A snow-streaked mountain peak rises beyond a still, wide river that reflects white clouds and a blue sky; a pine branch leans in from the right over a grassy bank. — Mount Moran over the Snake River at Oxbow Bend, August 11.

Summer 2016 · Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana

Steam and Bison

A week in the Rockies: the Tetons, a night beside Old Faithful, a hard-won room at Canyon, and a great many bison in between.

When: August 9–16, 2016
Route: Salt Lake City → Afton → Jackson → Moulton Barn → Old Faithful → Canyon → Mammoth → West Yellowstone → Idaho Falls
Length: 8 days, 7 nights

For a while this trip also had Alaska in it. Hotels near Denali were booked for the days after Yellowstone, until we called and cancelled them in July. What was left was a week in the Rockies: an evening flight to Salt Lake City, a rental car, and a long drive north into Wyoming to Jackson, the Tetons and Yellowstone.

Rooms inside Yellowstone go fast. The Old Faithful Inn was booked for August 11, and for the 12th it took checking the reservations site a hundred times a day before a room opened at Canyon Lodge. More than nine hundred photos tell the rest.

The route

Drive Ferry Flight

1Salt Lake CityAug 9–16
2AftonAug 10
3JacksonAug 10
4Moulton BarnAug 11
5Old FaithfulAug 11
6CanyonAug 12–13
7MammothAug 13
8West YellowstoneAug 13
9Idaho FallsAug 14

Day 1Tuesday, August 9

Four in a row to Salt Lake City

1Salt Lake City

We had a ride to San Francisco airport in the afternoon and made it through the Bay Area traffic in good time.

Then came an evening Alaska Airlines flight, the four of us in one row, and a late landing in Salt Lake City.

The practical bits An evening Alaska Airlines flight from San Francisco. Hyatt Place at Salt Lake City airport for the night, and a Hertz car, booked late that night, for the next morning.

Day 2Wednesday, August 10

The elk-antler arch

2Afton 3Jackson

An arch of piled elk antlers spans the main street of Afton, Wyoming, on the road north through Star Valley, and we stopped for a photo under it. From there the road follows the Snake River down into Jackson Hole.

A man in sunglasses and a small girl in pink stand on a sidewalk beneath a tall arch of piled elk antlers; a sign on top reads Afton Wyoming, with two elk statues above it. — The arch of piled elk antlers, with two elk statues on top.

By late afternoon we were at the top of a mountain above the valley, where a gondola and chairlifts end beside a timber lodge, most likely Teton Village. We rode the chairlifts and looked down on the valley from far above, and a drone went up over the trees of a golf course.

A woman in a red jacket hugs two girls on a gravel summit beside a lift station, with chairlifts, a broad green valley and distant mountains behind them. — A hug at the top of the lift, the valley laid out behind.

A grassy mountaintop with a timber lodge at the left and a few people on a path, looking down on a wide green valley with ponds and a range of mountains beyond. — The timber lodge at the top, and Jackson Hole far below.

Then a bull moose, its antlers still in velvet, walked across a lawn beside a building, and we filmed it three times. By evening we were in Jackson, where the last photo of the day is an old Coca-Cola machine.

A large bull moose with fuzzy, velvet-covered antlers walks across a green lawn in front of a brown building, blue spruces and a parked bicycle. — The moose passed a parked bicycle and a row of blue spruces.

A red vintage Coca-Cola bottle vending machine with a sign about a three-cent deposit on bottles. — An old Coca-Cola machine, with a sign about a three-cent bottle deposit.

The practical bits Picked up the Hertz car at the airport and drove north through Star Valley. Probably slept in Jackson.

Day 3Thursday, August 11

Mountains in still water

4Moulton Barn 5Old Faithful

We lined up at the fence on Mormon Row to photograph the Moulton Barn with the whole Teton Range behind it, and one of us walked a log along the old barn. It was our first stop in Grand Teton National Park.

Along the river we stopped by a beaver dam, and at a stone wall high above the Snake, the jagged peaks lined up behind it.

A small girl in a white jacket and red shorts stands on a dirt path beside a calm river channel with a beaver dam of piled sticks and tall cottonwoods behind. — The path by the beaver dam, tall cottonwoods behind.

A woman in a red sweater hugs a small girl on a stone wall; behind them a forested river valley runs up to a long line of jagged gray peaks under a blue sky. — The wall looked out over forest and a long jagged skyline.

Mount Moran stands in the still water at Oxbow Bend, and we lingered on the bank with the mountain and its reflection in front of us.

A woman in red stands with two girls on a riverbank path; a calm river and a snowy mountain are behind them. — Snow still streaked Mount Moran in August.

Then up through the park and into Yellowstone, where the hot pools at West Thumb run down to the shore of the lake. By mid-afternoon we were waiting by the sign at Old Faithful, and before long it went up.

A deep turquoise hot pool with orange edges on a flat white crust, pine trees and a large lake behind under towering clouds; people walk along a boardwalk at the left. — Turquoise water with an orange rim, and the lake beyond.

A tall white column of water and steam erupts from a pale geyser mound against a deep blue sky with clouds; a spectator's hands hold up a phone at the bottom edge. — Old Faithful, with someone's phone held up at the bottom of the frame.

We had a room that night at the Old Faithful Inn, and by evening we were out on its upper deck, with steam rising over the basin.

People sit on wooden benches on a large deck beside a steep shingled log building; a child in pink leans on the rail, and steam rises from a pale geyser basin under evening clouds. — A child in pink leaned on the rail as evening clouds gathered.

The practical bits Old Faithful Inn, West Wing, one night. Drove north from Jackson through Grand Teton and into Yellowstone.

