2015 National Park Tour Blog #8 - Yellowstone, Crater Lake and The Grand Tetons

Sad to leave the Redwoods, but promising to come back, we pointed Conestoga Lite towards Yellowstone National Park. On the way, we made a quick stop at Crater Lake. Surrounded by state and national forests in south central Oregon, Crater Lake is a caldera that formed when a major volcanic eruption occurred on the top of Mount Mazama. At 1,943 ft, it is the deepest lake in the United States and the ninth deepest in the world. Because there is no sediment brought in by rivers, the water is very clear. Snow melt and rain provide a continuous fill. The Crater Lake area receives about 533 inches of snow every year - that's about 44 ft of snow! 

The water in Crater Lake considered to be among the top clearest in the world. To determine this, a black and white measure disk is lowered into the water until a person can no longer see it. The world record measurement at Crater Lake is 152 ft. This depth of clarity reacts with light, turning the water a deep indigo blue color that is unique and breath-taking. Unfortunately, Doug did not have enough time to capture this beauty in a painting, so we put it our list to return to Crater Lake some day. 

Driving from Crater Lake to Yellowstone, we drove over countless miles of open space consisting of rolling hills and desolate plains. There was no population of any kind for the vast majority of our trip. We were glad we filled our gas tank before we left because it took about 4 hours to reach a gas station with nothing else around. We were amazed that mile after mile of vast solitude still exists in this day and age.

After a long drive, we arrived at West Yellowstone in the rain where Doug's sister Deb and her husband Mike joined us again, this time with their own trailer instead of a boat. The nighttime temperature there was about 45 degrees and daytime between 65 and 75 degrees. We relished in the cool air as we watched the rest of the country, and particularly the east coast, heat up for the height of the summer. 

There's two phrases that describe our Yellowstone experience: un-freakin' believable and "buffalo traffic jam". Yellowstone is our nation's first national park. It covers 3,468 miles miles and a 34 by 45 mile area within the park is actually the caldera of an ancient super volcano that is still smoldering, but not presently active. Everywhere you go in the park, there are geysers, hot springs and fumaroles (steam vents) spewing sulfur-filled mineral water and steam. The whole area of the caldera contains patches of thermally heated ground. All of this makes for a very rare and unique terrain. In the caldera zone, there are geysers spewing water and steam, with Old Faithful being the most famous. There are also pools of heated water among brightly colored sediment caused by the various minerals and algae. Some examples are pictured below:

Surrounding the caldera area of Yellowstone, there is a phenomenal landscape including mountains, multiple rivers, beautiful canyons and over 300 waterfalls. These are interlaced with gorgeous expanses of open green and gold meadow lands. This brings us to the topic of "buffalo traffic jams"

Yellowstone is a sanctuary for multiple rare and endangered species like grizzly bears, wolves and bison. Other species include elk, moose, black bear and bald eagle. These animals wander freely throughout the park and are not intimidated by humans. Buffalo in particular, can be seen walking close to or even in the middle of the road. When this occurs, traveling cars slow down or stop to take pictures, causing a buffalo traffic jam. Sometimes they walk right down the middle of the road and we, as visitors, respectfully give them the right of way. This, of course, also causes a traffic jam. The buffalo prod along with proud indifference to cars, which makes us wonder if they just might be doing it on purpose as a payback for our intrusion into their lifestyle. No one seems to mind. What would normally cause road rage anywhere else is considered an awesome shared experience in Yellowstone.

The buffalo are amazing creatures. They have massive shoulders and heads for pushing aside snow to feed on grass in the winter. When you are near them, you can hear a low guttural growling sound and they are quite intimidating. We came across a heard of buffalo at Hayden Meadow. They were feeding three feet from our truck and although we were inside a metal box, we were still wary. We heard that some lady got out of her car to take a selfie too near a buffalo. She was thrown in the air and almost trampled, lucky to escape with minor injuries.

