Our Autumn Trip 2017 - Lamar Valley (Yellowstone NP)
Well, Ann and I are busy making plans for our Autumn 2017 adventure. Our destination - the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park.
In case you’ve forgotten, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks were the destination of our first long-term (3-week) vacation and is the one that set the hook for us to try and get out for extended periods to photograph. And, if you recall (check out the blog posts from September and October 2014 if you don’t or if you want a refresher), a winter storm chased us out of the Lamar Valley three days earlier than we’d hoped. It was a smart move on our part, allowing us to avoid 18” of snow and several very, very cold nights in our tent (not that the Tetons were much warmer, but . . . ). Still, leaving the Lamar Valley early was one of our biggest disappointments on that trip.
So in our Sportsmobile planning, returning to the Lamar Valley was always near the top of the list. And this time, nothing short of a government shutdown will keep us from spending lots of time there (and even then, we should have nearly two weeks there before they kick us out!). If a storm comes, we’ll be sitting it out!
Unlike our recent trips, other than getting there and coming back, hours and hours on the road is generally not on the agenda. The entire valley, at most, is about 30 miles long. And this trip, we’re planning to do more hikes, and more going to an area and just exploring that one place, than we did in 2014. Because as we learned our last trip there, sometimes you can be minding your own business, photographing a nice little pond in the middle of nowhere all alone, and after an hour or so a herd of bison decide they’re thirsty and want a drink (and the boss bison lets you know, in fairly plain body language, that you’re not welcome to stay there). And we should also have plenty of time to just sit around to observe what’s going on. With Beast we can always have a fresh pot of coffee to boot!
The one side trip we want to undertake is to travel the Beartooth Highway. Charles Kuralt in his CBS series “On the Road” called the Beartooth Highway “the most beautiful drive in America.” If it gives Utah State Highway 12 a run for its money, we’re in for a beautiful ride.
Here’s our initial scouting map for the trip. It includes a couple of stopping points on the way in (depending on whether we come in from the West, or the North) as well as some of the photography, hikes and campsites locations within the Lamar Valley we don’t want to forget about once we’re there. The flurry of pins to the right (East) are along the Beartooth Highway. Since we haven’t driven it before, I’ve pinned possible stopping/photography locations, as well as a few areas where we can pull off on side roads to go wild camping. If we don’t lose our spot at the Yellowstone campsite by being away for one night, we hope to spend the night along the Beartooth.
The Yellowstone campgrounds will be starting to close down right around the time we arrive. Most will have already closed. Several will close the weekend after we get there, and only one campground inside the valley will remain open until just after we leave. Which means if we can grab a site there, we’re going to hang onto it for the entirety of the trip.
There’s not much to show regarding the route there. Our plan is to get there as quickly as we can because we know that the weather (or a functioning federal government) may not last very long.
However, we have done some contingency planning for a trip back in the event we have more than 3 days to get back from Yellowstone. You never know, we might get bored with the place and leave early (highly unlikely); the dysfunctional congress might shut down the federal government and close the national parks (fairly likely, though not a certainty); or a snow storm might hit, with news that a blizzard is soon to follow and, discretion being the better part of valor, Ann and I decide we don’t want to turn into the Donner party [the site of which we passed on our recent Sierras zig-zag trip] (unlikely, but possible).
If we do have time, we may try to head towards South East Oregon and explore the Owyhee Canyons, the Alvord Desert, and Steens Mountain. Here’s a map of those possible sites.
We’re unlikely to have the time to visit more than one of the 4 Owyhee sites I’ve marked (the ones on the right side of the map), but the Alvord Desert followed by a trip up Steens Mountain is a real possibility.
Then again, if Ann and I are loving it, we’ll be staying in the Lamar Valley for as long as we can and hightailing it back to Oregon. If that’s the case, it means we landed a campsite at Slough Creek, the government has not shut down, and the photography is going great (Tip to photographers - if the shooting is good where you’re at, stay there and keep at it. The grass is not greener on the other side!).
If you want to check out our previous blog posts from the Lamar Valley, check out October 2 and 4, 2014. Also, both Ann and I have photographs from Yellowstone under the gallery named “Mountain West” on our individual “Galleries” pages.
We can’t wait to take off!
Postscript: This blog post was written nearly two weeks ago. As of today, it seems as if Chuck and Nancy listened to our pleas and convinced the Creamsicle-in-Chief to keep the National Parks (and the rest of the government) open for us. Keep your fingers crossed that the House doesn't screw it up.