{"id":2191,"date":"2018-09-20T07:53:09","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T06:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/?p=2191"},"modified":"2018-09-20T08:16:19","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T07:16:19","slug":"cody-wyoming-and-then-the-grand-tetons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/2018\/09\/20\/cody-wyoming-and-then-the-grand-tetons\/","title":{"rendered":"Cody, Wyoming and then the Grand Tetons"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

We went to Cody on the recommendation of Judy Goff (our friend in Bend, Oregon, \u00a0who was born in Wyoming) and I have to say it did not disappoint.<\/p>\n

I had\u00a0managed to get a site reserved at the Ponderosa Campground right in the middle of Cody and we had a back in site that was a bit tight but provided views over the canyon behind us (just don’t go too far back!!).<\/p>\n

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Our site in the Ponderosa Campground, Cody.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The view 6ft behind us, rather a large drop-off!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Judy told us that, in her words “It will give you a fun and memorable bit of insight to this part of the American West!\u00a0“, and it certainly did.<\/p>\n

Centre piece of that experience was the Buffalo Bill Center of the West a massive museum that was actually 5 museums in one. A Firearms museum, a Western Arts museum, a Plains Indian Museum, The Buffalo Bill museum and a Natural History museum. Every one of them was an experience in their own right, but together they are incredible. If you ever go there make sure you have a day, as we did, because it will take you that long to go around it and do it justice.<\/p>\n

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William F Cody (Buffalo Bill) and a friend!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another statue to “Buffalo Bill”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A painting of Custer’s Last Stand in the Western Art museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An immense bronze of an Elk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Recognise this from my pictures of Yellowstone Park!! Beautiful painting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another piece of “Wild West” art.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A picture of an Indian brave killing a Bison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of the many exhibits in the “Buffalo Bill” museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Poster of Buffalo Bill meeting Queen Victoria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The people who visited the Buffalo Bill Wild West show in London 1887.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Buffalo Bill also led many foreign visitors on hunts in Wyoming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Plain’s Indian exhibit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An actual buffalo hide tepee, very rare nowadays .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Wyoming Natural history exhibit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of the many huge exhibits in the Natural history museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A painting of a large Bison herd in Wyoming before they were nearly wiped out by hide hunters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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As opposed to how the Indians hunted them by driving them off a cliff. But in their case none of the animal was wasted as the buffalo were regarded as sacred by the plains Indians.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A collection of Indian artefacts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A goat exhibit in the Natural History museum. More than we have seen in real life!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another large exhibit of the inhabitants of a Mountain Meadow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Buffalo Bill’s (William F Cody’s as he was then) actual boyhood house has been moved into the grounds of the museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It is an Historic Place in its own right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Crazy Horse\u00a0statue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Beautiful Bison bronze in the grounds of the Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For some reason I do not seem to have taken any pictures of the Firearms Museum, but it incorporates many exhibits from the Winchester Museum. I think I must have been so fascinated I forgot to take pictures!!<\/p>\n

On the following day we decided to visit the Buffalo Bill Dam, which when it was built was the highest dam in the USA. You certainly needed a head for heights when you stood on top of the dam wall and looked down!!<\/p>\n

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Buffalo Bill Dam, the people are walking across the dam wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The reservoir held back by the dam is huge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And it is surrounded by very high mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Looking down the river valley below the dam at the Shoshone River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Looking down the dam wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Fish swimming close to the dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From here we headed West towards the East Entrance of Yellowstone Park along the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway. We were told we would have a good chance of seeing some bear and Longhorn Sheep on this road. We certainly saw signs but no actual animals.<\/p>\n

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Bear droppings, they eat lots of berries!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The scenery was also very interesting with lots of spectacular rock formations.<\/p>\n

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Remains of volcanos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Volcanic butte<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Interesting shapes all along the valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Very phallic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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How on earth does that stay up there!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More balancing rocks. Notice the windows through the rocks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And even more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Hazy view was caused by smoke from California fires.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Your can tell which way the wind blows, never seen a tree growing just on one side!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And the river wound along the valley, and it’s a very good trout river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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River meandering down towards the dam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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East entrance of Yellowstone, where we turned around.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A pile of deer antlers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And this was built by a local man out of hand hewn timber. Unfortunate part was he never finished it as he fell to his death off one of the pagoda roofs as he refused to wear a safety harness!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And on our last night we decided to go to the rodeo, unfortunately the weather had turned cold and we left half way through as we were freezing!! We saw the bucking horse rides, some steer roping and met a brahma bull, but didn’t see any ridden as\u00a0we were so cold.<\/p>\n

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Brahma bull on show outside the arena.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cowgirls getting ready. You can tell how cold it was look at their coats. Unfortunately we didn’t have thick enough clothing!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cody’s boast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Not all the stands were full!! And there were lots of blankets on show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The opening display of horse riding.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ooops he didn’t last long.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This one did much better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Steer roping. Cowboy is just getting off to hog tie the steer, while the horse is trained to keep the rope tight. Pity about the pole!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From here we moved on to Dubois (pronounced Duboys here as they don’t like the French version!!). We were using this site as our base to explore the Grand Tetons.<\/p>\n

We arrived at Windhaven RV Resort after a particularly windy drive ( I guess we should have expected that given the name of the RV site!!)\u00a0and got set up with a site facing the river.<\/p>\n

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The Site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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View out of the front window, down river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And the view up river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Moon reflecting on the river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We used Dubois as our base to drive to see the Grand Tetons National Park. Decided to do it over two days as you drove into the National Park roughly in the middle and then you went North towards Yellowstone Park or South to Jackson Hole. Good job we did, as you will see from the pictures, because the first trip in we thought we had missed them!\u00a0You only saw them once you were right on top of them because of all the smoke from the fires in California.<\/p>\n

