This is Yellowstone so where is Yogi ?

Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that our traveling buddies, Sue and Mark, are also doing a blog about their trip.  So for more pictures and more of the story, you can check out their blog at  http://travelingwithpatience.blogspot.com/

June 20^th we left Cody, Wyoming and drove to Yellowstone National Park.  Around every curve the scenery was more beautiful !  We are amazed by the texture changes in the landscape as we travel across the country.  While Wayne is driving I am taking LOTS of pictures out the RV window with my cell phone camera.  I try to upload a picture a day on Facebook, at times it has taken an hour to upload. Cell phone signals are VERY spotty, especially in National Parks.  Here are a few pictures from our drive from Cody to Yellowstone.

At Yellowstone we stayed in Bridge Bay Campground.  The sites were built when people camped in tents or had small travel trailers, the Land Yacht was a tight squeeze on the unlevel spot, thank goodness for our leveling jacks.  We made it work but it would not be our favorite way to camp.  Yellowstone is a beautiful park.  They keep it clean.  The rangers are all well informed and very helpful, and  we got lots of great information to help us plan our stay there. 

We decided to do a Geyser tour the first day. While in Custer, we only saw buffalo on a farm, so our goal was to see one in the wild.  As we pull into the visitor center of Old Faithful there is a buffalo munching weeds on the side of the road.  We named him Marvin and decided he was hired to stand in that spot and probably be given a treat of buffalo kibble.  We had great timing as we walked up to Old Faithful about 5 minutes before it erupted!  We then looked at the visitor center and walked around and then watched it erupt again!  The second time was actually a better angle for viewing as we saw more water and less steam.   That day we also walked around the following areas of the park: Painted Pots, Biscuit Basin, Keplers Cascade, West Thumb and Black Sand Basin.  We also drove the Firehole Lake Loop.  We saw lots of geysers, mudpots and fumeroles.   The heat of the water easily grows bacteria which cause the beautiful blues, greens and oranges colors in them.

Old Faithful

The next day we drove up the northern loop, this is where you are supposed to be able to see buffalo.  We were seeing a few and keeping a count.  After number 17 we were able to stop counting as a herd of buffalo with calves was walking down the road !  It was a Yellowstone style traffic jam.  Along this route we also saw a few elk without horns and a deer.  Someone said there was a bear swimming across the river but we were not close enough to confirm if what we saw was a bear or what kind of animal.  So a bear and a moose are still on our “to find list”.  Along our route we saw rapids and several waterfalls along with more geysers, mudpots, springs and fumeroles.  Our weather for the day included sunshine, rain, sleet, snow and hail. Yes, we wear layers of clothing and add and subtract as needed.

Day 3 in Yellowstone was in the Canyon area.  We walked Uncle Tom’s Trail down to the lower falls.  328 steps down and I think it was around 800 up !!!  It was a beautiful view at the bottom of the hike.  We stopped at all the overlooks for the falls.  Everyone’s favorite is Artists Point.  I am sure you will recognize the picture we took from Artists Point.  An elk with horns was added to the list of animals we had seen when we saw one walk across the parking lot !   He did not seem to care that there were people around as he munched on the yellow flowers.  We got back to the campground in time for Wayne and I to take a walk/hike to the Natural Bridge.  It was an easy 4 mile walk to a nice natural bridge but the mosquitoes were out in FULL force.

Day 4 we drove down to the Tetons and the Jackson Hole area.  Our timing was perfect when we stopped at one of the overlooks and managed to get beautiful pictures of the Tetons reflected in the lake.  We drove several loop roads and saw one beautiful view after another.  We went to the town of Jackson to have lunch and explore the shops for a little while.  Guess what we saw in Moose Junction, yes, a moose.  Wayne got some great pictures with the telephoto lens. There is a nice looking bike trail that runs parallel to the highway that we hope to come back and ride one day.

Day 5 Wayne and I hiked and biked, while Sue and Mark did other things.  Our first bike ride was out to the see the Lonestar Geyser.  We did not see it erupt but enjoyed our 5 mile ride and seeing it steam and spit.  Our next stop was back to the Old Faithful area.  We rode a total of 4 miles and saw the Daisy Geyser and Grand Geyser erupt and once again saw Old Faithful from a distance.  We then hiked to Mystic Falls.  The falls were beautiful and it was fun to watch a family of Marmots playing in a nearby wood pile. Once again the mosquitoes were terrible!  Oh, guess who we saw in the parking lot, yes, we think it was Marvin the buffalo.  We also had three different sightings of elk with horns.  I learned from one of the rangers that elk lose their horns in April and when they grow back they grow at a rate of an inch a day !  A full rack of horns weighs around 30 pounds.