Roaming the West in September...

After the EarthRoamer Owner's Rally was complete, we continued on with the rest of our summer travel plans.  Unfortunately, our research had identified that STEV was probably going to be too large to travel on the scenic Going-to-the-Sun Road across Glacier National Park in Montana and by the time we would have arrived, the shuttles would no longer be operating.  So instead, we opted to end this segment exploring the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks that we had only quickly visited during short vacations years ago.  These two parks are filled with incredible scenery, abundant wildlife and geologic features unlike any other in the world.  Being able to modify our travel plans on the fly is just one of the perks of our lifestyle...



Only about 170 EarthRoamers have been made in the last 14 years, so we rarely see them in our travels, and were surprised to run into this EarthRoamer in the remote Gates of Lodore Campground in Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado the day after the EarthRoamer Owners Rally ended.  It was nice to meet and chat with fellow full-time travelers Dino and Pam and to see some of their customization tips that we are thinking of incorporating into our travelling home.



Gates of Lodore is located on the northern tip of Dinosaur National Monument. It is a long drive to the area and the wild, remote country adds to its sense of isolation.  Here, the Green River, after winding across the broad valley known as Browns Park, turns toward the south and makes a direct path into the mountains in front of it. The Green River enters into deep canyons filled with rapids that challenged Major John Wesley Powell who passed through here in 1869 on his voyage down the Green and Colorado Rivers.

Sunset over the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado.



The Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area is located in parts of the states of Wyoming and Utah. The recreation centerpiece of the area is the 91 mile long Flaming Gorge Reservoir which was created by the 1964 construction of the Flaming Gorge Dam across the Green River.



The area was given the name "Flaming Gorge" by John Wesley Powell during his 1869 expedition down the Green River, due to the spectacular, gorgeous red sandstone cliffs that surround this part of the river.



On our first night in the Flaming Gorge area, we disperse camped high up overlooking the beautiful reservoir.



Homemade pizza on the grill and the great view was a nice complement to our daily cocktail hour.

We decided to move down to the water's edge on our second day at the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.  Unfortunately, Todd found his way into the soft sand area and got STEV stuck.  Of course, we had no cell reception and there was nobody else in sight to ask for assistance.  Thankfully at this year's Overland Expo, we purchased a pair of Go Treads that provide traction under slipping tires and double as leveling blocks when camping on uneven surfaces.  After a few minutes of shoveling and good placement of the Go Treads, STEV was out and moving. 

Moving to a spot nearby with more solid sand, we finally had our sweet camping spot for the night.

The morning fog caught in between the distant mountains of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.



We found our next dispersed camping spot while cutting through the Caribou National Forest on Cow Creek Road.  The next morning, we took the road deeper into the forest only to begin sliding in deep mud on a pitched road toward the edge of a cliff.  Quickly hitting the pause button, we stopped to hike up and down the road a bit to see if there was any way to either back out or turn around.  After some advice from a hunter whose path we were blocking, we decided to continue on down the road utilizing our Go Treads for the second day in a row to provide traction on tricky parts of the road. 



The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and Visitor Center is located four miles south of Moose, Wyoming on the Moose-Wilson Road in the Grand Teton National Park. The Preserve provides a special opportunity to connect with nature in an environment designed to reduce congestion and provide an opportunity for solitude and reflection and has one of the most engaging and unique visitor centers of all the national parks.



Sunset over the Gros Ventre River from the Gros Ventre campground in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.



The Grand Tetons peaking through the clouds on our way through Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Moose in the early morning fog in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.



Momma and baby moose enjoying the water in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

That would be one of the Grand Teton peaks rising above the clouds in Wyoming.



Moose Falls is located near the southern entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. 

Yellowstone National Park is a nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot. Mostly in Wyoming, the park spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho as well. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs, and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful.  It's also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope.




Yellowstone, established in 1872, was the first National Park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world.  Here, Yellowstone's most famous geyser "Old Faithful" erupts on schedule. 



One of Yellowstone's lesser known geysers.  The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles.



Hot Springs often contain a surprising array of colors.  Yellowstone contains at least 10,000 geothermal features with half of the geothermal features and two-thirds of the world's geysers concentrated within Yellowstone.



Earlier this year, a 23 year old Yellowstone tourist from Oregon looking for a place to soak, fell into a hot spring and dissolved.  The hot springs may look inviting, but they are extremely hot and highly acidic.



A mudpot is a sort of acidic hot spring with limited water that generally takes the form of a pool of bubbling mud.  The acid and microorganisms decompose surrounding rock turning it into clay and mud.



A view of the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.



There are almost 60 species of mammals in Yellowstone National Park, including these bighorn sheep. 



This bighorn had the most impressive, and BIG, horns.

Other large mammals found in Yellowstone include the bison (often referred to as buffalo).




Talk about annoying, can you see all the flies swarming around this bison's head?



Shonah scrambled down the river bank to get this shot when we spotted a group of Bison crossing the river in the early morning fog in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.



Just after stopping to take a hike to Cascade Lake in Yellowstone National Park, Todd spotted these 2 Grizzly Bears walking across the parking lot headed for the very same trail that we were going to take.



The grizzlies appeared to be a mother and her not so small cub.



One of the easiest ways to distinguish a Grizzly Bear from a Black Bear is the Grizzly's pronounced shoulder hump, smaller ears and dished face profile.  And in case you were wondering, yes, after giving the pair a brief head start, we did do the hike down the same trail the bears had taken (making sure to bring our walking sticks, bear bell, and bear spray).

A small herd of Elk graze alongside the road in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.



A lone Coyote stands in a field searching for food near Sylvan Pass in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.



Our dispersed camping spot, just outside Yellowstone National Park in the Gallatin National Forest, Montana had awesome views of the mountain peaks.



Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District.  The travertine was created over thousands of years as hot water from the springs cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flow into Mammoth each day).

 Algae living in the warm pools have tinted the travertine shades of brown, orange, red, and green in some areas.



As we departed Yellowstone National Park to head back East, the Autumn colors were striking.