The United States of America - part 1

 A short ferry ride brought us from Vancouver Island to the US. We were excited and couldn’t wait to explore the US at a relatively slow pace. Although… with only two months left on our US visa we had to keep traveling in a rather fast pace in order to squeeze in all the places we wanted to visit!

In this update we travel from the Pacific Northwest to the famous Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks!

What's in this update

• The Pacific Northwest
• Yellowstone NP
• Grand Teton NP
• What's next?!

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The Pacific Northwest

We entered the US in the far northwest, on the northern edge of Olympic National Park. We were lucky to get a last minute "first come, first served" spot on the evening ferry and reached the US coast in the dark. Not ideal, but glad we got on!

The first thing we did the next day, was driving into the Olympic NP. We went into the Pacific Rainforest and were amazed by its beauty. The old trees were covered in moss and we spotted lots of wildlife. We thought we would find these type of forests also on Vancouver Island, but they turned out to be quite small and rather crowded. So we were happy to experience this magical ambience in the US! After staying in the area for a few days, we decided to drive to the Pacific coast in the hope of spending some days by the ocean.

Unfortunately for us, this area was very popular and therefore populated (for good reasons!). Finding camping spots became a challenge and we were glad to find a spot on a state camp, secluded in the forest next to a beautiful river. Our neighbors, however, weren't really fond of sharing and unloaded their guns next to us to show we were not welcome. We stayed anyways, but decided it was time to head inland towards the quieter desert and towards a national park we had been looking forward to for a long time: Yellowstone!

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Yellowstone National Park

To reach Yellowstone, we had to cross a vast desert. It was a welcome change to all the forest we had seen in the past few months. It also meant we were able to wild camp at fantastic spots again. Groups of coyotes howled at night, we slept next to volcanic craters and at the bottom of a dried up lake, without having to worry about bears or people at night. It was a welcome change!

We drove through Idaho in two days, on our way to the west entrance of Yellowstone. We hoped to see some wolves and with some expectations we entered the park. They are most often seen in the north-eastern part of the park, the Lamar Valley, so we drove straight towards that area. At first we thought to be lucky as we saw a large group of people looking in one direction with their binoculars. For some reason, they were secretive about their finding, but we figured out there was some elk a few km away. We continued searching till sunset.. but no wolves.

Ideally we would stay in one of the campsites within the park boundaries, so we didn’t had to drive far after sunset, and to continue the search next day. Unfortunately, all campsites were “full”, which meant that all spots were reserved but only few of them were really occupied. People simply don’t show up and as a result we were forced to sleep outside the National Park. As the campsites close to the park entrance don’t accept tents or soft-sided campers due to the risk of grizzly bears searching for food in the vehicles/tents we drove further again, searching for a wild camping spot (between the grizzlies ;) )

After helping an injured man who had hit a deer with his motorcycle during the night, we finally arrived at our camping spot at 10 pm. Without realizing it we had reached a considerable height and were camping at 3 km altitude. After a fairly restless night due to the altitude, we woke up to a beautiful view. We decided that these kind of quests in the evenings would not work every day, so we stayed on the mountain for a few days to do some research. Every morning we were greeted by some mule deer next to our car and only the sounds of birds flying by, we could not have wished for anything better.

One morning a couple of hunters came by and it looked like they were hunting mule deer with bows and arrows (I mean.. why?). We told them we hadn’t seen anything the last few days and they continued their ‘search’. That same day a couple of crazy people unloaded their guns from their ATV’s on the other side of a small forest (we could hear the bullets flying through the air). We made some loud and agitated noises to make our presence known, after which they moved on. We decided it was time to move on and continue our search for wildlife in the park.

We moved to the north entrance of Yellowstone and thoroughly enjoyed the area around Mammoth Hot Springs. We explored the area during the day and found a few gems, to which we returned to shortly before sunset. We had the place almost to ourselves and concentrated on photographing some structures and landscapes. During the blue hour we noticed that the colours of the mammoth hot spring really came to life and we continued photographing for another 30 minutes, until it got too dark.

We spent almost two weeks in Yellowstone NP and while we didn’t see any wolves, we did see lots of black bears, grizzly bears, lots of coyotes, elk and more. There was one animal that we really enjoyed photographing and that was the American pika. An animal that is often overlooked in these parks, which meant that we were able to enjoy it in peace and quiet for most of the time. Although they are a different species than the collared pikas of the Yukon/Alaska, they behave similarly and reminded us of the special time we had with them on a mountain deep in the Yukon.

We found a few locations where people rarely visit and had a curious pika running up to us all the time. He became so comfortable with our presence that he eventually jumped on Martin’s knee and tried to eat his pants. We visited the pikas a few more times at different locations until we finally continued our journey to Grand Teton National Park. It was with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to these little guys knowing that we would not see pikas for years to come.

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Grand Teton National Park

We spent 5 nights in the Grand Teton NPs and enjoyed the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We spotted a great grey owl a few times, but it always quickly flew off when he spotted us. At dark we saw him once clearly through our binoculars. Unfortunately it was too dark for photos, but it was a beautiful experience. After two nights we decided to take a little break from all the photography and camped on a mountain with a breathtaking view of the Grand Teton. We celebrated Pleun's 32nd birthday and enjoyed some relaxation, we couldn't have wished for a better place!

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What’s next?

We’re taking our time to explore the gems of Utah: we visit the majority of the national parks, find some lesser-known gems, drive some stunning 4x4 routes (including a part of the white-rim trail) and without a doubt sleep at one of our most beautiful wild camp spots till date. With only 4 weeks on our VISA, we also explore the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Sequoia and Joshua Tree national parks before we cross the border into Tijuana, Mexico. In short, expect a travel update filled with photos and stories!

 

Pika overlooking its territory 

 

Until next time!