groups split up. Bo dropped the harder group where the old road joined the 'Grand Loop Road'. The old road was well graded for walking, and had zigzags (that the Americans call switchbacks) so we made good progress. Rosie coped with the altitude pretty well.

As the path levelled out before  the last part of the ascent, we came across a herd of  goats on the rocks alongside the path. Lots of photos were taken. As we tried to pass them, the herd spread across the path and we had to edge past them.

The top of the mountain is crowned with a fire tower, which is home for a warden for the whole of the summer. It looked pretty cosy and had incredible wide-ranging views, but it must be hard to sleep with 360 degree windows.

There was a sign indicating the height, so we took the compulsory photos but, probably inadvisably, kept out hats on. Lunch was taken sitting on a log at the top.


The long and gentle descent passed the site of a previous fire, with a mixture of charred black and silver trees. As usual, Glynis, the 70-something  Australian, was with us on this harder walk (2,000' of ascent). Not long after a short stop to photograph yet more goats, she noticed that the bottom half of our of her hiking poles (attached to her rucksack) had dropped off. I vaguely remembered seeing something metal alongside the path, so I did the gentlemanly thing and walked back a while to fetch it for her.

The previous evening, I'd suggested to Bo that it would be nice if he brought his guitar into the hotel so he, and Rosie and I, could play some music for the rest of the group. So, when we got back to the hotel, I asked at reception whether there was somewhere we could gather for some songs. They eventually agreed that we could use one of their conference rooms. Over dinner, which was a little cold, but surprising OK otherwise, I let the rest of the group know what we had in mind.

After dinner, we collected some drinks and most of us (but not the antipodeans) gathered in the conference room. Bo kicked off with a nifty jazz-guitar version of Misty and later played Over the Rainbow and (after we'd done some country songs) sang the Merle Haggard song, Today I Started Loving You Again. As we'd crossed the Continental Divide whilst in Glacier National Park, we had to try Kate Wolf's Across the Great Divide. We usually play this in D with Steve singing lead and playing guitar, Rosie singing the harmony part and me playing bass. Rosie decided that G is a better key for her, and it went pretty well. We also did Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger (set in Montana), Looking in the Eyes of Love and (as Bo had set a jazzy tone), That Ole Devil Called Love. And Rosie sang The Kipper Family's (from Norfolk) The Unlaid Maid. It was great that Laura  joined in with the spirit and sang Flanders' and Swan's The Gasman Cometh (All makes work for a working man to do...).

And then, after another round of drink, off to finish packing because we were heading to Jackson the next day.

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The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Our programme described a walk along the North and South Rim Trails of The Grand Canyon. Dave proposed that the whole party walked along the South Trail, but that there were sections that were somewhat exposed (in the sense that there a steep drops to the side of the path). Some of felt we were getting short-changed by missing the North Rim, others were worried about the exposure. By this time, we'd been joined by a second guide, so Mike organised a shorter walk for a few people, and convinced the rest of us that the South Rim walk was a full day's worth.

Bo drove us all to Canyon Visitor Center. We took the same drive in every day, alongside a lovely river. Today, we made a short stop to photograph some elk.

After using the facilities at Canyon, we drove on, dropped off the few you'd opted for the shorter walk and parked close to the South Rim. We set off in an Easterly direction across a grassy landscape. It was already sunny and getting hot, despite only being mid-morning so we were pleased when we entered some woods.

We soon stopped to admire Clear Lake, which is fed by a hot spring. This gave Dave the opportunity to remind us that this is a bear area - and to tell us about the hiker who'd been mauled to death here in 2011 after disturbing a female grizzly and her cubs. Bears that attack humans in the park are usually 'euthanised', but this one was reprieved because the cubs had been with her at the time of the incident. However, she attacked again  later in the year, so met her maker.

Shortly after Clear Lake, we came across a series of mud pots in the heat of the sun, before re-entering woods and heading North towards the canyon. We headed further East when we reached the edge towards a viewpoint where we stopped for our lunch.

So, now we could see why this is called The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - it's very steep-sided and heads down to the fast-flowing Yellowstone River. Stunning.

We then followed the South Rim trail, which sometimes did get a little close to the edge, but not close enough to worry anyone. There were plenty of photo opportunities and different views of the gorge revealing themselves. We could soon see the Lower Falls and hear them getting loader as we got closer. Artists' Point was understandably crowded because there was car park nearby! There were queues to take photos from the best spots. We waited our turn!

We both took a large number of T-shirts on this holiday. It was entirely coincidental that both we chose to wear our Steely Dan T-shirts on the same day.

A bit further along the trail, we had the option to take the 300+ steps down Uncle Tom's Trail (and then back up again). Rosie declined the opportunity. Feeling properly recovered from my earlier impairment, I went ahead and was glad that I did. We got below the level of the top of the falls. I ascended quickly, just to show myself that I could. I was pleased to have a rest while waiting for the others.
We re-assembled and headed towards the Upper Falls. These would have been spectacular if we hadn't seen the Lower Falls earlier. 

