Tetons to Yellowstone

Sept. 26, 2015: Boise to Teton National Park. First, I notice the extra weight on the roof (new solar panel) raises the center of gravity and somewhat affects cornering on mountain roads, but it’s not much harder to pop up the roof. The new pressurized struts handle the thirty extra pounds up there quite well. And the benefit of solar power outweighs the cornering drawback, allowing me to boondock for a longer period of time. The panel sits no higher than the roof vents and causes no wind resistance, so my gas mileage isn’t affected. I like to think my self-installed wind deflector helps with that.

My preparations delayed my departure from Boise until about noon, and I arrived at Grand Teton National Park at about 6 PM. I was surprised to hear from the ranger that all campgrounds in the park were full but one. Last year at this time I had no trouble finding a campsite at Signal Mountain Campground. Today I had to drive to the northernmost Flagg Ranch, about 25 miles north of Signal Mountain. They had four campsites left at 8 PM, so I grabbed one for $20, after a 50 percent discount with the annual national park pass. At 9 PM it’s 67 degrees, a lot warmer than last year. Anyway, I did take a few shots of the Tetons at sunset:

Sept. 27, 2015: Tetons to Beartooth Highway via Yellowstone. Headed out from Flagg Ranch Campground at 7:30 AM and entered Yellowstone NP within 15 minutes. My hope was to camp at Mammoth Hot Springs for a shot I planned with the “blood Moon” tonight, but all campgrounds were full. Instead I drove to Beartooth Pass to camp for free in the Shoshone National Forest outside the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone. While amused at the Chinese tourists taking shots of Canada geese that overrun Boise, I took some shots along the way:

At the summit pass (11,000 feet) I shot the scene with the “Beartooth” under very cloudy skies, which worried me for the Moon shot I planned for tonight: