Most National Parks are focused solely on the natural facets of the area. However, like Mesa Verde in the United States, Kejimkujik incorporates a historical area as well. The park is comprised of historical features that include habitation sites, burial grounds, hunting and fishing sites, as well as petroglyphs, witnesses to more than 4,000 years of history of the Mi’kmaw population who used to inhabit these lands.
The area is densely forested and includes Lake Kejimikujik , the largest lake in the National Park and the second-largest freshwater lake in the province. It covers approximately 10.04 square miles (26 sq km) and is a source for activities such as fishing, canoeing and kayaking or even swimming when the weather is right !
We camped there for two nights (they had great showers in a newly refurbished sanitary block, always a plus for us!!!).
We did a couple of hikes, one along the Mersey River. The water appears to be brown because it goes through boggy terrain and the tannins gives it colour. Natural substances in the water (saponins) are like natural soaps and when they fall over a waterfall they form stable foam.
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We were there on Indigenous day too! a celebration of the local Mi’kmaw culture, with various activities for children and adults.
The day was open by a traditional welcome song.
Smokey Point Big Drum Group with a long 18 people canoe in the background.
In the afternoon we decided to rent a canoe and drove to Jake’s landing on the shore of Lake Kejimkujik. (rental was C$35 +tax for 2 hours). We were given life jackets, paddles and a map! The lake is massive and it is easy to get disorientated once on the water …
Last night, Paul discovered he had been biten by a tick on the inside of his upper arm. Ticks are an endemic problem in Canada and especially in this part of the country which has lots of water and dense forest.
After our experience of Newfoundland weather, we decided to have a bit of luxury and rented an Airbnb for a week in Sheffield Mills in the Annapolis Valley. We had a mixture of rain and sunshine but at least the temperature was in double digits ! We did a few excursions and relaxed.
Scots Bay and Cape Split Hike
A nice 12km hike going to the very tip of Cape Split, mainly under the forest canopy and was muddy in places but worth the effort as nice views onto the Bay of Fundy.
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Halls Harbour
A small fishing harbour on a dead end road with not much there apart from a restaurant serving lobster and a souvenir shop.
Man showing his pride and joy: a giant lobster weighing at least 20 pounds !
A lobster’s age is approximately his weight multiplied by 4, plus 3 years. A lobster is approximately 7 years old before it is legal to harvest, and it will weigh about 1 pound. This makes the monster on the picture above in the 80 + age bracket !! (Lobsters can live to over 100 years old )
Kentville and countryside
The Annapolis Valley region sits between small mountain ranges and spans from Digby to Windsor and boasts some of the best soils and climatic conditions in eastern Canada. It is recognized as the 3rd most important fruit growing region in Canada! (mainly apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries). We saw evidence of this, with apple orchards all around and sign for strawberry and blueberry farms.
it is also gaining recognition in Canada and around the world for high quality wines (whites). thanks to its climate and soil quality. We tried a local white wine and it was fruity and refreshing ! There are also local cideries and, as in most towns these days, craft breweries offering a range of beers.
It is very green and at this time of year, plenty of wild lupins, lilac trees and other flowers border the roads.
It was time to move on and we drove to Bridgetown.
Bridgetown is a small town. The area has a history of successful wooden shipbuilding during the 19th century, accounting for many grand homes still standing today. It is situated on the Annapolis river and benefited from its proximity to Annapolis Royal (more on this below).
We stayed for the night at the Jubilee Park car park and were glad to have some covered picnic areas when it rained the following morning. As it happens, this was also the weekly meeting point for a group of walkers and they invited us to join them for a 1 hour walk on the old railway tracks, now converted into a walking trail. Along the path, we came across a couple of fresh water turtles, nesting – digging the soft ground to lay their eggs.
Annapolis Royal
The area, originally inhabited by a strong Mi’kmaq community, became home to some of North America’s earliest European settlers in 1605, when a french explorer, Pierre Dugua de Mons* founded the first permanent settlement of Port Royal (about 10 km west of present day Annapolis Royal) and what was to become Acadia (L’Acadie).
Annapolis Royal has a tumultuous past. The town was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for almost 150 years, until the founding of Halifax in 1749. It was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the siege of Port Royal in 1710.
*Annapolis Royal is twinned with the town of Royan in France, birthplace of Sieur de Mons.
