Yellowstone & Grand Teton

June in Yellowstone is calving season, so the valleys are full of baby bison, which the park calls "red dogs" because of their orange fur. We got stuck in a bison jam within an hour of entering the park, and nobody complained. That's the one traffic jam people actually enjoy.

The geothermal areas were as strange as everyone hopes. We timed Old Faithful and then walked the Upper Geyser Basin while most people headed back to the parking lot. The next morning, we hiked up to the overlook above Grand Prismatic Spring, which is the only way to really see its colors. From the boardwalk, it just looks like steam.

The best morning of the trip started at 4:30am. We drove out to the Lamar Valley with a wildlife guide, who set up a spotting scope by the road. There were three wolves from a known pack on a ridge in the far distance, moving along the hillside. Through binoculars they were dots. Through the scope, you could see them clearly. A retired nurse from Tyler said it was the best thing she'd ever seen, and then said it again a few minutes later.

We also learned something about Yellowstone weather. On the fourth day it snowed hard on Dunraven Pass, in June, and the road closed for a few hours. We waited it out with coffee, and by the afternoon we were standing at Artist Point looking down at the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone in bright sun.

We finished in Grand Teton, with photos at the old barns on Mormon Row, a boat across Jenny Lake, and a farewell dinner in Jackson. We had to remind one traveler, more than once, that bison aren't friendly. He kept his distance. Just about.