Day 3 - The Bear Hike

 Part of the Yellowstone Fish Crew reunion was a hike to an old bear den led by the park's bear biologist. We headed out on a trail and enjoyed some great views.

 Desert Girl did a little hiking with her new friend Josie.

Then, all of a sudden, the folks ahead of us got off the trail and waved us off. We had an inkling of what might be up ahead.

 A bear! Actually, two bears, a mom and her cub, were walking down the trail towards us. We moved well off the trail to give them plenty of room.

 I was grateful for my new camera lens with more zoom and for post-processing cropping!

 The bears were spell-binding, and we watched them for quite awhile.

 The little one wanted to get a better look at what was going on so stood up several times.

 Mom went back to eating, but the young'un kept an eye on us.

Finally they meandered out of sight, and we continued our hike to the bear den.

 The den was under a tree, a shallow hole. Desert Boy climbed into it.

 The kids thought it was pretty cool. I was surprised by how close to the surface the den was. It didn't seem like it would give all that much protection in the winter. The bear must have made it, though, as it wasn't inside!

On the hike back, my former boss took Desert Boy, which was a welcome relief. Desert Boy was a demanding train, so it was nice to get a little break.

We all enjoyed the spectacular views of Yellowstone. We saw lots of other hikers on the trail, soaking in the beautiful day.

Day 2 - To Yellowstone

 We picked up my brother Ed from the airport the afternoon of Day 1 and proceeded to head up the country. It wasn't too long till we were tired and stopped for the night. The next day we proceeded up I-15, stopping at a rest stop in Idaho that promised a geologic site. Well, that rest stop should have given their geologic site much bigger notice. It had a mile-long geologic trail through Hell's Half Acre, a neat lava field about 20 miles south of Idaho Falls.

We were the only ones on the lava flow trail, which was paved and easy walking. Although we did see a family do some geocaching at the picnic bench right at the beginning of the trail. We might have to give that a try on a future vacation.

 The kids weren't real enthusiastic hikers, but they did love the rocks. They had to choose their two favorite rocks. That caused a real dilemma.

Then it was more driving, with great scenery, like the west side of the Tetons as we approached West Yellowstone.

 We were only a few miles into the park when we had our first animal sighting--some elk in the river.

 We stopped to see a hot spring, which was fortunately uncrowded despite it being a weekend.

 Then we headed north for a fish crew reunion. One of the National Park jobs I held before I moved to the Great Basin was at Yellowstone, on the fish crew. I hadn't seen some of these folks for many years, and it was so nice to catch up with them. The kids had fun with the other kids there, and one of the highlights was roasting giant marshmallows and making s'mores.

 Desert Girl did her best to contain the mess.

 How much fun can you have with s'mores?

A lot!

We posed for a photo. I love how all the kids are holding hands. And the dogs just couldn't resist being in the photo.

It was a wonderful summer evening, and just the start of our fun adventures in Yellowstone.

Day 1 - Oquirrh Overlook

 I had seen the sign in Tooele pointing towards the Oquirrh Overlook and had wondered what it was. While at the Tooele Train Museum, we asked about it and learned that the steep mountain road led to an overlook of the big open pit copper mine on the other side of the mountain. It was supposed to be passable for passenger cars, so we decided to give it a try.

On the way up, we saw smoke, and before long we came to a vantage point of the Herriman (aka Rose Crest) Fire. It looked like it hadn't started long before.

 We continued up the road, which had a lot of washboards in places. We were able to make it in the van, even with the low tow hitch. Someone who hasn't driven much in the mountains and isn't used to switchbacks might get a little uneasy on the road, but I thought it was okay.

 At the top we had this amazing view. Just a few weeks earlier, we had the opportunity to visit the mine from the other side (which I've just realized I have yet to blog about! I will have to catch up Updated: here's a link to the post). The visitor center on the other side has some great info about the mining process.

 I kept my eye on the fire, not wanting our windy way down the mountain to be cut off.

 It was getting bigger, but the winds were blowing away from us. Unfortunately, they were blowing in the direction of homes, and several were burned.

Here's a closeup of some of the mining operations. The trucks look tiny, which is amazing since they are so large. This mine is really worth a visit, as it is so large it is hard to comprehend. The copper is not particularly rich, only 12 pounds per ton, but it still has been a profitable mine.

The kids weren't particularly thrilled with this destination (Desert Girl was asleep and Desert Boy refused to get out of the van), but I thought it was worth the time. Only a few other people were up at the Overlook. A paved, sinuous road leads across the mountain a little farther down, and that looks like it would be a fun excursion some day.

Day 1 - Tooele Valley Railroad Museum

 As we continued our vacation to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons last week, we  saw more views of the Clay Springs Fire as we headed north from Delta and the Great Basin Museum. More than half the mountain range burned.

 The kids were good travelers, although we had to take a couple impromptu bathroom breaks. Fortunately there's plenty of open country.

