I've been at this all day, putting together a pic essay for my dad...he is going through chemo and radiation so I thought adding the story of the trip would be good for him. He has always wanted to take a trip out west but his health obviously isn't cooperating. Some of you might enjoy it too if you are planning a drive across the country. I didn't get all the way through it yet but I thought I would post what I've done so far. Enjoy...I'll answer questions if anyone has them...

The Captain....



The Crew....


 
The cargo...2 coolers with lunchmeat, snacks, drinks, water, milk...our source of survival for the next few days with re-ups and local Walmarts....

Plan is...launching point from Jacksonville, FL... 3 days to Northwest Wyoming...



Lots of nothing along the way....here is our tax payer dollars at work...1000’s of these things and only a few are spinning in the breeze.... The good news is that there are still 1000s of miles of rural, desolate America, so if any of you want to find isolation you still can.



Hitting Denver....seeing the rockies in the distance....



So we arrive on time in NW Wyoming....two nights before our cabin in the west side KOA.... Not sure of my plans, I packed camping equipment including a tent. I decided to head to the Bridger Teton national forest. First two nights were spent here. There was fishing and wilderness, various weather and rain.







Pinedale...Outside of the National Forest....Because of 3 days on the road and conditions, I decided to take the kids to the local town for grub one night. Well that quick trip to town was an hour each way and 70 miles round trip to Pindedale, WY...




I had planned on using the hammocks but I threw the tent in at the last minute. Good thing because like I said the mosquitos were bad. It drizzled too, the hammocks probably would have been okay but still I think we were better off with the tent. We were able to get by throwing buffalo chips on the fire, using off and lighting mosquito coils but they put a downer on my plans to fish. We tried the fishing one time but we were getting swarmed so back to camp.

Get the fire going...



I had my first experience with prairie dogs out here. I had no idea how numerous those little critters are. While we were in the forest, I was hearing someone shooting, possibly across the river form us but still in the forest. I’m assuming they were popping dogs but I never saw the shooter. I wonder if you can shoot them year round on public land. Those things are tiny and their burrows are everywhere so I could imagine that they could actually weaken hillsides if a good rain comes along.

Everything there is desolate. We passed ranches big and small. One guy appeared to live off the grid. He had firewood stacked from one end of his porch to the other, a wind turbine behind the house and solar panels.

Back at camp, we went to sleep with drizzle. The tent did pretty good but I never water proofed it. Some rain dripped in through the zippers and whether it was condensation or water seeping thru the material, anything that touched the side of the tent soaked up some water. I couldn’t sleep and was getting nervous so around 430 am I got up, pulled the tarp off the firewood and threw it over the tent. We got up in the morning more or less dry. Packed everything after two nights and headed north...

What I thought was going to be an hour or so drive turned out to be about a 6 hour drive to Yellowstone

Most of Wyoming looks something like this...



Not sure what those wood frames are for in the background, they are all along the highways, I’m assuming they have something to do with wind and snow, maybe to prevent snow drifts...?



We finally started heading up into the mountains.



A few random pics from the camping...

Fire and cheap poncho equals balloon boy...



Above camp looking west towards the Green River...



Keep practicing Cheer with photobomb...



Stopping to check out some rocks to see if I can find some fossils and kids disappear down the side of the road.



Warm springs everywhere even in the forest...This one crosses the road, there is another warm stream just north of this one off the forest road, its protected for some rare fish, you are not supposed to mess with it, I saw the sign as the kids were about to go wading into it...  





Think this was part of the Canyon on the way in to Yellowstone..



Longer drive than I thought to get here from Teton and was trying to get to KOA for check-in. But we had until 10pm to get there so I decided to go ahead and stop at Old Faithful since we were passing it.

Waiting for her to blow..



The geyser basin..



There she goes...



Random rock along the river...



So, Old Faithful went off around 430pm... We started heading for KOA and ended up in an hour traffic jam leaving for one GD buffalo that wanted to graze along the road on the way out of the park...

The cabin...up the next morning for breakfast. Daily ritual was re-icing the coolers and loading them in the van so we could eat lunch and have cold drinks while we were in the park. Talk about driving, figure about 150 to 200 miles a day driving in the park.




Not sure if this is one of the Falls or Cascades...



The Artison Paint pots..



Roosevelt Falls..



The bottom of the falls...with a cliff made up of yellow stone in the background



Random hot spring on the side of the road...This stuff is everywhere as you drive around and they are all named..saw an asian dude taking a picture of a steam vent next to this as we drove by...he reached down to touch the steam and he jumped back shaking his hand like he just touched a hot stove....it was good for a laugh.



Traffic jam...



Then there was the hike up Mt Washburn....Wanted to go to the top but the middle one was not into it...good thing too b/c we got caught by a thunderstorm coming back down. But at least we got a little ways up. Missed some big horn sheep but there was a mountain goat that stuck around for pics... and a snow patch gave the kids a few minutes of a snowball fight which is a big deal for florida kids. And the thunderstorm was an ice cold hail storm. It hit us after the snowball fight. We were running back to the car getting stung by hail stones hitting our heads and ears. The cheap ponchos did next to nothing for us.

