YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (WY) - WK #2

MONDAY - We've only got 39-miles to travel today, but we're up early and off our campsite by 7:45AM.

Shortly after 8:00AM we were pulling away from the dump station in the campground and headed north to our destination. Before we even made it to the Main Park Highway we slipped passed these two female elk grazing on the grass at the side of the road.

The first one didn't even look up as we passed within just a few feet of her, so I gave the second one a little whistle to get her attention. She at least lifted her head with a mouthful of grass to nod goodbye to us.

We ran into a little bit of road construction traffic as we neared the Old Faithful turnoff, but that's nothing unusual to us. Over the last week I estimate we've spent at least 4-hours stuck in construction traffic.

At least when we hit a standstill in traffic due to a wildlife sighting we stand a chance at seeing something interesting like bison, elk or heaven forbid, the very elusive grizzly bear.

We arrived at Madison Campground around 9:45AM, even though check-out time isn't until 11:00AM and check-in time starts at 1:00PM.

The little bit of leg work we did on Saturday to find a suitable campsite paid off in spades.

We were assigned our first choice of Campsite #98. It's a double wide driveway with good afternoon sun and even a small window to the northern sky for our Starlink system to function properly. As a bonus the restrooms are right behind and to the left of our campsite, that'll help save on the black tank filling up too soon if we use their bathrooms for our daily solid deposits. Yeah, I know, TMI.

Plenty of room! If I'd parked 6-inches more to the left, we could have opened our little awning.

Judging by that dry spot on the left, I'd guess last night's occupants were in a tent.

For lunch we drove into the little town of West Yellowstone, MT (pop. 1272) and ate at the Firehole Bar-B-Que Co., it's the highest rated restaurant in town according to Google.

Just before lunch we picked up our General Delivery Mail I had sent ahead of us to the Post Office. It contained a new license plate for THE POD and new Amazon Prime credit cards, both were much needed items.

TUESDAY - We learned a very important lesson today.

Don't try to view any of the magnificent geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park too early in the morning!

With morning air temperatures in the mid-40°F and the water temperatures between 150°F-200°F all you're going to see is "geothermal steam". No bubbling pools, no beautiful colors, no surging geyers! It's all still happening, that doesn't stop just because you can't see it, but you're not going to be able to take any photos to share through all that steam!

Having said that, it puts you into a "catch-22" situation. You can't arrive early expecting to see the beatiful pools, but it's the only time of day when the parking lots aren't overflowing with vehicles. If you arrive later in the morning or early afternoon, during prime viewing time, you'll find the parking lots either full or in some cases "temporarily closed"!

I wasn't with Tricia when she took some of the afternoon photos. I was still in ROVER, circling the parking lots, trying to snag a parking spot big enough to fit into. Your only other choice is to park on the side of the main road (only where allowed) and walk sometimes ¼-mile back to the trailhead. Of course when you finish enjoying the feature you came to see you'll still have that same ¼-mile walk back to your vehicle.

You'll see what I'm talking about when viewing the photos from today. The afternoon photos are much more impressive.

MIDWAY GEYSER BASIN
AND
LOWER GEYSER BASIN

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Today's travels took us south, north and then south again from Madison Campground.
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This photo was taken at 6:45AM on our way to the Midway Geyser Basin.
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Even before the geyser water hits the cooler Firehole River it's steaming.
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This is the bright blue waters of Excelsior Geyser. Trust me it's blue!
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Now on to the star of the show, the 370' in diameter Grand Prismatic Spring.
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You can see the yellow, orange and green colors in the steam, but that's about it.
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Same here, not so "Grand" is it at 7:15AM?
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We'll just have to come back here later and joust for a parking spot.
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This is the Silex Spring on the Fountain Paint Pot Trail.
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Tricia was fascinated by these bubbling mud pits called Paint Pots (videos below).
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These are aptly nicknamed "Bobby Socks" trees.
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The Firehole River along the Fountain Flat Drive, a bicycle trailhead.
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Tricia accidentally scared this duck family out from behind their hidey-hole rock.
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These giant boulders did not tumble down the nearby mountain,
they were left behind by a glacier many thousands of years ago.
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We turned off of the main road onto the 2-mile one-way Firehole Canyon Drive
where we spotted this fellow within the first 50-yards of the drive.
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The Firehole River exiting the north end of Firehole Canyon.
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It's still only 9:15AM so most of the drive was still in the shade of the canyon.
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This is Firehole Falls, what else would it be named (video below)?
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Back on the Main Road and several miles north we found Gibbon Falls.
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This is the view from the top of the trail that surrounds the Artist's Paint Pots.
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Tricia took was too many videos (see below) of the Paint Pots found here.
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Just east of Norris you'll find the Virginia Cascades and our picnic lunch spot for today.
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Just outside of Norris we visited the Museum of the National Park Ranger.
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The building was restored in 1991 and is one of the original soldier stations, built in 1908.
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OK, it's 2:30PM and we're all the way back south at the Midway Geyser Basin.
I told you Excelsior Geyser was blue!
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And now look at the brilliant colors of Grand Prismatic Spring!
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If you want to truly experience the grandeur of Grand Prismatic Spring,
you'll have to take the hiking trail that goes up to the middle of that hillside in the background.
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So that's what Tricia did while I tried to find a parking spot for ROVER, again!
The Overlook Trail is ¾-mile down the road in another overflowing parking lot.
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Now that's starting to look a little more "Grand". Let's zoom in a little, please.
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There you go! All 370' of Grand Prismatic Spring at 3:45PM.
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That's Excelsior Geyser in the background, and with that, we're calling it a day!