We were hot and bothered by the time we got the car park, and the aircon in the coach was welcome. The others had been left at Canyon Visitor Center and had had the chance to look in the shops. Some had bought ice creams. This had to be done, but Rosie prefered to rest  rather than choose her own flavours. So I walked to the shop and joined the 'line'. There was great choice of flavours, so one flavour each was not going to do the trick. So I went for the 'two scoop' option. It turned out that these each 'scoop' was actually three scoops. So we each had six scoops in a tub. As Bill Bryson would say - an ice  cream the size of a baby's head. I had to dash across the car park in the afternoon heat to avoid them melting. Finishing the ice creams would clearly not going to help our appetites for dinner. But the ice creams were delicious, especially my peanut butter and chocolate flavour....

Dinner that evening was not at the Holiday Inn (hurray!), but at the Grizzly Claw Mexican restaurant. This didn't look particularly promising, but turned out to be tasty, with decent portions but no drinks licence. I'd happily have eaten there every night at Yellowstone.

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Yellowstone: Old Faithful and the classic sights

West Yellowstone is just outside the National Park, so our routine here was to pick up lunch at the decent supermarket close to the hotel, and then be driven for about an hour into the centre of the park. On our first day, it made sense that we did the big tourist thing and hit the geyser trail. We did this as a whole group, rather than splitting into 'harder' and 'easier' routes. Our guide here was Dave, who is about our age and, it became clear, knowledgeable about the park but somewhat introverted.

We parked near the Old Faithful Inn - built in 1904 and a stunning wooden construction. The Old Faithful geyser is so-named because of the predictability of its eruption schedule - between 45 and 125 minutes apart . We'd arrived in good time for the next one, so were able to sit on one of the benches and wait with the crowds. This felt similar to a show at Disneyland, without the pre-show entertainment. There were lots of children around - all very well behaved despite the longish wait.

Old Faithful obliged and was duly spectacular. We then had a brief visit to the Visitor Centre (and its loos) and re-assembled for our walk. After a short while on a boardwalk. passing a spectacular hot spring, and then ascended through woods to Observation Point, looking down on Old Faithful and the Inn. Dave had worked this well, because we were just in time for another eruption. we then descended to the boardwalks and followed Dave to a series of geysers, hot springs and mud pots. 

We took a break in some shade, and most of us ate our lunch. Rosie made a little friend here and allowed it to crawl on her hand. This was put to an end when Dave pointed out that she'd have to have a rabies shot if she were bitten.

We'd worked out Dave's approach now - after a detailed and engaging description of a feature, during which he'd answer any questions (usually including one about pine trees) and then move on to the next feature at a fast pace, with no attempt to wait for the group. I think this was in order to avoid any 'small talk'. His descriptions often included details of the different ways that people and animals had died in the park. My favourite was the one about the bison that ventured onto the thin material surrounding a hot spring and fell in. The water in these hot springs can be close to boiling point so, even though the bison got itself out, it staggered over and died nearby. This was noticed by a bear that quickly came over and claimed a ready-poached dinner. In Dave's telling, the bear stood on top of the carcass in triumph.


After a few more geological features, we rendezvoused with Bo and his coach and headed back to the hotel. The Holiday Inn had a pool, so Rosie took a swim while I explored the town a bit - looking for souvenirs or a decent bar for later use! It's small, and clearly just a tourist town. It's easy to forget this is 'The West', but there were some reminders, not least the sign on the right - in the window of a photographers.

Dinner met our expectations - it was poor and once again featured carrot cake. A few of us joined Mike on his venture out on the town in search  of a proper bar. We eventually found The Slippery Otter - a large selection of beer, sports on the TVs and a large contingent of bikers ordering pitchers. I think that counts as a real bar. Both the beers I had were good. No-one else wanted to stay for a third!

To Yellowstone, via The Great Falls, with a tour guide

It had been fairly cloudy as we descended from Grinnel Glacier the previous day but, even so, we were surprised to wake up to very low cloud and drizzle. However, we didn't mind too much as this was the day we were to make a 400 mile coach trip to Yellowstone.

Our driver was Bo, who'd driven up from his home town of Bozeman the night before. We had plenty of space in the coach. We headed East out of Glacier National Park, and then started South.  We stopped before long at a service station with attached  (not so) supermarket to pick up sandwiches for lunch. These were something of comedown after Clay and Andy's lunches.

Our lunch stop was due to be at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Centre at Great Falls. I had let it be known that Rosie is something of a Lewis and Clark expert, so was pleased when Mike asked Rosie to say a few words about the expedition. So she took the microphone at the front of the coach and did the engaging and professional job that you'd expect from a one-time guide from Kew Gardens, setting out the historical context, as well as the story of expedition itself.

