Day 21 (Part Two) - Hey, I'm Walkin' Here!

We ate dinner at a diner tucked behind the visitor center at Fishing Bridge and did a little souvenir shopping. Gavin (with Grandma and Grandpa's help) surprised us with some hefty Yellowstone mugs for our morning coffee. Gabriella, the little fashionista, finally found a t-shirt that she liked and found a gift for her boyfriend back home. When we left, we were starting to lose daylight, so we bypassed the Mud Volcano and Sulphur Cauldron, purportedly the stinkiest areas in Yellowstone. We were anxious to get up to Canyon to see the falls before the sun set.

On the way, we passed through Hayden Valley. It is supposed to be a wildlife rich area, so we were hoping to finally see some moose or even a bear. We were out of luck there, but there were some bison waiting in the road for us. They caused quite a traffic jam.

These two were having a bit of a tiff

 
This picture that my mom took out the window is my favorite because it shows just how close the bison were.

I love this guy - he wasn't movin' for nobody! He just sauntered right up the center of the lane and wasn't about to move for the ridiculously long line of cars crawling along behind him. We were headed in the opposite direction, so he let us by, only giving us a bit of the evil eye as we passed.

We finally made it to South Rim Drive to go to Artist Point. The views of the canyon and Lower Falls were nothing short of spectacular. I do wish that we had gotten there a little bit earlier so the light would have been better for photos. These just don't do the place justice.

Upper Falls

We made one last stop before heading back to the campground.We took North Rim Drive so that we could get a little closer to Lower Falls, but it was just about dark. It was a fabulous day!

Day 21 (Part One) - Staring into the Abyss

We took the morning off. We had packed a lot of sight-seeing into the past two days and we all needed a little breather. Plus, we had little luck with seeing any wildlife in the morning, so we figured we would give the evening a whirl. We spent the morning doing a whole lotta nothing. After lunch, we hit the southern loop of Yellowstone.  We began at the Madison Visitor Center because it is the "Junior Ranger Station" and the kids were ready to turn in their books to earn their sixth and final Jr. Ranger badges of the trip.

The ranger here was really good. You could tell that he was used to working with the kids and interacted with them more than most of the other rangers have done. At the gift shop, we found lanyards with attached compasses that they can pin their badges on. There is still room for plenty more, so we're on a mission to visit as many national parks as we can in the next few years.

This visitor center was cool because it was geared toward kids and had a bunch of bones and fossils on display for the kids to touch. There were also casts of footprints of the animals found in the park.

The bear was how big??

We then took the Firehole Canyon Drive, which took us along the Firehole River to the Firehole Falls. Are you sensing a theme here?

We missed out on the Lower Geyser Basin a couple of days ago, so we stopped there next. Geysers and mud pots and paint pots, oh my!

Silex Spring

Mud Pot a bubblin' away

Red Spouter - It was particularly angry-looking hissing out that hot steam

A small geyser that I don't remember the name of was erupting...

So, let's walk through it! Photo by Bob

Since we had hit the canyon, the river, and the falls, we figured we shouldn't miss out on the lake, so onto Firehole Lake Drive we went. We stopped at the Great Mountain Geyser. It was estimated that it would erupt that day, but when we arrived the sign said it should go off sometime between 4:30 and 10:30 pm. We weren't willing to hang around quite that long to wait, so it was on to the White Dome Geyser.

Then, it was back to the truck to drive to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. There is a lot of thermal activity in this area and a gorgeous view of Yellowstone Lake.

Fishing Cone - Back in the day, fishermen would catch fish in the lake then toss them right into this steam vent to cook them. They stopped after the cone unexpectedly spouted steam and a guy cooking his dinner didn't fare too well.

Black Pool - It has obviously changed color since it got its name, but it is very deep.

Abyss Pool - The reflection of the sky makes it difficult to see, but this is one of the deepest pools in the park. It's also very dark in color and you cannot see the bottom.

