First long trip with the TM - Page 2

**Bill** · 10-05-2016, 07:56 AM

Inghamm -

Hey, I think I recognize that 3rd shot, the one with the elk standing by the water. Is that the Firehole River? We were there about 10 years ago (we have been back twice since), and my wife, who enjoys fly fishing, tried her luck at that spot. I posted some pictures at

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=4489

The first one shows her after a short cast. The third one is interesting. That Japanese guy with the camera standing just behind her took dozens of photos of her. We think she was featured in the next issue of Fīrudo to Sutorīmu (that's the Japanese version of Field and Stream magazine) in an article titled something like Blondes Go Fishing. Yes, it was a little weird. But we love Yellowstone.

Bill

**inghamm** · 10-05-2016, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradS7535

Doesn't Carpenteria have full hookups?

Also, it seems a lot of people use electric/ceramic heaters...do you only use these with hookups or how do you get them to run?

When we made our reservations for Carpinteria in May, they barely had non-hookup sites available, in fact we re-did our whole trip a day earlier because we couldn't get the Carpinteria dates we wanted.

And yes, just use the electric heaters when plugged in to hookups.

**inghamm** · 10-05-2016, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

Inghamm -

Hey, I think I recognize that 3rd shot, the one with the elk standing by the water. Is that the Firehole River? We were there about 10 years ago (we have been back twice since), and my wife, who enjoys fly fishing, tried her luck at that spot. I posted some pictures at

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=4489

That's funny!

The first one shows her after a short cast. The third one is interesting. That Japanese guy with the camera standing just behind her took dozens of photos of her. We think she was featured in the next issue of Fīrudo to Sutorīmu (that's the Japanese version of Field and Stream magazine) in an article titled something like Blondes Go Fishing. Yes, it was a little weird. But we love Yellowstone.

Bill

Yes that's Firehole River, but closer to Madison then your shots I think.

Yellowstone is so amazing.

**inghamm** · 10-07-2016, 12:57 PM

2nd day in Yellowstone. Weather forecast was one more day of really good weather, so we decided to go for the wolves. What we had heard was, best chance of seeing them was at the Lamar valley at Sunrise (7:30am). Approximately 2 hours from our campsite, so we got up at 4:30 and were on the road at 5:30. We never saw wolves, although we heard rumors of sightings. We did see lots and lots of Bison (aka Buffalo). 7 or 8 herds blocked the road as they crossed from the hills on their way south to the Lamar River. They seemed to like meandering down the middle of the road. I don’t know if this was a daily thing (likely) or we caught the beginning of a migration. They had no fear of cars so we got really close to a lot of them. We love the beauty of the Lamar valley anyway, especially beautiful in the early morning light and the fall colors. So we felt like our early morning rising was worth it.
Then we went to Mammoth. On the way some pronghorns dashed across the road right in front of us. I was able to get the video from the dashcam.
We had heard about this big Elk herd with a big bull elk that was around there. I thought we could go in the visitor center and ask. DW was driving and said, the last time we were in Mammoth they were down here, so she turned down this road, and there they were. The bull elk they call “touchdown” because his antlers are more straight up and down than usual. He had about 30 cows with him. Had lunch in the car right there and then went to see the Hot Springs. We’ve seen them better. Some were dry. On the way out we saw another bull elk with 4 cows. On the way back to camp we stopped at tower falls which we had never seen before.

**inghamm** · 10-07-2016, 01:27 PM

When we would leave in the morning for our first 2 days at Yellowstone it would be very cold. Then we would get back it would be in the 70’s and with the trailer all buttoned up it would 80 inside, so I would open the 3 roof vents and all the windows. Last night, even with the 2 heaters going it got very cold inside. At one point it was 31 outside and 41 inside. Checked all the windows to make sure they were closed. Couldn’t figure out what the deal was until this morning when DW noticed the 3 roof vents were still open. Oops.
We headed out to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone today. On the way there was a MAJOR traffic jam, with 3 rangers on site. Sure enough, a Grizzly sighting. Always fun. Thankful for the 30x optical zoom (doubled with digital zoom) on my HX90 camera. Then off we went to the canyon. We hiked the South Rim and thought about continuing the loop like we had in 2008, but the bodies said no, so we walked back on the road. Then we drove to the north rim and visited the overlooks.
This is my 4th time seeing the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, but it is still amazing. Pictures don’t do it justice. We got sprinkled on occasionally, but nothing major. (40% chance of rain and chance of afternoon thunderstorms)
On the way back we ran into another traffic jam. This time for bison. This group was hanging out rather than moving. Saw and got video of some wallowing and males going after each other.

**inghamm** · 10-07-2016, 01:32 PM

couple more Grand Canyon of Yellowstone pics

**inghamm** · 10-07-2016, 04:06 PM

4th day in Yellowstone. Headed off to see Biscuit Basin (1st time for us). Just a minor thermal area across from the Old Faithful area. On the way saw some elk. Then we headed towards Norris Geyser Basin. On the way we did the Firehole flats road (1st time for us) and saw a huge herd of bison, pretty much surrounding the parking lot and then continuing off into the distance. One of the Bison was was the rare 2 headed variety which we had never seen before. (JK) (Sorry, I don't see "JK" in the official abbreviations and acronyms post - when I was teaching middle school I heard it a lot. It means "just kidding") After lunch we did the 2 hour hike viewing the Norris Geyser Basin. On the way home we took the Firehole canyon drive (1st time for us) and saw the Firehole falls. There is also a swimming area off this road. On the road home we saw a herd of elk.

**inghamm** · 10-07-2016, 04:10 PM

one more elk herd picture

Gwenne & Len · 10-07-2016, 07:28 PM

Hey - sounds like a wonderful trip - how is the Highlander doing in the mountains?

**inghamm** · 10-08-2016, 07:58 AM

Our Highlander had been doing super in the mountains. Like I said in an earlier post, the TM weighed out at 3520, which is 20 pounds over capacity. We've set the cruise control in the 60-65 range and it's done just fine - no sign of strain or overheating. My last concern is the longevity of the CVT. My Toyota service people think it will be fine as long as I am diligent with service. Time will tell. Right now I'm very happy with it.