Travel - 2016 USA - PNW (pt 2)

Despite being awoken at 430am when a room mate at the hostel decided to pack to leave I had a pretty good sleep in a warm bed. Most considerate travellers, when they know that they need to leave early, have everything ready so all they need to do is grab their bag and go. 

This guy though had everything spread out and even at one point turned the room light on! One of his last acts in the room was to drop his water bottle onto the hard floor... twice.  

After recovering from the abrupt awaking I made my way over to the Museum of the Rockies.  It was definitely cool to see the enormous size of creatures that once roamed the earth. The massive Triceratops skulls were probably my favourite exibit, even when pitted against the mighty T-Rex.



After wondering around for a bit it was time to get back on the road. Yellowstone wasn't too far away and soon I was going under the magnificent North Entrance archway. Not 100 meters  into the park I saw my first Elk ever. The first of many today. 

I kept going onto the Mammoth hot springs area that was littered with geysers. Lots of steam rising up from the ground and cool terraced pools brimming with boiling water. The smell was pretty potent as well...



The bigger and more picturesque ones with richer colours are further south.  As it stands due to snow last night the roads are currently only open to vehicles with appropriate snow tyres... which I don't have... 

Luckily there is plenty to keep myself busy with in the northern section of the park and the prediction is for some warmer weather the next few days which should allow me free movement.



Travelled along the northern road in the morning and saw heaps of Bison doing their thing... which is exactly the same as a cow. Eating grass. Exciting stuff. This amazing feat seemed to have many other tourists enthralled, enough to make them hit the brakes for an abrupt stop in the middle of a 45 mph single lane road with traffic behind them... 

Note to future Yellowstone tourists; Unless a Bison is being EATEN by a Grizzly bear there's no need to stop on the road for one. There will be a pull out in less than 500m where you can safely stop instead. 

There was also lots more thermal pools and gysers but the highlight today was a steamy river canyon and big falls.





After a full day of playing tourist it was time to fund a camp. Most areas are already shut down for the season, despite he still heavy traffic. When I made it to the Maddison camp I was right behind the person that got the last tent spot. Luckily the camp host was really nice and allowed me to park my car and 'hike' into the hiker/bike only area. A whole 50m away from the car. 

Now it was time to visit the main touristy sections of the park. Yellowstone seems to be very much a feature park. Drive from A to B do a 10 min boardwalk loop, drive to C, repeat. Lots of people but also lots of beautiful things to see. With the colder air the steam did make photography more difficult but it really was worth waiting for a parking spots.







After a lot of short walks and one semi decent one off to some distant falls (mainly to escape the crowds) it was time to visit Old Faithful.  When  I arrived it was about a 45min wait so I was able to grab some lunch and hit the souvineer store. At the viewing area there was at least a thousand people, probably more. 



Another quick boardwalk in the area before heading off to find camp. Near the south entrance by a lake. I was here a little early so still plenty of spaces and self registering too so I grabbed a spot. A short stroll on the lake side before returning to camp to get warm.

Saying goodbye to Yellowstone I headed south to the Grand Teton NP. It's a smaller park but has some pretty mountains! There wasn't many medium walk options, just little jaunts from parking lots or long overnight ones up into the mountains.  I still managed to join a few together to get a decent day in. Though the best views were from the road side viewing areas. 





Camped just inside the southern boarder of the park. I haven't figured out the pricing shedual of National Parks. Some are cheap others, like tonight, are almost double some others. Though that might have something to do with the fact that some grounds are privately run, even though they're inside a NP.   

The grounds had nice autumn leaved trees though and a pretty decent view of the Teton range so I was able to see the sun set behind it. 

Frost coated tent in the morning but packed up anyway as it was going to be a decent day of driving. To get to Portland is about the same as driving Brisbane to Canberra. Despite easily being able to do a drive like that in one day I took my time and stayed off the Interstate (with its 130kph speed limit) and dropped into various brown tourist signs.

The USA has a lot of small museums. Some with pretty cool buildings even if the subject matter is boring... like a museum for fabric....

Found a nice free camp spot just outside the town of Boise. Was up a rather bumpy dirt road but what's a Grattan road trip without some corrugations? Given its proximity to town and great view of the town lights I'm glad I'm not here on the weekend... I think this spot would be rather busy, if only for early on in the night, on Fri/Sat/Sun.



Drive into Portland was pretty uninspiring as I mostly stayed on the Interstate.  130kph does tent to get you there fast though... and most cars were overtaking me!  

Portland is very similar to Melbourne, very similar feel to me at least. Lots of people that look like it took them over an hour to paint on/squeeze into their jeans. With the beard I almost fitted right in. 
City itself was like many others. Lots of bridges crossing the river, including a double decker one! I wonder if it cost more than a tunnel... 

One of the things I liked most was he food trucks. You didn't have to walk 2 blocks before coming across another patch of them, and from what I tried all deliciously filling.



In town there was also a protests so I got to see the police in full riot gear. It wasn't too big when I hot there, just a few people preventing public transport from getting by. That's a great way to get all those commuters to care about you/your cause. .. 

I also was able to catch up with some Portland hikers for dinner. Was jive to see them again and find out how post trail life was going.



Time to get the car back to Seattle. Not a great day to be driving heavy rain and lots of ponding, even on the highway. Apparently expecting the highest winds they've had in 50 years... So the drive took a little longer than expected... but made it safely.

Back in Seattle and got to meet up with some friends again before having a day off. Relaxed at the Hostel and had some good chats with other travellers. 



Train to San Francisco was already booked out and plane was a lot more expensive and troublesome (getting to the airport, 2 bags, etc etc) so I decided to get my first ever long distance bus ride.

Do. Not. Do. It.

I don't know how but the seats are even more uncomfortable than a planes. At least there is power though... So I could watch movies on my lapop for the very long journey. Loved my noise cancelling headphones to drown out the person across from me reading their book, out loud. 

Still it is cheap and it definitely reflects that. I'll be on here overnight and reach the beautiful city of San Fran early tomorrow, after a change over. A day or 2 for the city and then time to try get back to the woods.