About this time, we decided it was time for a dinner break. I'm going to take a break now, too, so I'll leave you to stare into the Abyss :-)

Day 20 - Abundant Wildlife, My Foot!

People let me know pretty early on that there would be no hiking today. Gabriella, of course, informed me that all she wanted to do today was go hiking in the woods, but she was seriously outvoted. At least I was still able to convince everyone to get up and out early again in the morning so that we would have a better chance of seeing wildlife (unfortunately, said wildlife was not terribly cooperative, but whatcha you gonna do?) We did see some elk out having their morning breakfast by the West Entrance Road, but that was about it.

Once we got into the park, we pointed the truck north to Mammoth Hot Springs. The drive was quite spectacular.

Our first stop was at the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces, formed as hot acidic water dissolves limestone underground. Once it is exposed to the air, the remaining substance is deposited as travertine that forms the terraces. Some areas look a little like the surface of the moon. It is eerily beautiful.

Looking down on the town of Mammoth Hot Springs

We stopped in town to go into the Visitor Center to find some answers that Gavin needed for his Jr. Ranger book. This is what we found across the street.

We finally got to see some male elk!

There was, ahem, evidence that the critters spend quite a bit of time in town here. They completely ignore all of the people standing around gawking and taking pictures. There was a ranger hanging around outside to make sure that no one tried to get too close, though.

We made a quick stop at an overlook of Undine Falls. We only had time to take a couple of pictures before Linda couldn't stand us all being so close to the edge of the cliff and we had to go back to the truck :-)

Next was the Forces of the Northern Range self-guided nature trail. It was a boardwalk that had a lot of placards telling you about wildlife, plant life, geology, and history of the area. Gavin particularly liked it. Reading each sign gave the walk purpose, and Gavin likes to have a purpose for everything he does. We did actually learn a lot, especially about the 1988 fire that burned almost 40% of Yellowstone. It's amazing how much regrowth there has been since that time.

This area hasn't recovered as quickly as most of the park.

 I decided we should take another gravel road (this ride was much more tame then the one we took in the Tetons, though.) From everything I read, the Blacktail Plateau Drive had "abundant wildlife." Well, great! Abundant wildlife is just what we're looking for! And guess what we saw!? A whole lot of nuthin'! I saw one prairie dog and a whole bunch of bugs. Abundant wildlife my foot. I think all of the animals in the park are on vacation.

We had to stop at the Petrified Tree. It is an ancient redwood that was preserved under an avalanche of volcanic ash from an eruption millions of years ago. Sounds cool, right? The other ladies (and Gabriella) decided against making the climb up the trail, but the boys and I didn't want to miss it.

It was kind of anti-climactic. This was all that's left and you aren't allowed to touch it or even get close. Oh well, it was interesting, anyway.

For lunch, we went to the restaurant in the Roosevelt Lodge in the park. It was a pretty big place with decent food. It was a nice break from being in the car so much. After we ate, we drove through the Tower-Roosevelt area and along the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone." Unfortunately, they were doing construction and we were unable to pull off anywhere to take pictures. I've given up on trying to take photos out the window of the car because they just end up being blurry anyway.

The plan was to go to see the waterfalls in Canyon, but this happened...

Gabriella was done. This trip is wiping her out! So, we saved the falls for another day and headed back to West Yellowstone. Along the way we saw a herd of bison. At the bottom of the picture, you can see all of the fools trying to get as close as they can to get good pictures. It seems especially smart after a man was gored by a bison earlier in the week for making similar decisions. Our decision was to admire them from afar.

Don, Grandpa, and I took the kids for a swim in the campground's indoor pool in the evening. The water was freezing! What I wouldn't have given for this water a week or so ago when it was so blazing hot. Today, I did not appreciate it at all. Afterward, I threw the kids in for hot showers to thaw them out. We had late-night take-out from a barbecue place in town. The salads were really very good. The barbecue, not so much. Only one more day to explore Yellowstone!