Yellowstone National Park
We are here in Yellowstone. Almost anyone you meet knows of Yellowstone. But to actually be there, it is an unusual feeling and experience. First we had already reserved a campsite for 3 days in the southern part of the park. You really cannot camp in the park without a reservation. Again this was all done via Gary’s senior access card, (free entry into park and 1/2 off all campsites). Anyway, here are some of the first impressions we had of Yellowstone,
Then there were the second impressions,
Yellowstone is really big! We did not manage to see Old Faithful on this first day but we did go for a hike along a river and to some steam vents,
Not much, but we were really tired, and it started to rain on us.
The next day we decided to really do the tourist thing a go see Old Faithful,
First you sit or stand around waiting with lots of others,
Then a little steam,
a little more,
and eventually it blows!
It really is more impressive than these pictures show. And despite being touristy it is well worth seeing.
After seeing this we walked all around the Old Faithful grounds which are full of geyser activity,
Not much grows around there with all the hot bubbling sulfur water, but we did manage to get hailed on and had to run for cover, soaking wet!
On our way back to campsite Gary got to fish a little, and we saw a few more spectacular vistas,
On our third day, we decided to take a long ride around the park. Perhaps we would get to see some of the more famous wildlife. We headed up north because we heard that the bison were there. But first we had this encounter,
A really beautiful elk next to one of the parks service cabins. Needless to say there were many others stopped along side the road to catch a glimpse of this beautiful creature.
Then soon after up the road,
A bison napping along side the road.
As we parked to take this picture another Toyota truck with the same Four Wheel Fleet pop-up camper pulled in front of us. Naturally both of us walked up to the driver of this vehicle and struck up a conversion. Soon we were giving them (husband,wife, and 3 kids) our card and inviting them to our home if they were ever passing through. So they reciprocated and gave us their card. Aspect Coffee Roasters! With this both of us drew closer to the window and excitingly said “You roast coffee?”
As you can see in this picture, we manged to get some single origin Peruvian coffee from that truck in front of us. It is a bit amazing how for us coffee could exceed the excitement of that bison on the side of the road!
Soon a little bit further up this road all cars were stopped for about a quarter of a mile.
At first we didn’t know why, but soon Nancy caught this picture of a mama black bear and her two cubs. All the traffic was vigorously being directed by a ranger, as people were not to be getting out of their cars.
After this excitement, both of us decided to take a break from being in the vehicle and we found a place further up to go on a hike.
This was up above 8000 feet and our lungs really felt it. But these pictures can only show you a little of the vistas we saw. Quite astounding.
So we ventured on around the northern part of the park and when we started to come down south again we were stopped about 20 miles from our destination by rangers who told us the road was closed ahead because of a bad accident. We had to turn around and find another way back to our campground. Well, this was not possible, it was nearly 10 pm and we did not have the gas to go all around the park again. So the nearest lodge was the beautiful Old Faithful Lodge,
And we let security know that we were parking over-nite in the parking lot and to expect more people because of the accident.
We hope you have enjoyed some of our stories and pictures so far as we now say goodbye to Yellowstone,
And look forward to our next state, Montana,
See you soon!
Travel Adventures - Gary and Nancy 