Day 6 ~ Yellowstone National Park ~ Day 1

Day 6 ~ Yellowstone National Park

There isn’t that much to write about today.  Most of the wonder of the day came from what we saw.  We didn’t talk much as there was so much to take in and digest.  This country is so different than what we are used to seeing in Indiana!  It is so magnificent.  These are just a few of my one million snapshots that I scored today.

Breakfast was just raisin oatmeal in the microwave.  Mike has to do a magic thing outside the camper to make the microwave work.  We had toast and fresh pineapple too.  We were able to pull things together pretty quickly compared to the days when we have had to break camp. 

I thought we were 30 minutes from West Yellowstone, but we are only 6 miles so that was a plus.  However, it seems like you drive forever in the park before you come to the loop with all the interesting stuff on it. 

We bought the America the Beautiful pass at Devils Tower, so we were good to go through the gate. We opted for heading towards Old Faithful to start.  Along the way, we saw a huge bison (no buffalo in the U.S.), but we were going too fast to get a good look.  It was almost like:  What the heck was that we just saw?!!!

We slowed down and saw geese with goslings, lots and lots of bison, some baby bison calves, two female elk to start our drive.

 

 

We are amazed at how crowded this park is already so early in the season.  Many of the hotels haven’t even opened yet.  I would guess that 85 percent of the tourists aren’t American either.   Traffic is bad and each place we visit is crowded. It is raining her so much that we have spent a lot of the time in the car.  I was hoping for more exercise.

We saw The Paint Pots.

Mike always said that he thought quicksand would be more of a problem than it is when he grew up.  This would be the nearest he has come to quicksand!  Don't fall off the path!

On such a cold day, the pots were really steaming!  Smelled like good old sulfur water from our area of Indiana!



The amazing colors are due to thermophiles that thrive in the hotness of the edges of the pools. 

It was freezing cold this rainy day in May.  There were even some snow flurries.



Natalie let her hair down to stay warmer!

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!

This sign means no crazy jumping allowed!

 

We saw Old Faithful.  We saw it from the Visitor’s Center as it was pouring rain.  I wish we would have left the umbrellas in the car.  When we were packing the car, Mike said, “What about the umbrellas?”  Since I said it never rained out West, we left them.  Dang.

Old Faithful

 

We happened across Kepler Cascade just by chance.  The sign said the road was closed for construction, but Mike went to the end of the line before the barricades and what a treat for the eyes we were rewarded with!  Fantastic surprise.  I tried to take a group photo here with the tripod, but wasn’t very successful.  Then it started pouring rain again, so I gave up.  This is all you get.  I am blocking the falls.

Kepler Cascades

 

We visited Biscuit Basin.

I thought this was even more intriguing than the Paint Pots.

You can really see the thermophiles action here up close.

This is the same pool, only from a distance.

We lived dangerously and took a trail to Mystic Falls.  It said it wasn’t very far, maybe 1.7 miles.  But it was pretty rugged so it took longer than you would jog 1.7 miles at home.  Then it branched off and the kids wanted to take the longer branch.  So we did for about a hundred miles until Mike said it was getting too treacherous and we would need to turn back.  So then we took the shorter trail that was only about 50 miles.  It started pouring again.  We almost gave up right before we got to the falls!  Then the sun came out!  It truly was an enchanted place. …….Until Natalie said she thought she was going to be sick.  She thought she might throw up.  So then we had to hike back 10 million miles to get back to Biscuit Basin and the car.  We decided since it was very late in the afternoon, we would just go back to the campground so she could use the bathroom…….one way or another.  She was moaning and whimpering in the backseat all the way back.  These two kids never make a peep even when they are hurt, so we were rather concerned.  It turned out to be nothing a good poop couldn’t take care of.  We are having good balanced meals, but I don’t think we are drinking enough water.  Both kids have had pains now that have hopefully convinced them the importance of drinking lots of water. 
 
 
 

 

The green color is due to thermophiles, not to be confused with pedophiles.   They are both strange organisms. 

 

So clear.  So Blue.

 

We decided to take the trail to Mystic Falls in the middle of our walk through Biscuit Basin.

 

This is the view from the trail we attempted.  We were almost at the top of the mountain.

 

I wonder who is more important.

 

Mystic Falls was worth the 100 million mile hike!  It was like a really good surprise in a Cracker Jack box!

 

Very, very large animal scat.  We were quite wary of what might be sharing the trail with us.  Even Mike was a bit unnerved and wouldn't let Natalie run out ahead on the trail.

 

Damage by the beetles that are desecrating the forests here?

 

Along the gorgeous trail to Mystic Falls

 

The rest of Biscuit Basin on the Way to the Car.

 

I loved this log bridge.

We took some time to swim tonight.  It was actually a pretty nice swimming facility.  Even though it is only 39 degrees….we sat in the hot tub in a lodge type of building then took showers.  If we swim again tonight, I will post pictures of the cool lodge.

Since dinner was kind of blah….The fish I was cooking fell apart and made a substance along the lines of mashed potatoes, we treated ourselves to microwave popcorn and toffee chocolate.  Not healthy, but probably better than something we would have gone out to eat.

We are here at Yellowstone for 5 days and 4 nights, so there will be more Yellowstone to come!  We are hoping to catch a bear on film tomorrow!