Note thunderstorm in the background.





stopping for a snack on the way up.



mountain goat has a collar





And escaping the Storm..



Mama black bear with 2 cubs



Additional info....5200 mile roundtrip from south FL to Yellowstone without any side trips. As I think I mentioned earlier, 150 to 200 miles a day in the park. My Mazda - 4 banger minivan did great. Gas in the rest of the country seems to be way better than what we get in FL. We must have a higher ethanol content down here. I was expecting about 24 mpg and ended up around 28 mpg on the highway. Unless I goofed I was getting an unbelievable 38 mpg in the park, cruising around at 45 mph. Gas in TN was the best price around $3.08 per gallon and you folks in Co and Wy are getting screwed at $3.80 even though you can get no ethanol gas still.

Equipment included...Jansport 5.5 liter backpack from Woot (didn't use it), London Bridge 3day pack (used it, comfortable but didn't need it), Ruger Blackhawk in 45 LC and Ruger bear spray, also didn't need them..



This was my camp kitchen in camp and at the cabin. A hurricane Sterno-gril which I use with alcohol. This thing is great, I could make everything I needed with this...hotdogs, toast, fry eggs & sausage or make pasta...



I also packed a Baofeng radio that I had programmed some emergency channels. I found the west side repeater when we were hiking Mt Washburn. As far as the hiking, I stopped at a ranger station to inquire. They have pamphlets with day hikes and you can camp in the back country. I think you have to get a permit but you can hike and camp pretty much anywhere. If the kids were older I might have been down for that. Of course you can do that in the national forests too...

So...the bill....

$692 gas
$830 for lodging (4 nights at motels and $500 of that was for 5 nights at the koa cabin)
$581 for food and miscellaneous expenditures

for a total of about $2285...

Dude, what mistakes?

Great job, the kids will have a lot of memories.

those are for drifting snow aka snow fences

this is to creating a natural storage spot for the snow to prevent it from blowing across the road. The taller the fence, the more effective it is in controlling the snow.  


thanks for sharing this trip

when I lived in Utah I did this a few times - always good times

A few... Wasted road time and not having enough extra time for side trips. The drive was easy. 13 hours behind the wheel would get me there in 3 days. Coming back I had to do 16 hrs the last night to get back to jax... That drive sucked.

Thanks for the answer

Awesome trip, great thread.  The pic you are not sure of is Gibbon Falls.

Looks like a great trip.  Thanks for sharing!

WHAT!? no pretend to be farting a steam vent?

Bad dad!

Looks like you guys had a blast!!!!  

epic successful mission....documented too.

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your trip!!

I went along with my former boss on an Elk hunt in the Bridger Teton National forest a few years back... one of the best experiences of my life.  Wyoming is an amazing place.

Looks like your kids had fun and will have the memories forever.



We only saw a bit of Yellowstone when we lived in MT.

Reminds me of our family drives up to AK from MT.

Sadly I don't think I will ever top this....

Yes, you can shoot prairie dogs year round, and they are hated.

Quite a trip. Thanks for taking the time to share all the pictures.

Great pics and your kids will have lasting memories from it.

Awesome trip.....cute kids.

Tell them to quit the dopey faces in the pictures.

Great trip with great memories for the kiddos sir!

My wife's best friend was driving from Seattle back to Ohio a few years back and asked if she could borrow me for the drive cross country. So she didn't get murdered and what not.

Camped in Yellowstone for 2 nights.

Wow! You're a brave man. Looks like an unforgettable trip for all of you. Great looking family you have there.

Forgot to comment on the fishing. Out-of-state fishing license is $14 a day. Guy at the shop said I had to get one for myself even if it was only my kids fishing. So I got a one day for the national forest, Yellowstone has its own fishing license. So we tried to fish in the forest and the mosquitos put an end to that, no bites either.

So we were going to try to fish in Yellowstone but I started reading the fishing rules, NO BARBS, RELEASE NATIVE SPECIES.... I guess rainbow trout and some other species is crowding out the native stuff so they want you to take non-native only. I just decided to skip the fishing all together. We did stop along the road and hit a stream off of Interstate 80 for about 20 minutes. Again the mosquitos were bad and we got nothing.

Money for memories well spent...every single moment you can spend with your kids is always good..I've missed many years of my kids lives due to my job and wish I could get it all back..treasure every second no matter the cost

QFT.  I need to do this trip with my kids in the next 2 summers.

Well played sir. Fatherhood, you're doing it right.


I learned the lesson about summer vacations from my Dad. We go white water rafting and kayaking every year. Lot's of pics and the kids love it.

ETA: Things don't go as planned or if there are challenges (IE; the hail storm on the mtn hike) form the basis of the stories to be told around future campfires for years to come.

NOOOOO!!! The faces they were making were hilarious! And it was even funnier when two would be smiling normally and the third was goofy-faced...and they would swap around which one would make the face...bwah ha ha!

