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Published: July 30th 2011
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Tea on the road.
This was about 7pm one night when we had been driving a lot so we just racked it up at the side of the road!!! After a very long drive and an overnight stay near Montana’s capital; Helena, we finally made it to Yellowstone and again although the journey was tiresome it was a beautiful one. We arrived at the Mammoth Springs entrance into Yellowstone and it was cool to see all the Elk sunbathing right next to the visitors centre! We had a brief look around Mammoth Springs and it was nice but to be honest we were both tired out so we headed straight to the campsite at Slough Creek.
On the way in we stopped to see what several people were gawping at and were pleased to see a Bear; it was a bit in the distance but through the binoculars we could see him really clearly; this was amazing to see a bear in the wild WOW! Although the campsite sign said full, we still managed to find a spot and one of the nicest camping spots we have camped at so far; right next to a stream and under a bit of tree cover; perfect. We were going to go on a walk but we needed to relax so that’s what we did; we made a fire, cooked food, drank
Taking a bath!!
it was freezing!! wine and had some chats with our neighbor who told us a story about a bear getting into someone’s tent at this campsite last year, WHY tell us that!!! No we were ok until we had to get out of the tent to go to the toilet in the middle of the night!!!
We woke really early the next day and so started our jam packed day in Yellowstone; we went to see a petrified tree that was a load of rubbish, but we did see a herd of wild bison roaming which made up for it! I washed my hair in the visitor centre car park and then we headed to Lower and Upper Falls for a walk; walking down the stairs to see the lower falls was great and the views were lovely, but the walk up was a steep one; a killer. We drove to another view point of the falls and although I was a bit skeptical (after all, why do we need 3 views of the same waterfall?!) I am glad Dim persuaded me as it was really beautiful; picture perfect hence why the viewing area is called Artist’s Point. We drove toward the
Geyser area stopping at a few lookouts and for dinner along the way.
At Biscuit Basin where there were a handful of small Geysers, we went for a short loop walk to see Mystic Falls; more understated than some of the falls we have seen but they did seem mystical to me and I liked it here. We stopped at Prasmatic Spring which was really stunning and then onto Fountain Paint pots before making it down to Old Faithful.
We thought we might have to wait a few hours before it erupted, but we had timed it perfectly and only had to wait 10 minutes; it felt kind of iconic to see it erupt although both of us had expected more? We were both flagging at this point as it was 5pm and we had been at it since 8am but I wanted to see Riverside Geyser that was due to go off at 6pm, so after a much needed cup of tea we began the 2 mile (about) walk stopping at other Geysers along the way. We had to run to it in the end as it was already erupting and thought we may miss it but
mmm corn...
with my new corn holders! little did we know that it went off for a while; we both thought this was a better sight than Old faithful and we were glad we made the effort. We finally stopped off at Daisy Geyser in the same area that was also due to erupt; this was a smaller Geyser but there were less people so it was good to see and we could see old Faithful going off in the distance which we thought was better than seeing it up close and amongst lots of people.
Tired, we finally made our way to Lewis Lake campsite stopping to pick up a few beers along the way and at a picnic spot to cook our tea. By the time we got to the campsite there were no spots left, luckily a Californian guy Todd let us share his; we had no energy to drink the beers and instead had tea and marshmallows on the fire. A tiring but unforgettable day at Yellowstone; yes it was crowded in areas but you could also find spots where you were alone; A great National Park.
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