Day 4Friday, August 12

Steam, canyon and bison

6Canyon

The hot water at Midway Geyser Basin pours off the terraces straight into the Firehole River, and we stood on the footbridge beside it in the early steam. A little farther on, the boardwalk at Grand Prismatic Spring looks over a spring streaked orange and blue.

A woman and two girls stand at a log railing on a bridge over a clear river; steam rises from the far bank under a pale blue morning sky. — The log railing on the footbridge, steam lifting off the far bank.

A man in sunglasses and a gray jacket stands with two girls beside a vast, shallow hot spring streaked with orange and blue, steam drifting across it and a forested hill behind. — The colors of Grand Prismatic, with steam drifting across.

This was the day we crossed the park, from the geyser basins in the southwest to the canyon in the middle, ending at the room at Canyon Lodge that had taken so much checking to get. Somewhere along the way, two faces went through the holes of a ranger board made for the Park Service's hundredth birthday.

Two children's faces peek through a painted board of two cartoon park rangers beside Old Faithful and a sign reading Yellowstone, celebrating 100 years with the National Park Service. — Cartoon rangers beside a painted Old Faithful, in the Park Service's 100th year.

By mid-afternoon we were on the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, looking down at the Lower Falls between yellow and ochre walls. The rest of the afternoon was bison, out in the meadows and among the trees, some close enough to film from the car.

A tall waterfall pours into a deep canyon with yellow and ochre walls and pine-covered rims, seen from a rocky viewpoint under a pale sky. — Pines along the rim, and the Lower Falls at the far end.

The evening ended at a big chess set in a lodge lobby.

A smiling girl peeks over the edge of a large wooden chessboard set up on a table in a bright lobby with tall windows. — A chessboard set up by tall lobby windows.

The practical bits Canyon Lodge, one night. North from Old Faithful along the Firehole River, past Midway and Grand Prismatic, then across to Canyon.

Day 5Saturday, August 13

Terraces and a warm river

6Canyon 7Mammoth 8West Yellowstone

A pronghorn lay resting in a clearing among the sagebrush, the first wildlife of a morning spent crossing open valleys north from Canyon. At Mammoth we stopped at the Albright Visitor Center, where an exhibit of antlers held our attention.

A pronghorn lies in a sandy clearing among green sagebrush below a ridge topped by a lone pine tree. — The pronghorn hardly moved, in a sandy clearing below a lone pine.

The white terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs spread out below the boardwalk near the park's north edge. Then a walk beside the Gardner River brought us to the Boiling River, where a hot spring runs into the river and people sit and wade in the warm current.

White mineral terraces spread out below a wooden viewing platform, with a juniper in front, a small town in the valley and a steep bare ridge under a blue sky. — White terraces below the viewing platform, the town of Mammoth in the valley beyond.

A woman and two girls stand on a wooden boardwalk staircase above pale, steaming terraces, with a steep gray ridge behind them. — The boardwalk stairs above the terraces, a steep gray ridge behind.

We left the park by the west entrance and slept in Montana, a few miles west of West Yellowstone. Toward evening we drove into town, where a log bench sat under a sign for Montana bison steaks.

A girl in a purple jacket sits on a log bench holding a cup, below a restaurant window with a sign reading Montana Bison Steaks. — The log bench under the Montana Bison Steaks sign.

The practical bits Slept about eight miles west of West Yellowstone, just over the line in Montana.

Day 6Sunday, August 14

Falls, then lights on the temple

9Idaho Falls 1Salt Lake City

The Snake River, which we had followed into Jackson Hole, spills over a long run of low ledges at Idaho Falls, and we stopped for a look on the way home. Then came a long stretch on the road, and we reached Salt Lake City in the afternoon.

A broad river spills over low, rocky ledges between islands of green shrubs and trees under a pale morning sky. — Islands of green shrubs stand in the middle of the falls.

At dusk we walked over to Temple Square as the lights came on along the spires of the Salt Lake Temple.

The floodlit granite spires of a large temple against a violet dusk sky, with a lit fountain pool in the foreground and a high-rise at the left. — Floodlit granite spires against a violet sky, a lit fountain pool in front.

The practical bits Hilton Salt Lake City Center, one night.

Day 7Monday, August 15

Under the Capitol dome

1Salt Lake City

The morning was overcast at Temple Square, and the temple stood doubled in the long reflecting pool.

Two girls sit on the stone rim of a long reflecting pool; a gray granite temple and its reflection fill the background on an overcast morning. — The stone rim of the pool, the granite temple and its reflection behind.

Then up the hill to the Utah State Capitol, where we took photos on the walk below the dome. Inside, a marble staircase climbs under a skylight, and out on the plaza we watched clouds build over the mountains.

A woman in red hugs two girls on a wide walkway below a domed, columned capitol building under a gray sky. — The Capitol's columns under a gray sky.

A grand marble staircase rises between tall columns toward a painted arched mural beneath a glass skylight vault. — The marble staircase, with an arched mural above.

A man in sunglasses and a white T-shirt stands with two girls on a paved plaza; behind them are a red-brick building with a green dome, a steeple and dark clouds over a mountain range. — A green dome and a steeple, and dark clouds over the mountains.

That evening we moved back out to the airport, ready for a very early flight.

The practical bits Hyatt Place at Salt Lake City airport, one night.

Day 8Tuesday, August 16

Up before five

1Salt Lake City

We left the hotel at a quarter to five in the morning for the early Alaska flight home to San Francisco.

By nine we were on a train through Oakland, the suitcases piled up beside us, and by late morning we were home.

The practical bits Car back to Hertz early; Alaska flight at 6:30 a.m. from Salt Lake City, then the train home from Oakland.