Yellowstone

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I was really excited to get to Yellowstone after yesterday. I already think it is not only the most beautiful park I've been in but it is a magical place.

We headed up North today, past Gibbon Falls and via a hike to Artists Painpots (a collection of coloured bubbling mud pots). I heard a growl from the woods as we hiked, which scared me (and a family behind me), but I convinced myself it was a weird bird and kept on walking.

After some photos, we continued on to another area, filled with geysers and natural springs. Some contained arsenic and other toxic gases and I was amazed at how much activity there was underground. There was another trek to an area called Porcelain Basin, which was a vast, colourful landscape of yet more geysers, spouting out boiling lava and steam. We then headed further North, to the Mammoth Hot Springs area (near the North entrance), where it started pouring with rain. I was underwhelmed with this area of the park - it was quite bland in comparison to what we had seen earlier in the day, so we started heading East towards Mount Washburn. However, during the drive, I spotted another crowd of paparazzi and knew it was bear time again. I almost threw myself out of the car to find a huge femake black bear sleeping at the foot of a tree, as her cubs rested high up near the top. I watched her sleep for about 15 minutes until she woke up, stretched, foraged and started heading our way. She got so close that the ranger made us all move - every step she took towards us, we had to take a step away. I was mesmerised but Jon got bored after about an hour so I reluctantly left.

As we neared Mount Washburn, the landscape changed - it turned from forest into meadows and then became mountainous as we ascended to 10,243 feet. The snow was about 6 ft deep and it was too misty to get any good pictures.

Jon was exhausted by 4pm, so we decided to continue our loop the next day and headed for the West entrance. We were stopped by a herd of bison, who crossed Gibbon River right in front of our car. They had some calves (!?) with them, that looked all looked like bambi.

Another amazing adventure in Yellowstone

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