The centre itself was very good, with detailed interpretation, and reconstructions of a Mandan hut and its contents, and of the portage of the canoes over the Great Falls (see photo). The only downside was that there's not much too see of the actual falls - most have been flooded by dams. However, this was a great way to break a long journey. Several of the group commented how much Rosie's talk had helped them appreciate their visit.

We broke the rest of our journey at 'Montana Wheat: Bakery and Deli', which couldn't have been more different from the morning's stop. There were enormous cakes that looked very appetising. I wasn't really hungry, but couldn't resist a cinnamon and apple danish. I estimate that it was about 8" in diameter. Still - it was fresh and  delicious, so I managed to eat most of it.

The route to West Yellowstone took us along the lovely Gallatin Valley, but we were very pleased to arrive at The Holiday Inn. When we're visiting our sons, Holiday Inn is our hotel chain of choice because their rooms are very comfortable and a decent price.  We weren't disappointed on that front. As usual on this holiday, we'd got used making our dinner choices the day before so that Mike could phone them through, and had done so again this day. The main courses arrived after the usual "chef's salad". From the texture of my chicken, I think it must have been cooking from the time Mike phoned the order through. Awful. This was followed by a large slab of carrot cake.

Our driver, Bo was on our table at dinner. It turns out that, before doing this for a living, he was a professional musician, playing various instruments, but mostly guitar, in Nevada. Conversation over dinner was better than the food! At least the bar had a decent selection of beers.

Last day in Glacier National Park: Grinnel Glacier

This was our last day in the stunning Glacier National Park. I decided that I could manage the longer 11 mile route, which would head along the North West bank of Lake Josephine and up to the two Grinnel Lakes. We'd walked parallel to the South East bank a few days earlier.

By this time, it was clear that it was pretty much the same group of people doing the harder walk each day, so we were spending a lot of time together. Thankfully, this group did not include Sheila, so we did not usually need ear defenders. But it did include Glenys - another Australian, probably in her mid-seventies and both a strong walker and an  interesting and engaging character.

After a short drive to a car park on the edge of the Swiftcurrent Lake we'd past the previous day, we climbed steadily in a mixture of wooded and open landscape, with views up to the glacier and back to the lakes. At one point, the path went along a cliff face that had a small waterfall coming down it. Staying dry was not an option.

At around a dozen, our group was quite large for a narrow track, but we were pretty good at letting faster hikers past. However, there was a very much larger group led  by a park ranger. This group had a mixture of fast and slow walkers, and they stopped frequently for a little talk from the ranger. This meant that there appeared to be more people around than most hikers would like.

We reached Grinnel Glacier in time for lunch. What a stark but stunning location. None of our party dived in today. Some people nearby seemed to be about to do so, but eventually just had a paddle.

On our drive from Kaslispell to the park, we'd passed the Flathead Valley, and I'd noticed lots of places advertising Flathead Cherries. Today's lunch supplied by Andy and Clay was excellent as usual, with the special treat of some of these delicious plump cherries.

After exploring the edge of the glacier, we retraced our steps down - this time with the string of lakes laid out ahead of us. We were treated to a display by a large Big Horned Sheep.

As we got onto the trail that goes around Swiftcurrent Lake, we passed a group who had apparently just seen a Grizzly Bear. I think I was jealous.

It was good that Clay and the people from the shorter walk were at the car park when we got back. It gave Mike the chance to say a nice 'thank you' to Andy and Clay, who had been excellent - informative and really nice guys.

We had some consolation for  missing the grizzly on the trail.... When we got back to the hotel, a man with a spotting scope (a telescope on a tripod)  had gathered a crowd. He was pleased to allow any of us that wanted to to watch a grizzly  track across the mountainside. Maybe that's the best way to see one.

And then to packing.....


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Glacier National Park: Swiftcurrent Lake, with a moose and her calf

I was still incapacitated the next day. After some debate, I decided not to make the 176 mile round trip to the doctors, but to skip the programmed walk to see if it improved. Rosie decided to stay with me, at least in part to have a rest after two tough days.

We had a late-ish breakfast and caught up on some email, which was not a quick exercise using the wet string internet connection. The gift shop needed to be explored too, and soon the morning was gone. We had a light lunch, and a couple of medicinal beers in my case, in the hotel bar. By the time this was done, the sun was shining brightly so we decided to take the short walk from the hotel around Swiftcurrent Lake.

Almost as soon as we left the hotel, we came across a group of Big Horn Sheep seemingly putting on a show for the hikers.

We were surrounded by fantastic mountain views that demanded to be photographed, and also got glimpses of the hotel across the lake. It really is very large - no wonder it took a us long time to get to our room.