 Some of that open country!

Our next destination was Tooele. I had looked on the Internet to see what there was to do around Tooele and found that they had a train museum. Knowing Desert Boy's fascination with trains, that became a necessary stop.

The Tooele Valley Railroad Museum is on a side street and we had to search for it a little, but due to a nice lady's directions, we found it.

The first thing the kids noticed was the mini-railroad. We lucked out and they were offering rides that day. (If you want a ride, be sure to call ahead, as the days and hours can vary.)

Desert Boy, wearing his train conductor hat, was in his element.

The little train and track were adorable.

We even got to go through a tunnel.

Following the train ride we toured the steam locomotive, a couple cabooses, and the train depot. The train depot had lots of info about area mining, as the train had been developed to transport ore. That made us decide to go to our next destination (coming soon in a future post!).

The museum was free, but I wanted to support them, so the kids got cute matching t-shirts that say 'I love trains.'  How appropriate!

Day 1 - Great Basin Museum

 We were off on vacation last week, and what a wonderful week it was! I'm going to try and squeeze in lots of posts so that our blog book is fairly complete. (Once a year I print the entire blog, and it is such a nice way to keep track of what we did that year.)

Our trip started with driving over the railroad bridge in Delta, UT and seeing the smoke from the nearby mountains fill the sky. This was the Clay Springs Fire, which required the evacuation of nearby Oak City for a night. It's grown to over 108,000 acres. Yikes! Many years, fewer than 100,000 acres burn in the Great Basin. Now just one fire has topped that. The fire costs $4.5 million to date.

 We couldn't do anything about the fire, so we headed to the Great Basin Museum, which opened at its new location on main street in late May.

 They have a lot more exhibit space, and the kids were happy to get out and take a look.


What caught Desert Boy's attention was a model train on the side. It turned out that this model train showed a replica of the roundhouse at Lynndyl, which is located a bit north of Delta. We had never known that there was a roundhouse there.

 It turns out sleepy Lynndyl used to be not-so-sleepy. It was the biggest Union Pacific terminal between Omaha, Nebraska and Los Angeles. The original Lynndyl Roundhouse was 8 stalls, and this was enlarged to 19 stalls about 1920.

They had an aerial image of the roundhouse, which looked amazing, so I decided we would look for it on Google Earth when we got home. Here's what we found:

Do you see the roundhouse outline? Desert Boy and I think it's so cool! We hope to take a trip out there some time. It's so exciting learning something new about the area, especially something about trains.

 We also took a look at some old furnishings.

 This chemistry set caught my eye. We still have a couple of these hanging around the ranch.

 The trilobite collection was extensive, as one of the world's best places for collecting trilobites is only about 30 miles from Delta.

 The glowing rocks were a huge hit with the kids.

Grant helped Desert Boy with the old switchboard.

We're going to have to go back to take more time to look at everything. I'm really glad they were able to move the museum to main street, as they should have lots more traffic now. So if you're in the area, take some time to see the Great Basin Museum!

Friends, Mather Overlook, and a Hike

 One of my best friends from high school, Alison, and her family came to visit a couple weeks ago. We decided to go up the scenic drive in Great Basin National Park and hike the subalpine trails. On the way, we stopped at Mather Overlook.

 This memorial for Stephen Mather (1867-1930) says "He laid the foundation of the National Park Service defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done."

Stephen Mather was the first director of the National Park Service. This memorial was stolen but later recovered (on eBay, I believe), and now is solidly reinstated to the overlook which bears his name.

 The views from the overlook are gorgeous, with the stately Wheeler Peak topping a 1,000+ foot tall cliff.

 Some recently installed telescopes make it fun to look in detail.

 Desert Boy could barely reach, but he was certain he wanted to try.

Then it was time to go up to the lakes loop.

 Desert Boy liked any obstacles he could find. He enjoyed having a new hiking partner.

 We were all glad when we got to Stella Lake.

 Desert Girl was happy to pose.

 Desert Boy launched some 'boats.'

 Desert Boy really wanted to go swimming, so I told him to go ahead. I don't think he quite made it up to his knees when he decided it was too cold.

 Meanwhile Desert Girl decided she had to go swimming, too.

 Desert Boy put his clothes back on, tried to retrieve some of his 'boats,' and promptly fell into the lake. Sigh.

 Desert Girl managed to stay dry enough that when we found this snow drift she was ready to play in it. She even tried to make a snow angel.

 She really liked having new friends to hike with.

 Still, the hike was long for her little legs, and she had a long rest on the trail. I hiked with the kids back to the vehicle while Alison and her family went on to the bristlecones. We passed several people heading up there for the wonderful afternoon light.

We enjoyed that light on the way down, showing the creases and folds of the North Snake Range.

It is so good to have friends visit so we can take time to enjoy our own backyard. Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what a wonderful place this is!