In Calgary we make some trips to downtown with many art objects and a small pedestrian zone and to the surroundings of the city to admire the skyline. We use the time mainly for further planning, catching up on pending issues and to relax a bit.
At the beginning of September we continue on a 400 km long, rather monotonous drive to Columbia Falls to visit the Glacier N.P.. In the high season you need a permit for the 'Go To the Sun Road', which you can get one day in advance on the internet. On this narrow pass road there are many beautiful viewpoints to enjoy the beautiful landscape. Despite the name Glacier N.P. you don't have to expect a glacier landscape here, you can only see one glacier from a distance on the whole route. On McDonald Lake we do an hour long 'scenic' boat tour, which we only booked to get into the park without a permit on this day.
We continue to West Yellowstone through a varied landscape. Shortly before arrival we stop at a lake with many dead trees, which was formed only 50 years ago by an earthquake.
In the next days the scenic Yellowstone N.P. is on the program. At dawn we spot wapiti deer and experience a beautiful sunrise.
In the beautiful river landscape of Hayden Valley we observe huge herds of bison. One should not step too close to the wild animals, but the tourists care little about it.
A lunch break at one of the beautiful picnic areas is a must every day.
In the spectacular 'Grand Canyon of Yellowstone' we stop at various places to admire the Upper and Lower Falls and the impressive valley.
What makes Yellowstone N.P. special from my point of view are the thermal springs and the spraying geysers. We enjoy this breathtaking landscape with the colorful, bubbling pools,
the Mammoth Hot Springs,
and as a highlight the quite predictable eruption of Old Faithful.
We spend a day in Grand Teton N. P. with the overwhelming backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, which unfortunately are somewhat hidden in the clouds and haze.
We take the shuttle boat to the other side of Jenny Lake for a scenic hike to Inspiration Point.
For a late lunch, we head to the Wild West town of Jackson to the wine and tapas bar 'Bin22', which offers a wonderful change from American cuisine.
From Estes Park we explore Rocky Mountain N.P. Here, too, permits are needed so that one can drive into the park during a time window. We are rather disappointed by the mountain landscape, probably because we expected more massive rocky peaks.
Nevertheless, the one-lane drive on the gravel road up to the pass is so much fun for Thomas that he does it twice.
The park offers many hiking possibilities. We start at Bear Lake and continue via Nymph and Dream Lake to Emerald Lake. The 6 km long hike with only 200 meters of altitude gain is quite strenuous, because we are at almost 3000 m here.
We are lucky and can observe some big wapiti deer herds and not only in the
national park ...
... but also right on our doorstep and the small lake in Estes Park.
In Denver we spend two relaxing weeks with some unexpected excitements: Thomas has to have an emergency molar extraction (fortunately in the USA and not in Mexico) and we have to reschedule part of the trip because our 4-day excursion in Mexico by train through the Copper Canyon is not feasible for some time due to devastation after a storm.
Now we will continue through Colorado and on to the Grand Canyon before entering Mexico in mid-October.
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