Being so close to the hotel, this was a popular and well-trodden path. However, there were 'beware of the bears' notices as we entered a wooded section. We didn't meet one that day, but as we approached a bridge over a wide stream, we could see a small crowd with cameras had gathered so it was clear that some wildlife was around. We were delighted to see a female moose cooling down in the stream. After a while, a calf emerged for a paddle. Cue even more photos.

At one point, we reached another bridge, with a queue at both ends because a family was posed in the middle, and the father was setting up his tripod in the middle of the stunning view, pointing at the bridge. He eventually stood with his family, used his remote control and then , very quickly, went back to his tripod and fiddled around - in the middle of the view that everyone else wanted to photograph. Hmmm. Still, there were plenty of other views.

We met the others in the bar, and then played the 'avoid sitting at the same table as Sheila' game. At this point, we only thought the younger contingent was aware of the issue and therefore playing this game. How wrong we were. More of this later.

Apparently, our guides had a fixed allowance for the 'keep' while with us. Understandably, they minimised their expenditure by camping nearby and eating simply. As a group, we decided to treat them to dinner on this last night at Glacier.  Over dinner, we heard how good the harder walk to Iceberg Lake was that day. The highlight was Clay's dive into said icy lake.

I was feeling more comfortable by bedtime and was confident that I could do one of the programmed walks the next day.

Glacier National Park: over the Piegan Pass to Many Glacier Hotel, with some obstacles

We checked out of the Lake McDonald Lodge and would be staying on the Eastern side of the park for a few days. Even through it was 13 miles, there was no doubt that we'd choose the harder walk once we learned that it would cross the Continental Divide and take us on foot to the next hotel - the Many Glacier Hotel.

Once again, we drove along the Going to the Sun Road and gained a lot of height. I suggested that we needed a butch guide (who would save us from the bears) to pose in front of the Piegan Pass sign. Clay took my feed line and asked whether he would do instead.

The path gained height gradually through a mixture of woodland and lovely flower meadows, crossing a few fast flowing streams. We had a little rain, but it only lasted long enough for us to put our waterproofs on before stopping. We also came across a mule deer.

Just as we could see the open mountainside ahead, we passed through a final meadow. This was the best of all, with a profusion of gentians and plenty of other colour. We could see the pass in the clouds in the distance, with the path going diagonally across the mountain, requiring us to cross a couple of patches of snow.

 

This was quite a long stretch and, although not steep, we were at 7,600'. By the time we got to the Continental Divide at Piegan Pass, Rosie was feeling a little queasy. This was the planned lunch stop, so it was a good chance for Rosie to rest. And what a place - glorious flowers, massive  mountain vistas, and a clear sky. There was even a humming bird. Perfect.

We duly went Across the Great Divide and started to descend. We could soon see a large waterfall, and the path gradually zigzagged its way close to, and then past, it. The path followed the growing stream into a wood.

By this time, I was feeling uncomfortable in a way that I won't expand upon, and Rosie was tired.

After a few stream crossings on crude bridges, we came across our first hikers coming in the other direction who told us that we would need to wade across the stream. Apparently, the stream had rerouted itself. When we got there, it was clear that we'd need to remove boots and socks, roll up our trousers and go for it. Rosie was in the first batch across and, from the expletives I could hear from her direction , the water was obviously very cold. I was one of the last across, and found the sharpness of the stones on the stream bed more of an issue than the cold.

After that excitement, we had a long walk in the woods alongside a couple of lakes (that we couldn't see).  Rosie's left knee was hurting by this time, and my gait was becoming 'interesting'. However, Swiftwater Lake and the Many Glacier Hotel came into view, then gradually more and more of the surrounding mountains. Wow - what a situation.

When we got to the hotel. Rosie immediately laid down on a bench. Despite being 'inconvenienced', it was clearly my job to get the room key so I climbed the steep stairs to reception and was given the key. But there was great confusion about the location of the luggage, so we trailed around the ground floor trying to locate either the luggage or the buses. I got fed up with this and took the long walk to our room in the annexe on the second floor. I then dumped my rucksack and other stuff and went back to the front of the hotel to find Rosie. She wasn't there, and I wasn't impressed. We eventually found each other and the luggage in reception. We just had time for a shower before a late dinner.

Dinner itself was interesting.... Luckily, I managed to get a decent IPA before it. The menu was similar to Lake McDonald, and looked promising so we duly ordered. After a while, the started (soup or salad as usual) arrived. A couple of minutes (honestly), the mains arrived and were placed on stands behind us ("our kitchen is very quick"). We asked for them to be kept warm while we had our starters. By the time they got to us, they were either rubbery or cold. A lot of food was returned uneaten that night.

However, no hotel or dinner hassles could have detracted from the joys of this walk, which was one of the best we've ever done - the stream crossing even added to the adventure.


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