Steamboat Springs part 2

Steamboat Spring

Sulphur Spring

We spent another nice day hiking around Steamboat Springs doing the walking tour of the actual springs.  When I say hiking, I mean up and down streets and paths.  It was much more than I had anticipated, mostly because Doug was looking for the Sulphur Cave.  It is about 20 to 30 feet below ground and the most inactive of the springs.  You can't actually go down into it because you need oxygen masks now.  It once served as a vent for a massive spring.  But it was on the map and he was curious to find it.  Only we could never find the path that showed on the map and when we asked local hikers, they didn't know anything about it.  So it is one of the mysteries of Steamboat Springs known only to the visitor's board.

Sweetwater & Lake Spring

Terrace Spring

Steamboat Springs gets it's name from one of the springs.  In 1874, the Steamboat Spring "was a geyser expelling water in 'jets' reaching five to fourteen feet high.  The resonant chugging sound of the gushing reminded early trappers of a steamboat".  It ceased chugging in 1909 when blasting for railroad tracks damaged the spring.  Another one's natural flow was disrupted by the construction of Hwy 40 in the late 1970s.  The biggest spring feeds what is now a swimming, water sport complex that we didn't pay the price to get into.  It was the original bath springs of the Indians and has been built up since it was discovered by the white settlers. 

Part of our hike took us along the Yampa River, which the springs ultimately join with, either above or below ground.  Since it was a nice day, there were lots of people out, walking or bike riding.  They have a very nice bike/walking path set up along the river so it was really pleasant.  We also came across a man water boarding up the Yampa.  He was having some trouble and it was fun watching him.  Don't know if he does it competitively and was practicing or that's just the sport but he spent a lot of energy trying to go up some small rapids and against the river flow.

This is a nice area of the state and today is another sunny, warm day.  Nice conclusion to our trip.

Steamboat Springs, CO

We are in Steamboat Springs now.  It was a warm, sunny day today with tomorrow scheduled to be much colder and rainy so we took advantage of the sun and went exploring.

We went out to Fish Creek Falls first.  The drive out there takes you up into the mountains a little ways outside town.  We passed lots of ski condominiums and some ski lifts.  We also passed some kick-ass houses.  There is lots of money in this area of Colorado and some absolutely gorgeous houses.  There were also a ton of realtor signs in front of them, though.  I was really surprised to see so many.  Almost all of them were from the same company with a couple others mixed in here and there.  I don't know if the populace is aging and can't keep up the houses anymore and there aren't enough younger people with the bucks to buy them or not.  I was just really struck with the number of for sale signs.


Fish Creek Falls is not far from town and is a super beautiful falls.  It is a short hike and is very popular since there were plenty of people also out on this sunny day.  The falls and it's basin provides the water for Steamboat.
















When we got back to town, we went to the Tread of Pioneers Museum.  It goes into the history of the area and part of that history is skiing.  On average, their winter lasts 8 months and they typically have snow from Oct to May.  The amount can be as much as 30 feet although average snowfall is (I think) 162 inches.  Steamboat Springs has produced more Olympians than any other city in the country.



Hey, Linc.  How's it going?

Hanging with Ben.

There is a walking tour we took around town that starts at the museum and covers some of the historic buildings.  We also met some luminaries on our walk.  A great day.

Grand Tetons, WY and Island Park, ID

Grand Tetons

We spent 4 days driving through Yellowstone.  The roads within the park form a figure 8 so the park is divided into sections.  There are also 5 entrances.  We have been through 3 of those but have yet to go out the north and northeast ones.  Each day we took part of the park to drive through but it takes a good amount of time to drive it all due to it's size and the stops you make to see things.

Grand Tetons

One of the days we were doing the southern loop and just went out the south entrance so we could go through the Grand Teton Natl Park.  We had driven through it before and the mountains are just magnificent.  We had caught it before in cloudy weather and clear.  This time we caught a bit of both.

Grand Tetons

We decided to just go through the whole park to Jackson, WY and then just drive around the park back to Island Park, ID on the west side vs turning around and going back the way we came.  Long day (7 hrs in the car) but great scenery.


Grand Tetons

By our last day, my brother and wife had come up for the weekend and we drove around some of the local area in Island Park. 