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Memorial erected to remember all lumberjacks who made their living cutting railroad ties (we call them sleepers) by hand. This area produced the majority of the railroad ties used in the entire USA. You can see the smoke in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Smoke, smoke wherever you looked.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Edge of the Grand Tetons, just!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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On the way in we crossed the Continental Divide again at the highest we have been. Getting used to the rarefied air, although the Spark and I puff a bit going up hills!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Scene from a well known lookout point. You are supposed to see mountains up to 13,776ft high from here, but just smoke!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Finally got closer but you have to look very closely to see the snow on the mountains opposite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We chose North first as it was supposed to have bears, but no such luck. Saw some white freshwater Pelicans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It seemed to clear a bit later in the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After this we decided to wait a day (we had some chores to do anyway) and then try the South Loop in the hope that some of the smoke would clear. But it did make some fantastic sunsets.<\/p>\n

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Sunset at the RV Park looking back towards the National Park. My, my, America is a lovely place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, fingers crossed we set off on the Southern Loop around the park. It was obvious as we got closer that things had improved, but it still took a while before we actually saw the mountains.<\/p>\n

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A Sand Crane we saw on the way in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And the mountains started to appear, just!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Need to get closer!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Loads of Bison grazing alongside the road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Trying to recreate a famous photo by William H Jackson showing the Snake River with the Tetons behind. He didn’t have the smoke.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It’s improving gradually, but still need to get closer!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The highest peak at 13,776ft.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of the Antler Arches at the four corners of the George Washington Memorial Park, Jackson Hole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Getting closer and it is improving!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Panoramic view of the entire range.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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These are the highest peaks and you can see what remains of the glaciers in the valleys. They are retreating year on year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Close up of one of the glaciers, with the moraine field in the foreground. The black colouration is caused by the smoke.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is known as the Cathedral group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Jenny Lake with Tetons in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Photo opportunity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More glaciers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is the view from Signal Mountain that is not part of the main group, but still 7,720ft high, with a road right to the very top!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is\u00a0the road we went South on to Jackson Hole, taken from Signal Mountain. You can see the Bison grazing beyond the road.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Not very clear as it is at extreme range for my camera but this was a Pronghorn Antelope herd grazing in the valley below. Focus on the white butts (bums).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Then on the way down the mountain this female Mule deer appeared.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And took a rest!! Very relaxed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And THEN we saw this magnificent Mule deer stag. What a set of antlers!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This is the spillway of the Jackson Dam that forms Jackson Lake in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And then on the way back we saw more Pronghorn Antelope.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We were late getting back that evening and decided to eat out at a local restaurant in Dubois called\u00a0The Cowboy Caf\u00e9. It was a really informal dining place with great food.\u00a0As we were sat there we\u00a0were joined by a group of people who had taken their horses in trailers up to the National Park. They had been riding the park trails with their horses\u00a0all weekend.\u00a0They were all friends from Lander, Wyoming and we got talking with them\u00a0and\u00a0they were really interested in our trip. One of then turned out to be a High School teacher at Wyoming Indian High School\u00a0near Lander and he asked us if we would be willing to talk to his pupils. So I foolishly agreed, and he gave me a number to contact him on.<\/p>\n

Our final day in Dubois was spent in the National Bighorn Sheep Centre, where we learnt that they had the biggest wintering herd, kept on a State park just outside of the town. We still haven’t seen any Bighorn Sheep but at least we learnt the the main reason\u00a0we had not seen them.\u00a0At this time of the year they are high in the mountains keeping out of the way of Mountain\u00a0Lions!!<\/p>\n

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Bighorn Sheep with a Mountain Lion (Cougar) close on his tail!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our next stop after leaving Dubois was going to be Lander, so I contacted the High School teacher (Cleeve Bell) thinking he would have changed his mind about speaking to his pupils, but he was even more insistent it was a good idea!\u00a0We would be going right past his\u00a0High School on the way to our next\u00a0camp site so we should call in.\u00a0In exchange for me doing the talk he and his wife would\u00a0cook us a meal that evening. And he had elk on the menu.<\/p>\n

So, hoping I had not bitten off more than I could chew, we drove the RV into the car park at Wyoming Indian High School.<\/p>\n

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Parking lot at the High School.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We were at the right place!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And it all seemed to go quite well. The pupils\u00a0all introduced themselves to us, including telling us what Indian tribes they were descended from.\u00a0I used my laptop to show them where we were from, and then gave them a potted history of the British Isles. I showed them pictures of the Queen, Houses of Parliament and how we lived in England (not all in stately homes!!). We passed around our passports, UK notes and coins, and luckily Anne had a Hello magazine featuring the wedding of Prince Harry to Megan Markle which they were very interested in. We also got asked about the Spice Girls and One Direction!!<\/p>\n

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The High School class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We then went on to the campground, got set up and drove back into Lander for a lovely meal with Cleeve and his wife. Their website is Here.<\/a><\/p>\n

After dinner we got back to the campground to see a magnificent sunset over\u00a0a lake in the grounds.<\/p>\n

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Wow!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Double Wow!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next day we moved on to Green River to visit the Flaming Gorge, the subject of my next post.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We went to Cody on the recommendation of Judy Goff (our friend in Bend, Oregon, \u00a0who was born in Wyoming) and I have to say it did not disappoint. I had\u00a0managed to get a site reserved at the Ponderosa Campground right in the middle of Cody and we had a back in site that … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Cody, Wyoming and then the Grand Tetons”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2304,"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions\/2304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmjsystems.co.uk\/rvblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}