Yellowstone

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After a rainy crossing of the Bighorn range, we broke into the clear again as we approached the Absarokas and Yellowstone. Amazingly, even this late in the season, campsites are still hard to come by, but we reserved a site at the Madison campground on the West side of the park. We set up camp as the sun went down and cooked our supper while the temperature dropped. It was about 25 overnight, but our sleeping bags did a good job for us. Alec said he was too hot. At any rate, we made it through the night and I, at least, was fine once I had my second cup of hot coffee in the morning.

We set off through the park to look at the many geologic wonders and oddities. There were traffic backups every time someone spotted wildlife from their car, but we got around in good order. It must be a bit much in the summer, though. We saw more geysers, boiling springs, mudpots, etc., than I can count. I've put up a few pics as examples.

We got back to camp in plenty of time to cook and eat in daylight, and had the luxury of not having to set up camp. After we ate, we decided to go for a walk along the Madison River. Good choice. We saw a truly majestic bull elk with his harem of cows just across the river, and were able to observe them until it got too dark to see.

Back to camp then, and another chilly night. The park rangers told us it was supposed to be a bit colder than the previous night, but we slept fine and awoke to another cloudless day. Our original itinerary called for us to drive from Yellowstone to Glacier NP, but our good friends David and Mirjana in Seattle had informed us that due to a prior commitment, they would not be home when we expected to arrive. Accordingly, we decided to push on to Seattle, since our trip is as much about seeing friends and family around the country as it is about seeing new places. D and M are perhaps our oldest friends and we didn't want to miss seeing them.

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Comments

[Ursula]

Yellowstone
Wow, between words and pictures I almost feel like I am there. Thanks so much for including us in you trip. We are having a grand time following. Love , Ursula

[diane]

yellowstone
WOW

[Susan]

Yellowstone
Just watching a Ken Burns film on National parks, Yellowstone and Yosemite in particular so feel like I was right there with you. Lew and I have been to the northern tip of Yellowstone, in the dead of winter on crosscountry day ski in.........but memorable all the same! I think Lew and Gary stayed at the Old Faithful lodge one winter, once again a ski trip. Over night temps on lovely Kiawah Island are in the 70s...........

[Lauren Fleischmann]

Yellowstone
We watched the first episode of Ken Burns' series on our National Parks last night. Your description and pictures of Yellowstone sure agree with his!

[justin]

Mudpot
Photos are amazing. Also, "mudpots" makes a good minor league baseball team name. Keep that in mind.

[Nancy]

I am jealous!
I just got caught up on your adventures and I am really jealous. It sounds like you are having a wonderful time and your pictures are spectacular. You all look well rested and seem to be having a lot of fun. Will look forward to reading more.