There are over 135 registered heritage properties in Annapolis Royal andCanada’s oldest National Historic Site, Fort Anne.
Today, the town is a vibrant centre for cultural activity and a magnet for visual artists, craftspeople, performers and writers.
We were in town for the celebration of the first annual “Pierre Dugua Day”, a delegation from Royan was present and after speeches and some dancing from a traditional Acadian dancing group “La Baie en Joie”, a new plaque was inaugurated, celebrating Pierre Dugua’s legacy to the region.
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Digby and Digby Neck
We stopped in Digby, best known for its scallop and lobster fishing fleet. A sign states ” Welcome to Digby, scallops capital of the world “!!
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We read that you could go whale watching off Brier Island so we drove to Westport, catching two ferries on the way to reach this small island at the very tip of what is called Digby Neck. (long and narrow strip of land).
Brier Island is tiny, 6 km long and 2 km wide. We arrived mid-morning and the weather was really foggy. We went to the lighthouse and did a short hike to Whipple Point, following the rugged coastline. Our only companions were the seagulls , some were nesting between rocks.
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The community makes its living off fishing in the Bay of Fundy and whale watching tours in summer. Every year whales of all sizes (up to 15 species of toothed and baleen whales) come to the Bay of Fundy, one of the marine wonders of the world, to mate, play and feast on the bountiful supply of food churned up twice a day by the powerful tides.
I went on a zodiac tour ( by then the weather had cleared up). You are given a red survival suit to wear and it is most welcome as even in summer, it can be chilly. The tour lasts two and a half hours. We were on our way back before we actually spotted a whale ! The skipper was in radio contact with another bigger tour boat and between the two of them they tried and follow the whale, guessing where it would re-surface next. We got a few sightings but nothing as impressive as a full breaching, when the whale (usually humpback) jumps out of the water.
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Midway Lake
On the way back to Digby, we stopped for the night at Midway Lake. Paul did some fishing and within a few minutes he had landed a nice trout ! We had it for dinner and it was very tasty!
We crossed by the night ferry to Newfoundland and arrived at Port-aux-Basques just after 7:30am local time ( Newfoundland is 1/2 hour ahead of Nova Scotia time).
Gros Morne National Park
We knew there was a short window of good weather in the coming days so, straight away, we took the road to Gros Morne National Park, 4 hours away. It was sunny but not warm, with snow still on surrounding mountain tops. We stopped at the visitor Centre at Rocky Harbour and then drove on to Green Point campgrounds where we booked one night. We had a spot right on the coastline but it was very windy and started to rain late afternoon. We were glad there was a sheltered kitchen hut, with wood stove, sink and picnic tables inside where we could cook and spend some time away from the rain.. and not so warm weather!
One of the main attraction of Gros Morne NP is the Western Brook Pond, a fjord carved by glaciers with cliffs towering at 600m. The fjord is cut-off from the sea and is fed by rivers and snow melt. There is a 3km trail to get to the boat launch where you can go on a tour on the lake ( length 16 kilometers with a depth of 165 meters). We initially wanted to go on the tour but thought the $80+ per person was a bit too much so we just did the trail.
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The next day we drove to Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse was first erected in 1898. The round, iron tower was painted white and connected via a covered way to the keeper’s dwelling.
Robert Lewis was appointed the first keeper of Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse at an annual salary of CA$504. William Young succeeded Lewis in 1902 and kept the light until 1941, when his son, George Young, became the third and final keeper of the light. George was one of eight children raised by William and Esther Young at the lighthouse.
Lobster Cove Head became a signal station in 1898, when signal flags started to be used to send messages between ships and the shore. Each flag that was raised up the pole represented a single letter or a phrase, depending on the context. The W flag doubled as I require medical assistance, the U flag could mean You are running into danger, and the J flag carried the important message, I am on fire and carry dangerous cargo.
The lighthouse with the flag pole.
The Lighthouse was automated in 1969. The keeper’s dwelling was initially rented but transferred to Parks Canada and eventually opened to the public in 1990. Interpretive exhibits inside the dwelling describe the history of the inhabitants who lived along the nearby shore and their dependence on the sea. One wall of the exhibit is devoted to the keepers of Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, and one room shows how the residence was furnished when occupied by the keepers.
