Yellowstone July 2010 - Day 4 - Mammoth Hot Springs

On the way out on the fourth day we saw something that the rangers in the area said was very very rare -- a wolf! And there were tons of cars pulled over to see it too. It was kind of a white/gray, but it was there for quite a while. Hopefully you can kind of see it in these pictures.


Here are a few pictures of the bison crossing the road -- we saw this a few times, but they were peaceful.

We also crossed paths with another elk that was posing for everyone. Luckily this time Saul had a few trees to hide behind, but this made him even more brazen than the last time. He got right up next to this one.

Just another perfect day in Yellowstone. The sky was so blue and the hills so beautiful I had to try to snap a few pictures.







Here we are at Mammoth Hot Springs
The bacteria growing in the water is what gives the Hot Springs their color. Unfortunately, most of it was not flowing with water, so we only saw it in gray/white. Even Minerva Terrace which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful! Oh well, we'll just have to hope everything's flowing on our next visit. The sulfur smell was not as bad as I remembered it being from when I was a kid either.







Andreas was a great camper and hiker -- He enjoyed being out and was pretty agreeable throughout our adventures. Of course, the comment we heard the most from passers by was "I wish I was riding in one of those!" followed closely by "Well that is riding in style!".
Dead Minerva Terrace




Then we headed to Roosevelt Lodge for a stagecoach ride. I wish it could have been the trail ride, but we have to wait for Andreas to be a bit older for that. Here is Dad next to our stagecoach.


The view on the stagecoach ride:

That's me, Saul, and Andreas in the back. Mom and Dad in front of us.

Next we stopped at Tower Falls. The main hiking trail was closed so we couldn't get any closer, but the view from the short trail was beautiful anyway.



We stopped into a little souvenir shop where I saw the coonskin hat for Andreas (which of course I couldn't resist). When a worker there saw us he insisted that we have him ride the bear so we could get some pictures. Unfortunately they came out a bit blurry, but I think the whole store was enjoying the spectacle. And yes, I ended up buying the hat.

On the way back to the campground we had a bison pass directly in front of our car. You first, Mr. Buffalo!


On the way back we also saw a Grizzly Bear in a meadow with two cubs. Unfortunately, it was too far away to get a picture of, but with our binoculars it was really cool to see. One of our favorite animal viewing adventures for sure.

Yellowstone July 2010 - Day 3 Part 2 - Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

After the mud volcano we headed up to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. First we stopped at the Brink of Upper Falls which was a very minor hike to the top of the falls.








Then we headed around the bend to Uncle Tom's Trail and Artist's Point where there was about a mile long trail that took us along the canyon. Here are all of the great views:








This is what most of the trail looked like. We walked through the woods and then you would come out at a great spot to see the canyon.
Andreas fell asleep a few times in the carrier throughout the trip. This was one of the times when his head was falling way out. We tried to support it, but nothing really worked. So he just kind of bobbed along while Saul walked.



Mom walking over to Artist's Point:



I think they could make this one into a postcard:


Here is an elk that was right near the exit of the trail. As you can see, Dad and Saul got very close and he was huge. But there were a lot of other tourists looking too, so I guess they figured they could at least outrun a few of them.

Yellowstone July 2010 - Day 3 Part 1 - Mud Volcano

We stayed at Fishing Bridge with our trailer, which was a great place to stay since it was in a very central location in the park and had a lot of the hook ups we needed for the trailer. They even said next year they will have electricity hookups, which would have been nice.
When we first got up that morning and were driving just a little ways down the road, we saw our first bison. They were off in the distance, but we were excited. Little did we know that by the end of the trip we would have seen so many that unless there was one about to run you over, we didn't bother taking a picture.


Here we are on the boardwalk at the mud volcano.
And here was our first up close animal encounter -- you could practically reach out and pet him.


I told my Dad I would label this picture "The Hairy Beasts". I don't think he appreciated it.



The Mud Volcano:
One of the coolest things we saw that day was the Dragon's Mouth Spring. It really did look like a dragon's cave with the steam billowing out.





The Mud Caldron:


Then as we continued down the road, we passed by a meadow area that had a whole herd of bison. We had to stop to take a look.

It was such a beautiful day, and the temperature was just about perfect. In fact the only rain we saw was during the night on our first day. Beyond that, everything was perfect.