Cool pics, OP, and you are a heck of a brave dad tackling that trip outnumbered 3 to 1!

I must be reading your mind bc I as thinking of a rafting trip up to Georgia next.

i could not have said it any better

excellent choices and trip with lasting memories took my kids in 1991 when they were still young - about the same age and they still have memories of it

I've paddled a bunch in N. GA., TN and NC.
The Chattooga near Clayton is a National Wild & Scenic river with 1st rate scenery and outstanding white water from mild to wild. It's the main river Deliverance was filmed on. Paddle faster, I hear banjo's.
The Chattahoochee near Helen is gentler but very pretty.
Just over the border in NC near Bryson City is the Nantahala  tucked into a beautiful gorge
Just over the border in TN near Copper Hill is the Ocoee which was the site of the 96 Olympics white water slalom events. There are 2 good white water stretches there and I think there is a stretch that is run in inner tubes.
All of these rivers are with in a few hours drive from each other.

There are a plethora of great camp grounds from National Forest CG's to small Mom and Pop's. You can rent cabins too.
Besides rafting, there are some great hikes and mountain biking. There's even some places where you can pan for gem stones. History abounds at every turn.

Plan it!

The "goat" with a collar is actually a Bighorn ewe

Really cool pictures. Yellowstone is an amazing place. It is unbelievable how large the park is, too.

OK!  I did notice just two mistakes you made!!!
One that SHT EATEN GRIN you have on your face in the first picture!
Just because you got to travel all over the country!!!
While the rest of us had to stay home this summer is NO excuse!!!
Then there is the picture taking. Kind of skimpy don't you think!!!
You talked about this rafting trip up to Georgia  .
Maybe to help with your lack of picture taking you could get the kids
their own  Ion Air Pro/Go Pro style camera. (there are some cheap ones out there)
Then you would have pictures/video of ever minute of your trip!!!
I'm not saying, I'm just saying!!!
Great trip! Everyone looked like they had fun.  Keep it up!
They will grow up fast enough.

PITA45

PS I'm sure you took ten thirty times more pictures then you posted!!!

UMMM...yeah.... Between me and the kids, I edited together about 1.5 hours of video and probably over 200 photographs. This weekend I'll sit down with the girls to pick some pics out for the wall and a photo album....

Way to go, awesome pictures. One thing to remember your kids will remember that trip for the rest of their lives.
Noticed you had snow in one of your pictures, I got snowed on a couple years ago up there also. again great pictures and thanks for sharing.

You look mighty familiar.  I just moved from the Jax area a couple months back...hmm, where might I have seen you?

Got it!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-07yWcmNxSNQ/TuX9YYwdhyI/AAAAAAAADsY/I-5DE9_sK4w/s1600/walmart%2Blogo%2Bsmiley%2Bface.jpg

You related to this guy?

This is the kind of vacation that kids remember. I know I have lots of great memories of similar vacations to yours from the 70's.

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

This.  

Looks like you made great memories.

Really cool pics. Thanks for sharing. I'm flying out to Yellowstone this Saturday with my wife (one day after getting married), and we'll spend a week there. It won't be nearly as intensive as your trip, though; we're doing touristy stuff mostly including some excursions and dinners at restaurants and hotels.

The guided tours are probably worth while if you have the scratch. Tetons are amazing to look at but I don't think you really see anything that you can't see in Yellowstone. Allot of people said take a trip to glacier... Wish I had the time. And I would like to have done some real backpacking into the boonies...

Have a good time

A few years ago I took my sons on a Boy Scout high adventure trek to Camp Daniel Boone in North Carolina. We went white water rafting on 5 rivers in 5 days. We rafted the Nantahala, French Broad, Pigeon, Ocoee, and Chattooga. It was a great trip that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

BSA Camp Daniel Boone Rafting High Adventure

My favorite story from that trip happened on the way home. Early in the morning coming back, we ran out of gas on an exit ramp in Dale, Indiana. I was outside the bus watching traffic when my oldest son called me back on the bus. I was tired and kind of tense so I wanted to know why I was needed on the bus. He just said that my youngest son needed me. Rather than question further, I decided to get on the bus to see what he needed. As soon as I got on, all the Scouts started singing happy birthday and gave me a card they made out of TP. It was my birthday and I had completely forgotten all about it but they remembered.

Last summer was the summer before my oldest son’s senior year in High School, so my wife and I decided to take a family vacation to South Dakota to visit Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, and Custer State Park. It was the same trip she and I took 20 years before, a few years after we were married and before we started having kids. It was also a trip my family took when I was a kid. A lot of things have changed over the years. We had a great time but my youngest son received a stern warning in the Rapid City Cabela’s when he put a mannequin head and a stuffed possum in a barbeque grill that was on display. Good times!

I've never been to Wyoming. A trip to Yellowstone is on my list.

Great pics & story! Looks like your kids had a blast! Thanks for posting! Looks like something I might look into taking the family!