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Gros Morne Mountain trail
Gros Morne Mountain.
This is one of the most famous trail in the park. The weather was good so we decided to go for it.
This 806 m high flat-topped mountain is a slice of Arctic tundra far south of its usual range. The habitat here used to be the quiet domain of rock ptarmigan (related to the grouse), Arctic hare, and woodland caribou but now a trail leads to the top of this landmark. Around the summit there are views of a spectacular glacial-carved landscape: the deep fjord arms of Bonne Bay and the U-shaped trough of Ten Mile Pond.
To protect wildlife during critical weeks of growth and reproduction, the mountain portion, from the base platform, is closed to hikers beginning on May 1 and re-opens on the last Friday in June. The complete trail is 17 km long but we could only do the approach trail (9km) up to the point where the trail is closed temporarily. It is still a nice hike, passing waterfalls and offering splendid views.
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Tablelands
Gros Morne NP is divided into two very different sections. The otherworldly landscape of the Tablelands in the south, is completely different from the northern part of the Park.
The Tablelands are a geological marvel that helped scientists understand and prove the theory of plate tectonics. In this place, millions of years ago, two tectonic plates crashed together, forcing the Earth’s crust to buckle, and slide down deep upon itself, forcing part of the Earth’s mantle up over the crust. It creates an unexpected environment of unusual plants and striking vistas.
The peridotite rock is very dense and heavy and poisonous to many plants. Peridotite is dark green when freshly broken, but turns rusty brown and crumbles on exposure to air and water.
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We camped overnight near a lake( Little Bonne Pond) and had very loud toads “singing” all night !
For our last day in Gros Morne NP, we continued on road 431 to Woody Point and stopped at the Discovery Centre. We spent some time there going through the exhibition and informative panels about the Mi’kmaq people, their way of life, how they made canoes from birch bark and used every part of animals they killed: not only meat but fur, hide, ligaments, intestine, bones and antlers…
Hummingbird carved in antler
Farmer, a wild and angry horse, its muscular and aggressive stance contrast with the delicacy of the roots interlacing along the lower antler branches
We then did the Lookout Trail (5.5km), starting at the Discovery Centre. It offers one of the best panoramic vistas in the National Park. You climb steadily through forest and then emerge from the trees onto a highland plateau. From the platform atop Partridgeberry Hill you enjoy spectacular views of Bonne Bay, Gros Morne Mountain, the Tablelands and the Lookout Hills.
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We drove to Trout River, a small fishing village with typical small wooden huts called shanty near the harbour.
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Twillingate
We left Gros Morne NP and made our way to Twillingate, a small town on Twillingate Islands in Notre Dame Bay, off the north eastern shore of Newfoundland. The weather had turned to rain, even sleet and it was cold: 2 degrees celcius!!
Known as the Iceberg Capital of the World, Twillingate is one of Newfoundland’s best locations for admiring these giants of nature that break off the ice cap in Baffin Island,Greenland. It can take icebergs up to three years to reach the coast of Newfoundland, by then they have already lost about 85% of their original size. The stretch of coastline that the icebergs hug during their travel south around Newfoundland is known as Iceberg Alley.
Iceberg season lasts from April to July usually but can be longer the further north you go towards Labrador.
Newfoundland’s icebergs were formed 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Despite their size, icebergs move an average of 17 kilometers (about 10 miles) a day. Some come close to the shore and you can see them without going on a boat tour.
Even though icebergs are floating in saltwater, the ice has no salt. It’s compressed snow. If you melted an iceberg you would get drinkable fresh water after you killed any germs.
There is an App where people can record sighting of icebergs( the bigger ones), giving the coordinates and possibly pictures: icebergfinder.com and we used it to get to two icebergs that were close to the coast.
The weather had not improved overnight and the morning we went to see the icebergs, visibility was poor, we had sleet and a strong wind from the sea. We had to walk along the coast, facing the wind and my face just about froze!
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After Twillingate, we decided to come back to Nova Scotia as the weather was really bad (it is not fun to cook outside in gusty wind, rain and freezing cold) and the forecast did not show any improvement for the following 10 days. We drove back to Port-aux-Basques and took the ferry to North Sydney !!
