Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Park
August 14th - August 21st, 2016
 

This was a great "guy trip" seeing some beautiful national parks.  Attending: Charlie Haubein, Jessie Patterson and Keith Montz.

Sunday, August 14th - Flight to Denver, CO

Flew into Denver, Colorado.  Picked up by Jessie Patterson who drove up in his extended cab truck with 175 gallon Diesel tank.  The truck would make Batman jealous.  We were able to drive up steep road and go off road anywhere while being comfortable.  Stayed in Fort Collins for the evening before driving on to Jackson Hole,

Monday, August 15th - Jackson Hole, WY

We stayed in the center of town and watched a gunfight performance in the town square before enjoying a good dinner and exploring the town shops.

Keith next to town square
Charlie, Keith and Jessie under the Antler Archway
Photo of the town square and mountain in the background
Gunfight Performance
 

Tuesday, August 16th - Jackson Hole Ski Resort and Grant Tetons

In the morning we rode the Gondola at the Ski Resort up to the top of the mountain.

Charlie, Keith and Jessie at the ski village
Top of the Ski Mountain after getting off the Gondola
View down from the top
View from the top towards the valley and mountains

After getting lunch, on to the Grand Tetons

Keith and Jessie on one of the main roads
Map of the area Charlie and Keith walked on trails to lakes.  Jessie road bike main sidewalk trails.
Keith on 6.5 round trip trail to see Bradley and Taggart Lakes
Keith at Bradley Lake
Keith at Taggart Lake
Another view, taken on wood bride, of Taggart Lake with the mountains in the background

At the shore line of Jenny Lake.  Wind was blowing pretty hard.

Wednesday, August 17th - Yellowstone National Park
Unlike so many other people's experiences, we didn't see a single bear or grizzly, only Buffalos.

Jessie, Charlie and Keith at Old Faithful Geyser
Other Geysers, directly to the left, erupting before Old Faithful
Old Faithful erupting
Firehole Falls

Sign describing the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone at one of the viewing areas on the way to it
At the Falls, showing the water cascading down hundreds of feet down
2nd view showing the canyon carrying the water down the river
View going across the canyon, over the waterfall.  Notice the very small stairs and people on the other side
View looking down the canyon

Massive fire in Yellowstone going on in the distance
Buffalo relaxing with the fire on the mountain in the background.

Calcite Springs Information
Keith on the lowest wood sidewalk next to the Springs

Thursday, August 18th - Glacier National Park

Two Medicine Lake left view
Two Medicine Lake right view
Our lodging - Two Duck Lodge off of Duck Lake Road   Jessie's truck parked in front
Lake next to Duck Lodge
Crossed over to the Canadian side of Glacier National Park.  Jessie was telling stories to the Canadian Guard about having guns in previous trips and storing guns at Lodge on this trip which almost didn't let us cross the border. 
Sign from crossing
All of us at Waterton Lodge
View from within the Lodge onto Waterton Lake and the town of Waterton to the right
Drove down to town of Waterton
View of Waterton Lake from the town

View of red sky before the sun went down at Duck Lodge

Friday, August 19th - Glacier National Park

View of pond next to Duck Lodge with mist coming off of lake by the Lodge   Temperature got down to 55 degrees Fahrenheit.  

On the road to Many Glacier
Keith at river coming off of Sherburne Lake after the dam.  Cold morning with mist coming off the water
At the dam for Sherburne Lake.  Two amateur photographers taking photos
The view to the right of Sherburne Lake

In Many Glacier park area
Keith at the waterfall coming off of Lake Josephine
Photo of the vast ranges with mountains.  Unfortunately the 2 dimensional photo does not show the vastness.
Another photo of the mountains

Going into the Park on Rising Sun Road
All of us at the Park sign
Sites on the Rising Sun Road
St Mary Lake on the road
The mountain across from the above photo
Keith at Observation Sun Point
Charlie and Keith at St Mary's Falls before the bridge
Keith and Charlie in front of St Mary's Falls
The Lodge at the top most point on the Rising Sun Road
Looking back towards the glacier carved out valley in the mountains from the Lodge
Coming down from the Lodge, a mountain goat
Close-up of the mountain goat looking towards the camera
View going to the west as we descended down from the lodge on Rising Sun Road
Lake McDonald at the end of the Rising Sun Road

Saturday, August 20th - Glacier National Park and Spokane, WA
We road a white water rapid trip from 11:15am to 2:30pm on the Flathead River which comes out of the Park.  Afterwards, we headed to Spokane, WA where we had a flight back on Sunday.

View from our lodging in the morning, located outside of Glacier National Park
Front of Glacier Guides / Mountain Raft Co.  {added to remember place}
Saturday evening
View from the Red Lion Hotel room onto the city of Spokane and the river walk
Keith at a restaurant off of the Riverwalk
Astronaut Michael Anderson bronze statue on the Riverwalk

Sunday, August 21st - Spokane, WA and flying back to Houston

On Riverwalk near dam next to Hotel before grabbing some breakfast
Day view of Riverwalk near the Astronaut Michael Anderson bronze status
Outside of Fast Eddie's All Purpose Pub which we had a drink at the night before.  Funny place

In Phoenix waiting on connecting flight.  Dust Storm hit the airport
Photo from airport terminal showing the transition of the dust storm moving in
Photo of the airport completely inside the dust storm cloud