Yellowstone

The first National Park greeted us in grand fashion. The rain that had seen us out of the Tetons began to clear as we drove into Yellowstone, and the scale of the park began to reveal itself as we drove through the forests of lodge pole pines, stopping at random pull-outs for irresistible sites, crossing the continental divide (with a small lake that flows into the Atlantic and the Pacific!), and working our way around a small bit of the Grand Loop Road to our first major stop, the Grand Prismatic Spring. We braved the crowds and hiked along the boardwalks for a close-up view of the largest hot spring in Yellowstone and the striking bacterial mats, but it was actually difficult to see much from so close while enveloped in all the steam. For a much better view, we went to the Fairy Falls trailhead and hiked a little more than a mile up to the overlook where the spring revealed itself in all its grand prismatic glory.




After our little hike, we drove over to check in at the Old Faithful Inn, and right as we drove up we were greeted by the erupting Bee Hive Geyser. The Inn is one of those grand old buildings made up of all sorts of unique logs that you couldn't imagine being constructed today, and it was the perfect base for some hikes around the geysers, and of course great views of Old Faithful. After a lovely dinner at the Inn, we noticed the weather forecast for the next few days was looking decidedly wet. Steve and I had been planning on getting up super early to try to get a campsite at either Slough Creek or Norris campground, but the prospect of camping for two days in a steady rain didn't sound particularly appealing. We inquired with the front desk, and after talking to a few different people, we were able to get two adjoining cabins near Lake Lodge for the next two nights. Perfect :-)

The next day we hiked around Geyser Hill, up to Observation Point, and on to Solitary Geyser, before driving over to our cabins by Lake Lodge. In the morning, we woke up super early to drive up to the Lamar Valley in the rain to do some wildlife spotting. We saw bears, herds of bison, elk, mountain goats, coyotes, and of course plenty of pronghorns (none of which turned out to be a moose ;-) Driving back from Lamar Valley we stopped at Tower Falls and Artists Point for some spectacular views in the rain, then closed out our day with cocktails at Lake Yellowstone Hotel before returning to our cabins for the night.



On our last day in Yellowstone we visited plenty more geothermal formations while we drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs to see the beautiful travertine formations and listen to Nora complain about how much sulphur stinks. Then it was on to White Sulphur Springs to stay with Megan's cousin Ted and his family.

(Click here for all the Yellowstone pictures.)