Rattlesnake Ledge

This was a quick after work hike with Alicia... pretty neat look out over North Bend, WA and Mt. Si


sweet sunset through the clouds


me at the top of the ledge


Alicia at the top of the ledge

step 14 - yellowstone's hot springs

The western portion of the park has some incredibly unique features...see for yourself.


Mammoth Hot Springs at the northwest corner


one of the hot springs near the southwest corner


more pretty colors... I should point out that these things are incredibly hot...thus the steam


and some more awesome springs


the only thing bad about hot springs is that they smell like rotten eggs

step 13 - yellowstone wildlife

one of the most amazing things about Yellowstone National Park is the abundance of wildlife. The buffalo are everywhere... coyotes roam in heavily trafficed areas, even Grizzley bears and wolves run wild here... just take a look



this sign should be taken seriously


I didn't take the sign seriously


a bison in the mist


this coyote ran right along side of my Jeep


This was my first ever Yellowstone picture which was taken within the first 5 minutes in the park. My dad and I noticed this animal drinking out of the lake. At first we thought it was a coyote, however, when we got a bit closer, we noticed that it was way too big to be a coyote... we were looking at a wolf... holy shit! To me this was a big deal, as I have spoken with many people that have visited Yellowstone and/or lived in Alaska that have yet to see a wolf in the wild.


as if seeing a wolf wasn't enough... I also was lucky enough to see a Grizzley bear... this guy was probably 100-150 yards away and was still really freakin loud and HUGE... props to Field for having a camera with a nice zoom

step 12 - yellowstone

so... after all the mountain driving of Wyoming, yellowstone awaits... this place is just amazing, enjoy the pics


Yellowstone lake from the east side


a very picturesque view of the Yellowstone River


Yellowstone's canyon from the park lookout


Lower Falls on the Yellowstone river

step 11 - crossing into wyoming

I have finally hit about the half way mark across country... only 1400 more miles to go. Whew! I've done a lot of driving in about a three day period. I have a lot more to go. Seven states down, four more to go. One thing that I always silently laughed about to myself was the shear size of the west coast. At my half way point I only have four states remaining to cross, one of which is only the 50ish mile panhandle of Idaho. That means that I am going to cover nearly 1400 miles in only three states.


Back east, every 5 miles there was another town... filled with people that were teeming with pride about seemingly silly things (like 'comets' that really look like oversized meatballs). Out hear, space conquers. Once you get west of Chicago, solace takes on a whole new meaning. Travel distances and times are no longer measured in miles or minutes but rather 100's of miles and many hours. For example, it took me 90 minutes to make it though Illinois, which was a bit over 70 miles. It took me 10 hours to make it through Montana which was almost 700 miles.


The other size difference between the west coast and east coast comes from vertical prowess. At first glance, the mountains really don't seem that big. But then you realize that you have been driving towards them for an hour and they haven't changed size. When you get about 40 miles away from them, they start to grow. And grow. And grow some more. Then all of a sudden you are in the middle of them, cliffs on either side, instantaneous snow storms, wind gaps, loose rocks everywhere, waterfalls left and right, and the somewhere along the way all the trees disappear. Awesome! Nothing like the mountains of Pennsylvania or New York.

Enjoy the Big Horn mountain range, courtesy of Wyoming.