Imagine an inland sea that stretched from the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California all the way to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. 14 million years ago majestic Lake Bonneville was just that; a vast expanse of water filled with all kinds of wonderful creatures. Eventually the earth continued its metamorphosis and most of the lake drained away. Today you can still find the last remnants of this natural wonder in the briny waters of the Great Salt Lake. It has left other unique features like the Carson Sink and the world famous Bonneville Salt Flats. Well, today we were able to cast the shadow of our little plane from one side of this ancient sea-floor to the other.
Under the oceans of the world there are great expanses of sand broken occasionally by mountain ranges here and there. Volcanoes and geothermal hot-spots bubble and smoke in the great depths. This is what our eyes looked upon for the duration of our flight today; a sea sucked dry. Mountains smoothed by the constant motions of water over their peaks, deserts with varying colors and textures, black lava flows and eroding craters. Occasionally we could even make out the demarcation where the shoreline used to be. It was all stunning.
We departed Lake Tahoe early in the morning. The light in the fresh alpine air made all the mountains around us stand out in stark relief. We climbed out over the lake (which is as long as the English Channel is wide) and made a gentle bank to the right and Nevada. As soon as you cross the lake the ground falls away into the Great Basin. Reno was to our left and Carson City to our right. The landscape that I described above just scrolled by underneath us.
We crossed over into Idaho after a short while and could easily see Twin Falls 30 miles to the left. The mountains of Idaho stretched away to the north and I thought of the special time that I spent in them last October while on my 40 day 40 night solo backpacking trip (vision quest) in the Bitterroot Mountains. We headed on towards the West Yellowstone airport in Montana. As we were getting closer we suddenly noticed the sharp teeth of the jagged Tetons 100 miles in the distance reaching up darkly into the haze.
We continued on and soon had the West Yellowstone airport in sight. We landed, rented a car, and drove 35 miles into Yellowstone National Park. Neither Jerry nor I had ever been there before and we were both really excited to see some of this country's greatest natural wonders. We had to make a couple of stops on the way but soon arrived at Old Faithful to see if she would be faithful once again. She was, and with perfect timing. Not 3 minutes after we arrived at the observation area Old Faithful burst forth with all of her glory for us and the thousands of other people who had been waiting 90 minutes to see her display.
Soon afterwards we headed to another location and had a wondrous time walking around the Opal Pool and the Grand Prismatic Spring, the later of which had one of the most unusual and striking features that I have ever seen. The steam that rose up from it's 160 degree waters actually was colored. Not like the colors of a rainbow but it refracted the intense hues of the spring below: red, aquamarine blue, lime green. I have absolutely never seen anything like it.
After our great experiences in the park we headed back to the airport for the second leg of our trip to Jackson Hole. As we were preparing to get in the plane one of the helicopters fighting a small forest fire in the park took off. It was an Erickson Sky Crane and was an absolute monster! Very cool to see this incredible bird in action. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwkBVX1-uDO&feature=fvw
As we flew over to Jackson Hole we circled over Old Faithful and the prismatic pools in the park below. Then we flew along the jaw-drooping Tetons and into Jackson Hole airport. I have had the good fortune to have traveled all over this amazing country and I think that the view of the Tetons from across Jackson Lake is the most scenic that I have seen outside of Alaska.
We found a good place to stay in town and a place to get a bite to eat. After the restaurant took a couple of tries to get our order right we had a good conversation and a number of laughs. We were eating at the famous Wort Hotel dinning room which has some special family history for me because my sister Leslee and her husband Craig were married there at the hotel many moons ago. Every time I find my self there I love to send Leslee a text telling her that I am thinking of the two of them. As we made our way back to the hotel around midnight we ran into a nice couple that happened to be from right outside Bethlehem, PA. All four of us had a nice chat and then Jerry and I had a fun time walking through the streets of JH on the way back to our hotel. We had lots of fun and even a little friendly help from a police officer. :)
Tomorrow: on to Custer, WY and an overflight and ground tour of the grand Mt. Rushmore...
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