Big Springs

There is an area not far from where we were staying that is not publicized much with tourists but is well known to the locals.  It is called Big Springs and is one of the largest natural springs in the world.  The water is crystal clear and must be good water because lots of plant life lives in it. 

It actually has three places where the springs feed the pool and a German named Johnny Sack built a cabin there and lived for many years.  He eventually made furniture that was rather unique and his cabin has been preserved as a tourist site.

Mesa Falls

We also went to Mesa Falls which is a very pretty falls in the area.

Kilroy was here

Cave Falls

There are actually 5 or so little back entrances into Yellowstone from Idaho that I never knew were there.  We ended up driving one of them to see Cave Falls and continued to the end of the road to the Bechler Ranger Station.  From that station, you can hike 30 miles through a canyon to Old Faithful.  At this time of year, you would have to cross a meadow that is neck deep in cold snow melt plus cross several other rivers of the same to get there.  It is not really crossable until Sept. but they see hikers then that make the trek.  Certainly not within my physical capabilities.  From that road you see the back side of the Grand Tetons.




Nice week in great country.  Always enjoy that area.  Now we are in Steamboat Springs, CO.

Yellowstone

Old Faithful

We have spent the last two days driving around Yellowstone.  You can spend days doing that as the park is huge.  But it is so beautiful.  We have not seen any bear although other people have mentioned seeing them and we have not seen any moose.  We haven't been in the park early enough nor late enough for the moose and you must be at the right place at the right time. But we have seen some great sights and will be here a few more days, so who knows what we might ultimately spot.








Gibbon Falls

Tower Fall

Here are some pictures.  Many of you have been in the park so you know first hand how fantastic it is.  For others, this is just a taste and I hope encourages you to come see this awe-inspiring piece of the earth we live on.  May it be preserved for many generations to come.



Bacteria Mat

Morning Glory Pool

Hard day



rebirth of a forest

Salt Lake City, UT

We went down into Salt Lake City today, down to Temple Square where the Mormon Temple and other buildings are.  We had been there before but it is a really beautiful area.  They have extensive grounds, beautiful buildings, fountains, gardens, and several restaurants.  We ate at the Lion's Pantry which we had eaten at before.  It has home-style meals which are fantastic and the best rolls ever.




We went up to the observation floor at the top of the administration building which we had always missed before.  It has some great views of Salt Lake City.  You can see the Temple and the State Capitol building from there plus a really panoramic view of the valley that Salt Lake City inhabits.














There is a really big mall across the street, too, that covers a couple blocks.  It has several fountains and I played with the camera some more, taking pictures of the water.

We took a back route to get there this morning through a national forest.  Just before you reach the forest, you pass the Sundance area, ie. the place that Robert Redford owns where they hold the Sundance Film Festival.  You really couldn't see the buildings much from the road but it sure is in a pretty area.

Utah Olympic Park, Park City, UT

Today we toured the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, UT which was the site of part of the 2002 Winter Olympics.  Despite the many times we have been in Park City before, we had never been to this facility.  It was really very interesting. 

The 2002 Olympic venue covered several locations as you would expect for such a big and diverse sporting event.  Part of the events took place in Salt Lake City such as the opening and closing ceremonies and the ice skating, speed skating, and other skating events.  The skiing events were done in Deer Valley, Snowbasin, and Park City.  Many of the sites pre-existed and many are used today for other purposes which is all good considering the cost to prepare and build these venues for the Olympics. 


The Park City site has the bobsled run and the ski jumps which are used for training my many nations.  They also have a very nice museum of the 2002 Olympics.  I am a big Olympics fan so it was nice to see the exhibits and films and remember some of those Olympics.
 

This is the top of one of the ski jumps. 








There is also a smaller ski jump that dumps into a pool for summer practice of aerial jumps.  There were some ski jumpers training today in their ski jump pool.  A group of Austrians were practicing this morning, which we missed, but the site has a large program for training that starts with kids 6 yrs old.  There was a group of young teens/adults training this afternoon and we watched them.  Not sure if they were part of the Austrian group or not but it was fun to watch them.  I am loving my new camera, too, because it has a setting for taking multiple pictures in rapid succession for action shots.  It was tricky to follow the skiers down the ski slide and up in the air for their aerial moves but the setting allowed me to get that.  Then I edited a couple in my editing software and actually got a couple pictures I never could have gotten on my other camera.  This camera is so much fun and I have so much to learn about it.