All of the wild animals roam freely out in the open at Yellowstone. The people next to us in the RV park said they witnessed a grizzly bear kill an elk and then leave. A second grizzly came by and buried the carcass, only to have the original grizzly come back and dig it back up. Travelling through the park is truly like being in an episode of "Wild Kingdom". When out of the car hiking and painting, we carried bear spray, as rangers recommended.  

With two weeks to explore Yellowstone, we decided to take a worthwhile side trip to see the Grand Tetons. The Tetons are near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, an attractive location for celebrities and royalty.  This mountain range is the newest formed in the Continental United States. They were named by French explorers who thought the mountains rising out of the plains looked like womens' breasts (Teton means breast in French). The earth is like a hinge underneath the Tetons, pushing them up as craggy, rugged rocks of granite. Doug did a painting of Mt. Moran - named after his idol, Thomas Moran. He thinks there ought to be an Albert Handell mountain too!

    

Needless to say, Doug was quite prolific in his painting during our Yellowstone stay. One scene he had to paint was Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, in the footsteps of Thomas Moran. For all of you Plein Air aficionados, there is no actual scene to match Thomas Moran's painting "The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". He apparently created that painting as a composite of his many works. Doug's paintings show the upper and lower falls. 

Doug also painted thermal springs and river rapid scenes. When you look at Doug's paintings of the thermal springs, you'll notice the bright yellows, oranges and reds. This vibrancy, usually not found in nature, was a common theme of these fiery cauldrons.

One day, we were only able to get seven miles into the park due to a buffalo traffic jam. At first, we were a bit frustrated and anxious to get to the "gorgeous views" ahead. After an hour of creeping along, we noticed that the Gibbon River was running along our right side the whole time, so we pulled into a small picnic area. When Doug got out of the car, he immediately saw this beautiful scene of weather bleached logs lodged in the river and rushed to get his gear.  What a metaphor for life! Sometimes we get so focused on the promise of what lies ahead that we miss life's beauty surrounding us all the time. For another two hours, we watched the weary buffalo traffic jam drivers creep along, as Doug painted and Sue enjoyed the peaceful scene around us. Here's the painting:

On our last night at Yellowstone, we had a brief thunderstorm and were blessed by a beautiful rainbow. As we looked across the street, we saw it fall behind the huge Grizzly Bear statue pictured above. What a great way to end our trip!

Our next stop is Glacier National Park for a week-long family reunion with relatives from Doug's family, including children, grandchildren, siblings, cousins and their families one remaining aunt from his mother's generation. 

Mt.Shasta, The Redwoods and More

With a very enjoyable and successful workshop finished, we decided to leave Yosemite three days early in order to visit Mt Shasta on the way to Redwood National Forest. 

The daytime temperature in the campground at Yosemite varied between 90 and 100 degrees. Fortunately, it cooled down at night. When we arrived at Mt Shasta, it was slightly cooler, but not below 90. That's when we learned the next of many lessons about life on the road with an RV - beware of electrical overload. When we arrived at 8:00pm, we set up, switched on the air conditioning, turned on the TV, started the microwave and promptly lost all power. A simple circuit blown? After finally finding the circuit box, we determined the problem was not in our RV. It was after hours and no maintenance man was available, so we spent the night in total darkness with no air conditioning or fan. That was about as close to real camping as we cared to get.

The next morning, all was fixed (it was their circuit that overloaded). We looked around and realized we were staying right on a lake with a gorgeous view of Mt Shasta. We looked at each other and once again said: "This is so worth it!" Here's what we saw: 

Mt Shasta is a volcanic mountain that soars over 14,000 ft. with a snow top cap. It is surrounded by rolling mountains and lush pine forests. It's on the Pacific Crest Trail and we saw a number hikers passing through like in book "Wild".  The drive up Mt Shasta went to a little over 9,000 ft., but the remainder of the road was closed until July 1 due to snow packs. Doug did some wonderful painting while Sue and Coco hiked.  Our little traveling buddy has turned out to be a great hiker, although her fur went from creamy white to brown and grey.