VIDEO #1 - This is the Fountain Paint Pot. The mud was a little thinner here.

VIDEO #2 - Firehole Falls from the overlook.

VIDEO #3 - The steamy, bubbling and roaring waters of the roadside Beryl Spring.

VIDEO #4 - The bubbling mud at Artist's Paint Pots.

VIDEO #5 - More bubbling mud at Artist's Paint Pots.

VIDEO #6 - I told you Tricia was fascinated by the Paint Pots.

WEDNESDAY - Today it's all about the wildlife viewing in the park.

We've read and been told that the Lamar Valley in the northeast region of the park is where you'll have the best chance of spotting wildlife from the roadway.

There is little to no geothermal activity in this region, and that means fewer people take the time it requires to visit this area.

Our day started at 5:00AM! That's when our alarm went off and by 5:30AM we were on the road with our picnic lunch all packed. We weren't the only ones on the road this early, we quickly found ourselves in a procession of five vehicles, probably all headed to the same place.

Lamar Valley is 50+ miles from Madison Campground and sunrise is the best time for wildlife viewing. Spotting bears and/or wolves are our two primary objectives for today, but we're not expecting to see them both, most visitors don't.

LAMAR VALLEY WILDLIFE VIEWING

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Just north of Dunraven Pass (elev. 8859) is a pullout with a restroom and a view. "6:25AM"
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Across the road is a field of wildflowers.
I'll bet they look even more beautiful when the sun is shining on them.
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This mountainside looks as if it's constantly flaking away.
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Our first wildlife sighting today. It was hard to miss him standing in the opposite lane.
At least he was going with the flow of traffic this time.
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He wasn't alone. There were several hundred also nearby (see more in the videos).
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This young calf looks kind of demure and/or bashful.
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But there's nothing bashful about this guy's stare.
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A lone bald eagle was spotted about 100-yards away up in a treetop.
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We also spotted a small group of female pronghorns.
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One was even sporting the latest fashion in "Pronghorn Jewelry".
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We almost missed grabbing a photo of this lone coyote before he dissappeared.
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No one told this 3-month old calf he not sexually mature until the age of 2.
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Not sure at all what's going on in this photo.
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Saying goodbye to the Lamar Valley. No bears or wolves spotted by us today. "9:00AM"
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This is the beginning of the Blacktail Plateau Drive in the central-northern region.
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We like these short "off the beaten path" backroads.
We also like to travel them at a leisurely pace of 10-15MPH to spot wildlife.
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While others still blow past us at 35MPH, why not just stay on the main road then?
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That wide pullout in the curve of the road up ahead looks like the perfect overnight spot
for someone is a Class B Van (if it were allowed, it's not!)
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The only thing "wild" spotted on the drive today were wildflowers.
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This is the view from the Calcite Springs Overlook...
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...and this is the nearby 132' Tower Fall.
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It's no where near as tall as the 308' Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
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Here is the 12:45PM photo of the same pullout were we stopped at 6:25AM this morning.
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I knew that field of wildflowers would "come alive" in the sunshine.
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Once again it's going to take a long time to get back home traveling at just 2MPH.

Are these two just playing around or has their "rut" begun?

Nothing demure about this one, they came right up to ROVER and gave him a little snort,
telling us it's time to put it in gear and move on down the road.

Just a few of the 5,000 bison that today call Yellowstone home.

What do bison do when they have an itch? They find a big immovable boulder and scratch it!

