Pulaski

Flew to Denver last Saturday. Since then we have driven to Moab, UT, north into Idaho, and now in Wyoming, and so far it has rained every single day since we left Denver. Six days straight, I kid you not!

And mostly it's been in the range of "heavy" to "torrential", accompanied by thunder and lightning. The local TV stations in Salt Lake City were reporting the storms we experienced as a "monsoon".



On the plus side, the rain has been at night, or when we've been driving, so hasn't really impacted our holiday.



So the solution to the drought in the western states now appears painfully obvious - send more Brits on holiday there.

BritInParis

What a great trip! Very nearly booked to fly into Denver in order to head up to Montana this summer. Instead I’ll be road tripping the Deep South and Texas, from Jacksonville to Big Bend and back again. Hoping for some heat and sunshine since summer in Blighty this year has been a total washout thus far!

Pulaski

Heat isn't going to be a problem for you, that's for sure, but it comes with humidity down there. We have covered parts of your trip, but only as far as New Orleans, and not the Florida panhandle. Mrs P went to college in Texas, but we haven't been there as a family yet, she also used to take trips to the Florida panhandle.

We'll be in Montana in a couple of days. Meanwhile it is raining here at the moment, so that's now seven straight days.

Rete

If you are passing by Hattiesburg, MS or our Gulf Coast, give a holler. We are hot, hot, hot ... 106 yesterday and same forecast for today and tomorrow.

Pulaski

We stayed in Grand Teton National Park last night, in a "cabin" - basically a typical hotel room, but in a row of rooms detached from the hotel lobby and services building, in a development of multiple such rows.

This was the view from the atrium outside the dining room where we had breakfast.

Jolly Good

Big Bend and the surrounding area is amazing, although we only ever visited in the spring or late fall because it gets so hot!! Mind you a lot of times we were on a motorcycle or a trike. Alpine is a neat little town to stay in right near the entrance to the park. Also going through the Davis Mountains is quite an experience. Be prepared for quite a few immigration stops as well.

Our trips to Big Bend are one of the only things I miss of Texas.

S Folinsky

Canyonlands and Arches are memorable.

neill

We have had an exceptional amount of rain (even by long term averages) here in front-range Colorado this year. As you say, mostly of the torrid afternoon downpour type. The mornings here are almost always lovely.

jkeller

Here in San Antonio it has been 103-107F everyday for a while now. Big Bend is beautiful, hope you have a great time! Totally off on a tangent...is your avatar a picture of the late actor Lawrence Harvey?? I've been wanting to ask for a while now and figured it was as good a time as any to ask.😀

Nutmegger

I’d guess Alain Delon.

Pulaski

Arches National Park is, indeed spectacular. We turned north towards SLC from Moab, so Canyonlands will have to wait for another time - we are considering a loop starting and ending in Las Vegas, maybe next year, though not in the summer, that would include Death Valley, Canyonlands, and the Grand Canyon.

Oh, and that first picture I posted I took in Colorado National State Monument, which really kicked off our trip with a bang.

Pulaski

"There are extreme temperatures all the way from Arizona to Canada", they said. "Prepare to deal with daily highes of 100°F+", they said. "The West is gripped by the worst drought in 1,000 years", they said.

So now we're 8/8 for rain, with the twist that today the rain and thunderstorm were accompanied by hail, so much that it looked like snow on the ground. 😃 The high was 62°F (17°C)!



The weather wiped out much of the afternoon but we did get to see Old Faithful erupt, and several other of the hotsprings, but couldn't take the 2 mile hike via several hot springs, that we had planned.

This was one near to Old Faithful.



We also saw quite a lot of Elk, some in herds other in ones or twos, but no bison. We did see one bear yesterday, at considerable distance.

BristolUK

Pulaski

We saw bison on the north side of Yellowstone NP, in relatively large numbers (hundreds, upto maybe 1,000), including some crossing the road near us, and very close to the car, literally 3-4ft close.


After leaving Yellowstone, we drove over Bear Tooth Pass, up to 10,900ft, which is a remote and sparsely traveled road. It has a number as a Wyoming state highway, but Wyoming doesn't maintain it, and says it doesn't meet their standards for highways. I think most of the land alongside it is National Forestry land, but the National Forestry Department doesn't maintain it, so the National Parks Service maintains it despite it not being in a National Park.

philat98

Pulaski you didnt tell us what variety of car you are driving? Thats about the first thing Clarkson tells us. Fantastic lansdscapes.