 

Doug has been to Mt Shasta before and was happy to revisit the Black Bear Diner, which has great food and bear statues carved out of redwood. The waitress there told us the location of Stewart Mineral Springs, which was also mentioned in "Wild". This natural spring has highly concentrated mineral water that is pure, clear and has a sweet taste.  First, we soaked in a hot bath and then went into a wood fire sauna, followed by a plunge in the cold mineral creek. After three cycles of cold to hot, we felt completely refreshed.

As with all places we're been, we were reluctant to leave Mt. Shasta, but looked forward with excitement to our next destination, Redwood National Park.

Arriving at our next RV campground was like arriving in heaven.Temperatures were between 60 and 70 degrees and we were nestled right among the Redwoods. Throughout the campground, there were stumps from old growth trees cut down 80 years ago. From these stumps came new shoots that have become the large trees we enjoy today. We learned that only 4% of Redwoods alive today are old growth and are thankfully preserved in national and state forests. Sequoias and Redwoods are the same species. While Sequoias are the largest volume trees on earth, Redwoods are the tallest. We were thankful to be able to witness both during our trip.

       

Redwoods are only located on the west coast, near the ocean because of the consistent moisture content of the daily fog from the Pacific. The Pacific Ocean flows south from the Bearing Sea bringing cold water through deep trenches in the ocean floor. Meanwhile, the coastal interior heats up and as the air rises, cool ocean air is pulled inland. Doug refers to this as living next to a refrigerator with the door open. The cool moist air creates a rain forest-type climate. This environment creates a forest floor ripe with beautiful ferns and moss covered trees, making this a magical wonderland. It is also an artist's paradise of texture and color. Some of Doug's paintings are close up views of the textured trunks and blacked bark from forest fires. Other paintings reflect the spectacular height of these giants. 

When we planned this trip, Sue wondered why we were spending two weeks at Redwood. What she didn't realize was how magnificent the forests are and how wonderful it would be to hike among these beauties, taking in the powerful silence combined with their mighty strength. Not only that, but we were on the coast, so just a few miles away we could walk along the beach and enjoy the ocean and rocky coastline. You could hear seals out on the islands and there were huge nesting areas for sea birds. Sue decided this area is her new favorite place to visit. Doug did some ocean paintings for you to enjoy.

The Fourth of July was a major event. First, our campground sponsored a delicious 4th of July dinner of ribs and beans. Did you know that simmering ribs in beer and Kansas City Steak Seasoning before barbecuing makes then ultra-tender and juicy?

After our wonderful dinner, we went to the ocean town of Crescent City to see their fireworks display. We expected a synchronized and timed show lasting about a half hour, like in Pennsylvania. Oh no, not in the Wild West! The "show" turned out to be a "free-for-all" that started at dusk with people all around us shooting off small, large and even larger displays from just about anywhere - on the beach, in the parking lot and on the walkway right next to us. It was the most spectacular display of chaotic, exciting, yet scary firepower we have ever seen. It went on for hours. We could spin around 360 degrees and see major fireworks going off all around. Pennsylvania police would have had a hemorrhage trying to arrest everyone. There was smoke and debris everywhere like we were in a war zone. So much for Homeland Security. What fun!

It was hard to leave this wonderland of sea and forest. As we looked around, we made a pact to come back and stay longer to further explore the numerous parks and reserves in this area. Tomorrow we start our three day trip to Yellowstone, with a short stop at Crater Lake.

To see all of Doug's National Park Tour paintings to date, click this link: 

http://www.dougtweddale.com/#!blank/c1hp2

Beautiful Yosemite

Traveling from Sequoia to Yosemite, we were looking forward to a 4+ rated RV park on the banks of a bubbling river with blossoming flowers - according to the amazing website description. What we found when we arrived was a small strip of land on the edge of town wedged between an industrial park and a trailer storage area. Yes, there was a stream-like "river" that reminded Doug of the Little Calument River near Gary, Indiana, which used to periodically catch fire. Needless to say, we quickly moved to another campground. 

