The town of West Yellowstone is just outside the park in Montana. It’s a tourism hub for the park with lots of accommodation – we were staggered by the number of three storey complexes in the town. It also has very wide streets and the shops along the main street exhibit a typically western theme. The IMAX theatre is a prominent building approaching the town from Yellowstone. Another major attraction is the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Centre. We spent about two hours there and it was a great opportunity to find out more about these animals. The reintroduction of the wolf to Yellowstone has been quite contentious, especially amongst the farming community surrounding the park. Nevertheless their survival now seems assured.
After leaving West Yellowstone we made a stop at Big Springs, the source of one of the tributaries (Henry’s Fork) of the Snake River. Water from some of Yellowstone’s snow melt seeps underground and emerges at Big Springs in a very attractive stream which is home to lots of rainbow trout. We were able to see and feed these from the bridge over the stream.
Further south we followed a scenic drive which took us past two waterfalls on Henry’s Fork and a number of other view-points.
Our motel in Idaho Falls was on the bank of the Snake River and adjacent to a beautiful landscaped park. A weir which extends down the centre of the river for at least a kilometre is used to generate 50% of the city’s electricity and seems an excellent piece of innovation.
Helen took the opportunity to put through a load of washing while I put the car through a car wash, after I found it that is! Dora did a good job of finding it for me but on the way home she wanted to send me the wrong way up a one-way street. I suspect from that adventure that the Hertz Never-lost system needs to update its maps.