We spent a fair amount of time today just watching the bison go about their daily activities.

Why do bison roll in the dirt?
It's called wallowing and it deters biting flies and removes tufts of last winter's molted fur.

The 132' tall Tower Fall.

THURSDAY - Today we're going into the town of Gardiner for breakfast. It's located just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park, about five miles from Mammoth Hot Springs.

I've read stories about the treacherous 5-miles of roadway between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner and decided it might be a good idea to get a look at it before we try to tow THE POD through there on Monday morning.

Turns out even just driving a 20' F-150 through the course of winding, twisting curves with a 6-8% downhill grade was a bit of a challenge. My biggest concern was not whether I could keep THE POD in it's own lane, but whether the big 16-wheeler truck drivers would take the same amount of concern to keep their rigs in their own lane.

If we happened to meet one of them coming uphill while we were going downhill in one of the dozen or more tight turns it could be a recipe for disaster.

I had just about decided to drive the extra 35-miles to exit the park at the West Entrance when I saw online that there would be a new reconstruction effort through the Golden Gate Pass, beginnng on the morning we're leaving and we should expect delays of 30-minutes or more.

That clinches it!

We'll be heading out the West Entrance and taking the long way around this time.

With that decision made, and breakfast complete, it's time to start our sightseeing for the day.

THE HISTORIC NORTH ENTRANCE
AND
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS

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This is the southern end of the Golden Gate Pass where the construction begins on Monday.
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Just north of Golden Gate the roadway is flanked with precariously balanced boulders.
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Coming out the other side of Golden Gate we passed this unidentified lake.
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The Roosevelt Arch can still be found at the North Entrance in the town of Gardiner.
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The road underneath the arch was the original entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
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March 1, 1872 was the day Yellowstone National Park was created by an Act of Congress.
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On April 24, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt "helped" lay the cornerstone of the arch.
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Pedestrian passageways allow access to both legs of the arch.
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The backside of the arch, seen when exiting the park, is void of any signage.
It's a fact that after the dedication, Theodore Roosevelt never returned to Yellowstone.
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After the entrace gate you immediately begin your Yellowstone visit with a warning.
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This is just the beginning of the 5-mile uphill climb to Mammoth Hot Springs.
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We spotted this pronghorn who seemed to be snickering at the cars and trucks passing him by.
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We're at Mammoth Hot Springs now and it looks like I'll be getting my 10,000 steps today.
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These formations look like what we usually find below ground during a cave tour.
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The runoff from Mound Terrace brings the rock color back to life.
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Here we see Palette Spring with the town of Mammoth Hot Springs in the background.
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Here the runoff from Palette Spring creates cave like rimstone formations.
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This one is named Cleopatra Terrace.
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More rimstone like formations can be found in the runoff from Mound Terrace above.
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This is Mound Terrace.
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An overview of Mound Terrace and the boardwalk pathways.
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Angel Terrace can be found along the 1-mile Upper Terrace Drive.
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Again, this formation would be called flowstone if it were in a cave.
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I'm sure this formation has a name, but we couldn't find one for it.
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This formation is called Liberty Cap.
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Back on the road now we found Undine Falls between Mammoth and Tower.
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It was also on this stretch of road we had our first, and only, Black Bear sighting.
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This is the high bridge over the Gardner River outside of Mammoth Hot Springs.
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Back near the Golden Gate we stopped to take a photo of Rustic Falls.
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Surprisingly we spotted this family of swans on Swan Lake.
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Rather than explain Sheepeater Cliff I'll let you read the sign.
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I imagine this is another one of those features that goes through constant change.
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This is called Obsidian Cliff.
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This is Roaring Mountain named back when it continuously roared steam out it's many vents.

Here's a small collection of short (less than 15 second) videos from today.

Undine Falls

Another driveby video while Tricia hung outside of ROVER's sunroof.

Rustic Falls near Golden Gate Pass.

FRIDAY - I spent all day today, 8AM-7PM (on and off), working on bringing this blog post up to date.

There were a lot of photos and videos to sort through and research needed to correctly identify everthing properly, I hope you enjoyed it.

SUNDAY - Tonight is our 40th and final night in the state of Wyoming.

If you've been following along you'll know we began our visit with 1-night in the Rock Spring's Walmart parking lot, followed by 14-nights at the International Airstream Rally site before our 11-days in Grand Teton National Park, followed immediately by 14-nights in Yellowstone National Park.

Now we'll spend the next 3-days crossing the state of Montana before our sightseeing of western North Dakota begins. So hang on tight and stay tuned!

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