Although the new RV park was beautiful, with rolling hills and a quiet, secluded spot for our trailer, we immediately noticed how extremely dry and brown the landscape was due to the four year California drought. This was our first exposure to the severity of the drought, although we're sure it won't be the last. On our second day, there was a forest fire in the hills of Oakhurst, just outside Yosemite. It lit up a hundred acres and filled the air with smoke. Specially trained firefighters responded and were able to get the fire under control in one day. 

Unlike the first RV park, Yosemite did not disappoint. Yosemite is the grand-daddy of all the National Parks. It was the first land preserved by the United States government, set aside by Congress and given to California as the first State Park. Later, after Yellowstone became the first National  Park, Yosemite also became a National Park. The Mariposa Grove of Sequoias, next to the Yosemite Valley, was added as part of the park later on. The US Calgary and Buffalo Soldiers operated and preserved the park until the National Park Service was formed. 

The major attraction of Yosemite is the Yosemite Valley. The Merced River flows across the valley's flat floor at an elevation of 4,000 ft. above sea level. The valley is surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs soaring up another 3,000 ft. on each side. 

In the late 1800's, there was a  debate about how this valley was formed. Geologists of the day believed a great rift in the earth caused the valley floor to drop, creating the sheer granite walls with rivers dropping over the edge as waterfalls. John Muir, a famous conservationist, maintained that it was caused by powerful glaciers removing rock. He went on to say that the sheer walls were formed because they were solid granite and could withstand eons of erosion after glaciers removed the debris on the valley floor. It turns out John Muir was correct. It became a narrow valley with multiple waterfalls tumbling over the granite walls. 

The trip to the valley takes over an hour, and after going through a tunnel, visitors are greeted by a stunning view of the valley. We have included a photo of this view above.   Unfortunately, due to the drought and lack of winter snow in the higher altitudes, the falls are only flowing at about 1/3 their usual capacity and some of the smaller ones are expected to dry up during August.  But even with the drought, the valley is impressive.

During our time at Yosemite, Doug taught a workshop. He did a number of paintings both at the Merced River, the cliffs and waterfalls.  The paintings shown below include El Capitan, Merced River rapids and the Upper Falls.    

To see all of Doug's 2015 National Park Tour Paintings, Click here: 
http://www.dougtweddale.com/#!blank/c1hp2

Grand Canyon and Sequoia

We left Lake Powell and said our goodbyes to Doug's sister Deb and her husband Mike, but we'll see them again in a month when they join us at Yellowstone National Park. Our next destination was the Grand Canyon for four days, followed by a two day stay at Sequoia National Park.

It's been quite a sensory contrast going from one beautiful scenic location to another. Each place is unique and breath-taking, making it hard to imagine that anything can top it - until we go to the next spot and are struck with awe and wonder all over again. 

Grand Canyon North Rim

 As we left Lake Powell, the elevation was 4,000 ft. and the temperature was in the 90's. When we landed at our RV park at Grand Canyon's North Rim, we had climbed to 8,000 ft., with daytime temperatures in the mid 70's and nights in the 40's. One day, we had a thunderstorm roll through and drop an inch of hail, creating an instant winter scene. 

The North Rim was spectacular with red and rust colored walls in the foreground, accented by endless background layers shadowed in purple and blue, stretching all the way to the horizon. Doug's first painting was bought on site by a man from Seattle. He painted two more, one of which Sue has claimed to hang in the dining room at home. Sue's hikes around the rim were the best so far and she can't imagine any place better, so that must mean that more great hikes are yet to come! 

It was tough to leave the Grand Canyon, but we heard the Sequoias' beckoning call. We left morning temperatures in the mid 60's and embarked on a grueling eleven hour journey through the hottest desert areas in the state, including a pass by Death Valley. Temperatures were well into the 100's all day, with the highest being 113. On a few hills, we had to turn off the air conditioner to keep the engine from overheating. The car radiated heat like we were driving through a furnace. We were overjoyed to reach our campsite near Sequoia as it was higher elevation and cooler.   

