Today was our second long day in the car, through Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. In the morning we drove along the beautiful Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, reached Jensen around lunch time, and went to the Dinosaur National Monument nearby.

We stayed there for over 2 hours, the time to explore the fantastic outcrop exposing bones of all kinds of dinosaur species (stegausaurus, diplodocus…). The kids went for their 3rd Junior Ranger badge – the official goal now is 5, and Tim wants a ranger jacket with pockets to hang all his badges on. This park was a nice surprise. We had seen it as just an opportunity for a break, but it was the best dinosaur related museum I have ever seen.

We then drove 4 hours across Colorado, passing by the Bookcliffs west of Grand Junction, an area where both Séverine and I have done some field work.

Arrived quite late (19:00) at Moab. Nice hotel with a big slide at the swimming pool, a room full of old arcade games (free!!). The kids didn’t really want to go to bed.

Our last day in the National Parks of Wyoming. We left our log cabin to go for a hike in the southern part of the park. We drove passed Mount Moran, Grand Teton, Middle Teton and South Teton.

Our hike took us to the beautiful Taggart Lake. It’s getting hot, we were happy we started early.

We then drove to Jackson Hole (a topographical feature, not an opinion about the place). This was the last bit of civilization until Rock Springs, 4 hours later, where we are staying for the night – nothing special here, we are on our way to Moab, but couldn’t do the trip in just one day.

We came back to the Old Faithful area, and spent the morning there. We started with the Junior Rangers program, where Tim, Hugo and Sarah earned their second Junior Ranger badge, and learnt about carnivores and omnivores.

We went inside the Old Faithful Inn, a beautiful construction, especially the lobby, all made of wood.

We then went for a hike in the geysers area, climbed to the overlook where we were lucky again to see the Old Faithful eruption.

On our way back to the car, through the springs and geysers area, we got the privilege to see the Beehive erupting, an event which is not very predictable.

We left Yellowstone and reached the Grand Teton National Park. We’re staying in a log cabin, with minimum comfort, but very near the lake. The kids went swimming in the lake while I was planning our stay. Late afternoon we went on a cruise on the Jackson Lake, and ended up the day with pizzas.

We’ve finally reached Yellowstone National Park, name after the river Yellowstone, not after the color of the rocks.

We got welcomed by bisons hanging around next to the roads, fumes, traffic jams… yes, it is packed with people just like us.

We took a first walk around the mud volcanoes in the Hayden Valley, and went for a hike on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The kids then participated to the Rangers Olympics, and earned two stickers! At the visitor center, we learned about volcanoes, caldeira and hot spots.

Next stop were the Midway Geyser Basin and the iconic Grand Prismatic Spring. The ranger we talked to at the visitor center sent us to a hidden overlook, with a beautiful view over the spring.

On our way to the hotel, we stopped by the Old Faithful. We just wanted to check whether the geyser would erupt soon – they predict eruptions with a 10min accuracy – and we got lucky: the next eruption was just 10min away. We parked, rushed to the geyser, and waited for 10min. We’ll probably come back tomorrow, there is much to see in the area.

We ate diner at the restaurant next door to our hotel.

We’re staying one day in Cody before entering Yellowstone. We thought we would need a day off to relax after a long drive yesterday.

In the morning, we visited the Old Trail Town, a collection of old log cabins from different places in Wyoming, some with historical significance. A very nice dive into the time of the pioneers and of the famous outlaws, like Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.

Swimming pool in the afternoon, and preparation of our next three days, with a more challenging logistics.

Late afternoon, we went for a short excursion to a beautiful overlook at the Dead Indian Pass.

And of course we couldn’t come to Cody without attending a rodeo show, at Cody Stampede Rodeo.

We had a nice breakfast at the hostel (coffee + waffles), where we met Lori, an American lady living in Clermont-Ferrand, would you believe it!

We then hit the road, stopped at Cheyenne for a second breakfast.

For the next 6 hours, we drove through Wyoming. We saw buffaloes, nodding donkeys, a few ranches looking just like the Playmobil farm, but mostly a low relief terrain, no trees. Thanks to erosion, we cut through part of the stratigraphy, exposing calcareous and shaly formations of various color.

I (a geologist) find it quite amazing to drive 100s of km on these sedimentary rocks. There used to be a sea, there, that explains the deposition. But you also need sediment supply, enough to fill 1000s of meters of stratigraphy. Imagine the size if the mountain range that got eroded!

Anyway, that reflection took me through the day. We arrived in Cody at 17:30, and enjoyed a swim at the hotel before eating diner at a nearby bbq joint.