Cape Breton Island takes its name from its easternmost point, Cape Breton. At least two theories for this name have been put forward. The first connects it to the Bretons of northwestern France which discovered Canada. A Portuguese mappa mundi of 1516–1520 includes the label “terra q(ue) foy descuberta por Bertomes” in the vicinity of the Gulf of St Lawrence, which means “land discovered by Bretons”.
The second connects it to the Gascon fishing port of Capbreton. Basque whalers and fishermen traded with the Miꞌkmaq (first Nation) of this island from the early sixteenth century.
We picked up the Cabot Trail, a 185-mile (298-kilometer) loop around a sizeable chunk of the island, at Baddeck, a lively little town. The trail is named after John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto – 1450-1500) an Italian navigator and explorer, commissioned by Henry VII of England to search for unknown lands. His 1497 voyage is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.
The island has a tumultuous history. The local Mi’kmaq peoples began trading with European fishermen when the fishermen began landing in their territories as early as the 1520s. England and France had a tug of war over this territory, even Scotland was involved. The first European settlement was French, in 1629 at Baleine (now Englishtown). The island was then called “Ile Royale”. Île Royale remained formally part of New France until it was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. It was then merged with the adjacent British colony of Nova Scotia (present day peninsular Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). Acadians who had been expelled from Nova Scotia and Île Royale were permitted to settle in Cape Breton beginning in 1764, and established communities in northwestern Cape Breton, near Cheticamp and southern Cape Breton.
This has resulted in a rich mix of Gaelic, French and English heritage, not to forget the Mi’kmaqi ( First Nation) who were the first inhabitants ! Road signs are in both English and Gaelic and many interpretative panels at places of interest are now in 3 languages: French , English and Mi’maq.
The weather being so changeable, we try and time our visits when the forecast is good. The Cabot Trail goes through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and we spent a couple of days in the Park.
We did a few hikes and enjoyed the scenery.
Coastal views:
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Skyline Trail:
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We exited the National Park near Cheticamp, a traditional Acadian fishing village
and made our way back to Baddeck to complete our loop.
Colourful motel on our way
We have booked the ferry to New Foundland for the night crossing leaving North Sydney at 11:45pm on 29th May!
Before going into Nova Scotia we did a small detour to Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park and Cape Enrage.
Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park (NB)
The Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpots Rocks are rock formations known as sea stacks caused by tidal erosion on the shores of the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy. They stand 40–70 feet (12-20m) tall.
Due to the extreme tidal range of the Bay of Fundy. Sediment-rich waters are a common sight in the Bay of Fundy. With a tidal range up to 12 meters (38 feet), the funnel-shaped bay has the highest observed tides in the world. For comparison, most of the U.S. coast has a tidal range of 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 feet).
The base of the rock formations are covered in water twice a day. It is possible to view the formations from ground level at low tide and to paddle a sea kayak around the tops of the formations at high tide, the enormous rock formations that once towered over you are now barely peeking out above the surface.
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Cape Enrage and its lighthouse
“The Cape” is a rocky headland jutting seven and a half kilometers out into the uppermost Bay of Fundy. It offers one of the most phenomenal views of the Bay of Fundy, including a unique point of view to experience the world’s highest tides, from atop of its spectacular cliffs.
Cape Enrage gets its name from the fact that the bay-funnelled winds often strike the cape full force, especially when the dominant south-westerly summer winds are at work or certain storm systems track up the bay, plus the fact that a reef extends seaward from the point and causes the surrounding waters to become violent or enraged during maximum tidal currents.
The two factors combined create treacherous waters and a petition to build a lighthouse on the Cape was presented to the government of New Brunswick in 1837 by local merchants and fishermen. The completion and activation of Cape Enrage Lighthouse finally took place in the spring of 1840.
Although Cape Enrage Lighthouse was the eighth lighthouse to be constructed in New Brunswick, it was the first square one, all of the preceding being octagonal in design. Keeper Munson and his family lived in the thirty-nine-foot-tall lighthouse, which employed six lamps and reflectors to produce a fixed white light at a height of 161 feet above the bay.
The lighthouse was struck by lightning in 1876 and today’s lighthouse dates from 1904 and is the third lighthouse on this site. A new duplex was built at Cape Enrage in 1952 to house the families of the two Coast Guard keepers who ran the station. In 1988 the light was automated and the station de-staffed. The Station was saved from demolition in 1992, turned into a restaurant/ shop and houses an outdoor adventure program and a zip line.
