Day # 11 - Yellowstone

We packed up the camper today and headed to the opposite side of the park and the town of West Yellowstone, Montana (we had been in Cody, WY for the last 3 days). Since we had to drive through Yellowstone to get there, we had every intention on seeing a few sights along the way.

We decided to check out the mud volcano and sulfur springs. We arrived by the East entrance again and were amazed how beautiful everything was a second time! We worked our way through the Hayden Valley over to the Mud flats. We saw a lot more buffalo today. There were also a few more elk. The thing we discovered about the wildlife is that you don’t have to look all that hard for it – just follow all of the cars that are already pulled over to the side of the road!

Yellowstone so far has NOT been all that crowded. Don’t know if it’s too early in the summer or what. We had fully prepared ourselves for the onslaught of humanity all of the guide books warn you about. We have so far been pleasantly surprised. We walked the trail around the mud pots. They were really cool! Where else in the world can you see mud boiling up from out of the ground? We took a lot of video because we couldn’t get over the sounds the many different features made. We commented that we need a video with smell-o-vision to capture the true nature of the mud pots and fumaroles we saw. Sarah & Abby pretty much spent most of her time holding her nose! As we walked around the boardwalk we couldn’t get over how many there were and how each one seemed a little neater than the last.

We hopped into the camper and headed for one of the many picnic groves for a bite of lunch. About 100 yards from where we stopped, there was a single buffalo standing in a grove of trees. We snapped a few pictures and ate lunch. As we drove through the park to the West entrance, we couldn’t believe how different the scenery became. We went from the mountainous terrain and the views of Yellowstone Lake to valleys of lush forest with several winding rivers and streams. I saw trumpeter swans among all of the ducks and geese. I also couldn’t believe how many thermal features we saw in the park. It seemed like everywhere you looked there were plumes of white smoke billowing up from the ground. Because it was pretty chilly and the thermal springs are so warm, they produce a lot of smoke/fog. We happened upon Beryl Springs on our way out. This spring was emitting a blue haze. The water bubbled and spouted and was a brilliant blue. It also had the distinct odor we have come to love around here of rotten eggs! I wonder what the early pioneers must have thought when they happened upon such a sight (and smell)!

We saw a family group of buffalo on the way out. There were several baby buffalo there. Sarah and I think baby buffalo are adorable - sort of cuter and fuzzier than a calf. Tony indulged us by pulling over by the side of the road (with everyone else) so we could snap several pictures. As we got to the west entrance we were happy to find West Yellowstone was right on the border of the park. Although we really enjoyed checking out Cody, Wyoming, having to travel 50 miles to the park seemed like a long time in comparison. We arrived and were greeted by rain! Nothing is more fun than setting up a camper in the rain! Oh well. We are looking forward to checking out Old Faithful tomorrow.