Sequoia National Park

The majesty of the giant Sequoias is difficult to articulate. They are one of the oldest living species on earth and grow at high altitude on the west side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, only in specific environments. As you stand and look up at them, you are surrounded by silence, along with a feeling of spaciousness much like being inside a cathedral. 

Rangers told us that they can't really determine the Sequoia's life span. Trees seem only to die when they fall over due to soil erosion or other causes. The oldest tree is called General Sherman, estimated to be 3,500 years old and possibly the oldest tree on earth. It's top was sheared off by lightning years ago, but the remainder of the tree continues to grow. 

Biologists have determined that Sequoias require forest fires to reproduce. Their cones are small and tightly closed with seeds the size of oat flakes. Fire heats and opens the cones to release the seeds. Meanwhile, their bark is up to two feet thick, resistant to fire and has strong healing properties.
Many trees have char marks from fire and you can see this in Doug's paintings. His favorite is a close up of the base of the trees, called Among Giants.

Next we are off to Yosemite National Park for two weeks and Doug will be teaching a workshop.

If you'd like to see all Doug's paintings so far, click this link to his website: 

http://www.dougtweddale.com/#!blank/c1hp2

  

Cruising Lake Powell

So, we’ve been on the road almost a month. Driving from place to place is an amazing display of horizon to horizon views for hundreds of miles.  Rain storms and giant cloud formations march across the view, followed by clear sky of the deepest of blues.  We’ve seen many rainbows, driven through many rainstorms and have seen buttes of fantastic shape and form lit up with brilliant reds, oranges, golds and browns.

We are also struck by the many moods of climate in each location, and the effects of elevation on the temperature and plants.  This morning, we left Lake Powell after a hot week of temps in the 90’s and very intense sun at 4,000 feet.  Desert cactus, sage and scrub bushes all able to survive the desert extremes surrounded us, as well as lizards, snakes, chipmunks and squirrels. Yet even with the desert dryness, it rained the night before we left.  A staff member at Lake Powell told us the lake has been rising 8 inches each day for a week, yet it is 80 feet down from its high water mark in the 1980’s. After driving only 2 ½ hours, we arrived at our campsite near the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Now at 8,000 feet, we are surrounded by pines and cool air fragrant with pine and high altitude freshness. 

The past five days have been wonderful, cruising Lake Powell with my sister Deb and her husband Mike in their boat. Lake Powell is a huge reservoir created in the 1950’s when the Glen Canyon Dam was built to harness the Colorado River.  Imagine a lake over 250 miles long with multiple canyons made from sheer sandstone walls. Travelling by boat, you weave in and out of the various canyon slots already created by the landscape before the dam was set.  The water is clear and deep, and you can go into very small canyons that are only a few feet wide and many hundreds of feet deep.  Only a slot of sky can be seen when looking up. To think that this was all made by the power of flowing water eating into the sandstone and shale is very surreal. 

 

One day we went to see Rainbow Bridge, which is one of the largest known natural bridges. It is nestled in a small canyon, accessible only by boat, followed by a short hike. This natural wonder of the world was formed thousands of years go by a stream slowly and relentlessly eroding the rock, while wind and gravity helped form a perfect arch for us to enjoy. Many famous people like Thomas Moran and Teddy Roosevelt traveled there on horseback with great difficulty in the hot dry desert before Lake Powell was created.

To the Navajo, Rainbow Bridge is a sacred place. They believe it tracks the movement of the sun each day, like a creation clock.  The Park Service has restored the site to match a photo from 1910, before the many tourist’s feet tread there. Now, they do not allow people to pass under the arch out of respect for the Navajo traditions and beliefs. Doug felt honored to paint such a sacred place and hopes you enjoy this photo of his work.  

Doug: For me as an artist, each location has been a wonderful and awesome parade of nature’s creation!  I want to stop and paint it all – but time calls and we have places to be.  Tomorrow I will be painting at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Sue will be snapping more photos and hiking the trails.