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We then drove on to Alma, end of the coastal road so you have to cross the Fundy National Park and continue inland if you want to go further down the coast.
Alma harbour, note the square shape of these boats, designed for lobster fishing.
We stopped at Sussex for the night, and the next day completed our circular detour by going through Moncton again and headed for Amherst in Nova Scotia and the “Sunrise Trail” along the Northumberland Strait coast. This is a popular beach destination as the waters are said to be the warmest in the region!
We went through small fishing villages, where cages are stacked on the quays waiting for the next outing to sea to catch lobsters.
Pictou
This is where the boat “Hector” landed in 1773 with the first Scottish immigrants. A replica of the ship is currently under renovation so we could not visit this landmark. The town itself has a small harbour and a Fishery Museum.
It rained heavily the night we were there. Luckily we had found a covered spot so the tent was kept dry. We spent most of the following day at the local library sheltered from the rain!
From Quebec City we followed the south bank of the St Lawrence. We went through green pastures with cows in the fields. It was nice to have some open space after being surrounded by forest for the last week or so.
We drove to Saint Joseph-de-Kamouraska, a small village where, right in the centre, stands an exceptional group of beautifully preserved religious heritage buildings, including the church with its iconic bell tower; the presbytery, the old ice house; and one of Québec’s few remaining tithe barns (grange a Dimes). The catholic religious ensemble dates from the early XXth century and is typical of a popular custom in Quebec whereby the local parishioners gave the priest a portion of their harvest so that he did not have to tend the land to survive and could devote all his time to religious duties. The grain was stored in these barns.
The ice house (glaciere) where perishable goods where kept cool in summer with ice burried in the ground and topped with hay.
Rimouski
A small town near the estuary of the St Lawrence River, we did the Littoral Trail, partly wooded with some access to the shore of the river which looks more like the sea at this point!
We drove on and veered east. We were now in New Brunswick. We came across a number of old covered bridges over rivers. They usually have a small car park to give access to the river for fishing and camped overnight at a couple of them.
The weather was not great and we took a two nights break at an AirBnb in Moncton.
Our US visa was coming to an end so we had to cross into Canada. The plan was to go to Nova Scotia, more than 4,500 km away…
We crossed most of Montana, the scenery of rolling hills and green pastures framed by distant snow covered peaks made us wish we had the time to explore ! We then cut the north west corner of North Dakota and went through the border into Canada near Sherwood and into Saskatchewan ( very close to Manitoba). It was a small border post and the officer even gave us some tips of things to see in Manitoba and the best places to go fishing !
You do not have too much choice in terms of roads. The Trans-Canada Highway is pretty much the only direct road when you want to go East. It is not a scenic road, with long stretch of straight road going through forest of fir and beech trees and lots of lakes and water around.
Paul had bought a fishing rod and was keen to do some fishing. We stopped in a few places but no fish was biting !!
The weather was not too bad with warm, sunny days in Ontario but cool mornings and evenings (6 to 8 C). Mosquitoes were starting to be a problem though !
We finally arrived into Quebec Province, avoided going into Montreal and spent the night in the car park of the visitor Centre at Becancourt (150km from Quebec City). The weather had turned to rain and cold and we treated ourselves to a hot meal at an Italian restaurant just across the street !
Quebec City
We had been to Quebec City before but it was nice to revisit the “Vieux Quebec” and listen to the lilting accent of the locals! sometimes difficult to understand…
Paul wanted to watch the semi-final of the Champions League and found a pub showing it ! I went for a walk around Chateau Frontenac and its adjacent streets.
Chateau Frontenac is a historic hotel, built by Canadian Pacific Railway. It opened in 1893 and is one of the first completed grand railway hotels, a series of hotels across the country, each a local and national landmark, and most of which are icons of Canadian history and architecture. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. The hotels were designed to serve the passengers of the country’s then expanding rail network and they celebrated rail travel in style.
Chateau Frantenac quickly came to be the symbol of the city. It was designed to rival any hotel in Europe. Its elevated location overlooking the city also made it a readily identifiable landmark as viewed from passing trains as well as ships plying the waters of the Saint Lawrence River.
After the football, we walked to the citadel along the boarded walk and a series of stairs( more than 400 steps!)
