On Tuesday, we started by driving south into Idaho just west of the Tetons as we had heard about 2 scenic drives there that looked interesting. The first was Mesa Canyon Scenic Trail which follows the path of the Henry Fork of the Snake River and we stopped to view a couple of waterfalls. The first was the Upper Mesa Falls of the Henry Fork. This waterfall is 114 ft. high and it is an easy trail right to the top of the falls. Here is a photo.
Mesa Canyon has been carved out by this river and it is interesting in that the opposite side of the canyon is made of Rhyolite Tuff. Rhyolite Tuff is formed when molten granite erupted so explosively that the magma was blown into dust size fragments that then settled and solidified. This happened about one millions years ago. The side I was on is made of basalt which resulted from molten flows from 15 miles away. This happened 25,000 years ago. The river has been carving this canyon between these two types of rock.
Our next stop was Lower Mesa Falls which you have to view from the canon rim. Thiss falls is 65 ft. high and here is a photo.
This part of Idaho raises a lot of potatoes and we kept seeing signs for certified seed potatoes. We were curious about what a seed potato is. Found out that you do not grow potatoes from seed. Potatoes produce seeds but do not grow true to seed. What you have to do is take a potato, let it sit until the "eyes" start growing and then cut up the potato so each piece has a single eye. This is what you plant and is what is called a seed potato.
We then took the Teton Scenic trail which takes you over a pass and into Jackson Hole which is the valley between the Teton Mountain Range on the west and the Gros Ventre Mountain Range on the east The major town is Jackson which is a tourist mecca and we got there in time for a nice lunch. I used my TripAdvisor app to give us some restaurant recommendations. The number 1 recommended restaurant in Jackson was a hamburger place by the name of McPhaels so that is where we went. It is a family run operation which has been in business since 1945 and we have to agree that it deserves its number 1 ranking. They had this interesting looking arch at an entrance to a park made out of antlers,
We then drove north up the valley until we can to the main range of the Tetons. These mountains are impressive as they are the only alpine type mountains in the US and they rise very abruptly from the valley floor and tower over the valley by 7,000 or so feet. Here is a photo of our first view of these mountains.
The central peak is Grand Teton and it is the tallest at 13,770 ft. Here is a close up of the peak.
At this point it was getting late and we had a long drive back to West Yellowstone so we called it a day.
On Thursday, we headed down to the Tetons early so we could get some good photos. Turned out it was a smoky day from fires down to the south so the pictures weren't as clear as I would have liked. This photo is of Mt. Moran.
What is not so evident in the above photo is the detail of the summit so here is a close up of the summit.
The Tetons are formed from gneiss and granite which are respectively 2.7 and 2.5 billion years old. You can obviously see a "Black Dike" of 775 million year old diabase and if you look closely you can see a tan cap of sandstone that is all that is left of some 510 million year old beach. Mt. Doran also has five small glaciers that are slowly disappearing. Before about 1400 AD, it was warmer then it is now (that is why Greenland has its name, when it was discovered it was green with vegetation). From about 1400 to 1850 there was the period know as "The Little Ice Age" when it was much colder, and this is the period when these glaciers formed. Since 1850 it has warmed up and these glaciers have been melting.
We then drove the Lake Jenny scenic loop and got a chance to see this lake which is right at the base of the mountains. This lake is crystal clear and is 2.2 mile long and 1.2 miles wide. It was formed by glaciers about 12,000 years ago. Here is a photo of Lake Jenny with Grand Teton in the background.
Between Grand Teton and Mt. Owen to the right, is Cascade Canyon. When I was here is 1965 my room mate and I hiked from Lake Jenny at 6,783 ft. elevation up the Cascade Canyon Trail to Lake Solitude at 9,035 feet elevation.
Here is another photo of the peak of Grand Teton. There is an alpine club headquartered in the park which gives climbing lessons and most of the peaks, including Grand Teton, can be climbed. We weren't tempted.
We then started driving back north and took this photo of Jackson Lake with Mt. Doran in the background from the top of Signal Mountain which is about 900 ft. above the valley floor and so gives good views.
We then entered Yellowstone Park. One thing we did get to do a lot in our drives around is cross the Continental Divide multiple times as it meanders through the park. The highest is Craig Pass at 8,262 ft. Little Isa Lake straddles the divide at that location and water from one end of the lake flows to the Atlantic via the Missouri River while water from the other end of the lake flows to the Pacific via the Snake River.
One thing you do see a lot of in Yellowstone is geyser fields and here is an example of one,
The other main attraction we visited in Yellowstone was the falls and canyon of the Yellowstone River. Here is a close up photo of the falls.
And a view of the canyon. Its deep, 800 to 1,200 ft., and 24 mile long.
One of the things everyone wants to see when they visit Yellowstone is buffalo so here is a nice shot of one.
The only problem with the buffalo is that everyone wants to take a photo of one and so whenever they come close to the road, instant traffic jam. On this occasion we were stuck in a back up as everyone took photos for over an hour. Here is a shot of some of the road side distractions.
The other problem is that the buffalo has the right of way and has no respect for cars and the road so here is one wandering across the road. We had another one that just started walking down the road blocking all traffic.
That was the end of two days in these parks. The next two days are travel days as we head to Bend, Oregon.
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