The Citadel is a National Historic Site located atop Cap Diamant in Old Québec. Its walls enclose 300 years of history from the New France period to today. Known as “the Gibraltar of the Americas” on account of its strategic location, the Citadel has the star-shaped form characteristic of Vauban fortifications. Breathtaking view of the city and the St. Lawrence River.
We walked on some of the fortifications and jumped on a bus just in time to avoid a hail storm !
It was late afternoon and we had to find somewhere to stay for the night. We drove out of town, crossing to the other bank of the Saint Lawrence River and stayed at a rest stop on highway 20. This was a big site. the toilet block had a purpose built room/kitchen with vending machines, microwave and table and chairs. A caretaker was looking after the place. We could not believe our luck: we could prepare our dinner and stay in a warm place !
This is the way we had to take from Grand Teton NP due to the South entrance closure of Yellowstone NP on hwy 191.
Yellowstone became the first national park for all to enjoy the unique hydrothermal and geologic features on March 1, 1872 . Below is the commemorative entrance arch at the North Entrance.
The Yellowstone NP features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful. It’s also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope.
We saw this bison and young one walking by the side of the road…
The park actually encompasses the site of a huge volcano which erupted several times. The most recent of these eruptions occurred about 639,000 years ago, creating what is now called the Yellowstone Caldera, which extends over an area of about 30 by 45 miles (48 by 72 kilometers). The approximate boundary of this caldera is shown as a pink dashed line on the map above. The volcano is still active , hence all the geysers and hot springs. Geologists warn us that this extremely hot area could erupt again…
Only half the roads were open due to snow conditions. We went straight to the visitor center and checked the predicted time of the Old Faithful Geyser. We did not have to wait long . A ranger gave a short talk explaining the workings of this cone geyser before we witnessed the geyser in action.
Old Faithful geyser
The ranger explained that the water coming out is around 150 years old… the time it takes for it to filter down the ground to the place where stone turns into magma (4.5 miles below ground) and then go up the chamber and up the spout. The spout is narrow, the size of a fist, and the pressure builds up until the water explodes out into a geyser.
An eruption lasts 1.5 to 5 minutes and expels 3,700–8,400 gallons (14,000–32,000 l) of boiling water, and reaches a height of 106–184 feet (30–55 m). Old Faithful Geyser has an average temperate of 169.7°F (76.5°C).
Yellowstone, as a whole, possesses close to 60 percent of the world’s geysers. The Upper Geyser Basin is home to the largest numbers of this fragile feature found in the park. Within one square mile there are at least 150 of these hydrothermal wonders. Of this remarkable number, only five major geysers are predicted regularly by the naturalist staff. They are Castle, Grand, Daisy, Riverside, and Old Faithful. There are many frequent, smaller geysers to be seen and marveled at in this basin as well as numerous hot springs and one recently developed mudpot.
Mud pot
Hot Springs Colors
Many of the bright colors found in Yellowstone’s hydrothermal basins come from thermophiles—microorganisms that thrive in hot temperatures (“thermo” for heat, “phile” for lover). So many individual microorganisms are grouped together—trillions!—that they appear as masses of color.
Different types of thermophiles live at different temperatures within a hot spring and cannot tolerate much cooler or warmer conditions. Yellowstone’s hot water systems often show distinct gradations of living, vibrant colors where the temperature limit of one group of microbes is reached, only to be replaced by a different set of thermophiles. ( extract from https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/hot-springs.htm).
We could not drive the whole scenic loop so we retrace our steps and stopped on the way at Biscuit Basin, Grand Prismatic Spring and Fountain Paintpot.
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We made our way to the North Entrance, stopping at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Mammoth Hot Springs are a must-see feature of Yellowstone National Park in part because they’re so different from other thermal areas in the area. This is largely because limestone is a relatively soft type of rock, allowing the travertine formations to grow much faster than other sinter formations.
The dissolved limestone solution coming through fissures in the ground looses its carbon dioxide content when exposed to the air and reforms into a solid mineral. This white, chalky mineral is deposited as the travertine that forms the terraces. (similar to the formations seen at Pamukkale in Turkey).
It was cold and windy when we left our camp near Green River and decided to drive up to Rock Springs and go to the library until lunch time.
We then took the road towards Jackson but we soon hit low clouds and rain which turned into snow. The landscape was desert type in hues of grey and brown. No sign of spring here yet !
Jackson is home to 3 ski-area and is the gateway to Grand Teton National Park. The town is a tourist destination and is bustling with high end shops, galleries and the National Museum of Wildlife Art where works by Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keeffe are on show.
The weather was not with us, with snow flurries and a cold wind. We stopped in town at the visitor centre then headed for the Park.
We started by a drive along the National Elk Refuge then onto Gros Ventre road and to Mormon Row. This is a historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the late 1800’s, a community of Mormons arrived in Wyoming from the neighboring state of Idaho to settle in the southeast region of what is now Grand Teton National Park .They built farms, houses, irrigation systems, and everything else required to make this rural area habitable. The settlement encompass as many as 27 properties with perfectly preserved barns with the Teton Mountain range as a backdrop !
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We then drove to Moose and onto Jenny Lake, stopping at a few view points along the way.
The weather was clearing but it was still almost impossible to see the top of the mountains. The National Park is named after the highest peak in the Teton range, the Grand Teton: elevation 13,775 feet (4,198 m). There are eight peaks over 12,000 ft (3,658 m) in elevation in the range. The mountain valley where the park is situated is 55 miles long (89 km), 13 miles wide (21 km) with an average elevation of 6,800 feet (2,073 m).
Part of Jenny Lake was still frozen. There is a hike you can do around the lake but at this time of year you need snowshoes!
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The original plan was to drive through the Grand Teton NP and exit at the north entrance on road 191 which leads directly to Yellowstone NP but that road was closed due to snow.
The only alternative was to make a big detour, going south to Wilson and into Idaho before going north again !
From Dewey, we headed to Grand Junction, Colorado to rejoined the Highway 139 and the way to Dinosaur National Monument. We had a taste of things to come when we went through the town of Dinosaur!
Dinosaur – Colorado
Dinosaur is a small town ( population 240) and predictably with such a name, streets are named after different dinosaurs and street corners are adorned with dinosaur statues…( not always attractive !)
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Further along we crossed again into Utah
Also using the dinosaur theme!
Dinosaur National Monument is spread over 210,000 acres (85,000 hectares) along the Colorado and Utah border. Each part of the monument offers different experiences and things to see.
The Colorado side offers spectacular canyon country scenery, but we were there to see dinosaurs fossils so, we went to the Dinosaur Quarry Exhibition Hall in Utah.
The historic fossil quarry is covered by a modern building, which protects the site where approximately 1,500 dinosaur bones are exhibited in-situ on the side of a hill where they were discovered. Fossilized bones were found in 1909 by Earl Douglass, a paleontologist from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and over the following 6 years Douglass sent over 700,000 pounds of fossilized bones, including full skeletons, to museums throughout the country. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the site Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. Douglass began envisioning a museum which would display excavation sites in their original state but the current building was not completed until the late fifties.
Here, you can gaze upon the remains of numerous different species of dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic period, including Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus, along with several others. There are even several places where you can touch real 150 million year old dinosaur fossils!
The displays are informative and rangers are available to answer questions.
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There are a couple of short hikes around the quarry which go around the hills near the Exhibition Hall.
We were lucky to see Dinosaur milkvetch (Astragalus saurinus Barneby), a flower found in Dinosaur National Monument and the surrounding areas and no where else in the world! For once, we were right in time for blooming season!
Flaming Gorge recreation Area
We continued to Vernal and then on to Flaming Gorge Recreation Area.
The Flaming Gorge NRA is located in the northeast corner of Utah and the southwest corner of Wyoming. It is South of I-80, between Green River and Rock Springs, Wyoming and extends into the Uintah Mountains towards Vernal, Utah.
Its centerpiece is the 91 miles long Flaming Gorge Reservoir, created by a dam on the Green River. It is an all-encompassing outdoor recreation destination. With more than 200,000 acres of land and water, Flaming Gorge is a scenic playground for boating, water skiing, paddling, camping and backpacking in addition to some of the best fishing in the west.
The visitor Centre does not opened until the end of May but we drove up to Red Canyon Overlook and had a splendid view onto the reservoir and its surrounded red cliffs. There were still patches of snow on the ground.
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We drove on to the town of Green River and found a spot on the outskirts where we were visited by wild horses!
